Swansea Beat Udinese 2-0, but It's the Defending That Should Worry Both Sides

Swansea City beat Udinese 2-0 in a preseason friendly at Fussballplatz Mittersill in Austria on Friday, Liam Cullen opening the scoring inside six minutes before Elijah Just added a second late on to close out Vitor Matos's side's tour of Austria on a high.

Defensive sloppiness is expected in preseason, when managers are experimenting with shape and personnel and results genuinely don't matter. But the pattern here is worth watching. Udinese conceded early and never fully recovered defensively, while Swansea, for all their attacking sharpness, will have their own back-line questions to answer once the games start counting. Both sides have enough quality going forward to paper over defensive lapses in July. Neither can afford to let that become a habit once the Championship and Serie A seasons begin.

Cullen's finish and Just's late strike will be the headline. The bigger story is whether either club tightens up before it costs them points that actually matter.