Planet Swans ArchivesRoberto was speaking as he prepared to welcome leaders Wolves to the Liberty tomorrow with the Swans looking to build on their excellent midweek win against Preston.
Martinez has always been an advocate of “The beautiful game” and has always structured his team in a way to make them both pleasing on the eye and effective as the League One title last season backed up.
But having spent two months in the Championship, he now believes that it is not a viewpoint shared by many and he told the Western Mail “We have been somewhat surprised by the way some big clubs are trying to play
“We were expecting to come into the Championship and have really open games, with the team playing the better football to winning the match. But it has not been that way in some of the cases and it has been disappointing in that respect.
“But you can see why it is being done. The fans and everyone expects results straight away.
“I don’t think too many people care about how you get the result as long as you get it.
“The results seem more important than the performances, put it that way.
“That is unfortunate at Championship level with the quality, the stadia and with everything surrounding the league.
“It is the second highest in terms of income and merchandising, a huge league in terms of European football.
“But we have not got the freedom for the players to express themselves and play a little bit more football.
“The big clubs in this division are stronger than anyone else because they are starting with £50m more in their budgets, but probably wanting the results quickly does not allow you to play in a certain way.
“We have been surprised by that, but in every department the goal is to get into the Premiership and that puts you in a difficult position.
“But that is why you get such a competitive league, because the pressure on certain teams works to give freedom to other teams and that levels things out.
“It is a very tight league. Everyone can beat everyone else. That is a great thing. You do not get many leagues like that. So it is the good and the bad of the Championship, I suppose.”
