Phil SumblerSwansea City manager Russell Martin an get the same enjoyment as fans at times out of the game as he stands and watches the team and the “project” he is building coming to fruition at Swansea.
Yesterday’s 3-0 destruction of Peterborough United at the Swansea.com stadium was as simple as it was attractive to watch with the tone set in the first two minutes where the Swans found themselves a goal to the good before Peterborough had even touched the ball.
Ninety seconds of simple close passing football before two clinical passes – one from Ryan Bennett and one from Ethan Laird were enough to create the space for Jake Bidwell to have the easiest chance at the back post to give the Swans the lead.
It set the tone for a first half of Swansea dominance that saw us complete over 400 passes in total, score three goals and effectively end the game as a contest to an extent where it felt Peterborough spent the second half on a damage limitation mission.
To put that into context, 405 passes completed is an average of one every 7 seconds in real time and 250 passes more than our opponents completed during the same period. This was not so much a procession from the Swans but one that will give plenty of teams things to think about – even the high flying Coventry and Bournemouth who will provide the opposition for Russell Martin and his team in the next seven days.
You get the impression though that this is still very much a work in progress and it seems telling that the Swans boss us still using the phrase “building” a lot when he conducts his post match interviews. Four home wins on the bounce, just four goals conceded at home all season and now 13th in the table, if these are indeed just the foundations then they are very strong ones indeed.
“I said to you all along I think physically we are getting better all the time”, Martin said after the game.
“They understand what is required in their individual roles and they do it brilliantly. They are building connections all the time, they are building understanding, they are building relationship and they are willing to run really hard for each other.
“For us guys standing on the sidelines and watching them, that is the best feeling.
“All the football is incredible, and they played amazing but their willingness to work for each other to help us get where we want to be, I’m really grateful for that because it’s not always the case and it’s not easy.
“But they are a top group of players and I’m proud of them today.”
It was exceptionally notable yesterday that the Swans were pressing high up the pitch. Peterborough themselves had a clear desire to play out from the back but they were hampered by the pressing of ALL of the Swans players. This wasn’t just something that Piroe or Paterson were asked to do it was all the team who were taking that responsibility and, on the odd occasion when a pass went astray, we worked hard to get it back.
The next week will prove to be a huge test for Russell Martin and his side but we have an international break at the end of it, we had the luxury of being able to add some rest time to key players yesterday and we have confidence going into what is two very tough away games.
Let the building continue and let’s see where we are this time next week.
