Defensive changes again for Martin at Stoke

Russell Martin will be forced into yet another defensive change tomorrow evening when the Swans take on Stoke with Ryan Manning serving a one match suspension and Kyle Naughton still not having recovered from the injury he suffered against Luton last week.

“He’s [Naughton] a loss for us. I don’t think people appreciate how good he is until you come in and train with him every day,” said the head coach when asked when Naughton may return.

“I did because I played with him and he took my place in the team at Norwich and I had to re-invent myself as a centre-half.

“When I came here he’s surprised me again. The players love Naughts. He’ll be a loss for us but hopefully he won’t be too much longer. Tuesday will be too soon.”

The absence of both Naughton and Manning could open the door for Finley Burns to make his first start for the club whilst there could also be a debut for Nathaneal Ogbeta who joined the club on deadline day from Shrewsbury Town.

Martin also has the option of considering Flynn Downes again in a more defensive role as he looks set to switch his squad around due to the volume of games in a short period of time at the moment.

“We have a few people to ask how they’re feeling and that’ll come into consideration for team selection on Tuesday,” Martin added when talking to Wales Online.

“I think we have a few really seasoned guys who can play, [Matt] Grimesy, the level of consistency he shows every week physically, the stats as well as his performance on the ball, but we haven’t got too many like that.

“Ben Cabango, for such a young guy, is probably one of the few who is really used to playing week-in week-out at Championship level.

“We’ve lost another guy who is in Ryan Manning. Cyrus [Christie] is but he’s not played for a long time.

“We’ve got a lot to consider, a lot to think about, but we have a brilliant medical and sports science team.

“They’ll make sure the guys recover as well as possible and we’ve got a few guys on the bench who are desperate to play.

“We’ve spoken about the importance of everyone, we have a small squad, we’re going to need everyone.”