Phil SumblerRussell Martin says that one of his remits as Swansea manager is to bring down the average age of the squad but says that part of that move will mean us having to accept days where things will be tough.
The Swans head to West Brom on Monday night looking to put behind them a poor run of away form that has seen defeats at Hull, Stoke and Sheffield United where performances have not been at the level that the Swans boss requires but he remains true to his belief in the way he is approaching his task in SA1.
The Swans had an unexpected week’s break from the capitulation of last weekend at Bramall Lane thanks to the postponement of Tuesday’s game against Bournemouth due to storm damage at the Swansea.com stadium/
That has given him time to work with the squad on the training pitch and Martin is confident that we will see a different Swansea side when we complete the Championship weekend on Monday night.
“It has been relentless with the games. We had 9 in 31 days – when do you get chance to work on the training pitch? Hopefully the players have enjoyed this week, its been tough physically and mentally but we have to challenge each other and will make the end goal more worthwhile when we get there.
“The players understand what we need to do better and I think this week will put us in good stead to put in a good performance on Monday.
“We have to take responsibility for the mentality of the players. The average age of the squad has come down dramatically since last year, that was one of our remits when we came in. To do that you have to accept there are days when it will be really tough and there may be some level of inconsistency at times. If it was easy everyone would do it.
“We have had some really good days away from home but not enough of them and the last three games have made people think differently. We need to learn something and make sure we turn it into something.”
