Rob DaviesEven though the Swans came away with a 0-0 draw, the performance was as bad as it has been at any point this season – the only fortune being that Birmingham failed to score from just a few yards out on numerous occasions.
Russell Martin, as always, had his excuses for such a dismal display ready for the post match interviews and he pointed to the long journeys this week and the losses of Jamie Paterson and Flynn Downes before the match ultimately changing his line up.
Being so precise as to say that “21 hours were spent on a coach” is concerning – all teams have to deal with long away trips in a three game week but the norm isn’t for managers to complain so consistently about it when things don’t go well on matchday.
The team in fairness was clearly missing the creativity of Paterson and the tenacity of Downes but in terms of fatigue suffered from away trips, the onus generally lies with the manager to make changes to keep things fresh.
It summed up a bitterly disappointing performance on the pitch, which was as lacklustre and disjointed as it could have been. Indeed had the likes of Maxime Colin, Tahith Chong and others finished easy chances it would have been a more miserable day.
Martin said: “I didn’t enjoy the game. We started OK and Hannes [Wolf] should score after a few minutes.
“We lacked a bit of zip and energy. The players have given everything they’ve got. I think there was a time we would have lost that game.
“We’ve had 21 hours on the bus this week. We got back at 3am on Thursday.
“I’m pretty sure that explains today. We tried to guard against it. But it never got going. We didn’t give the supporters enough to work off.
“But we kept a clean sheet and on the whole, performance levels they’ve shown since then [against Sheffield United], the points we’ve gained, before today I’ve been really pleased with the group.”
Martin will be desperate to see a bounce back for the game against Cardiff City and hopefully the two week break will ensure that’s an excuse that can’t be used…
