Martin says “players were tired” after pre season fitness build

Russell Martin watched his Swans team win 3-2 in today’s friendly at Fairwood training ground against Forest Green as the build up to the new season continues.

Goals from Michael Obafemi, Kyle Naughton and Liam Cullen gave the Swans a win after previous warm up games this summer against Colchester and Haverfordwest.

Pre season is never about results nor does it give any indication as to how the team will start come the end of July but with each game Martin is gaining further understanding of what his best team looks like.

Like the other fixtures today’s team changed in its entirety at half time to allow the bulk of the first team squad minutes to prove both their ability and their fitness.

The Swans boss admits there’s still some sloppiness to address in the team’s play but says that the players are feeling tired after a grueling fitness regime so far this summer.

Martin told the official site: “I really enjoyed it, I think it was a really different game to the Colchester game.

“A team that really tried to play with the ball, gave us lots of opportunities to press and loads of stuff to look at out of possession which is really important for us.

“I think it was really valuable for us for a lot of reasons, we saw some brilliant stuff in possession and a couple of sloppy moments which you’d expect because the lads are extremely tired; they had another big day yesterday.

“I think it will now be more about the games rather than the training, they did another double session on Thursday and trained really hard yesterday because we need to be really ready physically.

“It’s a real test of togetherness and character when you’re tired to try and play the way you want to play.

“They did some brilliant stuff but there’s lots to work on, we need to improve on a lot especially out of possession but overall it was a really valuable exercise.

“Both groups played some really good stuff and some stuff that we will definitely have to show, I think we’re just becoming clearer and having more clarity every game on what needs to become priority so we’re ready for the first game.”

The season starts three weeks today.