Rob Davies
Those who left the game at 90 minutes tonight may well be sitting at home in the warmth of a confident and ever improving 2-0 win for the Swans against Millwall.
But the cynics amongst us could always see what was about to happen: a host of chances missed? Tick. Dominant for the majority of the match? Tick. Too many substitutions by Russell Martin? Tick. What was about to happen?
You guessed it. Two own goals – to rub salt into the wounds – to snatch a point from the jaws of three against a Millwall side that looked to have accepted their fate after an 81st minute effort that bounced off the bar.
Those who left also wouldn’t have seen Russell Martin’s moment of pure rage towards Jamie Paterson who he believes had a big say in Millwall’s equalising goal.
Ben Cabango had already flicked the ball into the net to make it a nervous last two minutes of injury time when the ball went out for a Millwall throw. Usually that’s the time to waste time.
Not if you’re Paterson who despite being injured was on the bench and swiftly punched the ball back to Millwall who then proceed to level things courtesy of Nathan Wood’s back post header.
If the opposition aren’t good enough to score then we sure as hell find a way to do it for them.
But Martin was particularly angry: “For 93 or 94 minutes, we were by far and away the best team.
Dominant, aggressive, everything we got criticised for against Blackburn, and rightly so in a lot of senses, I think the boys put right tonight.
“We should score more goals. Millwall only had one shot on target before two of our defenders score an own goals.
“We should make more of our own chances in the final third. I have to take responsibility for it, I’m in charge of the mentality of the team. Even though we have so many young men on the pitch, we have to do better than we did.
“The ball goes out for a throw-in, and one of our players not involved punches the ball back on the pitch. I’m absolutely furious about it. I’ve told him. That just can’t happen. He punched the ball back to them to take a throw-in quickly and we concede a goal.
“Whether you’re on the bench or whether you’re not involved, you need to add value to your team somehow. That’s certainly not adding value.”
Strong words and maybe a bit harsh. Bottom line is that we didn’t draw that game due to Jamie Paterson. It was poor game management and defending. But he continued…
“It wasn’t a young lad. He knows.
“We need to keep control of the game. Let’s start with not giving the ball back to the opposition when it goes out for a throw, because they are the moments in this league where if that’s against us, I am pretty sure it’s getting hit into the stands, it takes a minute to get it back and the game’s done, everyone goes away feeling really good.
“How do we find the answer? We will sit and talk honestly about the problems like we always do.
“If the penny drops and they really want to impact the league, they have a chance to. We are really close to being very, very good and some moments tonight were very, very good. But we need to eradicate those moments to really have an impact.”
One final note is that whilst the Swans boss doesn’t mention Paterson directly, our thanks go to Planet Swans forum poster Darran who raised it here.
Why would you take Joe,the mom off after 68 mins ?Let’s cut out this nonsense of protecting the player- he was loving it .The fellow behind me said we were keeping him back for Saturday ! Well that didn’t work .Can you see Alex Ferguson taking his best player off . We are simply too open and give the opposition too many chances . Can you honestly say you’d be confident if we’re beating Luton 2-0 after 75 mins on Saturday .We are far too easy to play against
Can’t argue with much of that Wyn
Are you comparing us with peak Manchester United? haha
RM purchased substandrad defenders while he needed to strengthen us there. Yes we are not converting chances but having some of the best forwards in the league, we will eventually score goal. The problem lies in defense.
The defenders the RM has brought in have scored more own than our strikers is he a tactician? Shrewd in business no he’s an idiot twice we’ve thrown away a good win away now and the last time we did it was against bloody oxford.. blame pato all you want but we haven’t got the desire to see games out. Period.
Another lame excuse from Martin. Blame the teaboy next ! The reality is that
Martin cannot organise his team tactically to see out games. It’s happened so many times ! Yes the players are at fault, but a quality coach should be able to read the game and adapt tactics accordingly. Martin needs to swot up on his coaching manuals or seek help from someone who knows the game.
Some fans are so stoked on promoting the narrative that Martin deflects blame at all times. The interview is titled “I take responsibility” for Pete’s sake. Does he come off as a self-righteous bigot from Brighton to British people? Too woke, too boho? I’m from Denmark, so I wouldn’t know. He did wear glasses that one interview although eyesight’s fine. (And yeah, this is all tongue in cheek, but seriously: people seem to hate the high horse he’s getting on, and I can’t understand why.)
Criticism for bring short and slow against Blackburn. Admits it, changes it. Criticism for subs and mentality against Oxford and Millwall. Takes responsibility, explains his reasoning and what went wrong. He’s the first manager to go the extra mile to defend his players (Pato, Williams, Downes last season) and compliment them on their work so why wouldn’t he be honest with them when they’re totally out of line? It certainly worked with Piroe and Obafemi.
Mathias you clown he blamed kid on his debut
He was honest about the mistake made on the pitch and admitted that he didn’t expect the subs to lose them the game. I don’t mind that.