Rob Davies
23 games including a 2 game cup run is a fair barometer of where your team is and for anyone to be able to take a clear picture of the past and what is to come in the future.
Three wins from that amount of games, two of which came against ten men for long periods tells a bleak story; one which despite an improved display at Millwall last night shows no sign of turning around.
Things looked rosy in October after a fantastic run of form but ever since there’s been nothing but misery and little to be positive about for the rest of this season and what the summer holds.
I reflected on Saturday’s loss at home to Middlesbrough by saying I felt numb as I have for many matches over this run of form. This is not the same anger that I would feel after any loss – especially at home – that would practically ruin my weekend.
The fact that there was little in the way of dissent from the stands on Saturday spoke more volume for me and says that the club and fans are in as big a malaise as we’ve ever seen in SA1.
Indeed I woke this morning feeling angry but that was probably more to do with watching our manager laughing with the Millwall players as he trudged off after yet another defeat. And then to hear that Martin had held good talks with Steve Kaplan was a further kick in the teeth.
No manager survives this run despite the mitigation that he might offer as to why his team are so hopeless on the pitch. Yes he wasn’t backed in January but he has been otherwise and with a spend of £8m over 18 months it can’t be argued.
Indeed last night was just a typical Swansea City show under this manager and will be until the inevitable time when he is released. That could be the summer, it could be sooner but it is a matter of when, not if.
According to Martin, Kaplan spoke about the players, what’s needed in the summer and offered some support for his ‘long term vision.’ That is in no way despite claims to the contrary a backing of the manager.
“I had a good couple of hours with Steve this afternoon and he just reinforced the support for what we’re doing in the long term,” Martin said post match.
“He asked a lot of questions about a lot of the players and the period we’ve been through. He’s been really supportive since I’ve been at Swansea.
“It was just a good honest conversation. He offered a lot of support and a lot of encouragement.
“We spoke a lot about the summer and about what the squad needs. As I’ve said before, it’s a huge summer for the club. There’s going to have to be a lot of people coming into the building and a lot of attributes we haven’t been able to sign last summer or in January which is what we’ve been crying out for.
The Americans are finance orientated and can see that the values of players are dropping game by game during this run. Ben Cabango, touted for a bright future looks broken, Joel Piroe looks off colour and Morgan Whittaker would be lucky to be valued at half the £2m Rangers wanted him for in January.
For now, we can only sit and wait to see what happens. Bristol City at home sits between us and a two week international break after five losses in the last six.
With Blackpool hitting six past QPR last night it shows that points are needed to pull us away from the drop. It’ll need everything from the fans, ignoring the position of the manager, to help us towards a positive result. However unlikely it may seem this morning.
There has been the occasional boo and a few shouts but strangely the crowd at the liberty has remained quite restrained .In fact people have become resigned to what’s going on .Every game is largely the same .It’s almost as if the fans feel sorry for the players trapped in Martin’s system.Add to that the anonymous American owners and it is very difficult to feel optimistic about the future .There’s not much to look forward to.If we get rid of one we’ll be stuck with the other.
Martin’s press conferences are asif he’s reading from the same script- he’s proud of the courage of the players,we have this incredible young squad and he doesn’t mind losing as long as we play with bravery.
I know things can turn around and there are far worse things happening inthe world but real fans derive a lot of pleasure from watching and talking about their team .At the moment those things sre hard to find at the Liberty.
Last night wasn’t a horror show, far from it. The game was decided on three deflections (one exacerbated by a goalkeeping error).
Had our previous 20 games been largely dreadful I think most fans would have considered last night an unlucky loss by the odd goal away to a good team.
We need a new manager, set piece coach (I mean, what does he do?) and goalkeeping coach all before the end of the season.
I think I can see what Martin is trying to do – the problem is that he doesn’t! If we just played a slightly higher tempo and moved the ball quicker out of the back – especially as most teams set up for us to mess around with ball in our defensive third… The most telling stats are the 2 wins in 20+ games – isn’t that approaching the ‘long term’ development that Martin rambles on about. The key to take from last night was that DESPITE the way Martin set the team up, we dominated the ball and created more chances against a poor Millwall team. If he showed some ambition to win beyond what he has shown, we could actually beat teams. I cannot believe that the players have much more belief in the process, would you?
My main take aways from last night:
1. We need to play with wingers, not wing backs. Teams sit in deep so it’s nearly impossible to play through the middle. With 3 at the back, be have only one player out wide, and too many in defense. Once Whitakker and Patterson came on last night, moving the ball out wide and getting dangerous balls into the box became much easier to manufacture. Manning and Patterson could combine well out wide. Harry Darling…. less said the better…
2. Ball out of defense is too passive. It’s an obvious critique of Martin’s style but the ball either needs to be passed through the lines or carried through before the opposition reset. Again something that can be improved by getting another body further up the field. Manning and Flynn Downes did this really well last season as it commits a midfielder from them to leave their marker and suddenly there are options in midfield. Don’t get that from Ben, Grimes or Allen.
3. Start Sondergaard. Honestly, we don’t really use Fisher in build up play more than just tapping the ball out for a goal kick, so he could quite literally not be a downgrade in any way.
4. Walsh looked decent. Takes a few risks with passes which is badly needed.
The last thing that annoys me is when Martin says we have to work so hard for our goals and then concede so easy. We don’t have to work hard. Watching last night, we play the game at a snails pace. With 70% possession, odds are one of your passes is going to find the net, we’ve the 6th highest GF. The issue is solely with our defense, we’re a goal away from being the worst in the league. No organisation at the back, we play into scenarios where we are left short of men, Wood is the only defender with a modicum of pace…. I could go on
If we din’t win on Sunday I think things could boil over .We are playing a beatable team and we’ve looked slightly better in the ladt couple of games – but the proof of the pudding as they say .Matin should have a better squad to choose from as well .
“As big a malaise as we’ve ever seen in SA1″…you haven’t been watching the Swans for very long, have you? To say Martin has been suitably backed by the owners is an utterly clueless assessment. £8m is nothing. The debacle of January was a disgrace. All of you banging on about Martin fail to see the bigger picture, which is that our owners are fully to blame for the state the club is in, and yes, that includes every performance on the pitch and every result.
As much as I blame the owners for the total lack of investment in the squad and constant asset stripping of any talent we have. I have to blame RM for the absolute sh*t show on the pitch week in week out. The owners cannot be blamed for the constant and repetitive mistakes made by the players playing a brand of football that they can’t.
I don’t know why the players keep playing suicide football at the back unless it’s through the managers instruction.
The team look like they have totally lost heart.
I’m totally fed up of the constant referral to the young team and the January transfer window and our team being young.
You utilise the tools you have to the best of their ability. Unless you are RM and can’t see past your own arrogant plan.
Any manager would have been gone by now after this streak we are on. But not with the clueless yanks who have no idea how to run a club.
Personally I’d like to see them all go…but with RM I want that asap before we get dragged in to a relegation scrap we can’t get out of
Yes you can blame the owners for the players that are not capable of playing the style Martin wants it’s the owners that have not backed him in any way and to utilise the tools you’ve got you need your tools to half decent in the first place otherwise you just can’t get the job done , I agree with what some say about Martin with his tactics and stubbornness to keep going with the same tactics and style with no compromise but that’s how it is if you want to play a certain way but the payers we have are not good enough to implement it but on the other hand this team is only a few players away from being a good side , our back four are absolutely pathetic cabango , wood, latibauer and fisher can not play football the way we try to , good defenders in their own right but not for us the passing is to slow and never direct and between cabango and wood I would like to see the stats for how many stray passes they have given have resulted in us conceding a goal it’s got to be a dozen at least , as for fisher worst keeper we’ve ever had has cost us so many points this season I would rather see Alan Tate back in goals for the rest of the season, but without the backing from the owners Martin can only piss with the c**k he’s got simple as that , personally I believe that Martin will become a premiership manager with a club that are ready to back him but it want be with the swans , whats going on this year is a result of how lucky we where to get to the playoffs twice with cooper with the board investing zero to get it done , that’s why cooper left because of the lack of commitment and investment which was promised , so be careful what you wish for because who else is going to come and manage us with this shit show of a club , for me martin needs some investment and then we can see what he’s really all about !