Rob DaviesFollowing yet another disappointment at the Swansea.com Stadium last night against Luton, the noises of discontent seemed to get slightly louder.
Swansea woke up this morning to a Championship table making grim reading, sitting in lowly 19th position but still 12 points off Peterborough who occupy the final relegation slot in 22nd place.
The 1-0 defeat made a bleak run of form even worse with the statistics showing a miserable one win in eight games, which came against Preston North End a couple of weeks ago.
Not only is that a major concern, but the Swans seem to have a bad combination of struggling to score goals and failing to keep them out at the other end in a stark difference from the past two seasons under Steve Cooper.
For all Cooper’s detractors, of which there were many mainly relating to style of play, he knew how to organise us defensively and ensure we were well drilled the majority of the time.
That now seems worlds away from current day with confidence low throughout the team and a Manager still convinced in his thoughts but struggling to deliver where it really matters.
Many fans were happy when Martin arrived to dismiss any thoughts of a promotion challenge in favour of a return to the fluid and stylish football that helped the Swans rise from League One to the Premier League under Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers.
But with the trajectory downwards for quite some time, the questions are now starting to come from fans as to whether the Martin brand will achieve what was expected in the long term.
Fans had their say in the immediate aftermath of the loss last night and a poll ran on the forum showed that the supporters still have faith in the Manager, 64% favouring him staying to see out his plan for the club.
In terms of the January window, it could be argued that Martin wasn’t backed sufficiently, but five players did arrive to follow on from even more in the summer.
There can be no doubt that the team is starting to look as Martin would like to see, although he no doubt desperately wanted the likes of Matt O’Riley (who put in another stellar display for Celtic against Rangers tonight).
Time is needed to understand whether the long term plan is worth pursuing. There also in the short term needs to be a tangible improvement in form to keep as many fans as possible onside before the summer comes, where there will undoubtedly be more movements in and out of the club.
Nobody can say for sure whether Martin will be a success long term, or whether he will even be here long term. For now however, all we can do is show our support on Saturday the best we can and back both him and the team.
A couple of wins makes the world of difference, and as we all know football has a habit of surprising us all. Let’s hope that some real form is just around the corner because winning is important – it’s why we all love football.
You’ve said it – Matt O’Riley is a superb player, a player identified by Martin as part of his project. The board felt they couldn’t support the purchase – not his fault.
We have to give the coaching team time. If we are struggling this time next year then changes will be needed – in style, personnel or in coaching. But, we must persevere and turn the good style into an effective style and then into results.
A change in coaches now would have a long term unsettling effect. We cannot afford to sack the coaches, nor do we need to. We need to make the style of play work for us, and that will only come with time and bags of patience, something a good number of football fans simply don’t have.
We live in a society of angst – the world has huge problems – sport is a recreation and entertainment. Don’t take it so seriously. Enjoy the game.
You cant talk about long term projects in football.
If we finish where we are or lower it will not have been a
good season after 2 play off seasons.
Already boos in January so a bad run will get the
boos get louder.
What is the long term plan ? Are we expected to wait 3 or more years for it to come to fruition ? Do the plans include promotion to the Premiership ? At present, we are no way near Prem standard player wise or financially ! What we need now is a short term plan in which the coach needs to develop a sound defensive strategy for the team as an entity to give a springboard to better things. Re stats, the only ones that really matter are wins and losses.
At present we are no way near premier league standard – of course we aren’t… yet. Read RM’s comments tonight – he explains it all, that’s why we have to have patience. When Roberto talked of Premier league within five years, his team were nowhere near Premier league standard. But a few years of building the plan and we were at Premier standard. It took a few years of sticking to the Swansea Way. It took patience, a few bad results along the way but we got there.
We are not Bournemouth – we cannot buy our place in the Premier, we have to do it our way.
Remember this post in five year’s time, and I will say, “I told you so.”
Well said Graham!
A long term plan (we dont have 1 by the way) doesnt mean losing nearly all your games in the meantime!
Stick with the Hound, Arthur. If you can’t see the long term plan then have a word with your mate, Sherlock. He’ll explain it to you.
And what exactly is the problem with waiting 3 or 4 years? Brentford did it. Other clubs like Burnley have done it. Maybe supporters should get behind the team rather than booing. Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions but does booing and abuse really help?
We all want improvement but patience would help . There is no divine right to win games.
I remember Roberto’s first half-season in charge. We conceded six goals at home to Blackpool and I remember some of the comments from ‘so called’ supporters – “Pretty passing is all very well but he needs to sort his defence out!”
Remind me, where did that long-term project, the Swansea Way, end up?
Carreg I dont need to be a dectective to know your in a dream world.
Football has changed since RM days.
The WBA manager and the club agreed a blueprint for 4 years and that involved
bringing more youngsters through and playing a certain brand of football.
Even though they were 5th they sacked him after 7 months!.
And as I always say to Watson you know my methods!.These include cheering the swans on yes
Its elementary really
You are – you’re . You’re in a dreamworld, Doyle.
Your – means belonging to you.
For God’s sake, learn English.
So, as you’ve said yourself, cheer the Swans, don’t boo players that are taking on a different style, it’s as simple as that.
Has football changed that much? The world has changed, for sure. Football hasn’t changed too much.
Or, if it has, please explain how it has changed. I’d be very interested in your explanation.