At the moment we are watching two very different versions of this team under Russ.
We start games nearly always in a ponderous state with little intensity in the passing, trying to play this very precise brand of football and the opposition have comfortably worked it out this has all been said before.
What worries me is Martin saying he was happy with some aspects of the first 60 minutes. There were no positives. We were easy to play against Coventry out fought us, their intensity was way better, in Gyokeres they had an outlet and a player who was prepared to run in behind or at the defence and they created chances. It was a one sided game of football.
When Swansea face adversity we see the best of them and herein lies the problem Martin doesn’t want his team to be the version we saw in the last 30 minutes aggressive, unstructured, prepares to risks. I know being 3-0 down forces you take chances but you certainly get a feeling that if we started games with this intensity and pressing we might not leave ourselves with so much to do.
What’s underpinning a lot of the problems is the selections and this is where I can’t put my finger on the rationale. I’m conscious a coach watches his team every day in training and knows his group but the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expecting a different outcome and with the likes of Latibeaudiere, Naughton and even Paterson I’m not sure the outcome is what we need anymore and there is enough game time for the manager to surely see this?
Martin has never really had the personnel to play with wing backs without a dynamic right full back who can use their pace as an outlet and press high up and hold their width. Latibeaudiere is in a way the very opposite of what that position dictates you need but every week he plays there. This system needs hard running full backs think Sheffield United under Wilder with Baldock and Fleck.
The other thing Martin cannot ignore is that we always look a better side with Cooper and Oko-Flex in there. It’s when we give the opposition problems and they encourage a more aggressive press. You are not going to win enough games trying to pass the opposition to death anymore. Of course you will win games but not enough hence we are now in our second spell of the season when we have gone 7+ games without a win…….
We start games nearly always in a ponderous state with little intensity in the passing, trying to play this very precise brand of football and the opposition have comfortably worked it out this has all been said before.
What worries me is Martin saying he was happy with some aspects of the first 60 minutes. There were no positives. We were easy to play against Coventry out fought us, their intensity was way better, in Gyokeres they had an outlet and a player who was prepared to run in behind or at the defence and they created chances. It was a one sided game of football.
When Swansea face adversity we see the best of them and herein lies the problem Martin doesn’t want his team to be the version we saw in the last 30 minutes aggressive, unstructured, prepares to risks. I know being 3-0 down forces you take chances but you certainly get a feeling that if we started games with this intensity and pressing we might not leave ourselves with so much to do.
What’s underpinning a lot of the problems is the selections and this is where I can’t put my finger on the rationale. I’m conscious a coach watches his team every day in training and knows his group but the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things and expecting a different outcome and with the likes of Latibeaudiere, Naughton and even Paterson I’m not sure the outcome is what we need anymore and there is enough game time for the manager to surely see this?
Martin has never really had the personnel to play with wing backs without a dynamic right full back who can use their pace as an outlet and press high up and hold their width. Latibeaudiere is in a way the very opposite of what that position dictates you need but every week he plays there. This system needs hard running full backs think Sheffield United under Wilder with Baldock and Fleck.
The other thing Martin cannot ignore is that we always look a better side with Cooper and Oko-Flex in there. It’s when we give the opposition problems and they encourage a more aggressive press. You are not going to win enough games trying to pass the opposition to death anymore. Of course you will win games but not enough hence we are now in our second spell of the season when we have gone 7+ games without a win…….
