The Swans slumped to a defeat at Hull City yesterday ending a mini three match unbeaten run and as a direct result of some defensive sloppiness in the opening twenty minutes of the game in which Hull scored two with the Swans defence sleeping.<\/p>\n
Some second half changes saw both Michael Obafemi and Liam Walsh hit the upright as the Swans looked to get back in the game but those early goals proved to be decisive and leaves Russell Martin thinking not just about the next game but whether he needs to change his plans for the last couple of days of the transfer window.<\/p>\n
On a disappointing game for the Swans what five things can we take away from the defeat?<\/p>\n
1. A left wing back is a must.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>After the draw at QPR we talked about the performances of Cyrus Christie but what has become obvious in the last two games is we need a left sided version of Christie.\u00a0 \u00a0Russell Martin tried to switch things around during the game by switching Christie and Latibeaudiere around but it didn’t really work.\u00a0 \u00a0 We have two options here, it is either move Burns into the middle and let Manning be left back or enter the transfer market.\u00a0 \u00a0Either way works.<\/p>\n 2. Time to go fishing.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>This is not necessarily a slight on Ben Hamer but there is a reason that Russell Martin bought Andy Fisher and that is because he sees him as his long term number 1.\u00a0 \u00a0Martin managed this correctly by not immediately dropping Hamer and he had three good games but yesterday was not to be a fourth and now it is time to get Fisher in the team and establish himself in the role for which he was purchased.<\/p>\n 3. Obafemi to start Tuesday?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Once again we saw a game where we just give no service whatsoever to Joel Piroe who went another game taking his run of goals now to just one in his last eight Championship appearances.\u00a0 \u00a0Obafemi has looked the most likely to score of the two in the last two games and you just wonder if it is time now to see if he can do it from the start.<\/p>\n 4. The midfield was all wrong.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong>The absence of Flynn Downes was obvious to be seen yesterday and we will welcome him back against Luton but the manager got the midfield all wrong yesterday.\u00a0 Fulton, Grimes and Smith simply did not work together and it was shown at half time when Ntcham was brought on.\u00a0 Fulton’s start was predicted in midweek but his lack of game time over four months showed.\u00a0 \u00a0Hannes Wolf also deserves a mention under this section although we can only hope that his performances are a result of him getting up to speed more than anything else.<\/p>\n 5. We are too negative and pass up the opportunity to attack.\u00a0<\/strong>We can be incredibly frustrating to watch quite often.\u00a0 There were two instances towards the end of the first half that sum up our negativity at times.\u00a0 \u00a0The first saw Christie running down the left but instead of an instinctive pass into the middle where Piroe was, a foot was placed on the ball and a pass backwards broke up the attack.\u00a0 \u00a0Minutes later Latibeaudiere did the same thing on the right, passing it back to Smith who passed it even further back.\u00a0 \u00a0Both opportunities should have resulted in a quick ball into the box but the natural negative instincts of the players came through.\u00a0 \u00a0This is surely coached into them and that is a worry.<\/p>\n