{"id":63357,"date":"2022-05-02T09:15:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T08:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/?p=63357"},"modified":"2022-05-01T23:03:22","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T22:03:22","slug":"the-defensive-issues-that-russell-martin-has-to-overcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2022\/05\/02\/the-defensive-issues-that-russell-martin-has-to-overcome\/","title":{"rendered":"The  defensive issues that Russell Martin has to overcome"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday&#8217;s 5-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest was another disappointing afternoon for the Swans and showed just where one of our biggest issues ahead of next season lies off the back of one of the division&#8217;s weakest defences.<\/p>\n<p>67 goals have now been conceded by the Swans in the 45 league games to date &#8211; a figure only exceeded by six sides in the division.\u00a0 \u00a0A stark reality of where some of our issues are &#8211; more frustrating at the moment given the fact that we have suddenly found our goalscoring ability.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='N6vwwODPR_BNvQZJHWNJbw' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1394625386' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'N6vwwODPR_BNvQZJHWNJbw',sig:'O1-fErrEpSpej0uVKhso6NQVZhshvKEjbrGKm3LGfdU=',w:'594px',h:'306px',items:'1394625386',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>It is five games now without a win for the Swans with 14 goals in that period conceded including 3 to Bournemouth, 4 to Reading and the 5 on Saturday to Forest.\u00a0 \u00a0The top three sides in the division have scored 24 goals against us in the six fixtures we have played against them this season which feels an even more worrying statistic to me.<\/p>\n<p>We know that Martin faces a challenge this summer to keep hold of his forward line but he has to have some clear plans to strengthen a defence which is becoming increasingly more generous.\u00a0 \u00a0 Kyle Naughton has been brilliant at the back this season but you have to question whether Ryan Manning is the answer for us and we know that we can expect to see the departure of Ryan Bennett\u00a0 meaning we have to find a couple of additions at least.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='BBaNGqhQS1JdvxYPrzaBLA' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1240178736' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'BBaNGqhQS1JdvxYPrzaBLA',sig:'yLewhKPK1Me3E1A8UbGFVCgcBHrz3c52Yqf1HBEn7RE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1240178736',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>In Naughton and Cabango we have good players in the centre of that defence but you cannot help but think we need a commanding centre half in an Ashley Williams type mould to give a level of control within the defence which can capitulate too easily under pressure.<\/p>\n<p>There also remain question marks over the performances of Andy Fisher at the moment.\u00a0 \u00a0Russell Martin was keen to bring him to Swansea almost as soon as he arrived here in SA1 but the form of the keeper has not been the best in the four months he has been here.\u00a0 Some top class saves have been in the middle of some poor passing and a keeper who does not seem to command his area.\u00a0 \u00a0His hesitations have cost us goals and Martin has to make the call as to whether he sticks with his January signing (likely) or looks to bring another keeper in in the summer.<\/p>\n<p>The signature of Finley Burns in January is looking more bizarre with the young defender unable to get game time and you cannot help but think that even if we wanted to extend his loan for next season the chances of Manchester City allowing it feel further away due to his lack of game time &#8211; we may never actually discover if he was going to be the answer for us or not.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='C5DA8CfOTvJrjrcEwkmeuw' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1238445515' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'C5DA8CfOTvJrjrcEwkmeuw',sig:'1-3QkcAE_mw82psXxpe4-3hy-BM5SN-mCDFflvC69s4=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1238445515',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>You wonder whether Martin may look into the loan market though to get that cover for next season.\u00a0 \u00a0We have seen the benefit of what happens with the right move in Marc Guehi and if the boss can pull off a signing of that quality then the defence could easily be tightened up quickly ahead of next season.<\/p>\n<p>There is a growing number of pundits and fans alike who think that next season could be one where we see significant progression but we also all know that the progression cannot happen without the defence being tightened.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that Russell Martin&#8217;s side have scored more goals than we did last term but the harsh statistic is that we have conceded 28 more goals and that, right now, presents the biggest headache to Russell Martin and one that will occupy a large part of his summer thoughts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='EP3wg1DSTn9EI6tfjHfqSQ' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1240349209' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'EP3wg1DSTn9EI6tfjHfqSQ',sig:'ry-7Ivt2srwiXYhTGbPZeyWaHyYgmdbc5FUgt-xfqXc=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1240349209',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday&#8217;s 5-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest was another disappointing afternoon for the Swans and showed just where one of our biggest issues ahead of next season lies off the back of one of the division&#8217;s weakest defences. 67 goals have now been conceded by the Swans in the 45 league games to date &#8211; a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[293,49,203],"tags":[813],"class_list":["post-63357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-team","category-news","category-opinion","tag-the-2021-2022-season"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}