{"id":69287,"date":"2022-09-15T14:35:29","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T13:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/?p=69287"},"modified":"2022-09-16T11:36:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T10:36:00","slug":"55-championship-games-into-the-martin-tenure-will-it-ever-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/2022\/09\/15\/55-championship-games-into-the-martin-tenure-will-it-ever-work\/","title":{"rendered":"55 Championship games into the Martin tenure &#8211; will it ever work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tueday night&#8217;s disappointment against Sheffield United had a very familiar feeling that has happened all too often over the 55 League games that Russell Martin has overseen at the club.<\/p>\n<p>Kyle Naughton&#8217;s weak defending &#8211; it was not a foul &#8211; summed up where the Swans are at present; inconsistent, mistake ridden in defence and toothless in attack resulting in 22nd position in the Championship.<\/p>\n<p>Not just that but goals thrown away in every midweek fixture this season &#8211; Oxford United away, Millwall home, Stoke City away and now against Sheffield United. Losing five points just in those four games.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='yRgI4z_tTANvPZ2BM1o62A' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1242547405' 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:'yRgI4z_tTANvPZ2BM1o62A',sig:'46uHVhLJ6-eQucxvA__cHL6-jkkNhZ-nMl-M5JXMuBo=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1242547405',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>The first season was filled with clich\u00e9s from Martin urging fans to trust the process but the process seems to have been ditched in a bid to earn points and avoid being dragged into a relegation battle.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone understands the constraints that the Swans boss faces; a prime example being Flynn Downes who developed so well last season being sold to West Ham with limited funds in return to recruit and strengthen. But that is largely a Championship problem not just af Swansea City.<\/p>\n<p>The sides of yesteryear under Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers were rare and were largely greater as a collective rather than individually. This group cannot be described as anything of the sort.<\/p>\n<p>And whilst performances have clearly improved of late the results largely haven&#8217;t meaning that the Swans are now in the relegation zone with nine points from as many games so far this season.<\/p>\n<p>Martin had justifiable gripes around the lack of funds available this summer and still insists he wished more had changed in terms of personnel but make no mistake, this team and squad is now his.<\/p>\n<p>The squad has been somewhat bolstered in the summer with pace arriving in the shape of Oko-Flex from West Ham and youthful exuberance in Luke Cundle. Both of these were shunned in favour of the disinterested duo Olivier Ntcham and Jamie Paterson. Marquee signing Harry Darling has also been dropped to the bench for the last few games.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='hyxVvMRwSMVE-mAA5PD0ZA' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1242915684' 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:'hyxVvMRwSMVE-mAA5PD0ZA',sig:'iz_ilBRVe_fWesgyndpGtfMlxZEKz2C_F_4kquT3JQ0=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1242915684',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/div>\n<p>All of the above are Martin&#8217;s men; signings that have been made under the former MK Dons boss. Nathanael Ogbeta is in that bracket but has been dismissed to obscurity.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s these decisions that sometimes lose a manager&#8217;s job and whilst it is still early in the season if results don&#8217;t improve &#8211; and evidence suggests based on Martin&#8217;s career that they won&#8217;t significantly &#8211; then change will surely have to come.<\/p>\n<p>We heard so much last season about the manager not having the luxury of a full pre season, the players needed to time to fully understand the system and to have faith in the process &#8211; that it would return Swansea to the type of football that it is renowned for.<\/p>\n<p>But none of that is to be seen and with Martin abandoning the system that he spent so much time working on, he really is in last chance saloon to save both the club&#8217;s season and his career in the Championship.<\/p>\n<p>The players seem confused as to whether to play the slow patient build up starting with the goalkeeper or to look longer with Jay Fulton acting as a battering ram for goal kicks on Tuesday. It&#8217;s all a bit odd.<\/p>\n<p>A win on Saturday would relieve the pressure somewhat and some of the worry that the club could get caught up in a relegation dogfight that with a squad boasting Piroe, Obafemi, Cabango, Allen to name just a few simply shouldn&#8217;t be in.<\/p>\n<p>The Swans take on Hull at 12:30pm on Saturday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty aligncenter\"><a id='8yRyyIeTSHV6DcFhtoUXcw' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1243209156' 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:'8yRyyIeTSHV6DcFhtoUXcw',sig:'bSJ78GfGJTOaMNv8oYsG_O0lriLptEolKX4llbTx81I=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1243209156',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>Tueday night&#8217;s disappointment against Sheffield United had a very familiar feeling that has happened all too often over the 55 League games that Russell Martin has overseen at the club. Kyle Naughton&#8217;s weak defending &#8211; it was not a foul &#8211; summed up where the Swans are at present; inconsistent, mistake ridden in defence and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":63142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[293,49,203,306],"tags":[636,665],"class_list":["post-69287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-team","category-news","category-opinion","category-reactions","tag-russell-martin","tag-the-2022-23-season"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69287","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\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69287\/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=69287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}