It doesn’t really matter how sick you feel after a game, or how your team once again conspired to not score any goals or take advantage of a whole game of chances but failed yet again. When it happens a lot and it affects the morale of a whole squad and it’s coaches there is a problem.

Russell Martin puts his sides out to win matches, yesterday was a good example. However, the ability of that side clearly isn’t good enough with this long run of winless games. Speaking after the game he said. “The amount of detail that went into set-pieces, and it panned out exactly as they were shown, so that's the frustrating bit," he added. "This season has been interspersed with moments like that” That’s very much a statement of fact, and it’s Russell Martin who has to work out why his players can’t see the hard work they put in coming.

Because it happens time and time again as has already been mentioned this morning on this website. Yes he would feel sick after a game like we witnessed against Norwich City, feel sick to be honest," he said. "We've paid for a mad two minutes at the start of the game and a lack of conviction, composure in the box. We created so many chances today. A few of their players came off the pitch and apologised which probably tells you the story of the game. I don't think they felt they deserved to win and I don't think we deserved to lose. You can't get away with conceding a goal like that to a team that possesses a lot of really top players”

In a game like this where you have a manager in Russell Martin who plans and ready’s his team for the game, and Dean Smith who looks ambivalent to what is going on in front of him it must be frustrating. He was stating the obvious when he said. "I thought we were better than them today, I thought we were really dominant." He was right to say that, but also has to address why that is often the case.

Russell Martin’s post match thoughts
“We just lacked a bit of conviction and that was the story of the game. We gave them a lead to hang on to, and they were good enough to do that. I am struggling to understand how we have not scored, and the frustrating thing is how we have allowed a goal like that to hurt us. We played against a team that is going to be right up there, and I thought we were better than them. We were dominant, we had control of the game, we looked dangerous.If we play like that moving forward I will be really happy, but I feel a bit sick for the players that we have allowed a moment like that to define the game”

If the swans were losing football matches by not being the better side then there would now be a slight case for the manager to move on, but that isn’t the issue here.The reason is a lack of fight and flair in front of goal, that’s all it is, and to that degree everything at Swansea is so close to being right. As Jay Fulton says.“In the changing room now, we’ve got so many players at the top end of the pitch that are confident and can go out and create and score goals. We have to keep working hard and improving, and make sure we make the most of our opportunities."

Yes he is right, but he isnt the only Swansea player to say that this season, he’s just another one in a long line to repeat the same thing. So when does that end ?

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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