Swansea City travel to the Hawthorns this evening with numerous hurdles to overcome. As we reported this morning not winning at West Brom for nine years is one issue, the other is trying to manage Andy Carroll who just loves to play against Swansea City. But that’s not all.

The main curse for Swansea City is not these two difficult facts to address though, it’s the swans themselves on the road which is the real problem. It’s been alarming that the team can perform so well against QPR and Huddersfield away but fell apart at Hull, Stoke and recently against Sheffield United. To be honest the Stoke City and Sheffield United games were not only poor and lacked any commitment, they were embarrassing and offered very little hope these type of away performances would change.

Russell Martin has had nigh on eight days to address the issues which were highlighted in those games. He also has had time for his medical staff to rehabilitate players like Kyle Naughton and Hannes Wolf. The latter needs to sharpen up his game and show swans fans why such a huge part of the transfer budget was spent on his loan to the club. Kyle Naughton will be a welcome return tonight, whether that’s starting or bolstering the defence from the bench. Hannes Wolf we have no doubt will also feature and now he has had time to settle in to life in Swansea he should be fully focussed on taking three points tonight.

Nathanael Ogbeta remains injured and is expected to be out for two more weeks.

Matt Grimes commented on Friday “We have to deliver, we’ve been really poor those last two away games and we are really ready to improve. It has been recent (in terms of the away form), I don’t think you can say that over the course of the season our away performances have been like that. You look at the Huddersfield and QPR games and we went toe-to-toe with two sides battling near the top of the table. It is just down to mentality and how much you want to turn up and win the game. You have to be bang at it every single week, without that it falls down. We’ve been able to train properly as a group for the first time since the Preston game, that just shows that the schedule has been carnage,” he added. “It is good to get that time on the training pitch to get those reminders, to get back to those key principles in and out of possession. It is stuff we have been through, but when you are in a constant cycle of recovering and preparing for games, and you don’t get that opportunity to regularly train it or there is some tiredness and fatigue a lack of consistency can creep in. So this has been a good, hard week of training and we are looking forward to Monday, and it will be all about us”

Yes, we have heard all this before from a string of Swansea players this season, and the excuses are wearing thin. When players talk about being fully briefed as to their roles before a game that’s fine, they should be. When players don’t put in the effort and are lazy on the ball and in their decision making that’s a completely different issue. Despite those poor away performances around 1,200 travelling supporters are expected at the game tonight. WBA have always seen the benefit in allowing teams to pay on the day, it’s obvious business sense.

Russell Martin believes his side are energised and wants a performance to be proud of later today. “It is a tough challenge, but I think it is a really exciting one. It is one that we must be excited about and not go there with any fear,” said Martin. “We will go there with the aim of putting in a performance to be proud of and one that the supporters can be proud of. “That is easy to say after we have been beaten 4-0, but we have to go with a certain mentality to try and be the team that we want to be. We have certainly worked on some stuff around the way that they have been doing things and how we can maximise our opportunities. I think if we put in a performance that we are happy with then the result will hopefully reflect that. They are going through a transition with a new manager. They had a really clear way of doing things before and that didn’t go to plan, so they have changed things. They are trying to find the best way for them, but what I would say is they have an incredibly talented squad that was playing in the Premier League this time last season. They have an extremely experienced manager who has been promoted out of the league. Steve (Bruce) is someone, who I think every manager will say they have a lot of time and respect for”

It feels like a watershed evening for Martin and the swans. If another away day humiliation occurs it’s possible swans fans will increase their volume from the stands regards the clubs faith in Russell Martin. It’s all well and good talking about next season and the plans he has for the summer at Swansea City, for some fans now it’s a case of will he get that far ? We as a website support the manager, his staff, the team and the club in trying to realise a complete transformation on the pitch. However, these recent away performances, and I’ll be honest they have been the worst I’ve seen in many years have to improve. Swans fans demand this, and want some form of evidence on the pitch to back up all the talking.

Football managers talk about ‘ noise’ from elsewhere a lot these days, well, if you can’t walk after the talk then expect the noise to increase. A lot.

Artwork by Swansea Independent

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