Swansea City will not be pressing the panic button just yet after three games of the new season. Last nights defeat on penalties after throwing away a two nil lead will not detract from the bigger picture that Russell Martin continues to stand by. Three games should never be the basis for that.
With supporters turning against him after an extraordinary quadruple substitution on sixty minutes last night, and a total collapse from the team thereafter the real issue is the continual blame game after poor results. Those substitutions brought about post match comments such as ‘Pathetic’ ‘Angry’ and ‘Disappointed’ from Martin.
Refusing to accept the blame for these decisions even though he is the manager is concerning. An extract from last nights post match interview reveals an odd way of looking at his own decision making. "The subs should not change the game as much as it did, for sure," said Martin. "We should be here talking about debuts, Azeem [Abdulai], Joel Cotterill, Joe [Allen] coming back, some really great performances, Ollie Cooper, but Ryan Manning, Jay Fulton, Joel Latibeaudiere and Harry Darling coming off, it really hurt us, and it shouldn't hurt us that much” Surely Martin realises that key moments in the game were orchestrated by him ? Nobody else forced his hand, it was totally down to him.
The first Oxford goal came from an extraordinary decision by Azeem Abdulai which Martin jumped on blaming a young player for making such a poor decision, something he stated isn’t in any plan. This of course from a manager who played Azeem out of position and in a right back role he would feel somewhat uncomfortable with especially making his debut. That was the managers decision, nobody else’s. He decided to play Azeem there, not the player. This type of blame tactic destroys a players confidence. Playing a nineteen year old defensive midfielder at right back surely wasn’t also in the plan ?
And then to hang him out to dry ?
Of course Martin has every right to be disappointed but how many times do we hear that emotions don’t come in to it ? If that’s the case then don’t be angry, don’t be disappointed and most certainly don’t blame a nineteen year old debutant. I found that particularly strange. Of course we could be seeing the immediate fall out from a man under real pressure, someone who realises the next three games will be key to the rest of his Swansea career.
Possibly.
We have seen 1,500 fans travel to Rotherham, now on Saturday nearly the same figure will journey to Blackpool. Following that it’s two home games against Millwall and Luton. If there isn’t a drastic change in attitude from the manager, and from from the players come Saturday evening Martin will be in very new territory. He won’t be sacked if the swans lose, for us it’s a game Swansea could easily lose despite their form or league position, it’s the week after and those two home games against perceived moderate opposition that will count.
Moderate ?
Has anyone really watched the swans this season ? There’s every chance those two home games next week could be lost, but we remain firm that they could easily be won. That’s our hope and after last night we hope the momentum we all yearn for kicks in. There’s plenty of time and there’s plenty of room for Russell Martin to make it happen. Well, when we say plenty of time at least three more league games.
And we mean at least.
No more blaming and shaming, no more near verbal collapse in front of the TV cameras when asked about what went wrong. Swansea City fans support a unique club with a unique vision for the way football should be played. But that doesn’t give the manager a free hit at the players he instructs and trains every day when it goes wrong.
There’s no doubting Russell Martin’s desire in the way he wants to play football, however it’s clear he doesn’t have the players who have the skills base and personal mindset for ninety minutes. When you bring on first team players and they contribute to a complete collapse on the pitch, when you switch round the whole defensive unit and you lose, there is only one catalyst for that.
It’s Russell Martin, nobody else.