Swansea City go in to Saturdays game at Burnley with Joe Allen unavailable and really now it seems his focus is on the World Cup with Wales. Jamie Paterson still has ten days to go before he can be considered for selection.
Speaking this afternoon on Paterson, Russell Martin said "He was a really important player for us last year, speaking of the goals he got and the assists he got he was a really important player” On the spectacular form the swans are in Martin said. "Winning always helps with the confidence, the energy at Fairwood ( the swans training complex ) has always been the same, regardless of results, I hope it’s an enjoyable place to work and people enjoy coming here,we have a lot of fun together when we work and when we have to zoom in it’s really serious and intense "
From the information this website had at the start of the week it seems there may well be a selection surprise or two on the way. Not with players coming in but maybe one will be rested for the test at turf moor. We won’t be giving anything away at this juncture as we stated there’s nothing clever in conjecture, and if it doesn’t aid the swans cause we won’t be reporting it. That is rule one for this website and always will be.
Martin is well aware too of the way over confidence can affect a squad of young players. "We need to keep the guys really confident and we don’t get comfortable and make sure there is still a hunger there and that confidence doesn’t ever tip over in to complacency. That’s the biggest challenge for the group now, we need to keep driving on and keep wanting more, we need to be relentless in our approach to training. They’ve trained brilliantly this week so far, and that’s a sign of them and where they are at. They do want more they are hungry to keep improving, it’s another tough challenge on Saturday but it’s one we are all excited about”
With five wins in six Martin responded on the big turnaround in performance and results positively. "Time, a bit of adapting and tweaking a few bits, maintaining the belief in what we were doing, and carry on working in the way we believed was right. We need to feel things, we need to feel hurt and frustrated by defeats, to feel energised by a good performance. To feel the pain after Luton, to feel the pain after Blackburn, to go through those things together and to feel it together. Not to shy away from it and pretend to the players it shouldn’t hurt. We talk a lot about consistency and process but in that as well I think we feel things together and be honest about that. There was some real vulnerability shown by players and staff in that moment and it brought everyone together”
What Russell Martin is referring to is emotional learning and that topic of a way of developing and understanding new things can be far more rewarding, but can also be extremely dangerous in a group of young impressionable and self driven players. However, for now it seems to be working. Remember last season when Michael Obafemi had an issue or two ? And several other players ? That’s a result of emotional learning, feeling what you have learned as well as putting that in to practice. Being over criticised can also present an attitude of rebelling. Some players rebel and can become difficult to handle before they get reigned in and understand the reasons for their behaviour.
That’s something Russell Martin preaches, it works in certain environments and it’s also they way we write our reports and articles on here. In a challenging way that if approached in an open minded raw and non judgemental position can actually make sense. The only issue with that in a scenario like running a website or periodical is the reader goes away thinking they have come up with the points that are made, as we have seen from other websites. In football terms it can be a dramatic and wonderful way of development.
The thousands of Swansea City followers that visit us every day we know enjoy that rational approach.
On that area of training and development Martin knows the proof is in the pudding. "I think there was that much expectation at the start of the season, the way the guys worked in pre season they felt so confident and they really stuck with it, even when it was tough. But the way they have adapted, the way they have tweaked things, the way they have reacted to some of the tweaks we’ve already spoken about, the solutions to various problems they have been incredible, it down to the players and their mentality”
Russell Martin knows Burnley are one of the best teams in the division. They have only lost once all season and love a draw, and we have to be happy if that is the end result come 5pm on Saturday.