The Swans face Rotherham United on Monday night in a fixture that will be the focus of the Sky TV cameras in the championship. However, that fixture change from Saturday to Monday could be a wake up call for Russell Martin and his coaching staff.
Stoke City, Bristol City, Preston, Hull City and Reading will all have Swansea in their sights as they claw themselves away from the bottom of the table and relegation fear. Stoke are home to Millwall and Hull are away at Bristol City. Preston are at home to Wigan and Reading face Blackpool.
Those fixtures will bring the Swans closer to the foot of the table and put more pressure on Russell Martin who said this morning. "All we're going to ask on Monday is for everyone to show as much courage as they possible can, to run and sweat as much as they possibly can for us and I genuinely believe that'll be enough for us." That’s important of course, but twelfth position in the league no longer brings with it a safety buffer. Wins for the teams below Swansea tomorrow will most certainly bring some stark reality come Saturday evening.
The worst case scenario could see the Swans fall a number of places and also be looking at teams below them - who may or may not be successful tomorrow. QPR even if they win won’t move above the Swans, but Birmingham City will make the desire for a win on Monday more focussed if they collect three points against Luton Town.
Below Birmingham are Rotherham and they will see this game as a chance to drag themselves away from relegation fears. Having beaten Sunderland in their last game 2-1 they won’t fear the Swans and can claw themselves closer to mid table with a win. Russell Martin has stated he isn’t too concerned about the fans restlessness regards recent results. He also has to understand that this predicament is something no Swans fan for a generation has witnessed. Albeit relegation from the premier league hurt this is a new experience for a huge part of the Swansea fanbase. If you look back it’s really the first time in many years there has been such disappointment in the way the team play and the results they are obtaining.
A drop in to league one is far more of an issue than in to the championship. The money is still there to an extent, in league one as many big clubs have found it’s a swirling piranha infested pool far different to the two top leagues. One thing that didn’t resonate with us here at Swansea Independent was the comment from Russell Martin that Rotherham are ‘fighting for their lives’ on thirty six points in the league currently. The Swans are on forty two, just six points ahead of them. What position does that put our club in ?
A win on Monday is crucial, it’s so important with four very hard fixtures coming up before the international break that if it doesn’t happen the intensity of the fans as a result could be too much to ignore. Russell Martin has seen the good times at Swansea with the overwhelming support he gets from the fanbase, what we now need to see is a return to some positivity on the pitch. We all want the Swans to win, so let’s make that first tiny baby step come Monday.
And put the recent past out of our minds.
Swansea City take on Rotherham United kick off 7.45pm on Monday evening.