It’s been a downward spiral all season bar a four game winning run in September that seemed to evidence that Russell Martin’s ideal way of playing football was coming together. In fact the confidence in the side against some decent clubs was extremely encouraging.
The away wins at Watford and West Bromwich Albion, and the way the Swans went about those games most certainly ensured a more positive and bright future was ahead ? Talk of the play offs though we’re soon downed, however here’s that short, encouraging run.
The downturn which has never really been corrected kicked in around the end of this run. By that we don’t mean results in the immediate, but the performances were causing some cause for concern. The Sunderland home win started some of the doubts, it was a lucky win. Sunderland could have easily taken advantage of an exceptionally poor second half showing from Swansea. The Swans fell apart at Burnley and lost 4-0, but again corrected that poor performance with two home wins against Reading and Cardiff. The former was lucky, not dissimilar to Sunderland, and Cardiff were shockingly poor (again)
Some of the winnable games leading up to the World Cup break were drawn, and very frustrating, however the break was the tonic most believed would give Russell Martin the time he needed with the players over four weeks. In that break some positive wins against Heart of Midlothian and Dundee United occurred during a Scottish tour, and the return was eagerly awaited. It crashed almost immediately with a loss at home to Norwich City which should never have happened, then the Swans came back from three down to snatch a draw at Coventry City away.
As we can see above the Christmas period first gave way to more frustration but then a remarkable 4-0 home win against Watford. More hope injected in to the Swansea support most certainly. Unfortunately Burnley put paid to that in a 2-1 win at the Swansea.com stadium, but it was a fortunate win for sure. The Swans really should have taken something from the game.
The slump after that was briefly halted with a 3-1 win at Sunderland, and again with a fortunate home win against Blackpool. In amongst all that and during a January window that can best be described as deceptive on all fronts the results and performances became so poor the calls increased for Martin to be removed.
An FA Cup exit to Bristol City over two games followed, but then the league performances just got worse. Russell Martin looked exceptionally low when interviewed, and was clearly caught up in the belief the owners would support his wish list in the January transfer window. They didn’t, and even the last minute loan attempt of Karlon Grant from West Bromwich Albion was steeped in suspicion. A late bid for a player the club knew they would never get safe in the knowledge it relied on another player deal going through ? We think so, and a clever smoke and mirrors deception to fool the Swansea support.
It was never going to happen.
That aside the form of the team slipped to a real low point with more home defeats and a defence that seemed completely at sea. Trying to control the temperament of supporters on a website as well populated as this became very difficult. Fans hitting out at each other and looking for blame in every post split the Swansea City fanbase. The results were getting far worse.
The next three games lead us in to an international break. None of these fixtures look winnable based on what we have seen recently, apart from the second half performance at Luton Town away. The best some are predicting is one point from nine. And that’s pretty damning. Middlesbrough at home this coming Saturday are a team flying high in the championship and then Millwall away, and they too are in a similar position. Two games the Swans will have little chance of winning by all accounts. We all know that isn’t a given, but the bookies will see them as bankers. Bristol City at home are the last game before the break.
Will it be as welcome as the last one ?
Then we return to the Cardiff City away game which has not been selected for TV. It is still set for a Saturday and despite this we can expect some interference between now and then on kick off times and a possible date change. It seems this game is all we have left to look forward to. The season has died an unexpected death for sure, staying up seems to a concern for some people, but they are not doing their homework. The play offs are a distant hope, so the games that remain are - as we said last week a decent opportunity to test the squads resolve and strength in depth. It’s never been a worse time to be a Swansea City supporter of late, there have been far worse times of course. However, we take the rough with the smooth, or with regards to this season the rough with the even more rough.
The club are sticking to their guns regards Russell Martin and his coaching team, and despite the calls for that to change it is looking unlikely. We have what we have, and we can only hope the second half at Luton proves to be some form of turning point. That is of course if good goals are not cancelled out, and we can edge a little bit of luck as well. That’s crucial, but it’s now a season that may as well end now for the Swans if the fayre of this year to date is to be used as some form of evidence.