Many will recall the eight games before the international break statement from Russell Martin. We agreed with him, and those eight games have slowly eaten away at the soul of many Swansea City followers. Today we have three games of that eight game run to go and have what can only be described as a disastrous series of results as a club.
Those eight games conclude at the end of this month with a home fixture against Bristol City, an early kick off that will bring about the final knockings of this eight game sequence. Between now and then there’s a home game against Middlesbrough ( this Saturday 3pm kick off ) and then the following weekend it’s Millwall away. So far the previous five matches has seen the Swans win ineffectively against Blackpool 2-1, lose to Blackburn Rovers away 1-0 in traditional last minute or so fashion, lose at home to Stoke City 3-1, draw with Rotherham United at home 1-1 and then of course lose at Luton Town 1-0 on Saturday. Yes fine margins in a few of those matches but really not one of those games would give even the most positive of fan cause for optimism.
That’s five games, one win, one draw and three losses. The Swans have scored four goals and conceded seven. They have four points from a possible fifteen. No longer are home games even considered a given. Losing at home 4-3 to Birmingham City was a shocker before this run started, and the following week losing 3-0 at Sheffield United. That’s seven games, one win, one draw and five losses. The Swans have scored seven in those seven games and conceded fourteen goals. No mathematicians required to see that’s two goals per game conceded in the last seven.
And for the unfortunate Andy Fisher, those games have all seen him in goal. In that period Swansea City have gained four points from twenty one. That’s relegation form when taken in isolation. Of course the chances of that are slim, not impossible but slim indeed.
The threat of relegation isn’t really there but a win or two is needed. The relegation threat has been covered on here already –> Swansea City’s chances of relegation
So with this current exceptionally poor run of form very evident where is the next win coming from ? The only real positive we can see is the second half performance on Saturday at Luton Town. For the first time we saw some courage in the tackle from a side that really isn’t used to playing in that way. Numerous Swans players went down after a challenge, on half time Joe Allen was lost, Luke Cundle and Jay Fulton had knocks, as did Matt Sorinola and Ryan Manning.
Total effort is required now on Saturday
If Russell Martin is to stay to the end of the season there’s only two reasons why. One is the ownership group will retain him for the final season of his contract or they have in mind someone to come in during the summer. The obvious answer has to be they are going to retain Russell Martin and his coaching team for the entirety of their contracts. The only thing that will see them sacked is a real hammering or two, and with Middlesbrough and then Millwall coming up that could happen. However, not if there is the resilience we saw in the last forty five at Luton Town.
Nobody can really see where three points are coming from, especially over the next three games. What we are going to see is a repetition of the previous five games, and basically some ‘hope’ that something goes right. Russell Martin has said numerous times this season, ‘We have to work so hard to score goals, harder than the opposition’ Surely that’s a clue that something is wrong ?
The two games ahead will see the opposition as favourites, possibly the Swans sneaking in against Bristol City. Unfortunately this current run of bad form will impact on these three games, and of course we all want the Swans to win every time they play. But really is there any chance looking at the opposition before the end of the month ?
What happens this season for Russell Martin will determine what happens next time around. You can bet your bottom dollar on that.