Another tale of complete woe for the magnificent turn out yet again at the Swansea.Com stadium tonight. Russell Martin brought in the desired changes but nine seemed to impact the game in the Wayne wanted, and the game was lost and to be honest it wasn’t even close.

Morgan Whittaker started for the first time this season in a white shirt and immediately made a statement with a first minute well taken assist from Matt Sorinola. Unfortunately instead of taking the game by the scruff of the neck at that point the Swans lazily passed themselves in to constant trouble. The first comedic error of the evening saw a ball watching Swansea defence stagnant as a game of ping pong ended up with Laurent putting his team level.

Once again we saw a poor Swans defence out of sorts and unable to do the basics as an alert Stoke side equalised soon after. Before that it was obvious to all watching that the Potters had gained the momentum exposing an open Swansea midfield. This would eventually see Russell Martin take off Harry Darling on twenty five minutes and bring on Olivier Ntcham.

Before that a slick move down the Swansea right saw Tyrese Campbell cross to Laurent who shot accurately into the top corner of Andy Fishers net. Within five minutes from 1-0 up the Swans were 2-1 down. With the score at 2-1 the Swans again had their defence exposed and were very much in disarray. The boo’s told their own story. It was only after the second Stoke goal that Swansea decided their participation in this match would possibly be a good idea. Cooper started to probe the Stoke defence as did Ryan Manning. Good inter play by Whittaker with Joel Piroe gave up two good goal scoring chances.

The difference being Piroe’s finishing was again lacking as the Stoke keeper saved his shot.

The introduction of Ntcham sparked some fire in to the midfield, but overpassing from the Swans was their biggest enemy given the ball away continually much to the home crowds frustration. With the half approaching a close a lovely ball in from Manning to Whittaker saw the forward fluff his lines when a finish was really required. It was an end to end game in as much as the mistakes from both of these average championship sides gave up numerous opportunities.

Ben Wilmot fortunately failed to put Stoke even further ahead from a free kick taken by Hoover. His header flying well wide. The miss control and laziness of both sides passing continued with possibly only Oli Cooper being able to look dangerous. The half ended with two more painful minutes for both sets of fans, the defences looking alarmingly poor and Fisher taking far too much time on the ball for the crowds liking.

The second half started with a four four two in effect for the Swans, rash challenges from both sides saw Campbell injured. He would later be booked for dissent when remarkably recovering from the incident.

The second half was the usual Swansea City fayre, more possession and poor delivery into the box as Sorinola seemed to be the only real outlet. The loan player wasn’t having a bad game, just his overall involvement in the fixture wasn’t good enough for the Swans to score from his deliveries. Stoke tried to slow the game down and restrict Swansea and right up until the seventy fifth minute very little occurred. The odd shot was directed at goal from Grimes and Ntcham, forays down both flanks were too slow for any impact on the game. All it did was enable the Potters to organise their defensive unit with plenty of notice.

The whole half was pretty ineffective and bizarrely repetitive as we have seen all season from the Swans. A lack of urgency and indeed ball retention only made more frustrating by Stoke giving the ball away often. A save from Fisher after a cross come shot from Hoover looked dangerous but was dealt with. It became desperate for the Swans in the last five minutes, Liam Walsh already on the pitch was looking good with his positional play and corner taking. However, nothing clicked and not one person in the home crowd would have been surprised. It all felt pointless this evening, the crowd were turning on the manager, and there was a real sense of hopelessness.

With the players Martin has at his disposal this type and style of football won’t work. We’ve seen that over nearly eighty games of his tenure. There seems little direction or ability to implement or carry off the desires of the Swansea manager. Pointless pot shots, desperate cross field passes, and absolutely no basic desire to see something different in the game was there for all to see. Swansea City are not now treading water, they are sinking in a repetitive passing game that allows teams to break quickly as we saw for Stoke City’s third goal last night.

This isn’t working for Swansea City, Russell Martin or the supporters. What happens next is anyone’s guess. As much as it pains any Swans fan to say it, it’s getting worse in every game, the future needs sorting very quickly.

Swansea City:: Fisher; 5 Cabango, 5 Wood, 4 Darling 3 (Ntcham 31 6 Sorinola 6 (Cullen 79), 5 Allen 6 (Walsh 71), 6 Grimes (C), 5 Manning; 6 Cooper, 7 Whittaker; 6 Piroe.5

Subs not used: Sondergaard, Naughton, Latibeaudiere, Congreve.

Goal: Whittaker 1

Yellow cards: 🟨 Sorinola 28, Grimes 45+2, Cabango 46, Manning 55

Stoke City: Sarkic; Sterling, Wilmot, Fox, Hoever, Smallbone, Pearson (Baker 76), Laurent (C), Brown, Gayle, Campbell (Thompson 55).

Subs not used: Bonham, Taylor, Adebambo, Reddin, Lowe.

Goals: Laurent 15 & 19, Baker 90+3

Yellow card: 🟨 Gayle 60

Attendance: 15,817

Referee: Andy Woolmer 7/10 didn’t do a lot wrong.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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