Russell Martin has admitted he has treated his loan signing Matt Sorinola harshly and at times forgets the demands he puts on his players in a testing environment such as the championship. With the Swans departing for their traditional night stop over on route to Lancashire today, we can expect to see Sorinola at least in the squad. We wouldn’t be surprised to see him start the game but there are a string of players who could enter in to Martin’s selection thoughts as well. The Swans face Blackburn Rovers tomorrow afternoon.
Talking on his particular treatment of Sorinola it seems their friendship which goes way back to their MK Dons days has assisted the head coach and manager to see positives regardless of Martin’s admissions. "Sometimes I forget how tough it is. I'm asking people to understand how tough it is, but it is really difficult to be as brave as we're asking them to be. We've done a lot of work with the players, talking about fear and surrendering to it and just being themselves. I said to Matty, I've been a bit unforgiving on him, that's on me. I just want the best for him and all of the players. It's just about understanding what people need at certain at times and it's just been nice to see him smiling for a couple weeks. I felt he deserves his opportunity and I'm really pleased for him that he did so well. We have a decision to make on Saturday now because he did so well but he hasn't played for a long time."
The weekend build up
Looking ahead the Swans have two games in four days, first off is Blackburn Rovers tomorrow ( kick off 3pm ) and then Stoke City at the Swansea.Com stadium on Tuesday evening ( kick off 7.45pm ) After the some would say fortunate win against Blackpool on Wednesday evening ( but we will take it ) there really does have to be some huge improvement at Ewood Park and again for Tuesday nights game.The Swans haven’t won at Ewood Park since 1971 and Stoke City is never an easy game regardless of their current plight in the championship. Russell Martin has also pretty much laid his cards on the table for the next seven games. "We have a choice here, everyone has a choice and a decision to make. I think there has been a hangover from January and how it ended up, and I do understand it. We are as frustrated as everyone else, but we have made a decision to focus all our energy on helping these young guys try and win football games, and I am happy about that decision.That’s the decision we have made, but we all have a choice in this”
That’s the closest we have seen or heard of Russell Martin walking away from Swansea.
That January hangover has to be put behind the coaching team, no matter how they feel let down regards the promises they no doubt saw broken come the end of the transfer window. "As a club, supporters, players, staff, everyone, we have to pull together and get behind this group of young players. That is the only choice we have. Martin added. "There are players here who will help this club for a long time to come, the evidence is there to see that, whether that is through getting to the Premier League eventually or making the club a lot of money. Players like Nathan Wood who has been excellent over the last few weeks, Ben Cabango has made big strides in the time we have been there, Ollie Cooper has really progressed in his journey. It’s not easy to win games every week in this league, but the players work so hard for us and the togetherness as a group is outstanding” Of course the head coach is right there, Ollie Cooper is having a tremendous season, but at the risk of over playing him we saw a less influential Cooper on Wednesday evening.
Blackburn Rovers won 3-0 at the Swansea.Com in August
Matt Sorinola as expected was more than happy with the win on Wednesday, with him scoring the first goal and assisting the second overall he had a decent game. Talking about that he said post match. "I was so happy to score. I feel like I need to bring more goals and assists and I’m happy I could do that. I want to play every week, but I just hope that now my chance has come I have done well enough to play again. I feel like everyone knows we needed a win after some of the results in recent weeks, but I feel like this is the moment to kick. Hopefully, we can use this as momentum to kick on now for the upcoming games.”
The expectation might be low for tomorrow, and will no doubt be more enhanced for Tuesday but it seems now we all agree that this phase of the season before the international break is crucial. So crucial it will no doubt form a huge part of Russell Martin’s future at Swansea, we get the feeling this spins on the next seven games. We really do need to see a positive outcome of nearly eighty league games under Russell Martin, we don’t doubt his hard work and passion, and we as much as any site appreciate his commitment. But now’s the time as we said on Wednesday for this to come to fruition. The home win against Blackpool won’t enthuse many but it was a start.
At least we have that for now.