Peterborough United manager Grant McCann has described Russell Martin’s style of play as unique with a system that causes opposition teams to concentrate fully for the whole game. The swans visit London Road tonight for a Sky Bet Championship fixture with a determination to put things right after what can only be described as a ponderous away performance on Saturday at Blackpool.
McCann, has experienced the possession based dominating football Martin enjoys before, but now he too is determined to counter his opponents tactics with a threat of his own this evening. "They are very much possession-based and they can be very hard to play against as they rotate players all the time. It’s not unusual for their centre-half to turn up at centre forward. We will have to be disciplined in terms of shape and structure. We will have to concentrate and our communication must be good from number one to number eleven. But we also have to make sure we carry a threat.” McCann is definitely right in the concentration side of things, something that haunts the swans at times during crucial parts of the game.
McCann has to see this game as one they can win, now seven points short of Reading at the bottom of the table but with a game in hand he has to inspire his charges to take the game to Swansea. That will of course leave gaps in midfield and in defence but his experience over the years should ensure that is countered. If not it could be along night for the posh.
It won’t be lost on him that Swansea have won only four of their eighteen away games this season.
The last two games for Peterborough United have been positive, a draw on Saturday at home to Stoke, and another very credible point away at Bournemouth have given the club some hope. "We showed real resilience to get back into the game on Saturday. I’m proud of the boys and I told them they will get their just rewards for their endeavour and attitude and going to the death. It’s a tough division. We performed well for large periods. We’ve got a home game against Swansea on Wednesday and we need another disciplined performance.”
On tonight’s game swans assistant manager Matt Gill noted the upturn in performances by the posh. "Grant has gone in there with his assistant Cliff Burn — they’re two really good guys and seeing the way the team have been since they’ve gone in, it’s been good. From the last two games — Bournemouth and Stoke — I’d say the least they would have expected was two points, I’d say they should have got a win in one or maybe both of those. It’s going to be a really tough game, they’re obviously fighting for their lives so both teams will be trying to push for the win."
Hannes Wolf, now it’s time for swans fans to see the real player
We can expect to see Nathanael Ogbeta and Kyle Jospeh in the squad and Borussia Mönchengladbach loanee Hannes Wolf proved his fitness this morning in training locally to Peterborough. That means Russell Martin has new options to add to his starting eleven for this evening. Wolf especially, a shock loan for the swans at the end of January is keen to impress after a slow start at Swansea. The twenty two year old Austrian was rated at thirteen million euros in 2020. In 2021 he made the move from RB Leipzig to BMG for nine million euros after a spell at Borussia Park, Westphalia. Surprisingly the swans held off interest by Celtic in January with numerous outlets reporting he was close to signing for the Glasgow club. However, it didn’t materialise and the swans in turn then missed out on MK Dons star Matt O’Riley after talks broke down on a 1.5 million transfer in early January.
How we broke Hannes Wolf coming to Swansea
You can watch the game on the Sky Sports Red Button.
Peterborough United v Swansea City kicks off at 7.45pm.