Swansea City head coach Russell Martin looked as despondent and beleaguered as he has done since he came to the club in his post match press analysis of the eighth game without a win for the swans. Again we saw his side do everything he wanted them to do but in his words without the ‘aggression and fight’ that would have seen this game paint a completely different picture had they done so.
The swans boss is right, the determination and energy isn’t there and when he says .”We for don’t want to fight properly” he is completely on the ball. It isn’t good enough for Swansea fans to cite Martin as the problem when a leggy Joe Allen can’t close a shot down or the defence stand off the likes of Tom Ince as he lazily struck the second goal of the game for Reading. Andy Carroll’s opening goal was well taken but really from a set piece ! Should we really be talking about this game after game ? As Martin said. "The mentality is nowhere near strong enough. That's on all of us. So it's really hurtful. The goals we concede, they're crap, they're rubbish. We don't make teams work for them. We have to really switch on quickly and improve quickly. When you're a defender, you're judged on those moments. Forget all of the stuff you do on the ball”
Joe Allen : A yard short today
Too many people can’t see beyond a result, and there’s far too many now judging Russell Martin on his players failings. I couldn’t agree enough when he says. "We then make a crazy decision to foul someone who is facing the corner flag. We give away a free-kick, we concede and we end up chasing again. We had chances. Ollie Cooper should score, Joel Piroe should score. We don’t, and again it’s that problem in both boxes.We give away a second goal which is pathetic. We don’t follow the detail and that will perpetuate a myth that we concede loads of goals doing that, when we don’t "
Martin was quiet but clearly seething under his disappointed demeanour and for any swans fan to actually throw everything at his door is completely wrong. Yes, he must take some of the blame, but there’s absolutely no way he should have to manage the ridiculous nonsense he has from Michael Obafemi. Talking to swans fans outside the ground today, the general feeling towards him is absolute
disgust. He is unsettling the dressing room, the club and as much as anyone that behaviour and indeed of numerous so called ‘Swansea players’ is affecting our club.
Not one of these players is a premier league player, I take it all back, they are a joke that has gone on for eight games too long. They haven’t got the desire that Russell Martin had as a player and speaking to assistant head coach Matt Gill after the game the disappointment at the lack of energy during the ninety minutes is concerning. And the head coach agrees. "Maybe they reflect how they get treated. We treat them how we feel we would want to be treated as a player. We treat them as human beings first, maybe that doesn't breed a real ugliness or aggressive approach in the box. We have to try and manufacture a way to find that if it's not natural to them”
Christmas day off for the boys, being mollycoddled and given the impression they are better than they are has to stop. Their awareness getting off the team bus yesterday of kids waiting to say hello or generally people greeting them was met with no response whatsoever. I saw personally over thirty young swans fans with parents soaked wet through who had waited for over an hour for a late team bus to arrive. Knowing these loyal ‘Swansea’ fans wanted to see them and those ‘players’ dashing off their warm coach in to a side corridor and ignoring any greeting they were given is a signal that these people are not on any wavelength but their own.
I’ve seen enough Swansea City games to know these ‘looked after’ high wage earners are neither caring or aware of the sacrifices that are made to enable them to be the richest young men in Swansea. Whilst many are reacting negatively to Russell Martin I’m pointing the finger not only at him and his staff but these players of sorts employed by the club. I’m in complete agreement that these people need shocking and jump starting back to the players everyone knows they can be.
I spoke to two lads yesterday from Penarth, both were heading back to south Glamorgan for night shifts starting at 10pm, I doubt they made it back home on time. They had taken six hours to get to Reading ( not everyone made it to the game yesterday due to traffic chaos ) leaving for the game after a couple of hours respite from finishing at 8am that morning. And I have the interview recorded and there for anyone to listen to. Even the BBC Wales commentary team arrived just as the game started.
Russell Martin is right and he’s honest enough to say it, he isn’t totally blaming his players for that debacle yesterday, he’s telling them some home truths. They clearly aren’t listening in training and they have a sense of entitlement many proper swans fans are sick of. Okay they may turn up for bowling nights because they are told to, they may attend events because that’s what is wanted of them, but deep down I see nothing that connects me to them at all. Least of all that makes me want to spend hundreds pounds every season flying across Europe to watch them in MY clubs shirt. I’m pretty sick of these performances like we all are, and it just isn’t Russell Martin’s fault totally, and anyone who thinks that it is his fault is not reading the script properly.
We attended the game yesterday to raise money for the brain tumour charity, and it seems to have made an impression. Yes, people with limited time left to spend with their families and children who only want a hello or some extra time with their loved ones. But when a footballer doesn’t even recognise people dripping wet through having waited for them for over an hour it makes my blood boil and even more so when I know, as does Russell Martin ( at times ) they couldn’t care at all.
Please stop falling over yourself in admiration for these people, they clearly couldn’t care and even if some think they do, their lives and the order that’s brought to it is far removed from the average football follower. When I saw the hurt on Russell Martin’s face yesterday after being let down yet again it brings it all home. Today is the time to say something - which has been a long time coming.
And now it’s been said, as ever - I stand by it. Every word.
Reading: Lumley; Holmes, Sarr, McIntyre; Loum; Yiadom (C), Ince, Hendrick, Hoilett (Mbengue 80); Meite (Baba 65), Carroll (Long 79).
Subs not used: Bouzanis, Guinness-Walker, Joao, Azeez.
Goals: Carroll 27, Ince 53
Yellow cards: 🟨 Holmes 40, Loum 77
Swansea City: Benda 4 Cabango 5 Darling 5 Wood 4 (Oko-Flex 61) 6 Sorinola 3 (Naughton 78) 4 Grimes (C) 5 Allen 4 (Cullen 58) 7 Manning 7 Fulton 4 (Cundle 58) 3 Cooper 4 (Paterson 58); Piroe 4
Subs not used: Fisher, Latibeaudiere.
Goal: Cullen 71
Yellow cards: 🟨 Cooper 27, Darling 66, Cabango 66
Swansea City star man : ** Russell Martin for putting Joanna Lumley the Reading keeper in his place for provoking Swansea supporters at the end of the game.
Referee: James Linington 2/10 : Hopeless, I hope his assessor today Kevin Friend is still hitting him hard.