Swansea City have a number of issues to attend to in lieu of Sunday afternoons game against Bristol City. With Joe Allen, Ollie Cooper, Jay Fulton and Joel Latibeaudiere all missing for the defeat at Millwall, head coach Russell Martin has not only injury concerns but a selection headache as well.
Liam Walsh and Olivier Ntcham looked fresher than the normal selections of Jay Fulton and Cooper at Millwall, and on that point Cooper, and indeed Joe Allen will be in a race for fitness for Sundays game. Walsh and Ntcham were industrious at the Den and caused numerous problems for the Millwall defence throughout their part in the game, The introduction of Morgan Whittaker in the second half was also a positive point. He worked hard on the ball and also caused problems darting in from the right hand side of the Swans attack.
Ntcham, Walsh ( pictured below ) if fit of course, and Whittaker all should start on Sunday and if necessary put Allen and Fulton on the bench. The latter will almost certainly feature. Unfortunately they aren’t providing the attacking threat of a midfield of Ntcham and Walsh with Matt Grimes and Ryan Manning supporting them. At least on the latest evidence. The Swans looked far better on Tuesday and apart from two preventable errors ( again ) the desire to get forward far quicker than we have seen in recent months, this was refreshing, and on Sunday that desire will be critical.
Hard times come with harder decisions, and Joel Latibeaudiere shouldn’t be a part of this conversation. That may sound harsh but what we saw at Millwall was far more encouraging than we have seen from Joel in recent times. That goes for Joe Allen and Jay Fulton as well, Ollie Cooper can be included in this but despite these players not seeing action at Millwall we are certain they will on Sunday. At some point anyway. However, surely a similar starting line up will work better if they focus in on the many positives from Tuesday night ?
Bristol City are just five points ahead of the Swans who remain as they have been for some time on forty three. The slightly worrying thing is of course the worst current home form in the championship has been bestowed on Swansea City, and Bristol City won’t roll over that’s for sure. The other concern will be the relegation pack are edging closer to Swansea City and a win is so long overdue it’s an accepted part of supporting Swansea this year. That cannot go on, another loss against the Robins and the club go in to the international break in a pretty dire state. Even a win papers over the giant cracks in Russell Martin’s plan. Of course a win would be very well received, but there’s more to this than that.
It seems Russell Martin continues to get the go ahead to plan and recruit ( or at least list his desires ) for the summer and all this amongst a terrible run of form. It has to be said that any other club in the seventy two would have sacked the Swans head coach by now, and in some cases two times over.
These are uncharted waters for Swansea, in as much as the continued employment of Russell Martin and Matt Gill is baffling a growing number of the clubs supporters. For me, I’m just intrigued now as to how long this can go on. If we could be guaranteed no dogfight to stay in this league I would personally be very happy for this ‘experiment’ to continue. I suppose I should just hope the recent past is an indicator regards relegation and that it won’t happen.
As long as the chemistry doesn’t blow up in our faces as the season ends surely why not keep the belief this journey will reveal some positivity by the seasons end ? For now though three points come Sunday is pretty much all that matters, because I don’t know about you but I’ve forgotten what a proper win feels like.