This is the month for Swansea City to make a big difference
Thursday, 2nd Feb 2023 12:51 by Keith Haynes

Swansea City have four home games this month, all winnable and all most certainly the catalyst that will tell us all where the club is regards chasing a positive end to the season. Birmingham City, Blackpool, Stoke City and Rotherham United are the opposition, and all of these games have to be taken on with victory in mind.

It starts on Saturday with Birmingham City visiting the Swansea.com stadium ( Kick Off 3pm ) Away from home the blues have been a difficult proposition for Swansea at times, and at home is similar. It was 2019 when Swansea last beat Birmingham in front of a crowd, that was 3-0. The Swans haven’t beaten Birmingham City in the past five meetings drawing three and losing two. In fact it was 2020 when the last win was recorded. That was away winning 3-1 under strict covid regulations at the time.

Back in November a disappointing 2-2 draw was the result after the Swans looked good value for the three points. After the Blues went one up the Swans struck back with goals from Matt Grimes and Olivier Ntcham. Failure to take a host of chances in the second half left Troy Deeney to equalise on eighty nine minutes.

After the game Swans manager Russell Martin said. "The overriding feeling is pride for the players, the way they bounced back after a difficult start. We have a young group. We are very early into the journey with a lot of the players. They played with immense courage on the ball. But we have a problem at the set-piece again. That's about taking responsibility, listening to the detail and then carrying it out. We have conceded far too many goals for the amount of shots and chances we give away, so we have an issue with that. But some of the football first half was outstanding - we had some incredible performances. That's why I am frustrated."

Pretty much the story of the season so far and that’s why Swansea City have to take ahold of games by the scruff of the neck this month. Four winnable home games are there for the taking. Away games at Sheffield United next week and Blackburn Rovers complete this months six fixtures, that’s eighteen points to play for and if the Swans have any goal of staying in touch with the play offs then they have to look at four wins at least. The mid table form which has been carried over from last season has to be corrected.

With the disruptive Michael Obafemi now gone and Morgan Whittaker viewed as some form of replacement there’s plenty of scope up front with Joel Piroe, Liam Cullen and Morgan in the mix. The midfield is sound, in fact it’s as sound as it has been under Russell Martin with the emergence of Ollie Cooper, and he is scoring goals as well. Ntcham most certainly has to be more than a big part player, his goals have been valuable this season but a ninety minute Ntcham is surely achievable ?

It’s the rearguard that causes Swansea fans the biggest concern. No additions in areas that were obviously needed to a defence that leaks goals at times will be seen as the achilles heel by all the opposition this month. If the detail Russell Martin talks about continues to be ignored by those defenders he refers to then more games will be lost, and more frustration will follow.

Captain Matt Grimes see’s the challenges. “I think there were two thousand of our fans at QPR and they were just as loud as the other three stands put together. So they make a huge difference, and we need to put performances on that the fans can really get behind and I think the Watford game was the perfect example of that. If we can put a few of those together, we can build momentum for this final third of the season."

It’s a great opportunity for Swansea City this month to display that after eighteen months Russell Martin’s vision is achievable. His win rate is below thirty five percent and his win, loss and draw stats are very similar, including goals scored and conceded. That really has to change, it reflects a mid table end to this season again if it continues - and when the football the team plays is reviewed it’s much better than that.

It starts on Saturday then, after a decent break a refreshed Swansea City take on Birmingham City who played extra time in their defeat to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup this week. And it’s the start of what we see as a period where Russell Martin really does have to prove his doubters wrong after eighty one games in charge.