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Swansea v Stoke
Worrying times with our team unable to keep a clean sheet and missing chances the other end. We have to go back to 12 Nov and Huddersfield away to find the last match where we didn’t concede a goal.
It was another late one conceded at Blackburn last Saturday to give them a first win since 1 Jan, Ayala unmarked at the far post for a free header.
Disorganised/panic/unfit/poor tactics/poor substitutions/players unable to play Martins system/players just not good enough, you name it, it’s all been said lately. We have not improved in the 18 months he’s been in charge, three wins in 18 matches tells the story.
There’s a lot of fans venting their frustration on the various Swans forums and Martin is losing what little support he had with this run of poor results.
On to Tuesday, another midweek night match, and another game against a struggling side, Stoke, and with attendances dwindling, last home match was our lowest crowd of the season.
At least we won’t have to face bogey-man, always scores against us, ex-player Sam Clucas, he’s out injured, but we will face ex-loanee central defender Ben Wilmot.
Stoke are also on a bad run with only 3 wins in the last ten matches, same as the Swans, and are 19th in the table, so both managers will be anxious to turn things around, it will be a hard watch.
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Swans:
Andy Fisher, Nathan Wood, Ben Cabango, Harry Darling, Matty Sorinola, Joe Allen, Matt Grimes (c), Ryan Manning, Ollie Cooper, Morgan Whittaker, Joel Piroe
Subs:
Andreas Søndergaard, Olivier Ntcham, Liam Cullen, Joel Latibeaudiere, Kyle Naughton, Liam Walsh, Cameron Congreve
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Swans 1 (Whittaker 2’) - Stoke 3 (Laurent 15’, 19’, Baker 93’)
These are worrying times, with relegation form upon us.
Fifty goals conceded makes us the joint worst defence in the Championship with bottom club Wigan.
Boos rang out around the ground at the end of this match after another defensive collapse, conceding another 3 goals to lowly Stoke.
We scored in the first two minutes, Whittaker with his first start and first goal since returning from his loan spell at Plymouth. Laurent scored two, the first in a goalmouth scramble and the second he was unmarked to score from a Campbell cross. A breakaway in the 93’ outpacing our defence and Baker fired home to seal the win.
Quite where we go from here I don’t know. With our shambolic defending relegation is not out of the question.
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Now that the dust has settled on the latest match shambles it has to be asked where we go from here. In a month we’ve gone from looking at a play-off push to looking downwards at relegation. The slump in form is huge, our defence is unable to keep a clean sheet. The meddling owners and their refusal to back the manager in the transfer window must also take some of the blame, and also the coaching staff who have been unable to sort out our defensive problems in the last 18 months of tenure.
Whoever you blame, be it inferior players or inferior coaching, Martin’s system and the way we play is not working and we cannot go on like this, throwing away matches and points.
Priority now is points to stave off relegation and regroup at the end of the season. If we have to abandon Martins playing style to do it, so be it. If he’s not willing to change then he has to go, and we have to bring in a coach who can stop the slide.
There’s no doubt we’ve gone backwards this season, tippy-tippy possession football is not working with these players.
Any players with skill, speed and flair have been sold or moved on and we are left with League One standard players.
Opposition managers love to play against us. Sit back and let us pass the ball to death in our own half, then high press us until we make a mistake and pounce.
We need action now before it’s too late.
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Easier said than done Estoban. The owners won’t get rid of the manager it would cost too much. I’m afraid we’re stuck with him until the end of the season at least. He has to turn this around, the players have lost confidence, he needs to get them back on track this week.
He has until Monday before our next game. Go back to basics and concentrate on not conceding in games.
