MARTIN’S PRAISE FOR KEEPER AS RAMS ARE DOMINATED
SWANSEA City claimed a point at Derby County at the weekend. Here are the talking points to emerge following the 0-0 draw.
KEY POSITIVE EMERGES FROM FRUSTRATING RUN
Goals are clearly an issue for Swansea at present, with their tally of nine league strikes the fourth worst record in the division ahead of the second international break of the campaign.
Their goalless draw with the Rams on Saturday was their fourth draw in their last six league outings.
Russell Martin’s men kept clean sheets in three of those fixtures, while their latest shutout means their tally of six in that department is the best of any side in the second tier after 11 games.
Ben Hamer played a key role in ensuring Swansea did not concede at Pride Park by denying Wales international Tom Lawrence three times in quick succession in the second half after not being tested in the opening 45 minutes.
And while Swansea have clearly lacked a killer instinct in the final third at times under the current regime, their dominance and control of matches has played a key role in ensuring they can be immensely difficult to break down.
“He had a lot of work to do in possession. I thought he did it brilliantly. He’s got better and better,” said Martin when asked about Hamer and his side’s clean sheet record.
“They’ve (Derby) not created anything. The three shots are off the back of our mistakes, and he dealt with it brilliantly.
“The hardest part for the goalkeeper playing for us at the moment is that you’re not required a huge amount, and hopefully it’ll stay that way.
“So it’s about maintaining concentration and focus for when you are called upon.
“He’ll be the first to give praise to the guys in front of him for not making him too busy, but he’s also been important to us in the last four or five games, for sure.”
MARTIN EXPLAINS WHITTAKER SITUATION
Morgan Whittaker made his first league outing for Swansea since mid-August when he replaced Korey Smith late on at Derby.
The former Rams attacker was jeered by the home crowd as he was sent on in the 88th minute of the stalemate at Pride Park.
He had precious little time to affect proceedings as Swansea desperately went in search of a winner.
And his five-minute cameo took the 20-year-old’s lowly tally of league minutes up to 62 for the campaign, which is no doubt frustrating for a player who netted a hat-trick in the 4-1 Carabao Cup win over Plymouth Argyle in the opening month of the campaign.
The January recruit could well have left Swansea in the most recent transfer window, with Lincoln City making an approach to sign the forward on loan.
And Martin has revealed he has held talks with Whittaker over his position within the squad.
“I think every player wants more minutes,” explained Martin.
“I’m really honest with the guys. The ones who are not getting minutes understand the reason why. There’s never a conversation where you just fob them off and tell them just what you think they want to hear.
“Morgan understands why he’s not in the squad, and he accepts there are things he really needs to improve on. His attitude has been great, he deserved to be back in the squad today.
“We could maybe have brought him on a tiny bit earlier, but Korey had a brilliant action just before he
went off, so it made it difficult.
“He’s part of the squad and it’s up to him to make himself a really important part of the squad and he knows what he needs to do to make that happen.”
WAYNE ROONEY’S TELLING ASSESSMENT
Wayne Rooney admits he was happy to claim a point against Swansea.
The Rams failed to register a single shot on or off target in the first half at Pride Park, while they created precious little after half-time as Swansea continued to boss possession.
And the former England striker praised Swansea for the way they controlled proceedings in Derbyshire.
“I thought it was a very difficult game and Swansea moved around well, which we knew they would do, and they caused us problems,” said the Derby head coach.
“We changed our shape and after that we looked a threat and created a few good chances in the second half.
“We knew we would struggle to implement our game on them, so it was about defending well and trying to possibly get a goal on the break.
“We had to dig in and try to keep a clean sheet. Overall, it is a good point.
“Everyone worked extremely hard and while it was frustrating to not play better than we did, we are happy to take a point and move on.”
SWANS TO BE FULLY FIT FOR CARDIFF
Martin expects Swansea to be fully fit for their derby clash with Cardiff City after the international break.
Swansea host Mick McCarthy’s side, who have lost their last five league outings on the trot, at the Swansea.com Stadium on Sunday, October 17.
Michael Obafemi, Ryan Bennett and Olivier Ntcham are all expected to be fit for the visit of the Bluebirds, while the likes of Joel Piroe and Jamie Paterson will be well rested ahead of the crunch contest.
And while Martin revealed some of his players picked up knocks in the goalless draw with Derby, the head coach is confident he will have a full squad to select from when Swansea return from the international break.
“I think we’ll have all of the guys back,” he said.
“Ryan Bennett will be back, Michael Obafemi will be back, Olivier will be back so we’ll be in good shape for that hopefully.”
Martin also confirmed that Ethan Laird would not feature for England’s Under-21s during the international break due to a combination of fatigue and a knock, while defender Ryan Manning, who was called up by Republic of Ireland for their World Cup qualifier with Azerbaijan, will also be assessed after sustaining a knock at Derby.