Top six just out of reach with Swans still learning
Following a run of three successive wins, Swansea City fans went into the Easter weekend full of hope.
With Sheffield United stumbling of late, the door was left ajar for Russell Martin’s men to thrust themselves into the unlikely scenario of challenging for a top six place over the final stages of the campaign. Even at 4:52pm on Easter Monday, the Swans were on course to close the gap in the race for sixth.
But their second-half collapse at the Select Car Leasing Stadium ensured they claimed just two points from their Easter fixtures with Barnsley and Reading.
After the match, Martin conceded that the result against the Royals typified where his team currently are.
“Whenever we’ve been close this season, we haven’t had quite had enough, and that’s probably the sign of where we are,” he said.
“A team that’s learning so much all the time, a group of young men that will improve from today.
“But if we’re a really top team, there would have been no comeback for Reading at 4-1.” An enormous amount of positives could be drawn from the thriller with Reading given the impressive nature of Swansea’s display for 60 minutes in Berkshire.
They are now unbeaten in seven games and have risen up to 13th in the table, although they have not been in the top half since the buildup to their 1-0 loss at Middlesbrough in early December.
With four games remaining, Swansea are seven points adrift of Sheffield United who have played a game more, with Millwall, Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough, Queens Park Rangers, Coventry City and West Brom still harbouring hopes of earning the final play-off place. The Swans are six points off the tally Graham Potter achieved in the 2018/19 campaign while they are 11 off the total Steve Cooper’s side ended with in the Welshman’s first campaign at the club.
The history books show that – since the league structure was changed in 2005 – sides who finish in sixth end the regular season with an average of 74 points. Even if Swansea win all their remaining games they can only now reach 71.
The Swans did of course sneak into the play-offs in dramatic fashion under Cooper with 70 points, coincidentally after scoring four and winning at Reading.
With only 59 points on the board, Swansea’s position in the top six race is effectively over.
Prior to Easter weekend, Sky Bet offered odds of 80/1 for Swansea to finish in the top six. In just four days, they have drifted to 250/1. It represents a huge missed opportunity for Martin’s men, although it was an opening that appeared unfathomable just a couple of months ago. The same applied under Potter as Swansea finished the campaign strongly, as they are doing at present under the current coaching staff.
So for the bigger picture, there clearly huge signs of promise for the Swans. Joel Piroe reached 20 league goals as a result of his brace at Reading while Michael Obafemi edged into double figures for the campaign for the first time in his career. Elsewhere, Ben Cabango once again summed up how much he has developed this term while Flynn Downes excelled on his return to the middle of the park.
Fans have stayed admirably patient during the course of a campaign that has continuously served up frustration and hope, usually all in the same afternoon. With a big summer, the Jack Army have every reason to be optimistic about a genuine play-off challenge next term.
And it’s perhaps Martin’s own comments in the aftermath of the Reading collapse which sum up exactly why it’s the hope that has killed the Swansea faithful in recent weeks, largely because it didn’t even exist regarding a play-off push earlier this year when the Swans were just a few places above the relegation zone.
“I just think it’s another day of learning for us and another day of frustration because, over this weekend, another goal for us in each game and two wins would have been incredible and put us in an unbelievable position that no-one would have expected,” he said.