MARTIN RUES SILLY MISTAKES
RUSSELL Martin admits Swansea City must urgently stop the “silly moments” that are costing them dearly following their defeat to Sheffield United.
Goals from Sander Berge, Jack Robinson and former Swansea striker Oli McBurnie earned the Blades an emphatic win over Martin’s men at Bramall Lane to ensure the visitors have won just twice in their last 14 league outings.
The away side’s defending in Yorkshire left a lot to be desired at times, and Martin says Paul Heckingbottom’s outfit were better at some of the game’s “non-negotiables” during the clash.
“They have real quality to punish you with moments like that. We’re playing against a team who manage the game better than anyone in the league,” said the 37-year-old.
“They’re the worst team to go behind to, I think. There are positives today. I think we all feel worse because of what happened last week (against Birmingham City).
“It’s a tough day for us. With the start of the game we had I felt comfortable and confident. But we concede a rubbish goal.
“Then the free-kick comes off the bar, we have loads of bodies in there, Ryan (Manning) slips, they follow up and score, and that sums up where both teams are at probably.
“They’re really on the front foot and aggressive in their reaction, we slip and make a mistake and it goes in.
“It’s the same as last week. The third one, we give the ball away but we have so many times to correct that. We have two or three guys walking back facing our own goal. If we get in a bit earlier the ball doesn’t even go to McBurnie and we end up clearing it in the middle of the goal.
“Whichever way you want to play, whether you want to be direct, play on the counter-attack or try to dominate the ball like we do, that part of the game is so important, it’s nonnegotiable, and we don’t do it well enough at the moment.
“Sheffield United do it brilliantly. It makes a big difference.
“We have to stop the silly moments. As a group of staff, watching the goals we’ve conceded over the last week or two and trying to understand them and see if there’s a pattern to them.
“The pattern is we make too many mistakes, teams don’t have to work hard enough. The amount of goals we’ve been given through individual mistakes are not very many. We have to work really hard for ours.”
Swansea dropped to 15th in the Championship following their loss to the Blades, while they are now seven points adrift of the play-off spots.
They return to action at home against Blackpool on Wednesday night in what is a crucial period if they are to be in contention for a topsix berth come the end of the campaign.
“It’s a big game for us,” Martin said of the clash with Mick McCarthy’s side. “Blackpool are fighting for their lives. We need to bounce back. Any game after two defeats is a big game, whatever moment you’re in.
“People will feel it’s a bigger game than it is because of everything that’s gone on in the last few weeks, which is understandable.
“We have an extremely young squad, if you look at the difference in experience in the games at this level and beyond in the Premier League between the two squads, it’s vastly different.
“So it’s where we’re at. We have to keep building, trying to grow and trying to show courage.”