Russell Martin brands Swansea ‘soft’ and ‘pathetic’ while speaks on tempers flaring at Reading in the two sides’ Championship clash.
He made the comments following Tuesday’s defeat at the Royals extended their winless run to eight games.
The Swans are enduring a rough patch, losing three and drew five of their past eight matches, while also conceding first on seven occasions.
Without a win since October, they have now fallen to 16th position in the Championship table.
“We’re soft. We concede the first goal too many times – that’s why we haven’t won,” said Martin – as per BBC Sport.
“I think we dominate every facet of the game but we give away a goal from a set-piece [against Reading], we give away a penalty from a set-piece.
“There’s a problem there, and that will perpetuate a myth that we give away loads of goals. We’re chasing the game again, as usual.
“I can’t criticise the performance between the boxes again but I’m fed up of saying the same thing. We’re too nice in both boxes.
“We’re soft – I’ve just said that to the players. I’m fed up of us rolling over and getting our stomachs tickled by opposition teams who come off the pitch saying we’re the best team they’ve played this season – but we get beaten.
“That doesn’t mean anything if you’re not willing to fight and protect your own box and protect your own goal.
“The amount of goals we’ve conceded from the amount of chances we’ve given away is pathetic, really pathetic and it’s boring.”
Swansea did have a superb start to the season and, after comfortably winning against rivals Cardiff City in October, Martin’s men had been fourth in the standings and only three points adrift of the automatic promotion spots.
But since then, it’s all gone wrong, with his side only in the lead for 44 minutes over the course of eight matches.
They’ve also been top of the Championship’s possession table and controlled games for long periods.
“We’ve outscored everyone in terms of shots on target, chances, regains on the press, all that stuff – but it’s pointless if we don’t win,” Martin added.
“When you’re that soft in your own box, you’re going to have a problem.
“I’m just fed up. People have this picture that we’re really happy playing that way and getting beaten, as long as we dominate the ball and all that stuff, but that’s ridiculous. We want to win.
“But we haven’t won for a long while and it really hurts, and the goals we’re conceding really hurt.”
Martin also admits that he wanted to grab Joe Lumley ‘by the throat’ following the final whistle.
It got rather heated with keeper Lumley celebrating the result with fans in the West Stand, but right in front of the 2,000 travelling Swansea fans.
Speaking after the match, Martin said, as per Reading Chronicle: “I wanted to grab the guy by the throat and fight him, but that’s not a wise thing to do.”
He later accused his players of being ‘too nice’.
“Maybe they’re too nice because we’re too nice to them. I don’t know. We’ll have a chat about that as a group of staff.
“Maybe they reflect how they get treated. We treat them how we feel we would want to be treated as a player.
“We treat them as human beings first, maybe that doesn’t breed a real ugliness or aggressive approach in the box. We have to try and manufacture a way to find that if it’s not natural to them.”
FT: 2-1. Reading come away with all 3 points. A good performance, thought the midfield 4 worked well. Bit of afters following the final whistle… #readingfc #scafc pic.twitter.com/Reg73BISuv
— Ji-Min Lee (@JmlJourno) December 27, 2022
This is what fans said as Russell Martin brands Swansea ‘soft’ and ‘pathetic’ while speaking on tempers flaring at Reading…
@GoddenSA2: Lumley is a bit of a melt, and his antics down here backfired, but this isn’t a good look from our coaching staff (not just RM).
@JRGingyFraud: My shithouse
@_TF93: I really dislike Russell Martin, met him in the lounge at Ibrox when Declan John was playing and thought he was an arrogant prick, we’d just lost to Hibs. Throw in the fact he manages them, I now dislike him twice
@AlexDon39374386: 🤣🤣 gotta be able to take it when you dish it out out ya prick
@enfysjack: Martin loosing his shit last night
@keyrunprichud: i know we lost but this is such a yjb moment
@TomBreezy_: A gaffer that doesn’t care wouldn’t be acting like this. He’s frustrated with the performance, players and other aspects like the never ending problem with timewasting. He’s right tho. we played tragic with no conviction or accountability. If you want russ gone, who comes in?
@RFCJoeJ: What a bellend Russell Martin is 😂
@Mxtteo01: Love that from Lumley 🤣 Rent free Lumley 🤣💪🏼
@Houlton11: Hahaha unlucky Russell Martin. Your team plays pointless football!
@clarks1481: They said ince was salty 😂😂😂😂
@RFCFan77: Respect to Yids getting straight in there to back Lumley up. #readingfc
@TED247: Sacked in the morning
@lambeyyy1871: What a prick Martin is
@petehinton8: Russell Martin being an entitled bellend imagine my shock
@Handbags82: Absolute bellend ✊🏼💦 so salty after the 4-4, and now this.
@gowerjack64: He’s a feckin embarrassment. Get rid
@JamesSCFC_: Glad he said something. Lumley is far too big for a keeper of such low ability
@prmillsy3: Good on Martin
You must be logged in to post a comment Login