Russell Martin calls for repeat performance
Russell Martin has challenged his Swansea City squad to back up their south Wales derby performance and result when West Brom visit SA1 tonight (7.45pm).
The Swans take on the high-flying Baggies buoyed by a 3-0 victory over Cardiff City on Sunday thanks to goals from Jamie Paterson, Joel Piroe and Jake Bidwell in front of a fully-charged Jack Army.
With such a short turnaround in games, the Swans were immediately preparing for tonight’s game on Monday in Fairwood.
And Martin wants to see a repeat performance from his players as they take on a team that was relegated from the Premier League last season.
“I’m sure our fans were all still talking about the game on Monday morning, and I’m glad that’s the case because we want them to enjoy it as much as possible,” said Martin.
“But for the coaching staff and players we were straight onto analysing the game and pointing out areas where we could have been better along with the good points.
“The challenge for us now as a group is to back that performance and result up against West Brom. We’ve spoken a lot about delivering that kind of performance and result, but now we have to maintain that. It’s no good playing like that and not building on it.
“We’ve only had a few days to prepare, while West Brom have had two days more as they played on the Friday, but the lads have been really focussed in training.
“As a team, we have to rise to the challenge of repeating our performance levels from Sunday and deliver a good result against a West Brom side that has started the season very well following their relegation from the Premier League.”
Martin has a full squad to choose from, with every player involved in training sessions building up to the game.
His side take on a Baggies outfit that has lost just once this season – a 1-0 defeat at Stoke earlier this month.
And the Swans boss knows it will prove another tough Championship challenge against a Baggies side that has started the season well under new boss Valerian Ismael.
“West Brom have endured a lot of change following relegation, but they’ve done really well under a new manager,” added Martin.
“They have a clear identity under a manager who had a successful season with Barnsley last season.
“We won’t go into this game thinking the work is done because we put in a very good performance and beat Cardiff. This is a different game, a different form of emotion attached to it, and we have to be on top of our game.
“It’s an opportunity to change our position in the league. It’s still very early days, but we’re far off the top six and a win could move us into the top half.”
