Swansea City shook off their appalling performance rating away from home on Monday night which must have been a huge fillip to both manger Russell Martin and the swans squad. Having had over a week to prepare for the Monday night game at the Hawthorns, things were definitely better on the pitch.

Of course when you look at West Bromwich Albion compared to Stoke City and Sheffield United you see a team low on confidence, and very short on ideas with the ability to execute them. You would think it will only take another three or four games with performances like that and Steve Bruce will be under pressure as much as Valérien Ishmael was before his sacking.

On the swans front we have seen three wins in the last five, and despite those two embarrassing defeats there is some glimmer of hope. It was laborious on Monday at times, and lets be honest the baggies could have gone in ahead at half time. Even in the first fifteen minutes of the second half the likelihood of a swans goal wasn’t that evident. Russell Martin has a squad that is pretty bare when you look beyond being able to bring on Olivier Ntcham who was Monday’s game changer. To see a swans player taking on his opponent, not once but twice and getting in an inch perfect cross was a joy to see.

Then Hannes Wolf doing the same after yet another quiet game should also be a confidence booster for him. Joel Piroe has an astonishing ability to receive a ball in dangerous positions and either convert his chance or put himself in to a position where he can shoot at goal. His game inside the area, that is taking a gamble within the six yard box, or finding a position to head towards goal does though need working on. It didn’t surprise us at all to learn certain premier league clubs were monitoring him in January, despite certain people not having the ability to read through the news we reported and understand the context. That’s always a battle in journalism, and it always will be. We are aware though you enjoyed thoroughly our two days of reports on Hannes Wolf joining the swans that broke on this website. The more intuitive Swansea Independent reader seeing the context again and accepting the information for what it was. Processing information and reflecting on it with a basic cognitive ability can really improve a persons insight. And of course it came to pass.

For us, those are the readers we want in what is also our transition season as a well run website.

Come Saturday the swans will have had a decent amount of time to review Monday’s game, especially those last twenty minutes, and swans fans will also want to see a higher tempo and more creativity. Can us as beggars be choosers as well though ? I think so, it’s no more than the more pragmatic swans fan deserves. A settled swans defence is important and this has been efficiently highlighted by Saturday’s visitors Coventry City this season. The inclusion of Flynn Downes and Matt Grimes works most of the time, especially if Jamie Paterson can find some attacking form from his advanced midfield position. Being backed up by Cyrus Christie is certainly working. When that clicks the opposition defence then have to concentrate on not only Joel Piroe but a pacy Michael Obafemi. Olivier Ntcham when he has the taste for the game puts pressure on any opposition, no matter who they are.

Add in the workhorse ingredient called Ryan Manning and surely we all see a promising plan coming together ?

When that clicks, and when that is seen by every Swansea City supporter from the back to the front there all of a sudden seems to be clarity to Russell Martin’s football dream. It came to life for twenty crucial minutes on Monday, and Swansea more than likely expects the same come Saturday. It’s a real test to see if Russell Martin’s ethos has sustainability and can effectively work for longer than a few games. I feel positive about it, I just keep thinking about how good this could be if it does come together with more additions come the summer. That’s my vision, and it’s an exciting one.

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Photographs licensed from Reuters

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