A MESSAGE FROM
RUSSELL MARTIN G
ood afternoon everyone as we look forward to our game with Nottingham Forest here at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Forest’s results have certainly improved since Steve’s appointment, and we’re l o o k i n g fo r wa r d t o a t o u g h game this afternoon.
It’s great to be back on home soil after a long trip to Middlesbrough last weekend – a game that ended in a narrow defeat.
You will have seen in midweek that a number of our players featured in a friendly match against Brentford B.
That came on the back of a loss here to Reading, and those results proved very frustrating because we could have won them with the amount of chances we created.
T h e c o n d i t i o n s we re p rett y difficult in Fairwood due to the weather, but it was a great exercise for us.
That’s football at times, there are fine margins. We understand why we’ve been beaten, which is important, and hopefully we’ve learned from that. We’ ve worked hard in the meantime and we’re looking to give our home supporters something to cheer about this afternoon. Forest, of course, arrive with some familiar faces in their coaching set up. Head coach Steve Cooper led this club to two play-off appearances – including a trip to Wembley last May while his assistant Alan Tate is synonymous with Swansea City following his service as a player and then as a coach.
We’ ve had a fairly consistent starting XI, which has meant s o m e g u y s h a ve n ’ t h a d t h e minutes they would have liked or needed to stay really match fit when they ’re needed in the team. Brentford B were really good opposition who are used to playing together a lot. They were really aggressive and athletic, so it was a great test for our guys in difficult conditions and they got a lot out of it physically while the coaching team took a lot from it tactically and the way they worked together.
It was really important that their team-mates also watched the game. They don’t get to step back and watch how everything pans out in a live game, but this gave them that opportunity. Everyone took something from the game. It looked like a first-team game with the way our guys approached it. We said before and after the game – everyone trains and gets all the detail possible because you could be needed at any point. You could go from out of the squad to into the starting XI, which has happened this season, to going from the bench to starting. You have to give the best version of yourself every day, and that’s the attitude we have here. With today’s game being the final match here before Christmas Day, on behalf of the staff and players I’d like to wish all Jacks a Merry Christmas. Enjoy the game, Russell
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