By Paul Jones
Russell Martin has told Swansea City fans he takes responsibility for the collapse of their two-goal lead against Millwall that cost them two precious Championship points.
The Swans head coach insists the collective lack of authority that resulted in two own goals in injury time – and a 2-2 home draw – is down to him.
The Swans have won just once in their last 11 matches in all competitions.
Martin was angered by one of his benched players – understood to be Jamie Paterson – punching the ball back towards the visitors and enabling them to take a quick throw-in, from which they scored their equaliser.
But he has insisted the greater fault lies with himself for setting the tone that enables a team that should have been buried to go away with a share of the spoils.
Lost leads and late goals conceded were a feature of the Swans’ fading form in the last campaign, best illustrated by their 3-3 draw at home to Bournemouth after they had led 3-0.
Martin insists it is a weakness that he has to take the rap for.
“We should make more of our own chances in the final third – I have to take responsibility for it, I’m in charge of the mentality of the team,” said Martin.
“Even though we have so many young men on the pitch, we have to do better than we did.
Considering the fact I don’t want Russell Martin out but as a fan that people need to speak up on the results and the way we performing. There’s no consistency plus 1 win and 11 games is something that needs to be flagged up.
— Ace Humphreys 🏴 (@homerboss10) August 16, 2022
“For 93 minutes we were by far and away the best team. Dominant, aggressive – everything we got criticised for against Blackburn, and rightly so in a lot of senses, I think the boys put right tonight.
“The ball goes out for a throw-in, and one of our players [who is] not involved punches the ball back on the pitch.
“I’m absolutely furious about it. I’ve told him. That just can’t happen. He punched the ball back to them to take a throw-in quickly and we concede a goal.
“Whether you’re on the bench or whether you’re not involved, you need to add value to your team somehow. That’s certainly not adding value.
“They are the moments in this league where if that’s against us, I am pretty sure it’s getting hit into the stands, it takes a minute to get it back and the game’s done, everyone goes away feeling really good.”
Ryan Manning scored the first goal for Swansea inside a minute and Michael Obafemi made it 2-0 after 12 minutes.
We’ve got such fickle fans, 2-0 and he’s a god, 2 OGs in 2 mins and he needs to go. Deserves criticism but if you’re blaming tonight purely on Russell Martin you can’t see past your own agenda. Too many players tonight happy to let a ball get crossed in at the end of the game.
— Sam Thomas 🏴 (@SamThomas888) August 16, 2022
Then in a frantic finish, own goals from Swansea defenders Harry Darling and Nathan Wood in the third and fifth minutes of added time turned what looked like a home win into a draw.
Millwall manager Gary Rowett insisted his team deserved a point for their overall contribution to a fluctuating game.
“It felt like the game had gone for us on 90 minutes, but we were still getting good chances,” said Rowett.
“They had 18 shots to our 16, so we still had plenty of opportunities on goal. I was an assistant manager once when we were leading 5-2 with eight minutes to play and we ended up losing 6-5, so anything can happen.
“Even though they outpassed us and outplayed us, we hit the bar twice and we should have had two penalties. We had just as many good moments as they did.
All of these in our last 10 games. Absolutely unforgivable, and fucking infuriating. pic.twitter.com/KmiNciSxHJ
— SwanseaCityJacks (@SwanseaFC_Jacks) August 16, 2022
“We want to be the team that keeps going to the last whistle. If we run out of time we run out of time, but we don’t run out of character and effort in trying to turn the game around.
“I think teams will be fearful of our determination, but not our starts to games – that’s pretty clear. I think we will improve and we’re a team that will be hard to beat. But we’ve got to be more solid.”
