By Paul Jones
Russell Martin insists Swansea City are already planning for a summer rebuild – with him still as head coach.
The heat on Martin was turned up when his team lost for the seventh time in nine matches at Millwall on Tuesday night as they went down, 2-1.
Swansea co-owner Steve Kaplan made a rare appearance to watch his club, but it failed to alter a familiar pattern where the Swans dominate possession but lose the game.
A sequence of just three wins in 21 matches has seen the Swans slip from the fringes of the play-off race to the fringes of a relegation battle and placed a question mark over Martin’s future.
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Millwall Clinch Crucial Victory Against Swansea Despite Late Scare
Charlie Cresswell poked home the opener before Andreas Voglsammer doubled Millwall’s lead with his second in as many games.
In a breathless few minutes, Ryan Manning gave Swansea hope, deflecting a 20-yard strike from Matt Grimes past a wrong-footed George Long in the Millwall goal.
But Gary Rowett’s side held on, the win moving them two points clear of Blackburn, who occupy the final play-off spot.
Cameron Congreve and Liam Smith were among the substitutes for the away side at The Den, given the absences of experienced men such as Joe Allen, Jay Fulton and Joel Latibeaudiere.
“It probably highlights how thin the squad is, it also highlights why we’re excited by what we can achieve over a long period of time here with some of the young players we’ve got,” added Martin.
“Ten of the 18 are under 23 tonight, six of the starting XI as well, so there’s loads to be positive about. They train with us every day and they have a real chance.
“I had a good couple of hours with Steve this afternoon and he just reinforced the support for what we’re doing in the long term.
“He asked a lot of questions about a lot of the players and the period we’ve been through. He’s been really supportive since I’ve been at Swansea.”
Milwall manager Gary Rowett said: “Every time I’ve played Swansea in the last three or four years it’s been exactly the same type of game.
“It’s been frustrating, it’s been hard to play against and low-key in terms of tackles and that little bit of physicality that we like. So, we found that tough in the first half.
“I made a change at half-time and decided I’d rather go up against them a little bit and take a bit of a gamble and lose the game that way if that was what we had to do.
“But we needed to get a little bit of life into the game and inject a bit of atmosphere into it.
“We scored two different types of goals. The first one, Cressy (Charlie Cresswell), with a lot of bodies, does really well to prod it home.
“And the second goal, it’s great play by Zian (Flemming) to break free down the left-hand side and he plays a lovely little pass inside to George Honeyman, and he’s aware enough to find Vogy (Andreas Voglsammer).”
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