By Gareth James
Russell Martin has challenged his Swansea City players to dictate matters at Stoke City, where new boss Alex Neil will be hoping to whip up a storm.
The Swans travel to the Potteries on Wednesday evening, keen to end a run of just one win in six Championship matches after back-to-back defeats to Luton Town and Middlesbrough.
Martin will face one of his former managers when the Swans head coach was a player at Norwich City, with Neil having jumped ship at Sunderland to replace Michael O’Neil at Stoke.
“We have a little bit of an advantage because I played under Alex, and (Swans assistant head coach) Matt Gill was an academy coach at the time with the under-18s and under-23s, so we’ve had a bit of exposure to the manager,” said Martin.
“We both know him, we understand what that dressing room might be going through, but that doesn’t make it any clearer in terms of how they’re going to set up in terms of formation.
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“I understand the mentality of Alex and what he’ll expect from his team and what he’ll prioritise, I think that can maybe help us.
“I’m looking forward to playing against a previous manager. He’s done a great job wherever he’s been.
“It’ll make the atmosphere more buoyant and I’m sure the players will be desperate to prove themselves in the first game so you have all that to contend with.
“It’s up to us to go there and bring the performance that we want to bring and turn the game into one that we want. We need to dampen down some of the atmosphere and make sure we can control the game as much as possible.
“I’m sure we’ll have plenty of travelling fans again. We’re so grateful for them – we know how long the journey is – so hopefully we can repay them with a good performance and a positive result.”
Ben Cabango will be out for the trip to Stoke as he serves a one-match ban after picking up two yellow cards in defeat to Middlesbrough on the weekend.
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Jamie Paterson is fit and in contention while new signings Luke Cundle and Armstrong Oko-Flex could both be involved.
New Stoke boss Neil said: “What I’m hoping is that we look really organised. I think we’ve got good threats among the group.
“I think there will be good opportunities for us to attack and we’ll hopefully see some attacking flair coming out with the players.
“It’ll be a tough game, as every game in the Championship is, but we want to imprint our stye on Swansea. They’re a good side.
“Results haven’t always reflected performances. I watched the Blackburn game in particular and Blackburn won but Swansea could have easily scored three or four goals with gilt-edged chances.”
