By Paul Jones
Russell Martin reckons the best move Swansea City made during the transfer window was to give Leeds United the brush off when they came calling for Joel Piroe.
After a 1-0 home win over QPR, the Swans head coach was full of praise and admiration for his Dutch striker, who has been the subject of rumour and speculation over a possible departure all summer.
Martin admitted the uncertainty had affected last season’s top scorer in the opening weeks of the campaign, but once the window closed – and Leeds’ tentative enquiries on deadline day were rebuffed – then Piroe’s first game without conjecture saw him back to his familiar best.
The 23-year-old may have missed an early penalty, but within six minutes he was showing the calm self-assurance of last season as he rolled the ball home for the only goal of the game.
Martin admitted: “We are really lucky to have him.
“The best bit of transfer business we did was to keep him, for sure. He contributed the goal and the way he has dealt with all the speculation and all the noise has been incredible.
“He has been so focussed. But he does love it here. He’s genuine when he says that.
Joël Piroe. The best striker in world football pic.twitter.com/i78xmDAK4X
— Elis (@scfcelis) September 3, 2022
I was shocked he missed the penalty. He still is and such are his standards that he is really annoyed in the dressing room.
“He scored the winning goal but he’s really angry with himself. What a brilliant young man.
“He has grown over the last year. What he gives us physically, out of possession, goes under-estimated and under the radar.
“He is so clever in the way he presses and what he gives the team. He had to do a lot of that today. He helped limit QPR to very little.
“We have put him in the position that he wants to play. It has been difficult to accommodate both him and Michael (Obafemi). He has found a way to play in the position we have been playing him.
“But now’s he’s playing as a No.9, which is where he wants to play. I am really pleased for him that he’s got three goals in three games now and I expect him to hit the heights and do as well as he did last season.
“The relationship he has with the staff and the rest of the squad is excellent. He is held in such high esteem and so long as he keeps working hard he will continue to be fantastic for us.”
Piroe underlined why Swansea were right to turn a deaf ear to Leeds. The forward brushed off a 15th minute saved penalty by Seny Dieng to calmly stroke the ball past the QPR goalkeeper six minutes later.
It was enough to give the Swans their first home win of the season and halt Rangers’ roll after back-to-back victories over Watford and Hull.
Piroe scored 24 goals last season and the £15m-rated 23-year-old will find his value goes far higher if he continues at his current strike rate of a goal in each of his last three games.
His penalty effort after handball by Jimmy Dunne was decent enough but Dieng produced an exceptional save.
But when Piroe was set up by Ollie Cooper, his head had cleared and he found the net with ease.
Striker Michael Obafemi was left out of Swansea’s squad to face Queens Park Rangers because he “wasn’t in the right frame of mind” says head coach Russell Martin ⚽️#BBCFootball
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) September 4, 2022
While Piroe was back in the groove, Martin left out his other main striker, Obafemi, after claiming the Republic of Ireland player’s focus had drifted following the rejection of three bids from Burnley, who failed to meet a £10m valuation.
“We had a chat after the deadline day madness and both decided it was best for him to have the weekend off and that he couldn’t contribute in a way that he should have,” said Martin.
“I’m a young manager and have to learn a lot, I shouldn’t have brought him on Wednesday with what was going on, I made the wrong call. But I feel like we made the right call today, and Michael agreed.
“He’ll come back in on Monday, we’ll have a really good chat and we’ll make sure he’s in the right frame of mind to contribute. His head has been filled with all sorts of nonsense since we first came back in, so his energy has been a bit different.
“We need to get back to the Michael Obafemi we had from December onwards and I’m sure we will.
It might have been different game if Swans defender Ben Cabango had been given a red card when he pulled back Chris Willock after 30 seconds.
‘ -.
The gaffer’s reaction to defeat in Swansea #QPR | #SWAQPR pic.twitter.com/bpyA8ewVpH
— QPR FC (@QPR) September 3, 2022
“Cabango’s a lucky boy,” said QPR boss Mick Beale.
“Chris has been an honest boy. I think if Chris falls over, he’s gone. He didn’t and we shouldn’t be asking a player to fall over because we don’t like that in our game.
“I’m not going to be that type of manager that sits here and canes the referee. But that’s a tough call and, if it’s at the other end, then Russell is saying the same.”
