No disrespects to Russell Martin, but it sounded like a carbon copy of a MK Dons game.
Patience, mate, patience. Sheepfield United game was a huge improvement to the Blackburn one. Not in the final third but defensively. Sheepfield didn't create much. Just imagine what would have happened if it was Cooper instead of Martin? McBurnie, Brewster, Sharp etc. would've slaughtered us.
In his post-match interview Martin says he is well aware of our struggles in the final third. He also says the coaching staff has been working with our back-line in order to give us some structure (read: trying to eradicate sloppy passing). They haven't been working much with the players who play up front.
Let's have a look at some stats from the Sheepfield game.
Six Swansea players had 90+ % passing accuracy. Ten Swansea players had passing accuracy >= 80%. As a team we had 88% passing accuracy.
Possession: Swansea 63%, Sheepfield United 37%.
Shots: Swansea 8, Sheepfield 8.
Shots on target: Swansea 1, Sheepfield 2.
Dribbles: Swansea 4, Sheepfield 11.
Aerials won: Swansea 15, Sheepfield 20.
Tackles: Swansea 14, Sheepfield 11.
Corners: Swansea 1, Sheepfield 6.
Dispossessed: Swansea 9, Sheepfield 8.
Forward passes: Swansea 352, Sheepfield 256
Passes in the final third: Swansea 147, Sheepfield 102.
Conclusion
1. We controlled the game much better than against Blackburn.
2. Sheepfield created better chances and had more corner-kicks than we did.
3. One of the reasons we were not able to create more is that Sheepfield was forced to park the bus for the vast majority of the game. We we so dominant with the ball in their half.
4. When an opposing team parks the bus, then you have to shoot and cross more, run with the ball towards instead of around opposition box, dribble more and play more one-twos.
5. Martin says we lacked explossiveness in the final third. He should've brought in Piroe, Dhanda and Whittaker earlier than he did.
P.S. I call Sheffield United Sheepfield United because they call us sheep-shaggers on their fans forums. I hoped Swansea Shaggers would've shagged Sheffield Sheep at least 3:0.