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Youngest manager in the top four tiers on his unbreakable philosophy, ‘tasty’ five-a-sides at the leisure centre and Cop26It is fair to say the standard of the Wednesday five-a-side league has improved of late at Penyrheol leisure centre, where Swansea supporters have been duelling with familiar faces, including the head coach Russell Martin and technical coach Matt Gill. Unsurprisingly, the staff team are top of the league, set up by the longstanding groundsman at the club’s Fairwood training base, Kevin Roberts, who usually assumes the role of referee. “I told off our kit man, Mike, for playing too many Hollywood passes last week,” says Martin, laughing. “‘Just keep it simple!’ He was fuming. We play the Swans way.”Over the years, Roberto Martínez, Brendan Rodgers, Michael Laudrup and Graham Potter set up Swansea to dominate. Martin, too, believes in a possession-based style and fans are enjoying what they are seeing. The team have had a greater share of possession in every Championship game this season – only Potter’s Brighton enjoyed more of the ball against them, in September’s Carabou Cup match – and in victory against Peterborough last month they completed 779 passes. They average 537 short passes a game – almost double Saturday’s visitors Blackpool – but Martin knows not everybody agrees with his thinking despite four wins in the past six matches. “If you don’t believe in what we’re doing, no problem, but we really do,” he says. Continue reading...