Russell Martin issues Swansea City plea ahead of Cardiff City clash | OneFootball

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Football League World

·16 October 2021

Russell Martin issues Swansea City plea ahead of Cardiff City clash

Article image:Russell Martin issues Swansea City plea ahead of Cardiff City clash

Russell Martin will be in the dugout for his first South Wales derby as his side come up against Cardiff on Sunday.

It’s a real clash of styles with Martin’s possession-based Swans will be competing with the physical Cardiff City side. However, neither side will be able to boast about their respective starts to the season with both struggling towards the bottom end.


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So, the pressure will be on both sets of managers in the first South Wales derby since fans have been allowed back in the ground.

This has been recognised with Martin calling for cool heads in what promises to be a feisty encounter.

He told the official Swansea website: “We let the fans lift the atmosphere, it’s going to be incredible, let them feel it and enjoy it. That’s the balance for us, managing the emotion of it.

“I’m not going to play it down at all, I’ve been on that side of the fence. It’s huge, I know how much it means for them. It’s a balance for us. We’ve got guys who’ve played enough of them now to understand what it means.”

The atmosphere will certainly be supercharged as it’s the first derby to be played between the two sides with fans in the ground since Swansea beat Cardiff 1-0 in October 2019.

Every derby game requires cool heads and Swansea boast some experienced players to do that. But so do Cardiff which adds an extra edge to the game on top of what is already at stake.

Both teams are struggling at the moment, with the Swans fairing slightly better having lost four times to Cardiff six. As well as that, McCarthy will be desperate for the three points to arrest his side’s run of five straight defeats.

But, with both teams struggling, it’s almost impossible to separate them and the difference could be the experience that both sides have in the dugout and on the pitch.

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