Well Swansea City are the talk of the town. Not content with ripping up trees in the second tier of the league, they've set about the Premiership now. Having already dumped Hull City and Portsmouth out of cup competitions this season, it was Fulham's turn to be out-played and out-thought at the weekend. And boy were they.
The national journalists were fallng over themselves with compliments for the Championship side, the following quotes a mere taste of what followed a thoroughly excellent performance.
The Telegraph (15/02) - "It was the most enjoyable display I have seen from a team outside the Premier League in years. Roberto Martinez’s side were impressive enough in the first half.....and dazzling at times afterwards."
The Times (16/02) - "Neutral observers in Seville on Wednesday evening marvelled at the comfort in possession of Spain’s players as the European champions eased aside England. In South Wales on Saturday, the English invaders from Fulham — players and fans alike — might have experienced a sharp sense of déjà vu with Swansea City displaying a similar exhibition of free-flowing football."
The Observer (16/02) - "The last time these two sides met in this competition 14 years ago Fulham, then in Division Four, scored seven goals without reply from a third-tier City side. Here Swansea created so many chances that the scoreline could have been the other way round, a combination of Mark Schwarzer, the woodwork and sheer bad luck denying them a deserved place in the quarter-finals for the first time since 1964, back when they were known as Swansea Town."
High praise indeed, but it hasn't always been the case from opposition managers. It seems Swansea are rather fortunate this season, as every team they've played against, has had an off-day. Confused? Take a look at these post-match comments from oppostion managers.
-Roy Hodgson (Fulham) - “I thought it was a jaded performance from us and a good performance from them."
-Glenn Roeder (Norwich City) - ''I give them some credit because they capitalised on our mistakes and they did that well. I like the way they play. I said to their manager afterwards: 'Keep on passing the ball because it's attractive."
-Simon Grayson (Blackpool) - "We lacked that a little bit and gave it back too easily, which you can't afford to do.
-Owen Coyle (Burnley) - ''We didn't start well enough and we're not going hide behind the penalty incident. We didn't have our usual urgency and tempo early on. I thought we'd got through that, but just when we were starting to look lively, they got in front.''
-Tony Adams (Portsmouth) - “We were caught by surprise. They were all prepared and I showed them what a good team Swansea were but they were still caught on the hop."
Hardly over-generous these managers, in stark contrast to the ever-cynical national scribes, though it is hardly surprising. Each of the managers above had just seen their side out-played by a Swansea side intent on playing the beautiful game. And if there's anything more galling than seeing someone younger do your job better than you, then I wouldn't introduce it to any of the above men.
It may pain them to say it, but even they would have to admit to themselves, Swansea City are going places.
Recent messageboard and guestbook activity on Swansea City websites has been dominated by the future of Roberto Martinez. With a lack of results and performances to bemoan, some people always have to find a negative in there, and so they've plucked Roberto Martinez jumping ship from nowhere.
Chris Kamara put it excellently when he said he was unsurprised at the level of attention now being focused on Swansea City, and our Spanish manager. Our results, performances and style of play have all been excellent in the 2 years since Roberto took the helm. As Kamara continued to say, Roberto Martinez and Swansea aren't a surprise package any more, and that extra attention will bring speculation - be it players in and out or the managerial merry-go-round.
So, what is the liklihood of him leaving? Martinez himself has always been the epitome of calm and professionalism in the press. When the subject of his future has come about, he has always maintained his future lies with Swansea as far as he's concerned. Even in his autobiography he pushed the fact that the only time he will leave Swansea is if the board's ambitions to go all the way did not match his own, or if he was let go, as he was as a player.
Big talk, some might say. Swansea have an infamous past with regards quotes such as these. Brian Flynn was told he had 'a job for life' when he saved the club from the abyss, yet less than 12 months later found himself unemployed.
Many people have written on forums and the like that Roberto would leave if Barcelona came in for him. Ridiculous. Now I am one of Martinez's biggest fans. Although the original appointment smacked of the 'cheap option' no-one can argue that the correct decision was not made. But Barcelona? The favourites for this years Champions League? Whereas I believe that one day Martinez will have both the reputation and silverware behind him to be linked with a job such as Barcelona's, that is a long way off right now.
The reasons? Well, whereas Martinez can walk into a dressing room here and command instant respect, do you think the same would be true if he walked into a dressing room containing Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry? They would look at him and in all honesty probably not know who he is. This is the reason so many high-profile players get the big jobs maybe before they are ready - they command instant respect within dressing rooms and football circles.
Now I believe Martinez commands much respect within British circles, but I'm not so sure about the Spanish ones. Remember this is a player who played no more than a handful of times for Real Zaragoza and spent the best part of his career at Wigan Athletic, whilst they were stranded in the lower divisions. As a manager, a wonderful job though he has done at Swansea City, it is a completely different pressure to satisfy the demands of the Catalan faithful. That theory can also be applied to any club big enough to tempt Roberto Martinez away, too.
It shows how far Swansea City has come since 2003 when some of the supporters biggest concerns is that the manager will jump ship for FC Barcelona, however.
At the end of the day, no Swansea fan has any reason to doubt Roberto Martinez's word. He dropped down a division because he didn't want to play against us when he left as a player, and has done nothing since to warrant any criticism frankly. He is one of football's gentlemen and I for one am so glad we have him.
-Congratulations to Roberto Martinez for his first Manager of the Month award at this level.
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