Sheffield United: Russell Martin says he's "proud" of his Swansea players after goalless draw at home to Blades

Russell Martin, the Swansea City manager, says he is “proud” of how his players went about their business in their goalless draw with Sheffield United this evening.
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Both sides picked up their first point of the season in south Wales on an evening that saw Swansea dominate possession, but the Blades create the better chances.

Swans goalkeeper Steven Benda was the busier of the two stoppers, but United still haven’t found the back of the opposition net in two league games so far under Slavisa Jokanović.

And Martin said: “I’m really proud of the team.

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“We played some really good stuff and I thought the players were excellent in how they went about it. There were some guys who haven’t played 90 minutes yet, and I’m proud of them.

“We’re not where we want to be in terms of fitness but we had some great moments. The guys are giving us everything, hopefully they enjoyed it. We look forward to improving it and going again.”

Martin is trying to instil a different style of play, encouraging his players to play out from the back. It caused a couple of hairy moments, including when David McGoldrick closed down Benda, but the German kept a clean sheet.

Russell Martin, manager of Swansea City (Warren Little/Getty Images)Russell Martin, manager of Swansea City (Warren Little/Getty Images)
Russell Martin, manager of Swansea City (Warren Little/Getty Images)

“Tonight, even after a couple of scary moments, I thought Steve was brilliant,” the former Milton Keynes Dons boss, who joined Swansea this summer, added.

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“There are going to be mistakes, we have to learn from them but there’s been an improvement in every game we’ve played so far.”

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