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Paul Abbandonato

Swansea City news as Russell Martin not for budging on style of play amid heavy criticism following Blackburn horror show

Some of the stories making the Swans news on Sunday August 7

Martin: We'll stick by our style

Swansea City boss insists he won't be budging from the mantra of how he wants his team to play despite the Blackburn Rovers horror show.

Swans director Jake Silverstein was in attendance for the miserable loss and the American will no doubt have concerns in his mind when he heads back across the Atlantic. It is clear Swansea need more players before the summer transfer window closes, but Martin concedes he is unsure how the next few weeks will play out.

However, one thing will be constant. Despite some heavy criticism from fans about what happened on Saturday, and indeed goading from the Blackburn bench, Martin maintains his side will continue with their patient brand of football. The Swans had 71 per cent of the ball, having also dominated possession in the opening day draw with Rotherham, but were miles off the pace where it really mattered.

READ MORE: Gareth Bale rolls back the years with wonder goal

On the situation moving forward, including potential transfers, Martin said: "We don't have the financial resource we did with Premier League parachute payments. Jake knows where we would like to strengthen, he's also been really honest about the financial situation. I can't moan about it, I know the situation, we knew it coming in.

"Do we have a group we feel are really capable of doing something already? Yeah. 100%. Would we like to add to it? Yeah. We'll just have to wait and see. I don't know what's going to go on between now and the end of the window closing. I don't know who's going to be in and who's going to be out.

"But it's good to see him and have even more clarity about the situation and the plans for the club. You have to balance that with supporters wanting success. Every supporter wants success for their football club, especially here where they've seen Premier League football."

But he stressed: "I'm pretty sure the success was built on some tough times in the transition under Roberto (Martinez) many years ago and sticking with it. We'll stick with this for as long as we're wanted here and deemed good enough to do the job.

"We really believe in it and over a period of time we really believe that we can be really successful here."

Ntcham - We must learn from errors

Swans forward Olivier Ntcham has warned of the need to learn from mistakes after the 3-0 Blackburn hiding.

Swansea hope to bounce back this week when they meet Oxford in the Carabao Cup and then Blackpool in their third Championship match at the weekend.

Ntcham, who made his first start of the season but was unable to influence the match against Rovers, told the club's website: "We have to trust the way we work in every game and training session and put that into the performance.

‘We must learn from our mistakes against them and the goals we conceded. We will have to watch the game again and analyse it to then do better in the next game."

Bale wonder goal

Wales captain Gareth Bale scored what is being dubbed a 'wonder goal' overnight as his new club LAFC beat Real Salt Lake 4-1 in the MLS.

Wales and Major League Soccer each tweeted about the moment, which saw the Welsh captain run from his own half before rounding off with a fine finish.

Lots of question marks are being raised by fans about the standard of defending in American football, but Bale's effort was reminiscent of similar solo stunners previously netted for Wales, Real Madrid and Tottenham.

On this occasion he started his run from inside his own half, cut inside two defenders from out wide and produced a sublime finish past goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

Bale was on the brink of joining Swansea's big rivals Cardiff City, before deciding at the 11th hour on a move to the United States. This was his second goal in four games since plumping for LAFC.

Bale did not start the overnight match, but his impact as a substitute helped LAFC to their resounding win as they moved six points clear at the top of the Western Conference.

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