Your Swansea City headlines for Tuesday, February 22.
Wolf role explained
Russell Martin believes Hannes Wolf will continue to improve in the wing-back role having been given the chance to shine on the left flank of late.
The Swans allowed Jake Bidwell to join Championship rivals Coventry City last month before signing Nathanael Ogbeta from Shrewsbury Town.
Ogbeta remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, meaning Wolf has deputised at left wing-back in recent weeks having joined on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach in January.
"Hannes has played the role a lot in Germany. Different here to what it was there," said Martin.
"I think he's done brilliantly at wing-back. He's a real threat, really direct and defensively does a brilliant job.
"I think we now have a specialist in Pato [Jamie Paterson] in terms of learning the role inside the pitch and has done unbelievably well.
"Hannes was getting up to speed with that role, but on the outside of the shape, I think he's looked incredible and he's given us another dimension.
"I think he's really happy out there. I've spoken to him and it's not like he's doing it reluctantly, he really enjoys it because the way we play with wing-backs is different to a lot of teams if they play wing-backs.
"He's not at the back end of the pitch a lot, he's at the top end of the pitch in really important actions. I think he's just going to keep getting better in that role."
The Austrian missed his side's 4-0 loss to Sheffield United due to a hamstring concern, although he is expected to be available for the trip to West Brom on Monday night.
And Martin says Ogbeta has a tough task on his hands when it comes to ousting Wolf from the left wing-back role once he's completed his recovery.
"I think Hannes has been excellent. He's [Ogbeta] got good competition when he does get fit," added the head coach.
"If we do get him fit, and we've obviously got Joel [Latibeaudiere] as well, it gives us a bit of flexibility to move Hannes inside if we need or want to keep things fresh."
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'Phenomenal' Martin praised
The Professional Footballers' Association have lauded Russell Martin's work with his own charity as "phenomenal".
The Swansea boss created the Russell Martin Foundation in a bid to give back to his city of birth Brighton.
And PFA chief executive Maheta Molango says the 36-year-old's organisation serves as the perfect example of how footballers can give opportunities to those at grassroots level.
Molango said: "What Russell has achieved with the Foundation in such a short space of time is phenomenal. It is a great example of a former player giving back to the game and their local community.
“Russell speaks passionately about how the Foundation uses football as a tool to support people, and how it positively impacts wider areas such as health and education. The Foundation has also been hugely successful in giving a number of PFA members an opportunity to develop new careers and skills after retiring from the game.
“On behalf of everyone at the PFA, I would like to congratulate Russell and everyone connected to the Foundation for their outstanding contribution and work.”
Following his talks with the PFA, the Swansea boss said: "The PFA provides fantastic support for players past and present but in particular helping players when they retire from the game, so it was great to meet Maheta and learn about how they are looking to develop their support for current and former professionals who are keen to go into this area of work.
“Hopefully what we do at RMF can be a model for other ex-pros who are thinking about setting up their own foundations and ultimately, help them deliver long-term and positive impacts on their communities.”
Cherries date announced
Swansea's rearranged clash with Bournemouth will be played on Tuesday, April 26.
The Swans were due to face the Cherries on Tuesday night, but the Championship contest was postponed after recent storms caused damage to the Swansea.com Stadium.
But Russell Martin's men will now host Scott Parker's side in what will be the Swans' penultimate home game of the 2021/22 season.
All season tickets, seasonal hospitality and match day/hospitality match by match ticket purchases for the original fixture will be valid for the rearranged date. Fans who bought a SwansTV streaming pass for the fixture will be automatically refunded.
Kick-off has been set for 7:45pm.
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