Russell Martin admits Swansea City have a "real problem" with defending set-pieces following their loss to Reading.
The Swans dictated the majority of the contest at the Select Car Leasing Stadium but fell behind as Andy Carroll rifled into the net from a Tom Ince free-kick.
Ince then netted his side's second after a sloppy pass from Steven Benda, before Liam Cullen scored what proved to be a consolation for the Swans, who are now winless in eight matches.
READ MORE: Reading 2-1 Swansea City: Cullen effort not enough as Carroll and Ince goals sink Swans
Indeed, the Swans have not scored the first goal in a game since their most recent win over Cardiff City almost two months ago, and Martin once again re-iterated his concerns over the mentality of his players when it comes to performing defensive duties.
"We have a real problem, somehow, still, at defending set-pieces," he said. "We give away the least amount of shots in the league.
"The mentality is nowhere near strong enough. That's on all of us. So it's really hurtful. The goals we concede, they're crap, they're rubbish. We don't make teams work for them.
"We have to really switch on quickly and improve quickly. When you're a defender, you're judged on those moments. Forget all of the stuff you do on the ball.
"Rightly or wrongly, you'll be judged on how you defend your goal and we're not doing it well enough.
“I think we have spoken about the same things far too many times. We are having the same conversation after far too many games.
“[At Reading] We don’t just dominate the ball, we dominate every aspect of the game. We have more shots and better chances.
“We concede a penalty from a set-piece because we don’t want to fight properly. We concede a goal from a set-piece that shouldn’t have been, we have a chance to deal with the ball, but we don’t.
“We then make a crazy decision to foul someone who is facing the corner flag. We give away a free-kick, we concede and we end up chasing again.
“We had chances. Ollie Cooper should score, Joel Piroe should score. We don’t, and again it’s that problem in both boxes.
“We give away a second goal which is pathetic. We don’t follow the detail and that will perpetuate a myth that we concede loads of goals doing that, when we don’t."
Swansea are now 16th in the Championship table ahead of their final fixture of 2022 against Watford on Friday night.
And Martin has revealed he will hold talks with his coaching staff after conceding his players are "too nice".
"I'm not sure it's our job to pick them (players) up any more, they have to pick each other up," he added. "It's our job to find a way to stop the goals happening.
"Maybe they're too nice because we're too nice to them. I don't know. We'll have a chat about that as a group of staff.
"Maybe they reflect how they get treated. We treat them how we feel we would want to be treated as a player.
"We treat them as human beings first, maybe that doesn't breed a real ugliness or aggressive approach in the box. We have to try and manufacture a way to find that if it's not natural to them.
"Something obviously needs to change because it's happened too much. Our job is to find what we have to change. We haven't found a solution yet. Again, we'll work with the players on it, see what they feel.
"Really, the goals come down to a willingness to fight for each other for what you're doing and to protect your goal. It may be hard when the balance in possession is composure, calmness and courage, but then you need to show courage in a different way when you're defending your own box, throw our body on the line."
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