Entertaining and encouraging end to pre season fixtures.

9 Responses to Entertaining and encouraging end to pre season fixtures.

1. Mike says:

   August 3, 2014 at 8:48 am

   Great stuff Bob,

   Another very good and balanced view of the Bluebirds progress pre-season. I really enjoy reading your blogs.

   Well done.
2. Robert says:

   August 3, 2014 at 9:09 am

   Thanks for another great review. I live in Rio and really appreciate your balanced blogs
3. The other Bob Wilson says:

   August 3, 2014 at 10:31 am

   Thanks very much both for those comments.
4. Adrian Lloyd Pickrell says:

   August 4, 2014 at 12:02 pm

   Hello Paul,

   just browsing the VFL Wolfsburg website & forum this morning over here in Germany and they were quite impressed with us. They found us difficult to deal with and were suprised that we refused to die after going two down and that they they could not finish us off.
   This was the general view from the Wolfsburg camp and forums today.
   Early days though. We shall see.

   best regards

   Adrian
5. The other Bob Wilson says:

   August 4, 2014 at 1:05 pm

   Hello Adrian, good to hear from you again.

   I was both pleased and surprised by the way we responded to going two goals down and, basically, being given a football lesson by Wolfsburg for most of the first half. In fact, our comeback was so good that Wolfburg’s late equaliser came as something of a shock, because we were winning nearly all of the fifty/fifty challenges and had been dominant territorially for all of the second half.

   Thinking about it, maybe the fact that we are closer to the start of our league season than Wolfsburg are might have had something to do with the way we got on top as the game went on – were Wolfsburg thrown out of their rhythm by the intensity we showed for the last fifty minutes of the game? By the same token, I was very critical of our defeat by Amkar Perm, but the Russian Premier League started this weekend and so they were that bit further into their pre season preparations than we were.
6. Dai Woosnam says:

   August 5, 2014 at 3:30 am

   Thanks for a great report as usual, Paul.
   I watched a lot of Wolfsburg last season*, and know they are a capable side.
   And although he is 34 years old now, Ivica Olic is still just about my favourite winger in the world.
   But that is not why I write.
   I am writing this because I note that you mention Jordon Mutch in your first para.
   And I have just posted this on the WalesOnline website, in my Facebook persona:
   ‘…
   Ole has to balance the books, so I am not against selling players per se.
   But I am afraid he has sold the CROWN JEWELS with Jordon Mutch.
   Trust me, Steven Caulker will never make an England regular, but when Gerrard retires, I forecast now that Jordon Mutch will be his successor, and is a future England captain.
   He is a player with EVERYTHING. Alas at CCS, he never had a manager who believed in him. Malky would not play him half the time, and one sensed that Ole could not see that Mutch was the FIRST name he should have put on his team sheet after David Marshall.
   City turned down a tentative bid for Marshall from Arsenal for a similar sum, and why oh why did they not turn down £6m for Mutch? He is 22 years old for godsakes! Harry Redknapp is laughing his way to the bank with the money he has SAVED in buying Jordon for at least half as much as he was probably prepared to pay.
   If the far older Ross McCormack who Dave Jones sold for a derisory £350K, can fetch a £11m fee paid by Fulham, then SURELY the all action/great engine Jordon Mutch should have yielded a million more at £12m?
   If I can choose someone to play poker for my life, then it assuredly will NOT be Ole and Mehmet. Boys, you should never have caved in. You should have played the “long game”.
   …’

   * I commend the weekly ITV4 Bundesliga highlights programme.
7. Dai Woosnam says:

   August 5, 2014 at 3:57 am

   Just also posted this in my Facebook persona re Adam Matthews and the interest from The Liberty Stadium:
   ‘…
   An outstanding player.
   And he is proof positive that if Ole goes belly-up this season, Dave Jones must never be invited back into CCS as Director of Football.
   He was the man who compelled Adam to up sticks, and who – shamefully – was then snapped up for NOTHING by Celtic.
   DJ turned down £6m for Ledley …who also went to Celtic for nothing. In my bleaker moments I wondered if DJ had shares in Glasgow Celtic FC… but in fairness, DJ’s integrity cannot be doubted.
   Just his judgment.
   …’
8. The other Bob Wilson says:

   August 5, 2014 at 6:23 am

   Morning Dai. I agree with you completely about Adam Matthews. As for Jordon Mutch, I’m with you in that I think he will play for England one day and he’ll be a big loss to is, but I don’t see him reaching the heights in the game you talk about.

   You mention Joe Ledley and it’s with him in mind that I say I have some sympathy with the line the club is taking (although in an ideal world I would have been looking for a million or so more than we’re getting). City gambled and lost on Ledley – Peter Ridsdale (I’m sure he had more of a say in the decision to reject Stoke’s bid than Dave Jones did) hoped we would get promoted in Joe’s last season with us and, once it didn’t happen, it was obvious he was off on a Bosman. With that precedent, I can understand why they have decided to accept a bid of four times what we paid for Mutch – who, like Ledley was, is in the last year of his contract. There has been no public indications that Mutch was prepared to agree any new deal with City this season and, although he would have only been 23 at the end of his contract, I’m not sure whether City would have been entitled to any compensation for him because his “development years” were spent at Derby and Birmingham.

   I came across the Bundesliga highlights programme early last season and have been a regular watcher ever since.
9. Dai Woosnam says:

   August 5, 2014 at 11:04 am

   You make some fair points re Mutch and Ledley, Paul. I had forgotten there was just a year left on JM’s contract
   A chap called Andrew has taken me to task on the WalesOnline site for my comments. He correctly points out my “senior moment” in forgetting Gerrard has retired from England and then adds that I need a “healthy dose of realism”.
   This was my response:

   ‘…
   Andrew is absolutely right to take me to task for forgetting that Gerrard has just retired, but equally WRONG in saying that I am suggesting that Jordon could be an England regular from a team in the Championship.
   Of course he will not.
   All I am suggesting is that to cave in at a mere £6m for the fantastic potential of Jordon Mutch, is financial madness.
   Neil Lennon would not accept anything less than £12.5m for the somewhat inferior Victor Wanyama*, and Mutch is easily worth that …in a market where Wilfried Bony fetches £19m

   I recall Jordon’s man mountain performances for Birmingham City …where he had a manager who BELIEVED in him.
   Alas I fear it is Andrew who needs a “healthy dose of realism”.
   Get a proper fee Cardiff.

   * the cheek of the man! Telling Cardiff to “get real” and up their bid from £9.5m …when he had stolen two City stars …for NOTHING.
   …’

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