Gunnarsson makes a point.

On Friday night Fulham traveled to the New Den to take on Millwall in the match many (including myself) had picked as the one which would see them drop points that could cost them dear come the end of the season.

At half time, it looked like those forecasts of a draw, or even a loss for Fulham, were going to be proved correct – they had ridden their luck when their crossbar was hit and a home goal was dubiously ruled out to get to the break at 0-0. If Millwall could have got the first goal, then maybe they would have held on to their lead, but, instead it went to their opponents with some dodgy goalkeeping giving them a bit of help along the way.

In the end, another error by the unfortunate Jordan Archer in the home goal saw Fulham double their lead and, by the end, their command was so complete that they were playing with something of a swagger as they added a third to complete what was, in the end, a comprehensive picking apart of a side which had not lost a league game since New Year’s Day.

Then, during the usual Saturday afternoon Championship programme, promoted Wolves made sure they would be going up as Champions by thumping Bolton 4-0 on their own pitch and fourth placed Villa triumphed by the same score against Ipswich at Portman Road.

So, a daunting set of results from three clubs who all had their backers among the pundits in August when the season got under way. Those three big wins ensured that the pressure was squarely on Cardiff City as they took on Nottingham Forest at home in a game that had been moved, to Neil Warnock’s annoyance, to a 7.45 kick off to accommodate television coverage which was put back over two hours from what is the normal start time of such games during weekends when there isn’t an FA Cup Semi Final being played.

How would the fourth club involved in the scramble for automatic promotion places fare? City had lost the hold on second place they had after beating Norwich 2-0 last weekend and an iffy set of results from our perspective in the other games played yesterday afternoon (e.g. Sunderland were relegated and Birmingham won to help ensure that Fulham would be playing a team preparing for League One and another one almost certainly celebrating an escape from dropping into that league in their last two matches) meant that the Cardiff team, and I daresay, quite a few supporters may have felt somewhat intimidated.

This time though, I was not among those feeling nervous or fearing the worst before kick off. I figured a combination of our very good record over Forest in recent seasons and my conviction  that they were a side that was made to be exploited by us meant that this was a game where we should be getting three points out of the nine we were needing to ensure automatic promotion.

For me, Forest at home represented our best chance of a win in our last four matches – they often strike me as a sometimes neat and effective passing side who are too lightweight and defensively erratic to be a major force in this league for now and, as far as we are concerned, they seem to me to be one of the least well equipped sides in the division to cope with the type of challenge we present this season.

Yes, I figured that there was an opportunity to make a statement which was as impressive as Fulham’s, Wolves’ and Villa’s had been this weekend – the game didn’t work out like that in the end, but, while our performance may have lacked something in terms of polish and panache, it did offer a lesson to the doubters (I’m sure we’ve got plenty of them dotted around all parts of the country) as to why we still hanging in there in second position and now know that two wins from our last three regular season matches and we’re in the Premier League next season.

Fulham and Wolves deserve credit for beating teams with promotion aspirations and relegation fears respectively, whereas Villa’s result is diminished somewhat because Ipswich are into the closing stages of a campaign which, the first four matches of the the season apart, has never really hinted at either a promotion challenge or relegation struggle.

Much the same applies to Forest and maybe they would have gone the way of Ipswich if Kenneth Zohore’s dinked shot over debutant keeper, and Greece international, Stafanos Kapino had gone in at 1-0 up early in the second half instead of bouncing out off an upright to be turned off the line by Danny Fox. What we got though was a fully committed performance from Forest with an attitude shown that left none of the other sides jostling with us at the top of table with grounds to doubt their commitment.

Indeed, within about a minute of Zohore’s miss, the visitors had conjured up an equaliser with a lovely move which was given the finish it deserved by Liam Bridcutt. the defensive midfielder, who has tended to be a one or two goal per season man during a ten year career.

In fact, it was Bridcutt who missed the best chance of the first half as well as Sean Morrison was caught in possession well upfield and the visitors suddenly had a four on two break, but Bridcutt’s first touch after being fed by Joe Lolley was a poor one which gave Neil Etheridge a chance to dive at his feet for another save which underlined the improvements he has made as the season has progressed.

Lolley had earlier shot over from a promising position as City made a misleading start by forcing a corner in about fifteen seconds. Much of what followed though was artless and aimless long ball stuff which reached it’s nadir when Etheridge came twenty five yards of so out of his penalty area to whack free kicks straight down Kapino’s throat twice within a minute or two.

It was nearly all long throw ins, free kicks and corners from City as an attacking force though, but this insistence on trying to create an aerial bombardment was more understandable at least when you factored in that Forest have the worst record of any club in the Championship when it comes to defending set pieces.

Has there been a game this season where Morrison has won so many headers in the opposition penalty area as he did last night? Forest could figure that as long as they could somehow handle the aerial threat from the City skipper, their attacking superiority in open play would mean that they could be favoured to score first, but that was easier said than done as they let the man himself go completely unmarked when he nodded in a corner from within the six yards box in the thirty fifth minute.

That corner had been taken by the fit again Joe Ralls and another fine cross by the same player shortly afterwards presented the centreback with another fine chance, this time from open play, which the captain put a lot of force into, but not quite enough direction as the ball flew just wide.

I read somewhere this week that City had won all thirteen of their home matches in which they had scored the first goal and, in my mind at least, the rest of the first half was played out with City in control now after their slightly dodgy start and seemingly on their way to the so important three points.

However, Forest’s swift response to City hitting the post so early in the second period changed all of that – surprisingly, City’s reaction to being pegged back seemed to be to adopt a more patient approach as they put more emphasis on passing the ball, but, although I for one welcomed this, the truth was that it did not lead to much in the way of worthwhile scoring chances.

Just going back to Forest’s equaliser for a short while, it came from their left and you had to wonder if it was more than a coincidence that they were, largely, kept in check down that flank in the first half and then enjoyed some success when Bruno Manga was moved to right back to cover for the injured Lee Peltier?

Manga’s limitations at full back were shown on one or two other occasions, but Forest weren’t doing much to suggest they had a winning goal in them either at this stage. For all that City were playing with an element of control now, there was little or nothing in the way of an attacking threat from them – with about a quarter of an hour left, I asked my mate sat next to me if he could remember a time when we had done anything to suggest we could score since Forest’s equaliser – his answer was  a plain and simple no.

Of course, it was then that City promptly retook the lead thanks to their old faithful – set pieces!

There was a time when Michael Mancienne was thought to be an England international in waiting, but something went wrong somewhere along the way and now he struggles to retain a starting place at Forest – here he was brought on as a straight swap replacement at centreback for Pereira Figueiredo on the hour mark, but it soon became obvious that he was struggling to come to terms with Zohore’s pace and movement.

When the Dane burst free of him on the seventy six minute mark, Mancienne grappled Zohore to the floor just outside the penalty area and the home fans began baying for a red card to be shown. Referee Peter Bankes disagreed and cautioned the defender while awarding the free kick right on the corner of the penalty area. Junior Hoilett sent his free kick beyond the far post and my first reaction was that he had overhit it as I groaned about our imminent slipping back towards the pack in  the promotion race. However, I’d figured without Sol Bamba nodding the cross back across goal towards where Gunnar was lurking some six yards out and he guided the ball in with a hooked finish for his first goal for us since his stunner from distance turned out to be the only goal in our win over the same opponents almost a year to the day ago.

At just the right time, the Icelandic captain had issued a reminder to those who started knocking him after our recent defeats by Villa and Wolves that, transfer speculation or not, he still had a contribution to make for us and it was not just in terms of his goalscoring.

City had hardly laid siege on the Forest goal, but they had the lead for the second time and, despite an “attacking” substitution when Callum Paterson was introduced for the hard working Craig Bryson, they were now more concerned with holding on to what they had. Generally, City were pretty comfortable until Bamba had what Neil Warnock would call a Beckenbaur moment and sprayed a cross field pass straight to Ben Osborn who worked himself free to deliver a cross which saw Gunnarsson making a great block from the resultant shot.

Put his goal, that block and the threaded pass which created the Zohore chance together with some other typical Gunnarsson defensive contributions and you have an idea why the central midfielder is an unlikely candidate for the scapegoat tag which some were looking to pin on him a week and a half ago – we’ll never be stylish and easy on the eye in the middle of the park, but Gunnar and Ralls together with one of Grujic, Bryson and Paterson gives us a midfield with a bit of balance and poise.

So, while our three rivals were blowing teams away this weekend, we got the job done in a far more prosaic manner – there should be no surprise at that, because it is how we have got to second in the table with two or three to play. There is some of our manager’s bloody mindedness and hunger to win in this team.

Last night’s game could really have gone either way, but in a league of fine margins, it was the team which really wanted the win that made sure it came through in the end and, it was this steely determination which, for me, meant that our win was just about deserved.

Finally, a word about the teams below first team level that I have written about for the past eight and three quarter years on here, I’ve not got to as many matches as I would have liked to since my move. Actually, that’s not really true, I’ve seen more than I want to of this season’s Development team and will purposely give their final game, coincidentally against Forest, at Cardiff City Stadium tomorrow evening a wide steer. As for the Under 18s, they won their sixth consecutive match yesterday by 2-1 at Coventry with a very young team which contained barely any of the regulars – Dan Griffiths got both of the goals.

They bring down the curtain on their league programme on Tuesday with a visit to QPR, but then face Swansea at the Liberty Stadium in the Final of the Welsh Youth Cup – I believe the game will be played next Sunday, but I may be wrong there and will let you know when I find out for certain.

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11 Responses to Gunnarsson makes a point.

  1. Russell Roberts says:

    Thanks once again Paul for your spot on review of last night’s game .
    It wasn’t a pretty one ,as you pointed out there was a lot more passing going on and less emphasise on the assault and siege game we can deploy .

    I would now expect Fulham to get 91 points so we basically know what’s required , and I don’t think it will be easy, with Derby needing points for play off dreams, and Hull in free scoring mode at the moment .

    I thought Holilet was kept well marshalled and we missed his many runs albeit the one in the second half as a pleasure and he for me is the key up front as he pulls teams apart when on his fame or allowed too.

    Although our midfield did well especially with Ralls back its still lacking in my view that Mcphail type play maker and acute passer at times we simply don’t use Zohore’s off the shoulder skills enough or correctly ,defenders struggle with that speed and position .

    Having said that I thought this was Gunnerson best game since his return ,presumably his match fittness is returning however I do feel he looks better alongside Ralls ,and Patterson excellent ability to win ariel balls makes them an effective industrial unit rather than of open playing flair.

    My guess folk watched us last night , and wondered how we are still there , well we are and its ,as you state down to a determined doggidness, and a Warnock will to win .

    If go up and stay up Warnock and in my humble view he may become “the best city manager” I have seen, replacing the giant that was Scholar and the likeable Eddie May . (I was never a Malky fan)

    So near but so far hey !!

  2. Anthony O'Brien says:

    Last night;s game, as has often been the case, called out for a genuine leader of the attack, Mr Warnock himself said recently that Zohore lacks physicality — or, in other words, he lacks what it takes to literally put his head on the line. Gary Madine must be tearing his hair out at his own inexplicable lack of opportunity, and the Derby players, especially their defenders, must be rubbing their hands with delight at the prospect of facing Zohore. I suspect that Fulham are equally pleased.
    What will Tuesday bring?
    On the matter of courage virtually every Cardiff player is blessed with that quality, but I’d like to mention Etheridge in particular. A couple of saves he made yesterday reminded me of the great Jack Kelsey, who would hurl himself at the feet of rampaging forwards without any thought of his own safety. To compare Etheridge with Kelsey is therefore the highest praise I can heap on him

  3. Jeff Blight says:

    Thanks again Paul for another enjoyable summary.

    It’s all about the results now but the match was low on quality.

    Great to see Ralls back, he gives us that balance being a lefty and thought Gunna put a terrific shift in.

    I would start with Madine and Paterson on Tuesday, let them wear down Keogh and Davies, then bring on Zohore for at least thirty minutes.

    Come on you bluebirds.

  4. Anthony Evans says:

    Anthony O’Brien’s comments have totally stolen my thunder. No doubt Zohore has lots of ability and skill but he’s a lazy ********. All other ten players (and subs when they came on) put in a major shift and he was jogging around looking like he was on the last 100m of the London marathon. He jumps like an elephant and goes down far too easily for a strong bloke.
    If NW insists on playing him, why not use Madine as a target man and let Zohore pick up the pieces, as he is a real nuisance for centre halves?
    We have minimal creativity in midfield, so if we are using the long ball, you need a forward that can compete and I’m afraid Zohore ain’t that man.
    Apologies for the rant but I left the ground last night really angry with his effort.
    In the end we got the deserved points (in my opinion) but we are scrapping these wins when we need to be putting teams away. I think a win against Derby will really hit Fulham mentally but it’s not going to be easy. Hope we see Madine and Paterson start.
    BTW Paul, hope your cat has returned home safely.

  5. BJA says:

    Good morning Paul and others. Spot on with your views as always, but I for one was never quite so certain that this was a match that we were always going to win. During play as we seemed to be exposed at the back too often – on our left flank in the first half and right flank in the second 45 minutes.
    But once again we saw it through as we have done on so many occasions in this extraordinary season. Luck has been with us, against us and but as they say, luck tends to balance itself out over 46 games. Not awfully sure about that bearing in mind a couple of disallowed goals which would have yielded a few more points. But I am looking at things with blue tinted glasses.
    I do like Etheridge. His positional sense is excellent, his bravery undoubted, his handling superb, but his kicking- grim. He has earned us several points this term. And to think that he only appeared as first team goalkeeper because Camp was injured. I am convinced that we retain our lofty league position because of his presence.
    As far as our attacking tactics last night were concerned, the long ball slung into the area from throw ins or set pieces seeking our skipper’s forehead was overplayed. Morrison may have scored from it once, and perhaps could have has another, but it is such a predictable tactic now and needs to be varied. There is no element of surprise.
    And our second goal came from Bamba’s knock down. I just wonder if we applied ourselves to a more cerebral attacking method if we could achieve even greater success, but keeping our aerial bombardment to a minimum. ( It’s the purist in me, I suppose).
    Zahore’s effort seemed destined at the time to bring our second goal, but full marks to the Forest defender for not giving up, But not too many other efforts looked as they may succeed. Bryson put in a good shift, but will not be available for Derby for obvious reasons. Good to see Ralls back, and Gunnars doing what he does best.
    Fulham’s Friday win has resulted in us needing two wins. It will be wonderful if our trip to Derby is able to produce one of them.

  6. HarryKirtley'sGhost says:

    Muxhas gracias, as ever Paul.
    I would like to remark on the comments of the two Anthonys.
    First, I would like to endorse the views of “AMO ” O’Brien on Etheridge. For me, he should be City’s Player of the Season.
    He likens him to the greatest Swansea Jack of them all…JACK Kelsey. How I remember him signing his autograph for me on the platform Cardiff General station, and insisting that I let his mother (alongside him) sign my book as well.
    Instead of Kelsey though, the keeper I would most liken Etheridge to, is Maurice Swan, probably the best goalie I ever saw in a Cardiff team.
    Both incredibly fast off their line, and utterly fearless.
    And this was the factor that blighted Maurice’s career. He kept breaking his collarbone diving at forwards’ feet.
    And then I come to Anthony Evans wise comments that Zahore cannot cut it as a lone striker, but should be played alongside Madine. Spot on, sir.

  7. Barry Cole says:

    Two games in which we have been inferior to the opposition in general play yet we get 6 points. We played Aston Villa off the park and lost we missed two penalties ( why oh why did Pilkington not take those???)
    Two out of three wins and we are there but this is Cardiff and we never do this easy.
    Derby is the big one win this and the pressure eases, draw or lose and we might just regret not putting wolves and Aston Villa to the sword.
    There is another in this equation and it has haunted me from the night it happened and that was Bamba disallowed goal at Millwall.
    This league is about winning the most points and the two extra points we should have had there would have made a big difference to tuesdays match.
    I have no doubt on our day we would have the beating of derby but only on our day and the last two games just haven’t been on our day, so we need to be at our best and with a team that is going to produce and not a team that created little or nothing from open play. Playing Mendez Lang wasn’t a good move but the substitution for wildscutt made a great deal of sense and at last we had someone who could beat a man and pass to one of our players. We are struggling without a good centre forward and just wonder if Grabbham would have been a better choice than Madine to perhaps get us over the line earlier than where we are at the moment. It’s all right roughing up defenders but for the money he should be scoring goals and he isn’t, grabbham is.
    Nice to see Ralls back though and if we get the midfield right it should play an important role in tuesdays game.
    And finally it really is all or nothing at derby because hull are scoring goals for fun but defensively they are shocking. Put those together and unless we start scoring then we will have our work cut out at their stadium. The reading match is the banker but as we all know following Notts forest that isn’t always the case.
    So derby it is and nothing but a win is needed, can we do it , yes as long as we play like we did against wolves and Aston Villa.

  8. huw perry says:

    Thanks Paul. Spot on as ever with analysis.
    Agree with others in many respects.
    Etheridge saved us. Ralls return added something extra in midfield and again Bruno gets caught out when filling in at full back.
    Maybe Madine upfront on Tuesday – or at least give him 30 mins. Also like to see Patterson back from the off.
    Gunnar MOM and looking well up for the challenge.
    Thought atmosphere really good last night with crowd really willing the team on but we did make hard work of it.
    Let’s hope we can pull another one out of the bag on Tuesday.

  9. The other Bob Wilson says:

    Morning everyone, Russell raises a couple of points which can be used as a way to address some of the issues which follow in other replies. Firstly, would a McPhail type player be able to get into a Neil Warnock team? Using the Peter Whittingham example, Whitts was used pretty regularly last season, but, correctly if you look at his record at Blackburn it seems, no real effort was made to retain him once his contract ran out – I think that says so much about our manager’s attitude to central midfielders. I’ve remarked before on how Ralls and Gunnar are referred to as “bread and butter” players by our manager and I don’t think you need more proof than that to determine what he wants from those in the middle of the park – nowt fancy!
    This brings me on to Zohore – I think a Steve McPhail type would have loved having a Zohore playing in front of him. Although Gunnar showed on Saturday that he can play the sort of pass our main striker most appreciates (forget the talk about bad luck, I thought Zohore should have stuck that chance away) and Ralls can as well, I’d reckon that our manager would see that sort of thing as a bonus because that’s not what the pair of them are in a Warnock side for. Zohore cops flak from a few correspondents on here, but, whereas we played to his strengths for a while last season and for a few matches this campaign, in the main, we use him as a targetman for aerial balls played, more than anyone else, by our goalkeeper whose kicking the manager has criticised at times!
    This seems to be one of a host of things that I could be critical of when analysing our performances this season, but, arguing against all of this, and plenty more, is the fact that with the season about 95% completed, we sit second in the league and in a position where we should be promoted automatically from here! We play in a certain way with a striker who isn’t really suited technically or psychologically to succeed in the role in the manner that our manager wants and yet it’s working according to our results and the league table!
    Although I would like to see more evidence than we have up to now to convince me that Madine could play in the same manner that some on here think he could if he had the chance, I can understand calls to include him from the start because our chances of winning something from the long kicks from Etheridge that we play so often would have to improve. So, would a front two of Madine with Zohore playing off him work? Although our manager often says he has nothing against doing this, the fact that it’s barely happened in the past three months strongly suggests he’s not overly keen on it and I can understand why to some extent. For a start, I’d say a 4-4-2 with the two big men up front would make it hard to find a place for Paterson who has been our most consistent scorer in recent months – for myself, having Paterson in that role behind the main striker gives Etheridge an effective header of the ball to aim for when Zohore is our centre forward and also gives us a little more insurance in central midfield – our manager’s number one choice when it comes to formations would appear to be a 4-2-3-1 with one of Paterson, Bryson, Hoilett or maybe Pilkington in the number ten type role.
    Finally, I agree with those who praise our goalkeeper who I thought was doing pretty well earlier in the season when quite a few were not convinced by him, but he has improved a lot since then. The thing about goalkeepers is that one disastrous blunder after you’ve praised them can make you look like an idiot, but, even if Etheridge’s form falls to pieces in the next three matches, I think you still have to say he has been an outstanding free transfer signing.

  10. Anthony O'Brien says:

    In response to Paul’s summary — what an absolutely excellent piece of writing which is also balanced, fair-minded, informative, and — in a very correct sense of the word — provocative i.e. provokes us to think. Congratulations, Paul, and here’s hoping that Cardiff, in whatever the choice of players may be, will sweep Derby aside tomorrow, and that your missing cat will turn up in the very immediate future.

  11. David Lloyd says:

    If we are going to play long balls and percentage play then we better make sure we win the first and at least compete for the second ball. When we’re not on top we spend too much time with Zohore isolated and tiring himself out chasing second balls he isn’t going to win. I agree that Patterson and Zohore is far more effective (at the moment) than Madine and Zohore, but the point about Tomlin was that we will need to win games in different ways in order to go up.

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