A really good point for Cardiff City at second placed Middlesbrough this lunchtime that did, however, illustrate why they’re probably destined to spend the season in the lower half of the Championship table.
An excellent first half showing which was comfortably the best we’ve produced away from home this season saw us take the game to our opponents in a style which they like to use themselves.
Maybe 2-0 flattered us at the break, but not by much. However, from then on, our lack of resources, especially when we have as many injuries as we did today, became a factor as the huge difference between the ability and experience available to either manager on the subs bench came to the fore.
I’m not really one for those boring whose the bigger club debates, but if I was to contribute to one between Middlesbrough and Cardiff City, I would say that the two clubs were closely matched with the first named being very slightly the bigger.
However, when you look at those two benches today, what you pick up is that Boro are some way in front of us in terms of expectation and ambition at the moment. I would argue that the reason Boro have been a bigger club than us is down to how long it has taken City’s hierarchy to realise what is basic housekeeping these days for Championship sides that are not in receipt of parachute payments.
This summer I found myself asking the same question so many times – “how can they spend so much on so many new signings?”. The “they” in question were, for example, Swansea, Middlesbrough, QPR, Stoke, Millwall, Bristol City and Charlton, but it doesn’t take long for me to come up with an answer – in fact, the truth is I knew the answer before I asked the question!
Using Middlesbrough to illustrate my point, they have a recruitment department that has an eye for a lower division bargain or a good free transfer signing to back up an Academy that produces the one or two graduates who become first team squad members every season with the occasional one being good enough to net them a few more million in the transfer market.
One such player was Hayden Hackney sold to Everton this summer for in the region of £15 million. Put that with the fee received for someone like Morgan Whittaker and them hitting the jackpot with around £20 million netted from a sell on clause in the record breaking Morgan Rogers Villa to Chelsea transfer.
That little lot explains why Boro were able to spend tens of millions during the summer building a squad which look like genuine top two challengers. Okay, the Rogers money means Middlesbrough have had a rare jackpot to help them along the way, but all of those other teams I’ve mentioned have been able to produce Academy players that net them sizeable fees or older players sold at a decent profit every summer.
Increasingly, City show that the penny has finally dropped in the last two or three years and the team we put out today contains a nucleus of players who could net the club profits in terms of transfers dealings and Academy development spending.
However, there is not the squad depth yet to cope with the sort of injury list we had today.
So it was that we had a subs bench where it was pretty certain that we’d only use four of the nine unless there was an injury to Nathan Trott or he was sent off – in which case, we’d have brought Harry Tyrer on.
Hopefully Rob Tankiewicz, Troy Perrett, Paul Moreno and Charlie Holt will benefit from the time they get as first team substitutes, but there’s no sign at all so far that BBM has any intention of using any of the teenagers without league experience unless he has no choice but to do so.
Although there had been talk of Yousef Salech being fit enough to feature, all of the recent injury victims were still unavailable and there were further setbacks as both Perry Ng and Callum Robinson were absent from the squad, presumably due to injury.
The one piece of good news was that Krystian Bielik was available again after suspension to replace Dylan Lawlor who had a scan on his injured hamstring yesterday – the result of the scan is not yet known, but it seems the Welsh international faces another few weeks out. Ronan Kpakio was Ng’s replacement while Isaak Davies was the only possible central striker option available besides Jack Moylan.
If I’d have made a score prediction today, I would have said something like 4-2 to Boro and it started as if I may have underestimated things as Neto Borges and Moylan both missed with very decent headed opportunities inside the first ten minutes.
With Bielik bringing some physicality, Cian Ashford full of clever touches and Alex Robertson a lot more comfortable as a single deep lying midfielder than he was at Blackburn, it was an encouraging start by City who were winning the battle between the teams with the most effective forward press in the division.
Trott was to have another good game as he came out on top of a personal battle with Amario Cozier-Duberry in the first half, but City had the lead by then as Moylan received a pass from Ollie Tanner, jinked past two defenders and beat Radek Vitec (who cost around twice as much as City’s entire summer transfer outlay) on his near post.
A superb block by Robertson to foil Cozier-Duberry preserved the lead which City were always threatening to add to and they maybe should have as centreback Ashley Phillips tussled with Moylan as they contested a low cross from Tanner. Replays showed that City had strong claims for a penalty which probably would have seen the defender red carded if one had been given, but referee Tom Nield had let a lot go from the start and he waved play on here.
City were given a preview of what was to come in the second half as they found themselves pushed back for the closing stages of the opening period, but in added time, they broke quickly from a corner and Moylan returned the favour for Tanner as he set up the winger to net in consecutive matches with a lovely curler beyond Vitek from twenty yards.
Boro had rested Championship top scorer Will Lankshear, but he was always going to be brought at half time with the scoreline reading 0-2 and there was a further change as American international Sebastian Berhalter was brought into midfield.
BBM reacted by introducing David Turnbull for Joel Colwill. I thought Joel had done well and was unlucky to be hooked, but I could understand that Turnbull’s assured passing might help City in terms of retaining possession as we would, inevitably, come under more pressure.
Unfortunately, the move didn’t work as hoped. Apart from when Moylan almost reached an incisive through ball by Ashford. City found it very hard to get out of their own half, thus, they never carried the same attacking thread and it turned out to be a half where Turnbull’s weaknesses were more apparent than his strengths.
So it was that the home side ramped up the pressure to the extent that when they did score after fifty eight minutes it felt like the goal had been coming. Middlesbrough got to the byeline down our left and and when the ball was pulled back to around the penalty spot, Tommy Conway scored with a low shot as he got free of Turnbull who was guilty of ball watching.
Three minutes later, all City’s good first half work was undone by a quality finish from Lankshear who placed his shot from just outside the penalty area past Trott with no great power and it looked for all the world that our run of four straight away losses would continue.
BBM responded by moving Bielik into midfield with Will Fish replacing Chris Willock who I thought, in possession at least, had his best game in a while and that was also true of Kpakio, who will, hopefully, take confidence from his assured showing, who made way for Callum Scanlon.
Essentially, it was a case of hoping to hang on for a draw now for City as the post game stats show a tale of home side domination to match ours in the games with Sheffield United and Stoke, but, even so, it was interesting to hear the Sky commentary team saying the outcome was about right in the end.
Isaak Davies came on for Tanner with ten minutes left, but any chance he had of making a telling impact disappeared in the 83 rd minute when Gabe Osho was shown a straight red card.
The defender didn’t do himself any favours by committing his foul in front of the dug outs, so you got the predictable reactions from the home manager and coaching staff along with a howling home crowd. For me, it was a yellow card offence, but I’d be amazed if any appeal succeeds and so we’ll be short of options again at centre back and not be able to use Bielik in midfield for another three games.
City are really suffering from injuries affecting the spine of the team and now, very early in the season, we’re getting suspensions to go with them. However, the frustration is that a side that is doing enough to show they could be competitive in what is generally thought to be a higher standard Championship than normal, could find the season a struggle through wounds that are, to some degree, self inflicted given the low number of summer signings.
It’s always pleasing to get one over the wurzels and three goals in nine second half minutes by our under 18s this lunchtime at Leckwith helped secure a 3-0 win – Jacob Norris opened the scoring with Leo Papirnyk adding the other two.
