By saving Kenedy’s penalty deep into added time in yesterday’s first home game of the season against Newcastle, Cardiff City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge became the first one to make spot kick saves in his first two Premier League matches. Okay, one of our forwards scoring hat tricks in successive matches to start his top flight career would, in all likelihood, have us at the top of the table at the moment and be a cause for more raucous celebration, but I’m happy enough to take the record Etheridge holds – especially because his late heroics ensured the match finished goalless and we had picked up our first point of the campaign.
Just as at Bournemouth when foiling Callum Wilson, our keeper dived to his left to make his save, but this time it was a more routine (if that word can ever be applied to a penalty save) stop, because the Newcastle player’s effort fell into the category which should be saved if the keeper goes the right way, whereas Wilson’s was low and to the corner. However, that is not to denigrate Etheridge’s achievement in any way and the Philippines international has certainly made a fine start to the challenge of being in competition with another very good goalkeeper in Alex Smithies.
Neil Etheridge rescues a point very late on by blocking Kenedy’s penalty – there was much talk of justice having been done after the Brazilian had avoided any punishment after kicking out at Victor Camarasa.*
The spot kick was given against captain Sean Morrison for handball as he slid to the ground in an effort to block a cross. My first reaction from my seat a hundred yards away was to say that it was a harsh decision by referee Craig Pawson, but I quickly changed my mind to a belief that it was an unlucky award against the centreback because the chances of the ball hitting his arm as he went to ground would have been very low. The thing is though, while Morrison’s head was about four feet from the ground, his hand was around twelve inches higher when the ball struck it, so that’s a penalty I’m afraid – if there was any doubting the award, it was, as Neil Warnock pointed out after the game, as to whether Morrison’s arm was within the confines of the penalty box when contact was made with the ball.
That incident apart, Morrison, for the second successive game, was sound at the back in what was an encouraging defensive performance by Cardiff. Sol Bamba looked so much more at home in his proper position after his travails in midfield last week and, although you wonder about Bruno Manga, in for Lee Peltier, at right back in the medium and long terms, he was sound enough yesterday, as was Joe Bennett who also linked up in encouraging fashion down the left with Josh Murphy.
So our keeper, who also had to make some smart stops in the first half, did well, as did our defence and it was great to be able to say the same about a reconstituted midfield trio which saw Bamba and Callum Paterson replaced by debutantes Harry Arter and Victor Camarasa.
I’ve sounded like a stuck record in recent months with my we’ve got no chance if we don’t pass the ball better refrain, well, yesterday we did pass the ball better – in fact, I would argue that we won the midfield battle over the ninety minutes and that is something I didn’t think I’d find myself saying this season!
While I don’t think any one of Arter, Camarsa and Joe Ralls would have been able to match the beautifully struck long, diagonal pass that Jonjo Shelvey hit to pick out Ayoze Perez (Etheridge produced one of those first half saves I mentioned to deny the Spaniard), the former Swansea man, playing in a very deep quarterback type role, was not as efficient as he can be with his use of the ball. For, much of the time, Shelvey, Mohamad Diame and the other members of the advanced midfield three Newcastle fielded behind lone striker Joselu were second best to our midfield three.
Arter, playing a bit further forward than I thought he would, brought ball winning ability, quick feet, a lot of energy, neat passing and, on one occasion, a reminder of his long range shooting ability to proceedings – in short, he provided what I hoped he would.
If Arter’s influential showing was hoped for, then Camarasa was a pleasant surprise. First, it was good, and somewhat surprising for me, to see him in from the start, second the Spanish Under 21 international on loan from Betis provided a dynamism and ability to move with the ball that City have lacked in the middle of the park for a while. Some are saying that he was caught in possession too often, but he comes from a background where possession of the ball is really appreciated and the hurly burly of yesterday’s game must have been something of a culture shock to him – in general, I thought he coped with it well and, anyway, he often showed a strength and determination which enabled him to quickly win the ball back again when he had lost it seconds earlier.
With one proviso, Joe Ralls again looked at home at this level and his all round competence was a big factor in helping provide a real balance to our midfield – the three players compliment each other well and, on this showing at least, the midfield is not going to be the real worry that I feared it would be.
Indeed, the BBC’s match stats showed that we actually won the possession battle 51/49 and Neil Warnock struck exactly the right note when told that his team had completed 314 passes to Newcastle’s 305 as he replied “bloody hell, we’ll have to change that, we’ll have to give a few rollickings out!”. Seriously, I find those pass completion figures very encouraging because they show that we managed to get a good balance between still playing in the manner which got us promoted and valuing possession of the ball – it’s a fine line between getting the balance between these two contrasting targets right and falling into the traps which lie in too much of one at the expense of the other, but, largely speaking, I thought we managed to avoid those traps yesterday.
So, if we did well in goal, at the back and in the middle of the park, the obvious question which occurs is why don’t we have three points to our name this morning as opposed to just the one? I’ll come to my thinking on that shortly, but, first I want to say something about an issue which is more of a discussion point than I realised it would be at the time – that is Mr Pawson’s decision refereeing.
One other thing Messrs Arter and Camarasa shared yesterday was a yellow card for what is called these days “taking one for the team”. I don’t like that description because it implies that there is some sort of honour behind it, whereas what it really consists of is a completely cynical infringing of the rules which often stems from an error on the offender’s part. Having got that off my chest, it is Arter’s yellow (the first of many for us if his previous record is anything to go by) which is the cause for discussion here – at the ground, I thought it was the correct punishment for what I call a professional foul, but I see that Sky pundits Craig Bellamy, Danny Gabbidon and Jamie Carragher were fairly united in saying that it could easily have been a red card, with the last named in particular being adamant that Arter should have marked his City debut with a sending off.
According to Carragher, it was the worst of three offences which took up a lot of the post match discussion in the television coverage which is saying something when you consider what happened with the other two.
For the first, Kenedy escaped punishment for kicking out at Camarasa as he lost possession (this is something the Brazilian became very used to in the first half because, apparently, he became the first player to ever play a half of Premier League football who did not complete a single successful pass. All in all, Newcastle’s loanee from Chelsea has had better days in his career than his first visit to Cardiff! I wouldn’t have thought he can escape retrospective punishment from the Premier League, with a three game ban the likely outcome.
Secondly, substitute Isaac Hayden was dismissed halfway through the second half when he went in from behind on Josh Murphy. Having seen both of the Newcastle challenges, I can only say that they were both worthy of red cards and if Arter’s challenge was really worse than those two, then he is a very lucky boy indeed, especially because if the rules are the same now as they have been in recent years, he cannot be the subject of the sort of post match review that Kenedy may will receive.. The yellow card Arter received means that the ref saw the offence and made a judgment on it, whereas the lack of punishment for the Newcastle player’s kick out at Camarasa implies that Mr Pawson did not see it.
Anyway, on to why we didn’t get the win we perhaps deserved. Well, having been positive about so much of our display, I have to end my review of how the different parts of the City team did, by saying that, just as at Bournemouth, we added more evidence for the army of critics who have decided we are going to be relegated because we aren’t going to score enough goals.
Going back to those BBC stats, they show that both sides had twelve goal attempts in what was certainly a better game of football than the previous league game played at the ground when we won promotion with a 0-0 draw, but, just as at Bournemouth, there was only the one effort on target from Cardiff (The Guardian even reported we didn’t have a single effort on target mind).
Certainly, Etheridge was the busier of the two keepers – I cannot remember Martin Bubrvka having to make a save, so I assume our on target attempt was the close in header from Kenneth Zohore that was blocked close to the line by a defender in the second half?
City’s first choice striker played the full ninety minutes after being absent at Bournemouth with a groin injury and it’s also true to say that he missed a fair portion of our pre season. Overall, I thought Zohore didn’t do too badly in many of the different aspects of the game for a lone striker. but his lack of ability and authority in the air is in danger of becoming an issue in this division in a way which I never thought it was in the Championship.
We weren’t great at creating chances from open play in the Championship, but we weren’t terrible at it either – we were reliant on set pieces to a degree, but there were also a few chances in most matches from open play and, naturally, in a team which is set up to provide plenty of crosses, the majority of these would fall to the central striker.
Whether by chance or design, the majority of crosses we managed to put in against Newcastle were aerial ones and this is where the problem occurs because, if they are aimed at Zohore, the odds are that they will not result in a goal. The Dane made a mess of a cross by Ralls in the second half which left him with a more than reasonable opportunity and there were other occasions when his mistiming of or lack of conviction with headed opportunities cost us.
Perhaps it was a coincidence that the good crosses we managed to get over were in the air, but if there was a reason why we couldn’t come up with low crosses, then that’s bad news for us and for Zohore because he is so unconvincing when the ball is in the air.
That said, it would be wrong to make Zohore the main culprit here. Of more worry to me was the lack of quality shown in the delivery of crosses, be they in open play or from dead ball situations. I mentioned about there being one proviso in Joe Ralls’s display earlier, well that was the generally poor quality of his delivery from free kicks and corners. Again, to be fair to him, Ralls did produce the one good quality dead ball delivery we managed, but that was wasted as Sol Bamba didn’t get his header from a corner right and Perez was able to scramble clear.
On the wings, Junior Hoilett carried his pretty subdued Bournemouth form into a second game and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing offered endeavour, but little composure, when he came on, so it was left to Josh Murphy on his first start for the club to offer hope of a breakthrough.
Now, I’ve seen Murphy described as our man of the match in some quarters – for me, he did well, but only up top a point. The former Norwich winger was up against a deputy for the injured right back DeAndre Yedlin in Javier Manquillo in the first half and did pretty well, but then when the Spaniard had to withdraw himself at the interval at the knock. there was an opportunity for him to really wreak havoc as he was faced first by midfield man Hayden and, then after his dismissal, by his twin brother Jacob. Again, Murphy threatened, but couldn’t quite deliver which was a shame, because his defensive work showed an evidence of having learned from his bad experience at Bournemouth where he was held by his manager as being culpable with the second goal and there was much to admire in his showing, but, just as with his team mates, there was a lack of conviction and quality with the final pass, often after the hard work had been done, and he also shared the general malaise when it came to dead ball delivery.
Briefly, just to mention that I watched the first half of the Under 18s match with Birmingham before heading to the stadium to watch the seniors and they were able to follow their opening day win over Colchester up with another victory against a Birmingham side that reached the Semi Finals of last season’s FA Youth Cup.
This was a much tighter affair than the 5-0 win last week. From what I saw, City always looked the more likely scorers, but chances were at a premium – Dan Griffiths could have done better with a one on one with the visiting keeper, Sam Bowen wasn’t far away with a shot from distance and a mixture of speed and nifty footwork created a chance for Isaak Davies which he knocked jut wide. I’ll claim some credit for the game’s decisive moment though, because within about fifteen seconds of me saying I can’t see there being many goals here, Sion Spence had burst through the middle to play a perfect pass into Davies’ path and the winger calmly beat the keeper to score the goal which won the game. Nearby, the Under 16s got themselves into a 2-0 half time lead against the same opponents, but I don’t know how that match finished up.
Finally, another reminder that you can now become my patron through Patreon by making a contribution towards the running costs of this site. Full details of the scheme and the reasons why I decided to introduce it can be found here, but I should say that the feedback I have got so far has indicated a reluctance from some to use Patreon as they prefer to opt for a direct payment to me. If you are interested in becoming a patron and would prefer to make a direct contribution, please contact me at paul.evans8153@hotmail.com or in the Feedback section of the blog and I will send you my bank/PayPal details.
*picture courtesy of https://www.walesonline.co.uk/
Cardiff city, the team we all support,
Is blessed by the standard of MAYA’s report,
Paul covers the action
And spurs a reaction
With insights and fair-minded values of sport,
I set off early, it is true,
To watch our favourite team in blue.
A traffic jam caused some delay.
No easy parking on this day —-
For future games a bus will do.
Haven’t I said that Kenneth Zohore
Is not easily pushed to the floor?
His heading skills and right-foot shots,
As memorable as forget-me-nots,
Mean he’s nearly always bound to score !!!!!.
The unselected Gary Madine’
Once rightly called a goal machine,
Is brave and strong and leads his line.
His shots and heading skills are fine —
But on the bench can this be seen?
Thanks, Paul, I agree with just about every word of that.
From my viewing position way up in Tan’s Folly (perhaps no longer a suitable nickname) I was not able to see the detail of the tackles under discussion, I was totally unaware of the Kenedy incident so I will leave that to others to discuss. Why was I sitting up in the ‘Gods’?…bit of a long story. Due to my health deterioration and my daughter’s volatile employment position we decided to forego buying our usual season tickets and when we decided to go to the first couple of home games the only seats available were those in the upper tier, and not many of those! A word about the accessing and viewing from up there in the clouds. For those who haven’t had the pleasure there is quite a climb, I would think a hundred and THIRTY-NINE STEPS. There is a lift but we were close to kick-off and didn’t have time to search it out I struggled and as I approached what must have been the tenth flight the strains of ” Nearer My God To Thee” started going through my head. I did make it, ‘luckily’ a lady in front of me was having similar problems and we took strength from each other. Once up there you have a wonderful panoramic view of the area, as my daughter observed “what a lorra trees”. If you are are connoisseur of the tactics and formations it gives you a wonderful view of what is going on, something that the coaching staff could use but if you want to recognise the players it is not easy. I couldn’t work out who the little blonde fella playing on the right for Newcastle was, it wasn’t until I saw the line-ups that it was Matt Ritchie.
On to the game and as I said above I think Paul got everything spot on. Etheridge, the hero of the day, Manga better than I feared, same for Morrison, Bamba did alright but he has a turning circle similar to one of those giant oil-tankers, from my position I thought Bennett was rather anonymous. I was proud of our mid-field, they looked a well-oiled unit which is very surprising when you think of it. Very pleased with the two newcomers, I am much more optimistic about our season after yesterday. A clean sheet is nice but that is not good enough we have to be able to score goals. Murphy, perhaps a little lightweight but has the ability to go past a defender. On yesterday’s evidence Hoilett seems to be a marked man and it was not surprising that he didn’t sparkle. But what are we going to do about Kenneth? I like him as a player but is that enough? You can’t have a lone striker who appears. at least, to be afraid of getting brain damage by heading the ball.
I wish we hadn’t given up our season tickets but I still enjoyed the afternoon.
P.S. The traffic situation is going to be a headache this season the infrastructure is not up to coping with a 30,000 crowd and getting out after the game took the gloss off the occasion. Is anyone travelling to the game using the ZEELO buses? I’d like to know of their experiences.
Good morning Paul and your devotees – As Colin has stated, absolutely nothing in your report with which to disagree. A decent performance with a deserved draw at the very least, and a mid-field performance from Ralls, Arter and Camarasa that gives hope for the future ( as long as our Bournemouth man can stay on the pitch ).
We actually shaded possession – wow – but what did concern me was why we did not, or probably more correctly, seemed to be unable to dominate once Newcastle were reduced to 10 men. A situation existed for us to really press them further up the pitch, but somehow we let our opponents have more of the ball and consequently put ourselves under pressure, witness the penalty award against Morrisson. Rubbish Kennedy attempt mind.
The pundit purists were all unimpressed by the football, or lack of it, on display but we weren’t rolled over by a team that finished tenth last year and with my blue tinted glasses on, I genuinely believe we were the better team. But, how do we get our Ken going. One headed chance from that Ralls cross was really quite poor, and he seems to need a little more speed and strength in his legs if he is to be the main man in our scoring statistics.
But, we have a point and we are not in the bottom three!!! Let the season end now and collect our £100 million plus with more to follow.
Thanks Paul , you describe what I thought and saw on the day ,great news the development side won again I just feel its a critical part of our club and its future.
Thought Morrison was a tower of strength yesterday and reminded me at times of the influence John Terry gave to his team’s.
Etheridge continues to improve , was a bit worried about some of his kicking though .
As you say Ralls is looking very composed at this level .
Thought Arter and Murphy added a dynamic approach to the side with great pace footwork .
The spanish lad looks organised and did well for a first Introduction to a news and tough league , there were times when the game did lass him by though..
We lacked a poacher in the box and that maybe our problem perhaps Bobby Reid is the answer.
The reds and yellow were hard to see from my view and older eyes , looking on line I thought there red was deservedas he was off the floor, not in control , an Arter rec would have been cruel , Kennedy should receive a ban ,it was nasty , could have broken our lads leg .
Warnock was right he did need another striker, perhaps January may see one come in .
Lastly that save was like a win yesterday ,certainly lifted me and fans around us, the players reaction was equally joyous .
Well done our keeper ,your heading for City legend status .
Paul glad you’ve provided another payment option route .
Thanks for your continued upkeep of this great blogg
Thanks Paul. You and others have said it all and good to know we are all of same opinion. Namely- we now have a proper midfield ( really impressed with Arter), still have a solid defence, a shot-stopping keeper and some real energy and legs about the pitch.
Unfortunately we do not have a goal scoring threat. Although Ken held the ball up well throughout. However, his on board sat nav not good when it comes to headers! Maybe need to try Madine and Bobby next time round?
Also disappointing we could not push on when they were down to 10 men. Felt like we assumed we would win, but never really changed our approach to make it happen.
Penalty save at the end was justice and felt like the crowd and players could take a lot from the performance.
We definitely need something from Huddersfield game before we do battle with the big boys though, but at least nothing to fear if we play/pass like yesterday.
If any consolation, both Wolves and Fulham played good football again yesterday – and lost! Let’s get that win and get going properly.
An interesting analysis from you Paul. Much thanks. There was much for me to agree with, but I respectfully suggest you were far too kind on one or two individuals.
On Football Focus yesterday, both Mark Lawrenson and Paul Ince agreed that every team playing Cardiff this season would need to be able to deal with Cardiff’s physicality. Fair point perhaps..when it comes to the team generally. But not when it comes to Kenneth Zohore…for Zohore yesterday was about as physical as Charles Hawtrey letting his hair down.
I would like to say that Zohore was the other side of useless yesterday, but even that would be me being too charitable towards him.
I pinch myself in wonder as to why we turned down a reported £17 million bid from Brighton two years ago.
As AMO once observed in these columns before he took to rhyme and meter…the poor fellow cannot jump. And I would go further, and say that even when the ball comes to his bonce, he has not a clue how to head it.
Even Gary Madine seems like Nat Lofthouse by comparison.
Other things to say about yesterday…well, one man was head shoulders and torso above every other player on the pitch. And that man was Jonjo Shelvey. A magisterial performance…even though as you say Paul, not all his passes came off. But those that did …by golly…things of real beauty. Thank heavens for Neil Etheridge on two occasions that stopped Jonjo getting vital assists.
And City fans played right into Shelvey’s hands by their pathetic childish booing throughout…which just made him play all the better. And that vital defensive clearance of his, bordered on the heroic.
If only England had had him in Russia. Not to mention Wilfried Zaha who they refused to pick for years…and so he went off to play for the Ivory Coast…in frustration. Serves Hodgson right. Now he will lose him at Selhurst, every other January.
Over four years ago now, I wrote on this site that I was of the opinion that Britain had only two world class footballers…Gareth Bale and…Wilfried Zaha. I was laughed out of court.
I still stand by it…and prophesy that in a few years from now, David Brooks who we might have got for £12K had we entered a bidding war a couple of months ago, might well replace Bale in that World squad.
But back to yesterday…
And I also observe that I was for once right in thinking that Etheridge correctly would – and indeed should – get the jersey over Smithies. He is a high quality goalkeeper, who I reckon should have been Player of the Year last season. To boot (excuse the accidental pun) …he also has a really good kick on him…if only he yesterday had a centre forward who could head the ball.
But there was a further revelation yesterday. I had no idea how well Neil Etheridge spoke, until interviewed on SKY after the game. Very impressive thinking on his feet…as indeed is exemplified in his way of saving penalties….i.e. never diving ridiculously early and thus making it easy for a savvy penalty taker.
He presented the SKY man of the match award to the impressive Josh Murphy. I reckon it should have been the other way round (given that it was not going to Jonjo)…but that said, Murphy was quite thrilling in the way he continually took on and surged past his defender. I genuinely reckon that the Toon fans must have driven home to Tyneside, wondering whether they had bought the wrong twin by mistake…!!
And yes, let me eat humble pie…yesterday Murphy did look twice the player Barrie McKay looked for the Swans on Friday. I will settle for “twice”…even if we did pay twenty times the fee Swansea paid.
As for Harry Arter and Victor Camarasa…they can be proud of their performances.
Arter first…
Dear Sir Vincent…keep a watch on Neil throwing away your millions…
Why can’t we ever buy players like the £25K Jordan Hugill, and …wait for it…
…the mere FOUR thousand Pounds Harry Arter…?
(Yes…honest…)
https://bit.ly/2wbdP4X
Harry was very prominent, and reminded me of John Buchanan in his strong tackling, his drive forward and his willingness to shoot from a distance.
But Arter should be deeply ashamed of that tackle which (as you say Paul) all three SKY pundits, Bellamy, Carragher and Gabbidon opined was by far the worst foul of the night. Amazingly he got away with a yellow, and so whilst Kenedy could face a three game ban, Arter gets off scot free as the referee is deemed to have seen the incident. Disgusting.
I don’t know the exact number of yellows and reds Arter has received down the years (you seem to suggest Paul he has quite a bit of “previous”), but I have always thought he had something of the psychotic killer in him …metaphorically speaking, you understand…!! Just from his looks.
Plus, I have never quite forgotten the relatively mild mannered Moussa Sissoka coming on as a second half substitute for Spurs and almost immediately viciously elbowing the chap for no apparent reason, in an off-the-ball incident. That was in October 2016. I wonder what that was about?
And the ref who missed the elbow on Arter? No prizes for guessing that it was none other than yesterday’s ref, Craig Pawson. (My memory is not totally shot, thank heavens.)
Did he miss it deliberately…i.e.turn a blind eye? Surely not? But I tell you this…he clearly had not had Arter in his good books, as two months earlier, Pawson had sent him off at West Ham…in Aug 2016.
Which makes Pawson’s failure to give him his marching orders yesterday, a bit puzzling. I can only put it down to having been told at halftime that he had missed a red card offence with Kenedy…he makes up for it with giving a red for an orange (not obvious red) offence on Murphy…and then with the Arter shocker, figured in that very nanosecond, that two red cards following the Jagielka one last week…would make too many sensational headlines for Pawson’s own good.
I will sign off now.
But three short…well, short(ish) points. Glad to know Colin that you enjoyed your seat in Vincent’s Vision. As for the 139 steps…
About 4 years ago I did the Wembley Tour. And the piece de resistance of that tour, is the last few minutes of it, when all those folks on the tour, make the climb of the steps. Not quite the number you encountered in Vincent’s Vision…but a taxing 107 for a blue badge holder like me.
I arrived a good minute after the last of the 25 folk ahead of me had been presented (by a lookalike of the late Lady Diana) with the FA CUP for their personal (non obligatory purchase) souvenir photo. This slowness of mine in struggling up the steps, allowed a companion who had gone on in front of me to take a photo of me getting the Cup…and thus save us a tenner reclaiming our official photo in the souvenir shop. I’ll be blowed if I will help finance the inflated salary of “Pep” Southgate, with his new Man City system, but none of Guardiola’s nous. Incidentally, I am not anti the bloke. I speak as someone who was one of the capacity crowd at Wembley in 1996, and watched the dear fellow deliver a poor penalty, not unlike the one of Kenedy yesterday…but even feebler. And I was massively sympathetic at what the chap went through…and thought of him, all the way on the drive back down the M4 to my then home in Caerphilly.
And he is clearly a decent chap with good values. And like Cookie, he is a good man manager. But that – again like Coleman – is where it ends. Neither of them have much tactical nous.
With the players Southgate had, and the freakish way the draw opened up, there was no excuse for England not making the final. Gee..they even contrived to lose to Belgium twice within a month…!! A team that Wales had seen off two years before. Of course not picking Shelvey was a huge mistake…but Hendo is essentially Southgate with a Wearside accent, so one sees why he is a manager’s favourite.
But back to before I Dai-gressed….to the climb of those Wembley steps…with my walking stick working overtime…
So I declined the official photo…the FA – rolling in money – were not getting any more than the Wembley Tour price from me.
Second point…Paul, we need a centre half …badly. Watch Tony Pulis’s Boro, go all the way now with Leeds in the Championship. And talking of that Division…Colin was proven prescient yesterday, in that Peter Crouch got the equaliser. Colin suggested that him on loan would have been great. And I agree. But too late now.
And finally…my farewell to you all. I am re-reading Philip Roth’s great novel The Human Stain. OMG…how it echoes and resonates with a MAYA with my bete noire prowling.
I left once before over this coward…and was talked into returning by friends who are regular readers (but not contributors).
You say Paul that clubs’ message-boards contain far less civilised discourse. Of course they do…they are largely people writing under sobriquets …and they are often pretty half-baked anyway. And of course with a cowardly alias, these keyboard warriors can don a chest wig and make macho threats.
So, any comparison of MAYA with them just won’t wash.
We have civil discourse from decent intelligent people…bar one.
Oh he is intelligent alright..it is just that he is poisonous.
I was very proud Paul to break bread with you in Fairwater…but am rather sad that you propose to break bread with this cad in Mid-Rhondda. Good people there mind…my last girlfriend before I married Larissa, lived up the top of Wern Street in Clydach Vale. And I wrote about my dear late uncle Jimmy Davies of Clara Street, Ton Pentre, in my posting on a previous MAYA page a day or three back…
I hope that “Harry Kirtley” entertains you all and with his postings. I have put the best part of a million words into this blog in the past decade, and huge thanks to you Paul for never censoring a single one. I wish the blog well, but from this moment I will not even be reading it…such is his “human stain”. At the risk of appearing immodest, I have to say that he has got some act to follow, with his future contributions.
Let me know how he is doing.
Anybody who wants to contact me, feel free to write to me at my email address…
daigress@hotmail.com
And if you want to honour my MAYA memory, do me the huge favour of taking a leaf out of my friend Lindsay Davies’s copybook. He has recently given us his full three names, as do my friends AMO and Adrian.
Let us outlaw cowardly keyboard warriors. Trust me, when you hide behind an alias, you often are tempted to fly kites and say things you don’t really believe.
Put your own full name there, and then you write from the heart.
A special message to you BJA…you write well and you are worthy of declaring your own birth name to the assembled. Be proud of it…and do it in my name.
I see many MPs want to bring in legislation to stop internet anonymity. More strength to their elbow.
That way we can expose Harry – or is it Harietta ? – Kirtley for the human stain he presents.
Vaya con Dios, mis companeros…!!
Dai.
Paul and Colleagues,
There is not much more I can say really , after reading your comments and overview of the game.
1 Morrison a great captain and solid performance.
2 Arter sheer class in midfield ( reminded me of Ramsey when he was on loan to us some seasons ago), unlucky with his strike second half, the ball turned the wrong way.
3 Zohore must practice on his heading, otherwise held the ball oka.
4 Where are the goals going to come from?
Best Wishes
Geoff
Many thanks Paul for your comprehensive report – and everyone else who saw the game live. As I am on holiday at a camp site in SW France I had to rely on a dodgy Internet connection to Sky but I purposely avoided listening to the experts and enjoyed the game – I was very surprised by how well in the main we played and am a bit more optimistic about the season ahead now. It is possible that Zahore may develop into a goal scorer but – at home at least I think he does need someone playing with him up front. I will be in touch via your email address when I get back to Cornwall. I am more than happy to make a contribution to the excellent reporting and comments!
Thanks Paul for your write up which summed up everything pretty well.
Driving home I couldn’t decide whether I was pleased or not with the outcome. The last -minute penalty save certainly made the heart feel better but somehow my head kept telling me that this was in reality two vital points dropped. Certainly at the point in the match when Hayden was sent off a draw would have seemed a disappointing outcome yet from then on our previous dominance evaporated.
I have to say that I also thought Newcastle were pretty poor and if that is an example of their general level then they should certainly be one of those sides who we should have ambitions of finishing above this season and to that end again, a draw wasn’t really an adequate result.
Still, shading possession and completing more passes than the opposition was a refreshing change but who is going to get the goals for us – that’s the big worry.
I left the ground on Saturday much more optimistic about our prospects than I was beforehand.
I thought that with one exception all our lads played as well and, in some cases,better than I had hoped.
As evidenced in the World Cup set-pieces are a vital part of the modern game.They are particularly important to us when we are unlikely to carve open Premier League defences with our approach play.
There were several occasions on Saturday when we won free kicks in positions where I wished that we had Peter Crouch in our line-up and not Ken Zohore.
Crouchy is now in his 38th year and past his ‘best before’ date but on the evidence of live TV appearances as a sub against Leeds and Preston he is still some distance away from his ‘use by’!
The Crouch ship has now sailed but will be back in port in January and worthy of consideration if , as appears likely , we are still lacking a striker with aerial ability.
I recall Anthony O’B writing a technical analysis of why Zohore has difficulty getting his arse to move in a vertical direction.
He was possibly right but I wonder whether there is a more mundane reason –courage.
Ken is a good looking young man.Has he perhaps seen ‘before’ and ‘after ‘ pictures of Steve Bruce’s nose and decided that’s not for him!
PS
Paul if you E Mail me your bank details I’d be happy to make an annual contribution
Two elements necessary to be successful at heading high balls amount to skill and will.
The skill element is essentially in the timing of the jump, though it might also include the ability to jump high.
The will element means the determination to challenge for the ball in spite of the risk of getting hurt — in other words, the element of courage (as Mike Hope correctly points out)..
I have been drawing attention to Zohore’s shortcomings in respect of these two elements for so long that, on several occasions, I have refrained from mentioning them because it might seem that I have some personal animus against him when nothing could be further from the truth.
My surprise and sense of frustration has continually been that he has been picked to “lead the line” at Cardiff City even though there are (and have been) others whom I feel are above him in the pecking order. In addition, esteemed and reasonable critics seem to have ignored his defects and portrayed him as essential to Cardiff’s success, It gives me some quiet satisfaction to note that many are now highlighting the very weaknesses which I have noted for so long and so often.
On the question of pundits, too, there has — quite correctly — been praise for the way in which Etheridge has saved two penalties in two matches. I agree, but what impresses me more about his performance, apart from his much improved kicking, is his courage when diving at the feet of onrushing opponents. In fact, not so long ago on this very site I compared him to Jack Kelsey of Arsenal and Wales, my all-time favourite goalkeeper. Men of courage do not go missing in action,
As ever, thanks Paul – but also to all other contributors…it’s wonderful to sense the fluttering breeze of the cautious optimism of so many who were there.
I was aware of it in myself, when I read the following in my Sunday paper : “Cardiff dominated from start to finish, but failed to put the finishing touches to an otherwise flawless performance”. The reporter went on to cite – favourably – Camarasa, Arter, and Murphy. Find some goals, and we can dare to hope.
And, to top it all – a tour de force (if a poignant one) from Mr Woosnam!
A final word – I see the right-wing Telegraph spoke of the splendid Etheridge as the first MALAYSIAN to play Premier League football…doh!
Mind you, Sir Vince might have liked that.
Thanks for another very interesting set of replies. To start at the beginning, I must say I liked Anthony’s poem a lot and it foretold one of the themes in this set of correspondence – the lack of heading ability of Kenneth Zohore. I’ll start my contribution to this debate, by saying that I think he is the best bet we have to lead the attack until January at least because I’ve seen nothing in Gary Madine’s career so far to indicate he can succeed at top of the Championship levels, let alone in the Premier League – I also thought it was significant that Neil Warnock turned to Danny Ward (presumably he was injured on Saturday?) before Madine at Bournemouth and I would look at him as a replacement for Zohore or give the front three of Murphy, Hoilett and Reid that we saw against Betis a go if Zohore has to be left out after one game following an pre season disrupted by injury and domestic leave. I found it ironic that, in a game where we were generally regarded to have passed the ball more and better than we normally do, that Zohore’s lack of aerial ability was so painfully exposed. I agree that courage and skill are prerequisites to becoming a good aerial striker and would select three incidents in the second half which would indicate to me that it’s a problem mainly of technique with our centre forward.
First, there’s the header when, as it turned out, he and Bamba had a great chance between them, but the ball ends up floating harmlessly high and wide – I thought that was a difficult chance and a hard header to get right, but the best would have found a way to do so. Then there is the low header which turned out to be our only on target effort of the game I believe which was cleared off the line (although I believe the keeper would have saved it quite easily if the defender had not been there). I agreed with the commentator who said that the better option with that opportunity would have been to blast the ball goalwards with a shot, but on this day when Zohore’s aerial limitations became such an issue, he opted to head it instead. Now, although there was no one near him and he may well have been aware of that, there is also the chance that he may have thought there was an opponent or two near by and, if that was the case, then he was putting his head where he might have thought the boots would be flying, so I’m willing to use that as a bit of evidence that a lack of courage might not be a problem with him. Finally, we have the header from Joe Ralls cross which found Zohore under no great pressure about eight yards from goal – I’ve seen it said that he may not have expected the cross to reach him as if that is some sort of excuse for what followed, but I cant accept that – this was just an illustration of how not to head a ball (i.e. rank bad technique) from what was probably our best chance of the game. What makes that miss look so much worse is that it was someone who has the physique to be a fine header of the ball who contrived to make such a mess of it.
Colin, I agree that the “Tan’s Folly” name for the Ninian Stand extension should be put to rest for now. I will not be joining you if you go there again though because I suffer from selective vertigo -I say selective because it is so unpredictable. I first experienced it in 1987 when I climbed about two thirds of way up the Scott Memorial in Edinburgh when I was there for a Scotland v Wales Five Nations game and came over all peculiar, I also had it at the Wales v Brazil match at the Millennium Stadium a few years ago when I turned around to look at the pitch after climbing to the top of one of the stands and almost fell forward down them again because I felt so strange. On the other hand, I have got myself into a state about the thought of going out on that lift which overlooked the valley in that exhibition they had in Ebbw Vale all that time ago and been fine and likewise when I had to visit the top storey of the Pearl Assurance building in the centre of Cardiff.= – in fact, I really enjoyed the views on both occasions. I also agree with you about the poor infrastructure which is going to make travelling to games more of an issue this season and so would also be interested to hear from anyone who uses Zeelo buses.
BJA, I’m with you in that we looked the better team for the majority of the game. In fact I would argue that Newcastle’s best spell came when they were down to ten men, but, the penalty save apart, their better chances came in the first half when we were generally edging things in the middle of the park. Newcastle were able to give Neil Etheridge a fair bit to do even though they were second best in some areas of the pitch and this again brought home our lack of creativity, ability and composure in the final third (we became less composed all over the pitch after Hayden was sent off).
Russell, thanks for your kind words about the blog, but, having now seen it again, I must disagree with you about the Harry Arter yellow card – he’s a very lucky boy, first, that he wasn’t shown a straight red and, second, that I’m fairly certain he cannot be charged retrospectively now. As for Bobby Reid, I was surprised to see him on the bench and then to see him deployed as deep as he was – he got his, relatively, big money move solely because of what he did as a goalscorer and goal creator last season, he had quite a few seasons before that as a pretty obscure central midfield player and so it was a little strange that he wasn’t given the chance to do what he’s best at when he came on.
Huw, I think you’ve got it right about when it was 10 v 11 – i must admit that, as soon as I saw the red card, I was very optimistic that we could win, so I suppose it would be understandable if a few of the players felt the same way and there was a tendency to wait for the, apparently, inevitable match winning chances to come along which, I feel, was gradually replaced by anxiety when they failed to materialise.
Good to hear from you again Geoff. Although there were two or three examples of faulty finishing over the ninety minutes, I think the real concern when it comes to our probable lack of goals is the fact that so few chances were created – Newcastle handled us pretty well from free kicks and corners (delivery that wasn’t good enough didn’t help either), but we made quite a few promising positions for ourselves in open play only for us to be betrayed by a poor final ball or techniques breaking down when we got close to the Newcastle goal.
Mike Herbert, thanks for the interest you express in becoming a patron (and a further thank you to those of you who have already done so). Although it’s easy to look at only two goal attempts so far in a couple of games where we haven’t scored and think we’ll never get enough goals, I think we should wait and see what things look like after our next two league games – it’s true that Huddersfield have played two of the big six so far, but any side which concedes nine goals in two matches are going to be edgy defensively in the nest game, while Arsenal’s woeful away of the latter part of 17/18 was carried into this season yesterday and if we can stay with them and get a few of those doubts to resurface, that match doesn’t have to end in what most of us are probably thinking will be an inevitable defeat.
Richard, I had exactly the same one point gained or two points lost thoughts as I left the ground. Although I’m happy that we aren’t going to have the Palace like start which I think would have seen us as good as down by the end of October, I think I have to come down on the negative interpretation in the end – as you say, Newcastle were nothing special at all really.
Mike Hope, you should have received an e-mail from me earlier. I’m not too worried about Zohore’s lack of aerial ability when it comes to attacking set pieces because we can get better headers of the ball (e.g. Morrison, Bamba, Paterson and Manga) into the box then, it’s more when we get in a position to cross from open play – Junior Hoilett in particular created goals with low crosses into the middle last season I’d like to think that players like Camersa and Reid would benefit from lower crosses as well as Zohore.
Finally, I’m sad to see Dai decide that he no longer wishes to post on here or, indeed, read the blog any more, but that’s his decision and I’m not going to try and make him change his mind – all I’ll say is thanks for some great contributions in the past, you will be missed and I for one will welcome you back if you change your mind.
Can I echo Paul’s sentiments in his last paragraph.
Dai you will be sorely missed.