For the first time since fixtures resumed, Cardiff City looked less fit and less strong than their opponents and paid the price tonight with a 3-2 defeat by an impressive Blackburn Rovers side who were well worth their win.
City could complain about their luck in respect of having to face a side who knew nothing but a win would keep alive their Play Off hopes and Blackburn played like their season depended on the match – they put an awful lot into it, with an energetic high pressing approach which certainly unsettled the home side.
Furthermore, although they really didn’t need it given their almost complete domination of the second half, nearly every decision and roll and spin of the ball in the second forty five minutes went Blackburn’s way.
Yet, while there could be no disputing the fact that the right side won, Blackburn would not have done so without a series of errors by players who have done so well recently that contributed greatly to the visitors’ goals.
When Cardiff were good they were very good, as evidenced by their goals which both in different ways illustrated their new more footballing approach. I also thought Robert Glatzel looked a very good Championship centre forward because we were playing more to his strengths, but, apart from him, we were struggling all over the pitch really from about the twenty minute mark onwards.
The fact is that Tony Mowbray sides have generally always tended to play in a way that is about getting the ball down and playing in a progressive manner and while we have been trying to incorporate some of that style recently with surprisingly good results, we were simply up against a team which was better at it than us because they have played it more often and for longer than us.
Tellingly, City were reduced to knocking it long and hurling long throws in Warnock style as the minutes ticked towards ninety, but it is a curiosity of post lockdown football, that our former strength has, it seems, disappeared – we’ve just not been anywhere near as effective from set pieces or aerially in an attacking sense, since football restarted.
Blackburn should really have been ahead inside ten minutes when their right back Ryan Nyambe blazed a wonderful Adam Armstrong cross over the top from point blank range under pressure from Joe Bennett, but City gave as good as they got in the first quarter of the game and might even have just deserved it when they went in front with a wonderful goal
It arrived on seventeen minutes and was their best of the season so far for me as the man who is usually the furthest forward of the midfield trio, Joe Ralls, picked out a forward run by Will Vaulks with a perceptive pass from the halfway line, but it was what the man who is often the deepest lying of the three who then provided a moment of sheer quality.
Vaulks’ run had taken him into a promising position. but no one could have been expecting what happened next as he met the ball with the outside of his right foot to send it quietly over keeper Christian Walton and into the net via the crossbar.
Unfortunately, just as at Preston, tonight was an occasion where the lead given us by the so called all important first goal was handed back almost immediately.
I’m afraid Dion Sanderson has to shoulder a great deal of the responsibility for what happened with Danny Graham’s equaliser. The young full back, on loan from Wolves, has, rightly, received a lot of praise for his performances in a City shirt, but he does make the occasional cheap mistake and here he, first, lost Armstrong as the Blackburn playmaker pursued a long ball forward and he would have been in on goal with a better first touch. As it was, Sean Morrison was able to clear up the situation at the expense of a corner, but then Sanderson compounded his error by being caught flat footed from the flag kick as Darryl Lenihan got clear of him to hit the post with a header – the ball then bounced off Alex Smithies which meant that Graham was not offside when he tapped in from point blank range because it had gone backwards off a City player.
After that, the visitors, with their greater strength and athleticism, tended to hold the whip hand and while not suggesting a second goal was imminent, they were clearly taking charge.
However, the closest we came to another goal before one did arrive was when Glatzel, Ralls and Junior Hoilett temporarily reversed the trend of the game by winning individual battles to set up a volleyed chance for the last named which beat Walton but flashed wide of the far post.
Therefore, it was not a complete shock to see Blackburn trailing at the interval and credit should be given to City for the quality of the goal they came up with to earn their 2-1 lead.
It came on forty one minutes and owed a great deal to the fit again Josh Murphy who had not really been involved until then. He first got away a shot from twenty five yards out that Walton dived to keep out and then, seconds later, combined with Ralls to neatly slip in Joe Bennett whose cross was turned in by Robert Glatzel for the sort of goal City just didn’t use to score.
I doubt it, but maybe the second half would not have turned out to be such a one sided affair if City had not once again allowed their opponents back into the game so quickly – this time with an equaliser within barely a minute of the restart when Armsrtong’s deflected cross was volleyed in by Dominic Samuel who had reacted quicker to the situation than Bennett.
Samuel would have had a second goal ten minutes or so later, but for the vigilance of Smithies and, another Murphy shot from distance which Walton turned away apart, I cannot think of another time when a player in blue looked like scoring when they were playing towards the Canton Stand. Indeed, the only threat the Blackburn goal faced after that was one of their own making when centre back Tosin Adarabioyo nodded on to the top of his own net with a concerned Walton back pedalling.
The game was decided with twenty minutes left with a goal which would have left one manager spitting feathers and the other purring as to the quality and audacity of the finish.
For me, Leandro Bacuma has probably been City’s best player since the lockdown, but here I’m afraid, he lost a great deal of the credit he had built up with a tired and careless looking pass into the path of Armstrong, stood alone some forty yards from City’s goal, who then produced a one touch lob over the helpless Smithies which never looked for a second like it was going to end up anywhere but the back of the Cardiff net.
It was a piece of skill fit to win any game, but it had been handed to the player in the Blackburn team most likely to come up with something like that on a plate.
City threw on subs Paterson, Tomlin, Ward, Whyte and Pack to no effect although the second named was the victim of an ugly tackle by Blackburn’s impressive, but, on this evidence, niggly Lewis Travis which could have earned him a red card, but such was the home team’s lack of oomph by then that I very much doubt if it would have had an effect on the outcome if the visitors had been reduced to ten.
City’s decidedly odd home record whereby the only two sides they have beaten at home in league and cup since before Christmas are the ones who are big favourites for the two automatic promotion spots continues then and it must be said that the two worst performances since the restart have come at Cardiff City Stadium.
Therefore, Derby go to West Brom tomorrow knowing a win will draw them level on points with us while a Swansea victory win at Birmingham and three points for Millwall at the New Den against over Middlesbrough (certainly possible on current form) would see both those sides close to within a point of us.
City will need to be much more up for the fight in terms of strength and physicality to get anything from a Fulham team that, with their Harry Arter inspired win at Forest, have three victories to show from their trio of games where they had to do without top scorer Aleksander Mitrovic through suspension – what was beginning to look like serene progress into the Play Offs following the win at Bristol on Saturday is going to be nothing of the sort I’m afraid!
Spot on once again, Paul.
I was really impressed with Blackburn, they certainly seemed to want it more and they out-Cardiffed Cardiff.
I’m not sure that Neil Harris picked the best starting eleven but I can’t see who would have made the difference in a game where our mid-field were given no time on the ball.
I think perhaps he has gone to the well too often with Hoilett, his legs weren’t up to it last night and Murphy is Murphy, flashes of good play amonst a general anonymity. Agree wit your comments about Sanderson, probably the worst performance he has put in for us. I also thought that Curtis Nelson wasn’t at his best. Harris’ substitutions confused me as well as coming too late in the game.
I would like to see us get into the play-offs (and then go out with credit to probably Brentford) I just don’t want another season rumbling along the bottom of the Premier League.
On last night’s evidence my comment about referees without the crowds looks a little wide of the mark. He didn’t give us much did he?
P.S.
The streaming on the club site last night was excellent. You were right again, Paul.
Good morning Paul and Colin – Now that was the reality check that I have half been expecting for some time, but hoping against hope that it would not happen. This Championship division has same strange results over a season, but since lockdown, I find it difficult to believe that the Blackburn side I watched last night had lost their previous three games, whereas we had won three and drawn one with only one goal conceded. Their second half performance, regardless of our errors, was infinitely better than ours and they were fully deserving of the three points.
Our strength in recent matches have been our defensive unit. But as you correctly state, Blackburn’s first two goals were as a result of Sanderson for their first, and Bennett for their second, slow to react to the danger of an incoming ball. And as for the final goal, the least said about that the better, but Armstrong, who looked the best attacker on the pitch, took it brilliantly showing his Premiership class.
So, if we are to progress to the “dreaded…”, we must go again. Against Fulham, I see no reason to change defense or mid-field, nor Glatzel for that matter. Which two wide men Mr.Harris selects is the dilemma. Hoilett looks shattered, Mendez may not be fit, Whyte just has not had enough game time and then we come to Murphy, capable of so much but not delivering that often.
So, play with only one wide man and put Smith in the middle with the other three and let Ralls or Vaulks or Bennett go forward as genuine attackers when the occasion allows. We could even see a repeat of our first goal last evening which our only Welshman executed with great aplomb.
I had not intended to watch the West Brom v Derby encounter today, but now feel I must and hopefully cheering on the Baggies to a resounding victory. But with this division, who knows?
It seemed to me that Tony Mowbray may have watched our game against Charlton, and saw that we struggled against a team who pressed us on the ball, which frequently led to us squandering possession.
Last night when our defence had the ball, they’d frequently find 4 or 5 Blackburn players pressing them into a mistake. Although Leandro Bacuna played a poor pass which resulted in Blackburn’s third, he was under pressure from a couple of their players, and didn’t seem to have anyone in a blue shirt to pass to.
When we occasionally pressed Blackburn, in contrast, it was only in ones or twos.
Tony Mowbray’s team are always good in possession, although do tend to concede goals, but we couldn’t muster sufficient possession to put them under sustained pressure.
I’m not sure if the decision to split our centre backs was to enable our full backs to get further forward, but Blackburns seemed to do better going forward than ours. It also left us susceptible to the long diagonal balls that Blackburn frequently played, which had us scrambling back. What came to my mind was when Blackpool used the same tactic so successfully against us in the play-off final at Wembley.
Hopefully, as Neil Harris said afterwards, this was a kick up the backside, in case the players were thinking they just needed to turn-up to win games. They say the test of any good team is how they bounce back from defeat. If we are to get anything from Fulham on Friday, we’re going to need to see a big bounce!
Thanks Paul and others.
Couldn’t agree more with all the comments.
Down to earth with a bump, the longer it went on the more we looked like old City. Chasing it and lumping it in desperation.
To be fair, I must have got used to our more fluid style in recent weeks so not really complaining as this is better for longer term and sure the players must be gaining confidence. However, a good manager worked us out and I was impressed with constant front foot pressure from Blackburn which we clearly weren’t expecting.
Vaulks goal a worldie and then their last goal tops it. Would have been a cracking game with a full house!
Fingers crossed now for the run in. Guess questions over wingers and best midfield combination are key. Hoping Tomlin gets a start, but can’t deny other midfielders have looked a good unit in these games – apart from Bacuna slip up last night.
Glatzel looked the part again and would prefer him and Ward to get the nod over Patterson next time out.
Lets hope our defenders have learned lessons as well as had been pretty solid up until last night.
Roll on Fulham.
Thanks all for your replies. Blue Bayou, I think you make some great points and would add that the Blackburn approach, although risky because we would have overloads in attacking areas if we’d been able to pass our way out of the press, worked because we were unable to do that – it was a reminder that although I think the switch to more of a passing approach has worked overall up to now, it is definitely a work in progress.
Huw, judging by his remarks yesterday, it’s unlikely we’ll see Tomlin starting any time soon and I can agree with that because he doesn’t look as fit as he did from around October until he got his injury to me. I’d be surprised if Glatzel didn’t start tonight, but would also not be shocked if Paterson was also in the side in his number ten type role or out on the right because I think we have problems in terms of Hoilett’s fitness, Murphy’s ability to get involved in a game and, possibly, Mendez-Laing’s availability.
Colin, your comment about Blackburn got me thinking and I’d say they were probably the best opposition side we’ve seen at Cardiff City Stadium this season, but their overall record says that Tuesday’s performance level is one they do not reach that often – they were totally dominant in the second half and I can’t think of another visiting team this season you can say that about. I’d still make us favourites to get sixth spot, but our form at home in general gives me little hope of us doing much in the Play Offs – we will be at home first and would be most dangerous when having a lead to defend in the second game, but I just don’t see that happening,
BJA. I think I’ve covered a fair bit of what you said already in terms of Blackburn’s quality and our wingers. I think tonight’s selection will be very interesting because, given Fulham’s recent results, I wonder if we’ll go there with the attitude of being satisfied with a point? If we do, then I’d say there is a chance that we may reinforce the midfield with someone like Pack and have someone in there like Paterson who an give Glatzel, assuming he starts some support up front – presumably Mendez-Laing will be available tonight and it’s probably more likely he’ll come in, but he’d need to do more than hr managed in the other two post lockdown matches he started. Finally, I must say that I’ve not been impressed by Derby in their last two games – they were second best versus Forest and it was all too easy for West Brom on Wednesday. Derby have got a huge game tomorrow and I’d say that, at the moment, it’s looking like there will be a Welsh side involved in the Play Offs and it seems to me that the Jack’s run in is quite similar to ours. If they beat Leeds tomorrow on the back of a loss for us at Fulham, I think Swansea would take some stopping.