As I type this, Brighton have just equalised against Newcastle and I must admit there’s a small part of me that is pleased because, although there’s still a chance for us if it stays at 1-1. realistically, we’re down now following out very disappointing performance and result at relegated Fulham.
Another week or more of thinking there’s still hope doesn’t appeal to me at the moment, because, having mentioned recently on here how relegation creeps up on you, today seems to me to be the day that it tapped us on the shoulder and said “yes, it’s you”. Sadly, after suggesting that we had it in us to take the fight, even if it turned out to be unsuccessful, to the very end, what happened today was indicative of us going down with a whimper, just like we did in 2014.
Yes, the Brighton game finished up 1-1, which means that they are currently four points in front of us. Assuming they lose to Arsenal (not a given with the way the Gunners have been performing since Aaron Ramsey’s injury) and Manchester City, we know now that, given our dreadful goal difference, we have to beat Palace and Manchester United in our last two matches.
I’ve always believed that if Palace came here wanting to play, we would really struggle to beat them, but, if we do, does anyone really think we can go to Old Trafford and win? Yes, I know they are now back playing as poorly as they did under Mourinho, but even this vapid, anaemic version of Manchester United will not be bad enough to let us win up there.
All of the signs are that the three relegation sides will end the season having not taken a single point off the top six clubs – I might have still entertained some hope if Newcastle had been able to hold on to their lead and we could have gone to Old Trafford knowing that a draw would probably keep us up, but not when we need a win, we’ll get picked off and so will, almost certainly, look back on a campaign where we would have had to garner the thirty five or so points which would have saved us from twenty six games, not thirty eight.
I’ll not waste too much time talking about today’s game. We were second best virtually throughout and gave the impression that we thought a 0-0 draw would be a good result in a match which, realistically, we had to win.
The dull deadlock became a bit more watchable in the second half, but not really because of much Cardiff did until they fell behind with a little over ten minutes left courtesy of a fine Ryan Babel strike.
Cardiff had a total of eight shots on target to Fulham’s two. Now, that stat suggests that there was a case of daylight robbery at Craven Cottage today, but, when you consider that seven of them came after the goal, then you are looking at a team that was finally roused into some sort of attacking action as the consequences of how damaging defeat would be dawned on them.
In the final stages, Fulham keeper Rico made a number of saves of varying quality and Junior Hoilett hit the woodwork from ten yards when he probably should have scored and, as the action centred in and around the Fulham goalmouth, it is easy to understand why many City fans were thinking “if only” in terms of the tactics and attitude adopted by manager and team.
However, I’m not sure I agree with those who are saying that we almost beat ourselves by adopting a defensive attitude from the start. I found today’s match a tough one to analyse and draw conclusions about for a number of reasons.
Firstly, you only have to look at the team sheet to see that this was probably the weakest eighteen we’ve had all season. Smithies, Bamba, Arter, Ralls, Paterson, Zohore and Josh Murphy were all absent and, while the starting eleven only showed one change (Bacuna in for Ralls), I looked at the names on our bench and immediately lost any optimism I’d built up in the hours leading up to the match.
I ask this question in all seriousness – if you consider how the career of some of these players has gone and how little first team football others have played lately, has there ever been a weaker subs bench for a Premier League game than;-
Brian Murphy
Jazz Richards
Greg Cunningham
Kadeem Harris
Danny Ward
Bobby Decordova-Reid
and Rhys Healey?
Now I should say that some of that seven could make decent Premier League performers and, as mentioned before, there’s at least one there who would be a different proposition if he had not spent so much time out injured, but in what should have been seen as a must win game there are only one, maybe two, names there that come over as candidates to come on and play a part in turning around a losing cause.
So, I look at a starting eleven with a weaker looking midfield than normal, a striker who doesn’t score goals and wingers who have been inconsistent for most of the season and see a team that isn’t really equipped to push even an already relegated team back on to the defensive from the start in a match where nothing but three points will do.
Put that with a bench that offered few options if things were going wrong and my natural inclination would be to be sympathetic to manager and players for the bad luck which saw them go into such an important match with such a depleted squad.
But, did it have to be so depleted? I listed seven missing players earlier – well, we know Alex Smithies has been having injury problems for some time, Sol Bamba, Callum Paterson and Joe Ralls are out for the season and that Harry Arter was touch and go for today after the freakish injury he suffered while being substituted at Burnley. Apparently, Kenneth Zohore had “some tightness in his quad” according to Neil Warnock and, as Danny Ward had, along with Rhys Healey, been the “best two lads in training this week”, they were included – our manager’s comment that “I reward the lads who do it in training now”, rather suggested that this was some sort of change of approach on his part.
This leads me on to Josh Murphy who, it seems, was fit and available for selection, but, as is made clear in this piece, had been anything but impressive in training according to our manager.
Now, I know all about that line saying supporters don’t see what goes on in training every day and, if it was, say, October and you wanted to make a point to someone who you considered was not given their all, then I would see some point in omitting the player concerned. However, we’re nearly into May now and, surely, when your team has so many first teamers out with injuries, it’s cutting your nose to spite your face when you leave one of your two most expensive buys out of the squad completely?
For me, this goes to the heart of the Warnock philosophy of football management – toil over talent, grafters over mavericks. Such an approach has it’s merits in the ultra competitive Championship where the margins, even between top and bottom, can be very fine ones, but in the Premier League?
For me, the answer to that question is no. In the Premier League, the choice is not one of graft over craft or vice versa because, with so many of the players at this level you get both of them – you also get opponents physically strong enough to nullify any advantage in size and/or power you may have enjoyed in the Championship.
If we are talking about Josh Murphy against some of those who were preferred to him on the bench today, then I would say that he has often put the defensive effort in that Neil Warnock demands from his wingers. Granted, he has tended to be less effective in away matches, but I have to say that I find his omission and our manager’s comments about him today baffling and hardly what you’d expect from someone who is generally credited with being a good man manager.
Similarly, I cannot fathom how both Ward and Healey got on the pitch before Decordova-Reid did. The man who scored all of those goals for Bristol City last season surely had to be the first one you’d look to use if you wanted to shake up your attacking play with what was available on the bench today, but I can only presume that the need for a target man type was considered more important than what the 10 million pound man can provide.
As it was, all of City’s best attacking play came after Decordova-Reid’s eighty seventh minute introduction and I must say that, on the biggest day of our season, it seems to me that, having, to a large extent, stuck with his Championship players from last season, Neil Warnock admitted defeat today when it came to the two men he spent over 20 million on last summer to sharpen up our attacking play.
Whatever the truth about that, Neil Warnock, with his usual honesty, admitted that he might have got his selection and tactics wrong for the game which has probably defined our campaign – sadly, when it mattered most, our manager had his worst game of the season.
There is no doubt that Neil Warnock has done things very much his way in his long managerial career, but, for someone who has never struggled to find a job over the past thirty odd years, it is telling how few of those years have come in the top flight.
Yes, our manager rubs people up the wrong way at times and I daresay this has cost him some big jobs in the past. However, having definitely earned the right for a full season tilt at the Premier League following his record breaking eighth promotion, the only conclusion you can come to as an almost certain relegation looms is that all of those pundits and supporters of other sides who said Neil Warnock cannot hack it in the top flight look like being proved right – Neil Warnock did it very much his way this season, as we all knew he would, and, once again it looks like it’s going to be found wanting,
As is nearly always the case, City’s possession figures were down in the twenties or thirties (indeed, they were at eighteen per cent for the first half an hour of the second half in a match where we desperately needed three points). It’s not just been under Neil Warnock that we’ve become well used to the opposition having much more of the ball than us – it was the same under Malky Mackay to some extent, it definitely was under Russell Slade and even with Ole it was on the low side.
The contrast between what the first team has to offer when it comes to keeping the ball and what you see from our Under 18 team was, again, abundantly clear as our Academy lads provided some good cheer on this miserable day for the seniors by beating Leeds 2-1 at Cardiff City Stadium this lunchtime to reach the Final of the end of season Play Offs in Professional Development League 2.
City’s youngsters dominated possession in an evenly fought affair with the runners up in the Northern Section with Keenan Patten and captain Sam Bowen at the hub of a side that played in a manner that offered a total contrast to what we see from the first team.
For all of City’s poise and patience, it was the visitors who carried the greater early threat, particularly when Warren Burwood, a late call up after first choice keeper George Ratcliffe cried off with an injury minutes before kick off, touched an effort by Theo Hudson on to a post and then it took a great block by Joel Bagan to prevent a goal from the rebound.
Leeds had one or two more moments that caused us problems, but were then undone midway through the half as Patten picked his way past a challenge before steadying himself and firing high into the left hand corner of the net to cap a very good opening quarter from the midfield man with a fine goal.
Burwood made another good save to deny one of the Leeds centrebacks following a corner, but City finished the half strongly and after Kieron Evans did well to find Sion Spence down the left, last season’s top scorer showed good acceleration to get beyond his marker to the byeline where he knocked over a low ball that keeper Rae couldn’t deal with and Dan Griffiths was able to sweep the ball home from very close range to put his side in control.
City started the second half confidently and played their best football in the third quarter of the match. After a quiet first half, Ntazana Mayembe was more to the fore as he caused problems down Leeds’ right, but, too often, his good approach play was undone by either a wrong option or a poor delivery.
When Mayembe switched sides for a short while, he got in an effort which drew Rae’s best save of the match while Bowen also went close and Evans wasted a decent chance by firing over after being very well set up by Griffiths.
However, Leeds then rallied by, first, drifting a free kick from the edge of the penalty area just wide and then centre forward Haugland got the wrong side of Connor Davies and shot low past Burwood to narrow the deficit with twenty minutes left.
The next fifteen minutes or so were awkward for City as the ball bounced around not too far from their goal on a few occasions, but the thing that won them the South section title more than anything else was probably their defending and, just when they needed to be, centrebacks, Bagan, Ben Margetson and Ryan Kavanagh all proved themselves to be capable and composed.
One run out from the back in particular from Margetson lifted the siege and appeared to raise the spirits of his team mates because, after that, they kept possession well and took play into the corners effectively for the last five minutes of normal time as well as the four that were added on.
Leeds will feel that could have got something out of the game,, but I thought City just edged it because of that bit more poise and control they showed.
In the other Semi Final between Northern Section winners Sheffield Wednesday and Southern runners up Ipswich at Hillsborough, a solitary first half goal was enough to take the home side through. There’s no word yet as to where the Final will be played, but, based on the way Wednesday kept us at arm’s length during their 1-0 win at Treforest about a month ago, they’ll be a stern test for us wherever and whenever the match takes place.
Finally, congratulations to Blaenrhondda FC whose promotion to the Premier Division of the South Wales Alliance League was confirmed today despite a 4-0 loss at Champions Porthcawl Town Athletic.
Good morning Paul and everyone – A splendid piece of writing as always, and one with which I wholeheartedly agree. Listening on 5 Live to the commentary, Owen Coyle the co-commentator seemed to think that the City played well, and their attempts on goal in the last quarter of the game should have brought some reward had it not been for the heroics of the Fulham goalkeeper.
But, and it is the same but that has been prevalent for the whole season, why do we seem to accept a situation where we only have possession for about a third of most matches that we play? To me, the logic is the less we have the ball, the more opportunities there are for our opponents to attack our goal, and the fact that we have conceded more than twice the number of goals to those we have scored would confirm our limited possession statistics. Our likely ‘player of the season’ is Etheridge, and I shudder to think what our goal difference would be without his efforts between the sticks.
I think we have all accepted that we do not have many “flair” performers, Camarasa being perhaps the only one, and that is probably one of the principal reasons why we have problems keeping the ball. Somehow and extraordinarily, NW does not appear to be bothered about possession because even yesterday he was able to state that he thought we were the better side.
I have thought for some time that Murphy was a little lazy defensively, so it was no surprise to learn that after a poor week in training, he did not make the bench. By the same token, I was delighted that both Ward and Reid ultimately got on the pitch, but by all accounts far too late to provide us with the victory that was so desperately needed. Surely both will start against Palace, but even a victory will prove satisfying but insufficient with a trip to Old Trafford to follow.
So another Championship season beckons. I have now been watching the City for almost 70 years, have seen us promoted to the top flight of English football on four occasions, but it looks likely that I will only have witnessed seven or eight years of us performing at that level. I had hoped that season 18/19 would be a year of consolidation at that level, but I suspect our transfer dealings should have been the indicator that would not be the case.
If NW stays on, he will endeavour to achieve a 9th promotion, Just not sure if that will be wise. However with the youngsters doing well, perhaps we have a couple of prospects who may grace our first team squad fairly soon and save us from some more inept, yes inept, transfer dealings.
I haven’t contributed much this season as I have attended a lot of the games and really before I start I have to say that NW has been a god send to Cardiff . Bringing everything together he has produced a great integrated club spirit.
Having seen yesterday’s match and heard NW make his speech which included I may have picked the wrong team I can only say that very early on he knew he had picked the wrong team and as a manager should have put it right there and then.
Firstly I cannot fault the effort made by the back 5. Nor can I say that gunnars and camarasa didn’t put a shift in so I want to concentrate on the remainder.
Camarasa made a number of foraging runs but there was no one who made any effort to find space so he could pass to them and therefore kept running into brick walls. I laugh at that because it was quite obvious in the last ten minutes just what Fulham were like in defence so for 80 minutes we let them off the hook with players who should not get a look in the team and bad management decisions.
So taking it step by step as soon as I knew Bacuna had been chosen then I realised what the likely aim was to be. A draw or smash and grab. Bacuna who I believe NW said that this was the player to take over the mantle of gunnars , that really worried me as he continued to prove me right throughout the game. At times he seemed to want to be as far away from the ball as he could get. Yes we were short in midfield but I believe a runner like Reid would have given us a much more fluent midfield. Bacuna is a lower championship player and that’s it, if NW believes in what he says about him then that’s where we will finish if we go down.
It was clear even after 30 minutes that niasse could not score and this has been know for at least the last 5 games. NW knew he wasn’t right after that time and as a manager wishing to stay up in the premiership should have made the decision to change as early as that. Ward should have taken his place then, someone. Who at least has a shot at goal and is prepared to run. Take these. Two players out and we. May have started the response earlier. Than the last. Ten minutes.
Now the. Substitutions first on ward for niasse about 45 minutes. Too late. Then unbelievably healey instead of Reid and then in the final minutes Reid .
A number of serious management failures and if you include the dropping of Murphy. I would say the pressure has really got to NW.
This was the game to win and NW failed miserably. So we are left with a two win scenario something that I find difficult to stomach especially when we have had so many chances and failed the test up to now.
What is bothering me is that if we could keep our premiership place then you had the perfect man to build your team around in camarasa. That’s not looking likely now but I won’t be giving up till that final whistle at Manchester . So I hope that NW stops his continual selection of niasse and picking players like Bacuna who is so out of his depth and bring in players that are going to die for the cause in the last two games. At the same time make game changing decisions at the right moment instead of waiting till it’s far too late.
Staying up or going down I would like NW to call it a day and finish on a high as I really think we cannot go any further now with him at the helm. Please don’t get me wrong I knew he was a great appointment and he has done so much for this club but I would like him to be remembered in the positive rather than the negative and I just feel the is now turning.
I will not give up any hope until that final whistle at Manchester but it’s time to ensure that the commitment shown by the players on the pitch is rewarded by two of the best games in the Cardiff city history
Thanks, Paul, once again an excellent analysis of City’s woes.
I think you mentioned all the points that came to my mind. You have to ask who decided to spend 20 million pounds on a couple of players who the manager has never seemed to fancy? On the evidence we have, who ever is doing our scouting and player recruitment had a particularly bad time of it last summer. I don’t know if it was the same man, or group of men, that found our 11 million ‘striker’ Cornelius but if so we need to look elsewhere, I have to concede that early last season I thought he/they had done well to unearth Mendez-Laing and Loic Damour (whatever happened to him?).
I don’t understand yesterday’s tactics at all, I thought we would have thrown all that we have at them in the first quarter, didn’t happen. Was the plan to hold them until the last quarter and then have a go?
If, as it looks almost certain, we get relegated has anyone have any confidence that we will be able to find and buy the players we need?
Not totally depressed by the thought of Championship football but disappointed in the tactics yesterday.
I have a ticket for the Palace game, the first game I will have attended since the Manchester City ‘effort’, and I don’t know what to expect. That faint chance is still there, and as they say “where there’s life there’s hope” (don’t think Sinatra used that line). I can see the crowd being up for it but will the manager and players be?
After yesterday’s sickening disappointment a Spanish friend made the following observation to me: La luz al final del túnel está practicamente muerta. I feel too despondent to give the translation, but I think the gist is fairly clear. And yet as the light is not totally dead I cling to the spark of hope that remains. Miracles do happen
The fat lady can save her dress, there’s no need for her to slap on her makeup and wait for the curtains to reveal her audience waiting expectantly for the start of her lung bursting opening song. Short of a 1 in a 100 bag of four results it’s all but over and City are down.
Again, the City game at Fulham was not without controversy as Morrison, for the umpteenth time this season was bundled to the grass in the Cottager’s penalty area but for the umpteenth time this season nothing was given. We all now know the scenario these days, don’t we? Like the pupil who looks at his teacher but is continually ignored so he ends up not not even bothering to look in his direction, it saps the hope out of you. Keeping to the musical theme, as the singer Janis Joplin was supposed to have said, “I just can’t dredge up the sincerity any more.” What’s the point in having to run up Everest when the opposition just face Caerphilly mountain?
Sad though the Morrison incident was and the siege like last 7 minutes after Reid was eventually brought on (for the last 3 mins of the 90 and the 4 added mins) we could have scored a hatful of goals but up to that time we were hamstrung by a laboured performance of a defensively gripped mindset. Shorn of Paterson, Bamba, Ralls and Arter why make it an even more uphill challenge by, again, not playing Reid or Murphy? Our set in stone 4141 system consigned our lone striker to be a latter day Robinson Crusoe with no man or beast within 25 yards of him. With Hoilett and Mendez-Laing so preoccupied by defending and Gunnars ploughing his lone furrow between our two banks of four we rarely threatened, save the Morrison penalty incident.
Then it happened! On a bitterly cold afternoon on the banks of the Thames, when the battle was almost lost, we attacked like a team released from its shackled team-plan of trying to make it difficult for the opposition. Did no-one in the City-camp know this was a game we had to win? We created more goal worthy chances in those Reid minutes, by a factor of seven, than in the previous near hour and a half (7 to 1). It was ludicrous! Virtually every attack could have ended with a goal. While I could understand Warnock keeping things tight early on, as there was no point in losing the match before it had hardly begun, why leave it so ridiculously late to spark the old, creaky engine into life? Fulham are no great shakes yet it was not until those final 7 mins that they earned their corn.
Fulham probably deserved to be leading going into the last 10 mins, though if the referee had been more up to the task / less partial (dear reader you choose the reason), it would have been 1-1. It was inexcusable, in a game that we had to win to wait to make a fist of the challenge so late on in the game and for so short a period of time.
Sadly it seems we are giving up our hard-earned PL status with barely a whimper. It must be said that we were given £200m for for our one season stay in the top flight. Valiant and heroic that we have been, at times on the pitch this campaign, the Club has been deeply wanting from last summer. Penny pinching is no way to plan for such a difficult challenge. Last time we found ourselves in the PL we shot ourselves in the foot; this time we didnt even have any bullets! Then there’s the poor return on many that have cost fees and trying to square the circle by repeatedly mystifying team selections. It seems I am having a go at Warnock. I am not placing all the blame on him for the ills of the Club but the tactics and choice of players in London, which left so much to be desired, was his and his alone. But others are equally culpable at CCFC.
Is our likeable Yorkshire man to be given another season or does the Club need to start planning with a younger manager more akin to the demands of 21st Century football? Talking about the 21st Century the trip to Fulham also always gives this fan an opportunity to pass by 193, Fulham Palace Road (where King Crimson practiced during 1969-1971) and the park next the the cemetery where the words of 21st Century Schizoid Man were penned late one night in October 1969. I’ll end with some other words of the Crim-lyricist:
“Elephants forgot, force-fed on stale chalk,
Ate the floors of their cages.
Strongmen lost their hair, paybox collapsed and
Lions sharpened their teeth.
Gloves raced round the ring, stallions stampeded
Pandemonium seesaw …
I ran for the door, ringmaster shouted,
‘All the fun of the Cirkus!’ ”
If truth be told, much of our 2018-2019 PL campaign was as surreal as Peter Sinfield’s lyrics above. There was precious little fun for me in the, ‘cirkus,’ that was this season’s top flight campaign, particularly when you only play for 7 minutes of a game that you had to win or spend just £28m on players for the year ahead or the disgraceful exhibition, of their profession, by numerous men in black.
What will 2019-2020 bring? Your guess is as good as mine but be there I’ll be.
I think Reid and Ward have earned the chance to start against Palace anyway.
I can’t wait for this season to end, let’s face it ,it’s the Alamo, we have been under siege from day one, all promoted sides to the Premier who buy championship players, do one thing, play Championship football, and that’s where we are going, time for Mr Warnock to retire, or go upstairs, time to change style include our youngsters, as many of our competitors have done, some quite successfully, look at the Swans !
Thanks, Paul – a dismal time indeed, but the MAYAns continue to come up with great pieces which are both analytical and passionate.
I’d still prefer to hope and dream, but it all looks a long way from possible.
I’m with so many of your correspondents – disappointed and angry…the half-hearted transfer (in)activity in the pre-season; the trying to get by with 30% possession; the timidity of approach, especially related to attacking football, and giving it a go; the hapless selections and deployments of players (Reid, the key example)…we could go on.
But, of course, there have been moments when we can all feel great pride and pleasure – it’s just that those moments are minimal tasters of what could have been.
Thanks as ever Paul. Yesterday certainly marked the lowest point so far in Neil Warnock’s managerial reign at City. That’s not because we lost and not because relegation is now a near certainty (both those outcomes were strong possibilities before kick-off yesterday) but because of the seeming ineptitude from our manager in terms of squad selection and tactical priorities as well as a failure to engender the kind of necessary will and fighting spirit needed yesterday. That last quality is something I didn’t think we would ever find cause to question from a Neil Warnock side but I can’t help feel that the absence of Murphy and Zohore (was he injured ?) from the bench is a clue to the squad becoming a less cohesive one than it was a week ago.
The question now is where we go from here. I’m honestly not sure. Moving on from Warnock and bringing in someone who can establish a brand of football that will be successful in the Championship and give us a better chance of surviving and establishing ourselves in the Premier league is an attractive thought. The trouble is that finding such a person would be difficult for a savvy football-minded ownership prepared to spend big on such an appointment. For an ownership like ours who, despite steps forward, are a long way from being football savvy and whose aims for the club and financial commitment are still open to question, the chances of the right person finding his way here don’t seem to me to be that great. We’ll see.
A great piece as always from TOBW and a fascinating heading which begs the question ‘Who is facing the final curtain? Is it our spell in the PL or is it our manager’s contract?
I think that our blogmeister is expecting the former but also hoping for the latter.
There is no doubt that Neil Warnock has been brilliant for Cardiff City.
He has united the fan base after the red shirt saga,saved us from the threat of relegation to League 1 and given us the thrill of promotion to the Premier League.
Even if the stay is for only one season the extra revenue generated for the club is I believe between 150 and 200 million pounds.
I think that deserves to and now should, leave with his head held high.
I don’t expect it to happen but I think Vincent Tan should now tell Neil that relegation or not, he is not part of his plans for next season and he should use the Crystal Palace game to say goodbye to the fans.
The special atmosphere would probably boost our chance of a win!
With hindsight it is easy to be critical of some of NW’s signings,team selections and tactics–we fans do this with all managers.
My main gripe with NW is that on the evidence of matches in the Championship and even League 1 all teams seem to be better than us at passing and receiving the ball.
Has NW decided that our players are not good enough to pass and move with the pace and precision needed for success in the PL so it is better to concentrate on a more direct approach rather than work on ball retention skills.
There is a lot to be said for this theory if you have a goalkeeper who can kick it long and accurately and players up front who can win and hold on to the ball. The Burnley trio of Heaton Wood and Barnes come to mind.
Given our current personnel the idea of passing through the midfield begins to sound attractive!
This would (will) be the fourth time I have seen us relegated from the top league and it’s always a miserable experience.
There are some things Iwill not miss about the PL however.
I do not go to City games as a neutral so there is no enjoyment in watching great teams and players outclass us.
I will certainly not miss going to games -especially losing games- where fans with Welsh accents(some of them my neighbours!) support the opposition then ponce around wearing opposition shirts for a week after the game.
I can also do without managers like Klopp complaining through teeth that used to belong to a previous Liverpool hero (Red Rum) that our grass is too dry so we should not mock when one of his multimillionaire players miskicks on such a difficult surface!
I always look forward to a new football season.Ithink Iwould look forward to it a little more with a new manager.
I suggest David Wagner.
He has very modern ideas and overachieved spectacularly in his first two seasons at Huddersfield.
I think he could be even better second time around
Good morning everybody. What a great read from Paul and a terrific set of replies of a standard which puts other blogs and message boards to shame. I’ll keep it brief because we all appear to be agreed about Neil – thanks for turning the Club around and the great job you’ve done but the time is right to step down, otherwise we may see another generation of promising young players stagnate and drift into oblivion elsewhere. As for first team selection, it’s bizarre. Why spend money on flair players when you have no intention of picking them – Reid in particular could have provided some of the goals we have been sadly lacking. It’s also a pity that Ward has been injured so much because he looks a cut above our other shot shy strikers but perhaps he wouldn’t have been picked anyway.
Finally, i will be glad to see the back of the incompetent bunch of incompetent, biased buffoons who pass for Premier League referees.
Morning everyone and thanks for a set of comments which can only be described as excellent even by the high standards of the Feedback section on here.
There are so many points made by everyone that I would like to address, but I’d be here until tomorrow if I did, so, I hope you won’t mind me limiting myself to one per person!
BJA, I’m sorry, but I cannot be optimistic about the chances of any of the young players I watched on Saturday breaking into our first team under the present structure and philosophy at the club. I bang on a lot about the way the first team plays, but all I’ll say here is that, no matter what sort of football you would like to see from your team, it seems daft to me to have a situation whereby the teams below first team level play in a completely different manner to the seniors.
Barry, I agree with your conclusion regarding Neil Warnock, as someone who thinks it may be time for a change, I must say that some of my reason for thinking that way is that I would not want to see him being sacked a few months or a year or so down the line with criticism of supporters ringing in his ears. I’ve just been reading this very good analysis on our finances in 17/18
https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1122762123417923584
and one thing it does is bring home what a good job our manager did in getting us promoted – I agree with you that the tide does seem to be turning a little against Neil Warnock.
Colin, I don’t think this squad will ever go into a game and not try, there have been a few occasions this season (I’m thinking of Huddersfield and Everton at home to name but two) where it may have looked like that, but I think that is what you can get when a team which has less natural footballing talent than, probably, any other side in our division is having a really bad day – I like to think our manager and players will be up for next Saturday’s match, but my fear is that Palace will have the pace on the break to pick us off as we become more desperate for a goal – scoring early on, like we did in our last two home wins, Bournemouth and West Ham, would make a big difference.
Anthony, as you say, I think most of us get the gist of what your Spanish friend is saying! To be honest, my hope is gone now – I can see Brighton getting a point against an Arsenal side that may decide to switch their attention fully to the Europa League after their recent losses, but I suppose a draw for them at the Emirates doesn’t really effect things too much as long as we get six points. However, we’ve not been helped at all by our injury list and I think we’ll be relegated by the time we play at Old Trafford.
Steve, there was a lot I wanted to reply to in your fine response, but I’ll limit myself to talking about how well you’ve captured how I feel about the way we’ve suffered at the hands of officials lately. I notice Neil Warnock was very complimentary about Saturday’s ref and he is someone who I’ve been impressed by in the past, but, truthfully, there was one definite penalty and one probable one on Saturday for the usual grappling and shirt pulling of Sean Morrison when he challenges for the ball in the opposition box. You will have noticed perhaps that I didn’t even mention these incidents in my piece and you captured exactly why I didn’t – my thoughts were along the lines of yes, they’re penalties, but what’s the point bothering about them. You are exactly right about the cumulative effect of all of these mistakes sucking the hope out of you and your Everest/Caerphilly Mountain analogy is a brilliant one.
Ian, I think we might well see Danny Ward starting on Saturday, not so sure about Decordova-Reid though.
Big Al, as I mentioned earlier, I can’t see much chance of any of our youngsters getting into the first team any time soon and, if I’m being brutally honest, I’m not sure about any of them being future first team players like I was when I first saw the likes of Ledley, Jerome, Ramsey, Gunter and Matthews, but I daresay that, after all of these years of watching good teenagers turning out for the Under 18s and 16s who never get remotely close to the first team, I’ve lost the “you won’t know until you try them” attitude I had ten years ago – we’ve long since given up on trying them.
Lindsay, as I mentioned in my piece, I do have some sympathy with Neil Warnock on Saturday because that was, for me, the weakest 18 we put out all season and so I’m not sure if we had the firepower and attacking talent to go out and put Fulham under pressure from minute one. However, I well remember how many problems we caused what, after all, is a very poor defence, when we met them in Cardiff last October and it has to be said that, once we finally decided to have a go, we caused them problems virtually every time we attacked, so maybe I’m under estimating some of our attackers there?
Richard, I wonder about Zohore as well, and I share your doubts about just how effective Neil Warnock, who I feel is a very good motivator, has been in getting enough players really firing on all cylinders in the recent matches which have shaped our season – he is, pretty obviously, not getting the performances out of Zohore that he was two years ago, I think there must be a degree of exasperation behind the Murphy comments, what he had to say about Camarasa and his injury might have led to a cooling off in that relationship between manager and player and something just doesn’t seem right when you look at how Bobby Decordova-Reid has been treated in recent months. All four of those players are ones who you would look at as possible game changers for us as they could all be counted among the few players we have who might come up with “something special” in an attacking sense that could swing a tight match.
Mike, I think that’s a fine analysis of Neil Warnock and the job he’s done at Cardiff, but the bit that really stands out to me is;-
“My main gripe with NW is that on the evidence of matches in the Championship and even League 1 all teams seem to be better than us at passing and receiving the ball.
Has NW decided that our players are not good enough to pass and move with the pace and precision needed for success in the PL so it is better to concentrate on a more direct approach rather than work on ball retention skills.”
What you say about our inability to pass and receive the ball to a standard you would expect from a team playing in even the Championship (we were poor at doing it even as we were being promoted last season) goes right to the heart of my main issue with this manager and the one who preceded Trollope. Regarding your question about how great a priority we put on ball retention, I would answer not as much as most others do. My guess is that our manager and his coaching staff aren’t too bothered about something like 40% possession, but we have been down in the 20s and 30s too often this season and a lot of this stems, for me, from that basic inability to control and pass the ball in a manner you would expect from a Premier League or Championship group of players – I also don’t understand the logic of why we seem to be so keen to get the ball back to a goalkeeper, whose distribution is distinctly dodgy, so he can whack it upfield and, invariably give possession back to our opponents!
Clive, it seems Neil Warnock wants to play a number ten type player because he keeps on signing them (from the same club as it turns out!) and yet it always turns out to be that type of player who misses out – the fact that our most effective number ten type player in the last two seasons has been a Scottish full back who is good in the air, says so much about how the game is approached at Neil Warnock’s Cardiff – it can be effective, but in a league where subtlety and skill makes such a difference at it’s highest levels, it all seems so agricultural.
Sorry for late reply as I am away..
One thing most on here are missing is the point of the penalty. The ref was looking at it. Totally ignored it. Last time out Morrison holds Sala, let’s go and only then does he go down as if he has been shot.
How does that affect the players psychology. Their mind set must be effected . Following the Chelsea game the have been penalties against Burnley 3/4, Liverpool,1, yesterday 1. Yes we have had penalties ignored all season but it’s strange that as soon as we are in with a chance of survival in those games plus Chelsea it’s about 10 decisions gone against us.
As ian Wright said. Game changing.
Why are people so naiive not to think there is an agenda against us!.
These are not mistakes where a ref gives a corner when it should have been a goal kick. Ie. Burnley v spurs. Burnley scored from corner.
These are decisions where officials totally ignore the rules.
Following the Chelsea game I wrote to the refs association about then beating us and not Chelsea. The reply was lip service. We anylise each game, we constantly learn, the game is seen by different people from different angles, it’s fast.
Nonsense. This is an agenda but they are hiding behind , we cannot talk about specific incidents. Why not? Because you know the truth and it’s corruption of the highest order.
They could not care one iota about the paying supporter as long as they get the result that they want.
I agree with the points above. We have not been good enough but lately we have improved, but Saturday if given the penalty, even if missed, would the players mind set have been different as in the back of their minds they know that the ref is going to be fair. We will never know as he chose to ignore it. Ian Wright said on MOTD what more is the ref looking for as that is a penalty.
We should all right to the refs association asking why they are against Cardiff city. Perhaps they will then realise that we do know what is going on. Perhaps Cardiff should look to take legal action against them as those 3 points they took off us for the Chelsea game would psychologically made so much difference and put us, even now, just one point behind.