When two teams near the the top of a table play each other, a variety of things can happen. Clearly, the Sky commentator was expecting a football classic between two teams that popped the ball about as they found it easy to create chances.
In my experience, matches between evenly matched sides in the same division tend to end with the sides canceling each other other out in a draw or a single goal win.
Cardiff went to Bolton today this lunchtime and did not impress their fan base.
It seems,that we’ve been good enough to be top of the league for most of what has been just about a quarter of a season.
For ninety minutes, we never looked like conceding today, apart from a moment in added time when Nathan Trott finally had something to do with a cross into a dangerous area.
That should have been that. City had their warning, but didn’t heed it. Instead, Tanetswa Nayakuhwa, who, ironically, was giving one of his better substitute City performances, opted for the sort of brainless cross field pass I used to specialize in when I was 14 , but I would have have had the football wherewithal even then not to have played such a dangerous pass towards the opposition ‘s most potent attacker.. However, Nyakhuwa attempted a forty yard low, cross field ball which, of course, fell into the path of Bolton’s most in form player Amario Cozier-Duberry and a few seconds later , the ball was in the net courtesy of a finish completely at odds with the sort of play we’d seen before then. It was a fine finish from about twenty yards
There was one positive and surprising selection for Cardiff as Alex Robertson was fit enough for his first league performance of the season. Robertson’s attitude in the pre season matches he played left a bit to be desired. However, I thought he was one of our better performers, today and, on an afternoon where so many were guilty of cheaply conceding possession, Robertson was one of noyot many who valued possession.
Unfortunately, for a squad that has a good level of individual ability, City haa a shocking ball retention record and the indictment presented by the match stats say it all
So. Again, another short report because there’s so little to say about the game. I nmight not have thought it at the time, l but David Turnbull’s header we wide about about 25 minututes was about as ascloce as we came to scoring today and, belieeve me, it was was ‘t very close at all. As is too often the case, defenders were our best passers of the ball with Turnbull, again , not really doing the businesss in the middle of the park and Rubin Colwill g9iveing what I’d say was his sloppiest passing performance of the season so far.
This was like Port Vale and Stockport in that City did not really look like they were tryinmg to win the game. A 0-0 draw would have been a saitsactory outcome I suppose, bu7t we seem happy to settle for such a score very early into proceedings.
Away from the first team, the under 18s were beaten 3-0 by Bournemouth and the under 21s drew 2-2 at QPR with Dak Mafico and Troy Perrett scoring.
It seems there was just the one game played in local football this weekend with Treorchy won 5-3 at Llanrumney United in Division One (East) of the Highadmit South Wales Alliance.
Thanks Paul for the match report. You ought to get the MBE for your unpaid efforts, and also for your welcome for readers’ comments that sometimes may be antithetical to your own view of the game. I particularly applaud your integrity in never censoring a word of their views.
There are match reports of yours that I endorse 100%… and there is the occasional one – like this – when our views will diverge a bit. But more of that later…
At the start of this season, I picked my three for automatic… they did not include Cardiff, but did include Bolton.
I still rather hoped we could make the playoffs. After yesterday, I am having my doubts.
Had Bolton not won, it would have been a travesty. True Trott had only two saves to make… both at the very end of the game … one he pulled off very well, the other alas he never made a move for, assuming perhaps it was going wide… only for it to nestle in the top corner. Was it non-saveable? Perhaps to most keepers, but we all seem to believe that Nathan is not ‘most keepers’… but an exceptional one. The shot was hit with no great force from just on the edge of the penalty box… so, at least move your feet, Nathan please. You owe it to the fans who made the longish journey. Mind you, Turnbull could have made more of an effort to immediately close down the scorer… though in fairness, he’d put himself around the pitch for over 93 minutes at that point, and his energy levels must have been as low as his morale… that simple heading chance should have won us the game, and doubtless it was on his mind throughout.
But Turnbull and Trott were not the major cause of an inept City performance against an underwhelming Bolton side. As we approached extra time and had never properly tested their goalie, I said to my friend watching it with me on Sky here in Lincolnshire, “there’s only been one really class player on the pitch, and that is their little right winger on loan from Brighton”… and how fitting it was that he should be the player to score with the last kick of the game… in a move that started from (as you say) an irresponsible over-casual misdirected cross-field pass from Nyakuhwa…
But it wasn’t just his fault: I blame BBM and the nonsense he’s picked up under Pep and Enzo… those two are particularly guilty of encouraging suicidal passes.
As for your view that Nyakuhwa’s cameo otherwise was not that disastrous, I can only say I am mystified. Oh for sure he was involved more in his 29 minutes on the field than the anonymous Izakk Davies was the whole game. But tell me what he did that was so good. Sure he tried to take on his full back three times but with no real success… losing the ball very easily on two occasions.
No, I reckon the least said about his 29 minutes, the better. But we must put the blame for his crazy 93rd minute pass not on him, but on his manager. BBM must be encouraging such nonsense down in Hensol.
Re yesterday: I reckon there was only one City player one could say had a good game, and that was Joel Bagan. Throughout the game, young Cozier-Duberry dazzled, yet Bagan kept him in check.
BBM just exasperates me… so very negative. As your stats show: 94 backward passes to 46 of the opposition. And as for our forward passes, we could have made a million, but what’s the point when at least five out of six are intercepted, and puts the opposition back on the attack?
As for your claim that Robertson was one of the City’s better performers yesterday…eh? Thou canst not be serious…!! He seemingly impressed you by wanting to keep possession.
Jeez… compadre… I love you dearly Paul… but give me strength… can’t you see that wanting to ‘keep possession’ is exactly our problem? City had 63% possession. So what? I have always regarded that statistic as one we have put far too much faith in. It is meaningless when our team cannot test their keeper even once. Robertson keeps possession alright, but by collecting short passes and making another short pass himself… usually sideways. The bloke I thought we were getting from Portsmouth was someone who styled himself on a Declan Rice: viz… a guy who could drive forward at pace, beating two or three guys in the process… and shoot with venom and ‘see’ and play a long pass.
Alas, we must have bought his brother.
We know that Robertson (and Turnbull) cannot thread a needle even if they have a magnifier and a giant eye in that needle, but to see Rubin Colwill also make a horlicks of most of his passes… well it was so dispiriting.
Incidentally, I cannot think of a single game in their joint time at Cardiff when Robertson or Turnbull merited an 8 out of 10… whereas I can (just) with Wintle… including a couple of games at the start of this season.
And worst of all was the forward passing of Lawlor and Fish… desperately poor stuff (one diagonal from Fish excepted). Almost made one pine for Callum Chambers… (weak joke).
As for Salech up front… BBM persists in letting him lead the attack on his own, when most of us in MAYA know in our bones that he cannot play with his back to goal. Sure, Salech had been poor (no surprise) on his own, and thus BBM takes him off at the 83rd minute… only to replace him with Calum Robinson… who also cannot ‘lead the line’ on his own.
A child of five can see the two of them need to play upfront together, but the allegedly insightful BBM cannot. (As Grouch Marx famously said ‘send someone to fetch a child of five’.)
Interesting to hear the Sky commentator call the egregious Perry Ng ‘Perry Ung’. I am no student of languages, but my hunch is that this is how the Singaporean Chinese community would pronounce it.
If only pronunciation was the only problem with Perry… alas,it ain’t. Look, he is a better right back than Kpakio, (in that he can tackle much better and can go forward just as well as Ronan)… but the fellow has a permanent hernia in head. Always annoyingly winding-up opponents. Fans of Plymouth Argyle have never forgiven him for his antics getting Ibrahim Cissoko sent off last season. He brings no honour on our club.
As to the importance of ‘two up front’, I noted one glimmer of hope early in the second half… when Salech was momentarily joined up front by Rubin… and headed it on deliciously… only for it to just fail to quite become a ‘chance’. That, dear BBM, should make the penny drop with you.
But candidly, if you won’t get the best out of Salech, you may as well sell him in the January window.
I never thought I’d say it, but it was wonderful to see Man United win at Anfield by playing long goal kicks… no ponderous inaccurate square and backwards passing. And when he came on with 30 minutes left, they aimed for Sesko’s head… with Cunha and Mbeumo close by looking for flick-ons. Looks like football is coming out of the Dark Ages of tiki-taka. And the thrilling beauty (and mayhem resulting) from Brentford’s long throws… ah!… it fair sets my heart a skipping with pure JOY.
When the game at the wonderfully named Toughsheet* Stadium ended, I switched over to the BBC iPlayer to see the whole of the second half of Wales against the Matildas at the CCS.
Guess what? Those women showed more spirit in the 45 minutes I saw of their noble 1-2 defeat, than the City did in all 94 minutes of a negative ‘pass backwards’ visit to Bolton.
*and let’s be clear, it was not ‘tough sh^t’ on us yesterday: we got what we richly deserved.
TTFN,
Dai.
Thank you, Paul, for your criticism of the “brainless cross-field pass” which resulted in Bolton’s winning goal – but that cross-field pass was just one of many, many, Yes, Dai Woosnam is correct to blame our Manager for not stopping the devotion our backs and mid-fielders display to possession-keeping passess back and across again and again .. he should sit the team down to watch a film of the game and each time there is a pass across or back without even looking to see if we have anyone forward to whom a pass could be tried, the player responsible should have a few hundred pounds deducted from their wages. And they all should be reminded that most goals are scored in the opposing team’s penalty area so a good idea to get players in that area and try to get the ball to them. The crowd at home and away are getting increasingly agitated at our failure to create scoring chances – the begging shout ‘SHOOT’ is getting louder but so rarely do we manage to get a player into a position where a shot is possible.
I will make a wager with you all now…
And it is this…
I will bet that in the next 12 months you will not see a reader’s comment in MAYA wiser than the 188 words posted by Graham above.
And we must listen to him re our travelling fans…
… for whereas me at 78 am pretty much housebound these days, Graham even more of a veteran than me, still travels from London to our games. He should get all our absolute RESPECT.
He is the Dannie Abse of our day.
And the one thing he says here that should scream out at us is our team should SHOOT more. Vincent Tan was right over ten years ago when he urged our team to keep shooting at goal.
Where is the John Buchanan of today?
DW
Paul, again, thank-you for your latest write-up. You mentioned that City didn’t impress their fan base at the game. I add, neither did they impress me.
My Friday morning started with a 5am wake-up call, some packing and a 6am shower on a cruise-liner moored at one of the Canary Islands before a mid-day coach trip to the airport and a tea-time flight to Gatwick. Following a night-time National Express journey back to South Wales I finally hit my bed 24 hours later. After watching the live Sky Sports’ broadcast of the Bolton away game I really questioned if it was worth getting up at mid-day. The effort of the day and two damaged suitcases later I could have done with a few more hours under the sheets. Those 24 hours had boats and planes but no trains.
Distilled down to the nuts and bolts, the game was as tepid an outing from Cardiff City since BB-M became manager as there has been. It was as if the gear-stick was stuck in second for the duration of the afternoon’s match. Not until Nyakuhwa’s introduction in the 70th minute was any degree of urgency seen. At least there was a desire from the youngster to be positive. He actually wanted to beat the full back on the outside and put a cross or two in.
Bagan, I thought, played well whilst Robertson, considering it was his first appearance in ages, was by no means the worst performer in a blue shirt. Fish and Lawlor both had a fine day’s work. Bolton only had one shot on target, the winner, in the game to City’s none.
On the vexed issue of Turnbull, I find it strange that a more than adequate attacking midfielder for Celtic is shackled by a defensive role in front of the back-four at CF11. As I’ve written before, Osho should be a shoe-in there. On the wider issue should there be any need for SEVEN defensive positions at this level where finishing is not as clinical as in Tier Two?
And then we come onto the senior Colwill. How did he get to play-out the entire game? I must be honest that he would not have been my choice to have been anywhere near captain or vice-captain this season. Yes, he is capable on occasions to grace the pitch with a moment of brilliance but those moments seem to be quite long apart. Its like waiting ages for one of those red London busses that don’t come. Colwill’s Bolton experience was of the headless chicken variety; readily chasing around seeking to close down the home back four but a performance littered with so many misplaced passes. One statistics’ site stated he lost possession 17 times. This was a day for a cool head and a bit of skill to lift a poor game. Less would have been more. Sadly like that bus, it never came.
It was disappointing then that Bolton’s winner came from a misplaced pass from the one player in the visitor’s line-up (Nyakuhwa) who at least tried to be positive during his substitute appearance. But why pass across the pitch when the ball should have been dispatched down the right wing with only seconds remaining?
City had 62% possession; 526 passes of which 83% were accurate. It was galling, then, that City didn’t improve that latter stat through Colwill and Nyakuhwa. The visitors didn’t deserve to win but were somewhat unfortunate to lose. Strangely for a top of the table game it was all rather boring. The teams in this division are no great shakes. Please BB-M play 442 and sort this league out. Surely, there’s no need for two-thirds of the team to be defensive?
So here I am twenty-four hours from Tenerife. Where are Burt Bacharach and Hal David when you need them?
Ok. I’ll get my coat.
PS: As the learned Dannie Abse’s name has been mentioned by Dai above, I had the privilege of sitting next to him, for about two decades, in the Grandstand at Ninian Park.
During one awful game we got to talk about literary matters. I turned to Dannie and commented about the game saying, “It’s a comedy!” “What!” he retorted. “It’s a tragedy!” Great days even when the football wasn’t that great.
PPS
Dai, you asked where is the John Buchanan of today? The answer is David Turnbull.
https://youtu.be/vKbGMdtOM4o?si=XS8YGD0FDwzUNlTP
Hello All – Late to the party I’m afraid but I just wanted to add the telling but exasperated comment that my late wife shouted a few years ago on one of the rare occasions when she accompanied me to the CCS – “kick it at the goal”. Oh, oh so true then but even more so now.
Apols for my misspelling Isaak Davies’ name.
What is it about parents these last fifty years who often deliberately (or sometimes accidentally) register their baby with an unconventional spelling?
I have an acquaintance living locally to me in Lincolnshire whose parents had a great holiday in North Wales… and because it was there the seed was sown, decided to name their son ‘Dafydd’ after the proprietor of the Llandudno B&B they stayed at.
Trouble was that they did not check the spelling, and thus the poor fellow has had to go through life called ‘Daffyd’… and so now tells folk that the name is Polish…!!
Anyway, I ‘dai-gress’. Back to the name Isaac… a name that I learned to spell by aged 8, as a result of my ‘3 times a Sunday’ Presbyterian upbringing in Porth.
Suffice to say that as I wrote his name in my first posting above, I knew that some jiggery-pokery had gone on with its spelling… and I just wrote the first bizarre spelling that came into my head… meaning to check and correct it when I came to proofread.
The problem was that I was so knackered at the end of a long posting, that I forgot to do that spelling check. As I say, my apols for me being slipshod (I also note I missed the second ‘o’ off Groucho).
My thanks to Steve for the Turnbull video. What can I say about it? Well…
The first thing to say is that I hope Bulut did not sign him on the strength of that…!! And why?
Well, because the memory of Malky signing the Great Dane on the evidence of an even more misleading compilation… well it still sticks in the craw.
A cautionary word to MAYA readers who have not had time to click on Steve’s link… I suggest you watch it with the sound muted…!! That musical soundtrack is enough to make one bite through one’s gum-shield.
As for Mr T… whenever he has chanced to shoot with us, it has invariably been a dismal effort that has drifted well wide.
Which brings me to something I said in these pages a decade or more ago, when Vincent was being scoffed at for saying our players should shoot much more…
I said at the time that all our training sessions should include compulsory shooting from a range of thirty yards. But added my own particular twist on things: I suggested that our players should be forced to aim for the whites of the keeper’s eyes… and not for the ‘postage stamp’… or whatever the vogue word was for a worldy in the top corner back then… ‘top bins’ perhaps.
And what was my reasoning? Simple. Such is the degree of inaccuracy of most players in the EFL that if they aim for the keeper, the ball has a good chance of going in off the woodwork: whereas if they aim for the corner… it will end up nearer the corner… FLAG…
Talking of words brings me to the etymology of ‘shoo-in’. It’s origins lie not in Stockport’s shoe retailer SHOEmarket, but more in Britain’s NEWmarket… the home of horse racing. Bookies used to say of some horses… ‘they are such great horses that they don’t need any jockey to win… you can just SHOO them over the winning line’…
Part of my role in life in the remaining short time left to me is to rehabilitate that word… along with the glorious word ‘soccer’.
Finally, largely housebound me notes with envy Steve’s visit to the Canary Islands. I remember the late great Gareth Williams having a pub/restaurant there: now he was EXACTLY the player who is desideratum in the City midfield.
Please read Paul’s obit, and his/my personal recollections in the comments below it…
https://tinyurl.com/24f3z944
Oh and I have just noticed Brian’s fine comment: it endorses the wisdom of the much maligned Vincent.
TTFN,
Dai.
Time to give Rubin Colwill a rest against Wrexham and give Mafico a run out.
Also use the match to play two up front and bring real pace into this initiative by making Yousef Salek and Isaak Davies our main strikers.
It is mid morning on Thursday a good 36 hours after the win at Wrexham, and you have not posted your normally ever-so-prompt match report.
I am sure Paul that I speak for all the MAYA readership in hoping you are not ill or involved in some family emergency.
I hope to see you soon telling us how pleased you were with our performance in Wrexham.
I reckon Rubin maybe had his best game since Villa in a City shirt, and Ashford maybe his best ever. Again though, Joel Bagan did not put a foot wrong, and was my MotM…
And finally, Graham and my message got through to BBM – ‘don’t try walking it in… try shooting it in…’
TTFN,
Dai.
Amen, Dai.
As ineffective as Colwill Snr was on Saturday he was pivotal in our good play at Wrexham. Had we played as we did in the first half on Tuesday at Bolton we’d have scored 5 or 6.
Spot on, Steve. Absolutely right.
The moral of it all is obvious…
We have to be prepared to shoot at all times once within 30 yards of goal.
However pathetic the shots… the Law of Averages says one or two will go in… even from a goalie’s fumble.
And now something I have spent the last hour and twenty minutes writing… I paste it below in the certain knowledge that you Steve, and of course Paul our esteemed Leader will relate to it… even though it does not strictly concern the Bluebirds… but football fans everywhere will I feel sure identify with aspects of it.
Enjoy.
DW
My curious fascination with Plymouth Argyle, FC.
Exactly three years ago,  I was at their ground not to see a game, but to see the statue just erected a few days earlier to the memory of a Plymouth player of a century ago.  He had been the first black player picked for England… though disgracefully got de-selected before the game took place.  A blatant case of racial discrimination.
When my friend Dave-the-Cobbler and I got to see the statue, it had unfortunately nearly toppled on to its side the day previous… and builders had just been to erect a fence around it and re-set it in fresh concrete.
Whilst we were studying it, I got chatting to a very pleasant chap passing by.  I quickly got to realise he was the Head Groundsman and his name was Chris Ralph.  What a superb fellow… for 20 minutes he answered all our questions and gave us real insights into the modus operandi of the club.  For one thing, I really fully grasped for the first time that Argyle are not just the team of West Devon, but also very much the team of Cornwall… he explained how supporters buses from towns like Penzance 79 miles away by road, are regular features. Â
I took a photo of him standing next to my friend Dave, and he took one of myself and Dave together… with the statue for company.   Note the statue is not the only structure needing stabilising… I am still confused whether that is mass scaffolding you see, or whether that is modern design…!!  For the whole of the stand seems to need the security of scaffold poles… surely not?  It just must be an expressionistic puece of architectural design…
 https://tinyurl.com/mtshmrx8
Anyway, like I said at the start, three years ago I never guessed that I would become seriously smitten by Argyle’s supporters… but I am.
And you can attribute that to two vlogs.  I nearly said ‘vodcasts’… but these guys aren’t sitting behind desks with impressive looking microphones: rather they are very much about filming the whole go-to-the-game experience… especially away trips.
And my absolute favourite is that produced by 33 year old Jack McDermott (known as ‘Pieface’).  He is quite a character (as befits someone who once came fourth and spent 66 days in the Big Brother house)… and every other week’s trips to away games sees him link up with a wonderful bunch of all  sorts of largely male fellow fans… their ages and lifestyles run the gamut, but their passion for Argyle is the one absolute common factor.  I have written about  them before, and expressed my fascination with their individual eccentricities. But above all, these Plymouth fans are good natured chaps in the main and one just cannot fail to warm to them.  Their passion is extraordinary… especially given the distances they travel at their own expense.
Gosh, as if Plymouth was not far enough… some of these guys live some distance over the River Tamar i to Cornwall.  For Saturday away fixtures, these blokes often leave home not that long after dawn…!!
Everything about this vlog meets with my approval… i am particularly drawn to the way these fellows seem to spend money like it is going out of fashion on confectionary and snacks in motorway service stations, and their all-action bouncing about and inventive singing during games.   And they are a peaceable lot… unless provoked… ax the police did recently by kettling them in at the end of the local derby at Exeter City.
Gosh… who knew that was such a fierce local derby?  I certainly did not.  The build up to the game last week starts here in the pub at 19.30 and then keep watching to the end… I promise you it gets quite hairy…
 https://tinyurl.com/2zjsuzp6
I also admire the Cornish Janner vlogs… even though one feels seasick watching his handheld camerawork… as it bounces up and down…as he walks to and from games!!
But here… it is the rant following the Exeter defeat (from 2.00.00 to 2.06.00) that is deeply impressive… not least for his memory of recalling town names…Â
https://tinyurl.com/59kv83zc
And following the debacle at Exeter, both vloggers made trips to Mansfield and another seemingly gutless surrender.   Cornish Janner’s piece caught the mood in the stadium fantastically well… I was particularly struck by the gallows humour of the singing… 3 examples that I recall…
[To the tune of Guantanamera]… ‘Here cos we’re stupid/We’re only here cos we’re stupid’…
[Unable to regain possession of the ball for ages, they sing to the tune of La Donna È Mobile]… ‘Give us our ball back’…
[Aimed at Tom Cleverley, and to the tune of Cwm Rhondda]… ‘Are you Rooney in disguise?’…
Great stuff.  And those chants of AR-GUY-AL… where the Plymothian accent sounds very close to the late Adge Cutler’s Zummerset… just charming….
As for the boy himself, there is something immensely touching about him… how in every episode he passionately pats the club badge on his jersey and repeats this mantra…’Up the Janners!; Up the Argyle!; Up the Greens!; Up the Pilgrims!; Up the Plymouth!  C’mon you boys in green… Green Army!’
Yes it is lamentable that he calls a team ‘the scum’ (Exeter), but this chap is no hooligan.  I like him, and I am even drawn to his strange almost Tourette’s approach to repeating his sentences.  It is almost as though he thinks he needs to repeat a sentence so that we can really take in its seriousness.  Go to his vlog and you will immediately spot this curious verbal mannerism.
And finally, hats off to the fellow as he does not drive and goes to all these games by train… and that is not even from Plymouth, as he lives 31 miles further west in Bodmin, Cornwall.
Hope all MAYA fans will enjoy the Band of Brothers element of the Pieface vlogs, and the more Lone Traveller aspect of Cornish Janner…
We have some good Cardiff City vodcasts, but gosh how I’d love some  Cardiff City vlogs like Pie’s (link above) and Cornish Janner’s (here)
https://tinyurl.com/383z2r6h
[End]
Posted on CCMB by Enoch Mort Earlier Today:
“You all may have noticed the absence of quizzes and a write up on the Wrexham game by TOBW. This is because he was unwell last weekend and was taken into hospital since when he has been undergoing all sorts of tests. He is no longer connected to the machine that goes beep and is feeling better but is still awaiting a pronouncement by Doctors. I spoke to him on the phone and he was quite chirpy despite the commentary from London Road. He is hoping that he will get some indication on Monday as to when he might be sent home.”
Get well soon, ‘Bob.’
I can only add my sincere best wishes for a speedy recovery Paul. Get well soon and continue with your fantastic and tireless work on this blog.
Kindest regards
Adrian in Germany.
Thanks to Steve for perusing the CCMB.
It is a relief to know he is still going strong, and will be hopefully back soon.
DW
Thanks Adrian, good to hear from you again. I’m still feeling like a zombie in the mornings, but, apart from a soreness and a feeling of tirednesws in my legs, walking the dog this morning wasn’t too bad. Will be watching tomorrow a little concerned that Cit ywill produce another performance which gioves me little to write about, they’ve been a real strange mixture in recent weeks.
Thanks Steve, it’s good to be back.
Just approved this Dai. It reminded me that one of the last matches I watched before I was admitted to hospital was Exeter 2 Plymouth 0 and with them losing at Mansfield a couple of days ago, the oft predicted Argyle revival still looks some way away. I see they’ve signed Joe Ralls on a contract until the New Year. Must admit to some surprise that such a “big” club would sign him at this stage of his career, but maybe they need an experieneced old head in midfield as I thought that, a little like when they played us, they had some tidy footballers, but their mentality didn’t seem right.
Thanks for the link to the Cornish Janners site, I wanted to see what he had to say about the Exeter game. Finally on Plymouth, I wonder how close Cleverly is to the sack? League One owners seem particularly keen on firing their managers this season and I think Lee Grant at Huddersfield must be another one looking over his shoulder at the moment.
With my phone problems as well, I didn’t even know how we got on at Wrexham until about twenty four hours after the game finished Dai. I knew we were 1-0 up at half time, but my phone was so unreliable at that stage that I couldn’t find out any more and no one else in the ward was able to help either. I finally got around to watching the match on the club site yesterday and I reckon that was the best we’ve played, all season – well, in the first half anyway. Quick take aways, Kellyman showed for the first time what some of the fuss is all about with him. Ashford was very good, Kpakio good, but should have scored, Bagan impressive again and Rubin Colwill maybe playing as maturely as I’ve seen him.
We need to bear in mind that it wasn’t a first choice Wrexham team by any means, but it was still one that would survive in the Championship I reckon. I’m not too bothered about the Peterborough loss, but I do fnd it concerning that we can go to places like Burnley and Wrexham and gain thoroughly deserved victories, yet we play at places like Port Vale, Wimbledon, Stockport and Bolton and create next to nothing.
Big thanks Paul for publishing my above long piece on the two Plymouth vloggers. (Apols for my several typos.)
Just a word to the MAYA readership: the first two of my 4 links did not come up blue for some reason. My advice to them is to copy/paste the link into a new window to activate.
You are Paul quite right in being bemused by our total inability to show the same attacking flair we exhibited at Wrexham in our other away games. I genuinely had a dream the other night that Vincent Tan* had swapped roles with BBM… the latter moving to KL, and the former moving to the biggest mansion in Druidstone Road.
He personally then supervised all training sessions, and had all the players spending their whole day shooting… he even took over the floodlit golf driving range in Bridgend and had them still shooting at a distant cardboard cut out of a goalkeeper at 8.55pm…!!
Meanwhile no doubt BBM had signed extraordinary deals for ‘his’ Berjaya Corporation… meaning expansion into the ROI. (I confess though that I did not dream that last bit: I feel confident that I would have, if only my 78 year old bladder not awoken me from the best and most vivid dream I’ve had in years…!!)
*when is Cardiff council going to take a leaf out of Wrexham’s book and grant him the Freedom of the City of Cardiff? He has the added bonus of not being a self-confessed arsonist.
Will sign off now. Great to have you back.
TTFN,
Dai.
There was a bloke in the bed next to me in hospital who used to tell me about the weird and wonderful dreams he would have every night. He said they were much more vivid than the ones he’d have at home – me on the other hand, nothing. On the subject of Vincent Tan though, he must absolutely hate these games where we never look like scoring and, although the consensus must be that BBM is under no pressure at the moment, a continuation of this strange inability to create anything in some matches needs to end sooner rather than later for his own sake.