Bulut’s Bluebirds continue to defy the odds as Colwill comes to the party.

4 Responses to Bulut’s Bluebirds continue to defy the odds as Colwill comes to the party.

1. BJA says:

   October 29, 2023 at 11:10 am

   Good morning Paul and everyone – Thanks as always for your views and I expect there was great relief from the blue supporters in the stadium with the moment of magic from young Colwill that secured the points for the City. I have now viewed his goal on several occasions on the recordings and in real time watched it from behind his starting position. He may well have been slightly fortunate with the ball breaking his way as he burst between the two opponents, but the manner of the dispatch into the net was impressive. And the joy from all around, stands and pitch was totally real, not only in the context of the match, but for the young man himself. A watershed moment in his City career perhaps.
   As for the match itself -hmm. Too many errors from our lot ( Bristol worse ) and it irritates me that there is a lack of control of the football often at the first touch and also too many wrong decisions being made when trying to pass to a teammate. That we deserved the win was undoubted despite the remarks of a sore Mr. Pearson, and I believe as yourself that we should not experience the difficulties in the latter part of the season. But I do wonder about our attack as none of the new recruits for those specialist positions acquired at the start of the season have yet to inspire this observer and can’t wait to see O’Dowda back operating on the left flank and Ramsey back in midfield.
   It is often reported that football is a game of two halves. Well – here’s something to consider. So far this season, we have played at home seven of the teams in the bottom “half” of the table and secured 16 points, and of the teams we have played away from home, we have played six of our seven games against teams in the top “half” and secured just 4 points. (Our trip to Huddersfield gave us a bonus 3 points). The first time we are scheduled to play a home match against a top half table team is against West Brom at the end of November, and the next away match against a bottom half team against Sheff Wed just before Christmas. So whilst I am delighted with our points tally to date, and not fearful for he season overall as stated earlier, I am keen to see just what progress has been made when the reverse fixtures are played against the respective top half, bottom half already played take place. Judgement can then be made. Hope springs eternal etc and my glass is quite full, Interesting times.
2. Huw Perry says:

   October 29, 2023 at 8:05 pm

   Hi All.
   Thanks for summary and analysis.
   We got there in the end and, like you and BJA, delighted for Colwill – as were many in the home crowd. Great to see him get a decent amount of time to impress and thought he did well to offer creativity when he came on with his exceptional goal being the real icing on the cake. Hope he did enough with that to satisfy the boss – sure I saw him leaping in the air as the ball struck the back of the net!
   Talking of the manager. Impressed that he swapped things around when Bristol were pressing us hard at the beginning of the second half. Fresh legs and energy worked a treat, with solid performances at the back again.
   Agree we were slightly the better team overall, but we do sometimes let ourselves down with poor control and sloppy passing. But – so much better than last year and well- organised. You can feel they are playing for each other and with some confidence. In reality we will do well to stay knocking around the top 6 for another 6 months but this does feel so much better than the dross we put up with last year!
3. The other Bob Wilson says:

   October 30, 2023 at 7:30 am

   Thanks both for your replies. I too get frustrated at how sloppy we can be at times because this team are showing that they are better than ones from the recent past who were not on a par technically with most of the sides they came up against in the Championship. I’m going to defend them though because I think allowance has to be made for the fact that it’s generally accepted that this is a better standard Championship than most recent ones and so it’s probably true to say that our players are under more pressure when they’re in possession and so some mistakes should be expected.
   Huw, you’re right about the influence of our manager and his coaching staff, I moan about something Erol Bulut does from time to time, but the overwhelming impression I have of him is positive – as I said in my piece, credit to the City hierarchy (I don’t say that very often!) and Mehmet Dalman in particular for their choice of manager this summer and for some very good player recruitment over that time.
   BJA, it’s incredible how our fixtures have panned out. Losing to QPR in our first home game made me think we were going to blow an easy looking first couple of months at Cardiff City Stadium. Even before a ball was kicked, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham in our first five matches looked like an introduction which should have given us the chance to ensure that home form was not the disaster it had been in the previous three seasons. It could all start to look very different once the higher placed sides start coming here, but at least we’ll begin that sequence in a confident frame of mind with a team used to winning on their own soil.
   By the same token, I’d say that the nearest we’ve come to being outplayed away from home this season is Middlesbrough where a two goal margin of defeat was probably right, we were competitive when we visited the top three sides in the league and I still think we were very unlucky to lose at Ipswich. What I would say is that even last season our away record was very good against the lower teams in the league and you’d like to think that while they probably won’t be as easy as Huddersfield turned out to be, the second half of the season could see us being able to compensate for the wins we won’t be getting at home with a fair share of three pointers on our travels.
4. Dai Woosnam says:

   October 31, 2023 at 10:10 am

   To all fellow MAYAns…

   Back from the Rugby World Cup… cor blimey, I tipped South Africa as the winner before the tournament started… as you well know Paul, as it was in a letter to you.

   And link that to my picking the winner of the Women’s Soccer World Cup before the finals of that even commenced, and that would have been a lucrative double had I put some money on it. But alas I did not.

   Now preamble over, down to CCFC.
   Gee… have you noticed the Swans are trying to emulate our away kit? That outfit they wore at Ewood Park seems a straight bit of larceny of our Kit Supremo’s intellectual property… with their ‘all blush pink’ number. But have no worries: serious ‘soccer kit fashionistas’ will always give ours the higher rating. And why?
   Well, it is the colour of course. That PLUM is simply… nonpareil… their blush pink (or is it fuchsia?) number just isn’t at the races.

   And talking about the exceptional… there is no danger of me putting Erol in that category as a manager. But in one area he is really pleasing me… that of his touchline animation. Not since Malky Mackay have we had a manager who will not just stay on his feet for a full 90 minutes, but furthermore constantly bark out orders and gesticulate with hand actions straight out of the hand jive sequence in the 1978 movie ‘Grease’.

   Yes I know that Bertie Mee, Sir Matt Busby, Bill Nicholson – and in more modern times, Roberto Martinez, Guss Hiddink and Graham Potter – are all examples of successful yet undemonstrative managers in the dugout, yet I cannot help but feel that a manager building up a sweat in his technical area, is the manager most likely to spur me on, were I one of his players.

   Keep it going, Erol.

   TTFN, Dai,

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