“Fantasy football” is a phrase that has acquired its own meaning in the last thirty years or so as what seems sometimes like millions play it every week and you get the impression that for many it’s more important than what is happening on the pitch – indeed, to hear some talk, they think the purpose of the Premier League programme every week is to provide points for their selected eleven!.
Yes, you say the words fantasy football now and every one knows what you’re talking about, but, having watched Cardiff City play cup football this season, I would argue that in this corner of south Wales anyway, fantasy football is a term that has a second meaning when applied to the team I support.
Cardiff City are having a better Championship season than was forecast by pundits from far and wide. It was generally thought we were going to struggle with nearly all of the forecasts I saw from nationwide organisations tending to place us in the bottom third of the table somewhere. There was the odd optimist who had us maybe reaching halfway, but, if you were looking for anyone who was saying we’d make the top ten, then you’d almost certainly be looking at locals who would be, how shall I put it, swayed by their allegiance.
Yet, Cardiff have spent nearly all of the first half of the season in the top half of the table and, at times, they’ve been in the top quarter. Cardiff’s success, such as it is, has been built upon hard work, defensive discipline, making the most of set pieces and, importantly, everyone fully knowing and performing their roles when the team is not in possession of the ball. The emphasis placed on that last named aspect of our play in 23/24 has been made clear by a manager who has gone public with his criticism of some first team squad players for their lack of work ethic when we don’t have the ball.
A neutral reading that last paragraph would likely deduce that entertainment has been in pretty short supply at Cardiff City this season and, while there have been some matches earlier in the season in particular where this was not the case, they would not be too far wrong. The truth is that results have been better than performance and, for many, that’s fine, they want to see their team win above all else and so aren’t too worried that at times watching them play is like watching paint dry.
Yet, would City have been able to make it to their current position of eighth if they had gone out with an enterprising, attacking attitude where they wouldn’t worry about conceding three because they knew they could score four? I think we all know the answer to that one!
So, those who, like me, want to see some entertainment to go with the points we pick up have, largely, had to accept that we can’t have the best of both worlds
That said, there’s always Aaron Ramsey to come back (at least I hope there is) and Erol Bulut has been pretty open when talking about his recruitment plans for this month – he wants a more reliable goal scorer and a general increase in his team’s creativity.
However, when it comes to cup matches in this season of pragmatic, defensive and thrill free league football, it’s almost as if Erol Bulut and his coaching staff have taken pity on supporters wanting some excitement from their team because when there aren’t any points to be gained, anything goes – Cardiff City play fantasy football in cup competitions!
Whereas it’s a rigid 4-2-3-1 every week in the Championship, it has been a back three consisting of a token centre back, a full back and midfielder at times in the cups. Not only that, in front of the three or four defenders, the players selected are given more freedom and there are plenty of fancy flicks and play on the half turn to enjoy. I swear the best footballing performance I’ve seen from us this season was when we went to Birmingham in the Second Round of the League Cup and comfortably beat them 3-1 with a back three that included Ebou Adams and Mahlon Romeo – we scored some classy goals and the home side were chasing shadows at times.
In the next round we travelled to Blackburn and, with a back three consisting of Adams, Romeo and Jonathan Panzo traded goals with the home team in an enthralling first half which ended with us level with our hosts at 2-2. The second half saw our fantasy football exposed though as we fell apart and could have conceded eight instead of the five we did let in – in the end, 5-2 probably flattered us..
This game was a confirmation of what must, surely, happen more often than not if you put out experimental, makeshift defences against something close to first choice Championship attacks – for all that you may play some watchable football along the way, you’re going to end up being beaten and, often, beaten heavily.
Therefore, I assumed that we’d seen the last of Cardiff City’s wacky selections at Blackburn, but, not a bit of it, we were at it again tonight at Sheffield Wednesday in the Third Round of the FA Cup and this was even more fantasy football than anything seen before!
Just have a look at the team we started with tonight. In front of Jak Alnwick was a back four consisting of under 21 captain and regular centreback Xavier Benjamin at right back, first team right back Perry Ng and central midfielder Ryan Wintle at centre back and Ollie Tanner, who has mostly been on the right wing this season, at left back. The sitting midfield two were forgotten men Romaine Sawyers and Andy Rinomhota (both of whom have been linked with moves away from City in the coming weeks), with Josh Bowler on the right wing, Callum Robinson on the left and Rubin Colwill supporting centre forward Kion Etete.
To be fair, Dimitrios Goutas is, apparently, on compassionate leave following a death in his family and Mark McGuinness was missing with an illness that has laid low some other squad members as well as Erol Bulut himself if social media is to be believed, so, this time, it might be that the bizarre selection was forced on us.
However, more than any other cup game this season, tonight’s match fully lived up to the fantasy football label (from our perspective at least) because it had absolutely nothing to do with what is Cardiff City’s reality over the first half of the 23/24 season when it comes to league football..
In some ways, we played better tonight than we did in beating Wednesday twice in the league, the Ng and Wintle pairing meant that we passed the ball better out of defence than we normally do and whenever Sawyers plays there are quite a few reminders as to what a fine player he once was, Rinomhota gave the midfield more energy than it often has and Colwill, Tanner and Etete often linked up effectively in a way they don’t get the chance to in the first team as they are seldom all on the pitch at the same time.
We had twenty two goal attempts to Wednesday’s twelve, nine on target efforts to their six and won the corner count by ten to four, but there was a professionalism and ruthlessness to Wednesday which we just couldn’t match.
There was, to be fair, a generous helping of luck on Wednesday’s side too, Josh Windass has made a career out of scoring goals like the one he did in just seventy seconds, so it would be wrong to dismiss it as a fluke, but when a similar speculative thirty yarder from a full back flies into your net before the half is out, you do start wondering if it’s just not your day.
Most bizarre of all today though were the two penalties City missed within seven minutes of Windass’ very early goal. First, Rinomhota ran fifty yards with the ball in a way that none of our other central midfielders at the club do and was then brought down for what I’d call a fairly dubious penalty award. Wintle stepped up to take the penalty which made sense as he’d netted from the spot in a far more pressurised situation deep into added time to win the game with Wednesday at Cardiff City Stadium back in August. This time though, Wintle’s penalty was nowhere near as impressive and all keeper Cameron Dawson had to do was guess the right way to dive to pull off a fairly routine save.
Three minutes later Etete was brought down for what looked a more obvious penalty and Callum Robinson was nominated to take this one – quite why that should be, I don’t know as Robinson missed two from two in the league last season when he was playing far better than he is this time around. The result was completely predictable as the second penalty was even poorer than the first one and while Dawson will get a lot of headlines for his double saving of the spot kicks, I thought he made better stops within quick succession just before half time to foil Colwill and Etete.
Colwill must have had three or four shots of varying quality which were saved before half time as City responded well to the blow of conceding early and then missing two spot kicks, but their makeshift defence were struggling to cope and Alnwick twice came to his team’s rescue with good saves.
However, the keeper was at fault when he came for and missed a corner which hit the blameless Sawyers and rebounded into the net and then long serving full back Liam Palmer smashed one in from long range to send his team in, somehow, 3-0 up at the break.
The pattern was repeated in the second half as Robinson and sub Cian Ashford missed well worked chances that they should have put away, but the difference in finishing quality between the teams was further emphasised when sub Mallik Wilks made it 4-0 in added time with another well taken goal.
It’s hard to know what to think about City’s attitude to cup football this season, but, overall, I don’t see how someone like Benjamin benefits from being played out of position in an experimental rearguard and then being taken off at half time. Similarly, Joel Colwell, Benjamin’s replacement, played forty five minutes and I thought he did well, but did it all do his first team prospects any good? I doubt it, Colwill was on the bench on Monday at QPR and you knew he was never going to be brought on because that’s not how the Championship version of Cardiff City works in 23/24 – today was only fantasy football and it’ll be back to the real stuff next weekend.
That’s the bit I don’t get – I can fully understand why it’s impractical and dangerous to approach league games as we do cup games, but there have been some good aspects to our cup games this season which you’d like to think could be utilised when it comes to the Championship.
Earlier, I not very seriously suggested that we’re playing like we do in Cup ties because Bulut and co have taken pity on those of us who yearn for some entertainment from their team to go with their, admittedly, good results. However, it’s probably more realistic to say that our manager and his coaching staff are showing us romantics what would happen if we played like some of us want the team to play like – the football we play in the cups has no basis in reality and the fantasy in the football we play when there are no league points at stake is all to do with the traditional meaning of that word.
Elsewhere, the under 18s continued as they left off before Christmas with a 3-1 win over Millwall at Leckwith today. Troy Perrett’s penalty put us one up at half time with Daniel Ola and Jake Davies adding further goals after the break.
In a weather hit programme in the Highadmit South Wales Alliance League, there was a much needed 4-2 win for Ton Pentre over Caerphilly Athletic in the Premier Division to arrest their drift towards the relegation places, but they’re going to need a few more similar results in the coming weeks if they are not going to suffer another relegation.
In the circumstances, I’d probably say that the second half was the most enjoyable defeat I’ve see from a City side. The fantasy element was that we started the second half with one recognised defender, one recognised striker, and eight midfielders.
Not surprisingly therefore we pretty much dominated the second half between boxes. Unfortunately we missed the two glorious chances you mentioned, as well as some poor decision making in the final third and some decent stops from Dawson in their goal, who also had luck on his side with the shot that he spilled but it incredibly spun backwards into his hands rather than into the net.
Whatever the reason for the team selection (illness, owning clubs not wanting loan players cup-tied, possible transfer outgoings, etc), I’d still prefer to watch an entertaining cup performance like that where there’s almost a guarantee there will be goals, than a cagey league affair, although I know others who strongly disagree and feel we’re disrespecting the FA cup by fielding such a team.
Overall though I’ll be very happy if we can get a striker who can score penalties, in this window.
Buongiorno Paul and all MAYAns…
Thanks for your – as ever – detailed report… and I kinda get your appreciation of the entertainment factor.
It was a day when our opponents’ shots went like Exocets and nestled in the corners of the nets*: and by contrast all our shots seemed to be straight at their keeper… (presumably because we were not aiming at the whites of their keeper’s eyes, but hoping for those same spectacular efforts?)
Having watched the full 90, well… all I can say is I doubt if any City player warranted more than a 6… and the sooner we offload Robinson, the better.
Talking of transfers… I see that WalesOnline are saying that Bulut is seeking to get Danny Ward on loan. Typical, eh? The last position that should give him a headache… yet he wants a keeper…!!
Personally, I am no strong fan of the player… though in fairness to him, I do recall his greatest moment in a Welsh jersey… and that was 2 or 3 years back at the CCS, against Hungary when he sees just two outfield players in the opponent’s half… our Dan James and the Hungarian Chopper Harris, both around the centre circle. And seeing that vast acreage of empty green grass, behind them and the goal, and knowing we had the fastest player on the pitch in Dan, quickly executes the most divine long punt into that very space… where James was winning the race until Chopper Harris took him out, and was carded. (Red? Can’t remember… but it should have been. However the ref might have bottled it and awarded a yellow.)
The most thrilling moment of the game.
If Ward does unjustly replace Alnwick, let’s see some similar quick thinking long passes from him for our speedy Ollie Tanner and Josh Bowler to run on to.
However, as our bizarre team selection on Saturday showed, that is assuming that Tanner is not selected as left back. Oh please God… give me strength…
DW
*not unlike the 5-0 hammering we got there under Mick McCarthy.
Thanks both, I’ve not seen any post match reaction from the City camp to Saturday’s match, but I’m not aware of any reports saying the selection was forced on the management because of illness. I did hear that Tanner was selected at left back because, apart from Collins, there was no one who could play there. I would have thought Panzo at left back or as the left sided defender as part of a back three would have made more sense, but, as he was one of a few of our loan signings who weren’t in the squad (excluding Grant who was injured), I can only assume that some of them are being sent back to their parent clubs.
Blue Bayou, I agree that this season’s cup matches have been more entertaining and I’ve not got as angry about cup exits as I have done about others we’ve made in the last decade or so, but they strike me as something of an opportunity wasted because, as I mention in my game piece, they bore no similarity to what we see week in, week out in the league, so what can have been learned from them? I suppose we know that some of our midfielders should not be allowed to double up as centrebacks, but I would have thought that was known anyway. I accept that, in some respects, the club can’t win – I’d have been moaning like anything if we’d gone to Sheffield, played like we do in the Championship and lost as I would have been saying we should have given he kids a chance, but they have brought it on themselves to a degree by what we’ve seen since we reached the League Cup Final a dozen years ago.
Regarding penalties, I’d make sure that Kiefer Moore was taking them if he came here – he was the best penalty taker we’ve had in recent years during his first spell with us.
Dai, I’d be happy to keep Alnwick as first choice keeper for the rest of the season, but I would say that the second goal on Saturday did identify what I think is a relatively weak part of his game – for me, he’s not very convincing at dealing with crosses and maybe that goal showed why he seems happier punching the ball out as opposed to trying to catch it.
I’d say goalkeeper is a low priority position when it comes to January transfer window shopping – I can see the attraction of Danny Ward in as far as he would be cheap, but he would come here believing he would be first choice and it would continue a narrative from the first half of the season about Bulut seemingly not being fully convinced by Alnwick.
Can’t recall that incident in the Wales v Hungary match you refer to, but they didn’t have a player sent off in that match, so Chopper Harris must have been given a yellow card.
Paul, compadre…
What sad news on the obit front: first there was news of the passing of Der Kaiser, and then the next day sees the departure of
JPR… after LBW, surely the most famous set of initials in sport?
Gee those famous words from the pen of Andrew Marvell are now resonating with me more strongly than ever…
‘…
But at my back I always hear?Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near;?And yonder all before us lie?Deserts of vast eternity.
…’
Why? Well… Franz was born on Sept 11th, 1945; JPR was born on
March 2nd, 1949… and me on July 20th, 1947… almost exactly halfway in between… with Der Kaiser being 678 days older, and JPR disturbingly 592 days younger.
And neither of those fine athletes were morbidly obese like me… my having moved to the fish and chip capital of Britain some 24 years ago. Nor were they virtually immobile.
So you get my drift? Everything I do now is a race with my undertaker.
And I genuinely wonder if my brain is going, because the incident of the long Danny Ward punt clearly did not happen when Hungary played at the CCS… as I now note (on enlisting the help of that nice Mr Google) that Wayne was in goal that day, and not Danny.
You say Paul, that you cannot recall the incident… and since you have a formidable memory, well… maybe then I dreamt it. Hopefully though there is some MAYA devotee out there who could lighten our mutual darkness on the finer details of this thrilling incident.
My problem is that Wales have played so many of the former Warsaw Pact and USSR component countries in recent years, that the ‘Alf Garnett’ in me has sorta merged them altogether as ‘Johnny Foreigner’.
Please can someone out there tell me that I did not dream it? This alone might give me the vital incentive for living to see another birthday.
Now to Cardiff City matters…
Re our fine goalie, Jak Alnwick… you are right. He bears some responsibility for the second goal… but only ‘some’. Where was the block on the giant opponent? We should have sandwiched him between two of our defenders with our keeper behind the three. Instead the opponent had a pinpoint cross get straight on to his head as Jak could only flap at the ball and was unable to catch it under the opponent’s pressure… coming from the scorer being able to make a clear run in allowing for a running jump… whereas Jak had no such luxury.
Yes Jak must take some blame for that… but how many other crosses has he similarly failed on this season? I cannot think of any. Answers on a virtual postcard please.
And as for our two penalty misses: Robinson should not be put anywhere near one… and you are right, re Wintle’s also being poor. The one he netted at the death against them last August, had been to their keeper’r right. He probably remembered this, and although Sheffield Wednesday now had a different goalie, I guess he figured that their goalkeeping coach would have remembered this, and advised accordingly.
So he tries to put it down the middle… but forgot the cardinal rule: viz… make sure it is 5 feet high, to avoid trailing legs.
Ah well, time to stop writing and instead marvel that I am still above ground.
DW
Oops, but this was not my error for once.
What do I mean?
Well, this…
Every time in my last posting that I typed a forward slash symbol when marking the line endings in that quatrain from the Andrew Marvell poem, your blog software changed the symbol into a question mark.
Ah, Life’s rich tapestry, eh?
Best,
Dai.
I have just published a little poetry on Amazon under the bizarre title ‘Sweet peas of an irritable bladder’. Only £5.99. I really don’t know why I am mentioning this. My chariot too is hurrying near. I should be finding better things to do. Who reads poetry these days anyway? Who would pay for it? Not Dai for a start. He once told me that in no uncertain terms. On the other hand we MAYAns have to be mad to watch Cardiff City and you can’t take your hard-earned with you to the deserts of vast eternity and there’s nothing on the telly and if you’ve survived Christmas you can survive anything and you know what it’s like…
I may be going out on a limb with this one, but, judging – at the very least on recent exchanges – I’d wager that the contents of the MAYAns are of a much higher standard than the football we’re condemned (by our hearts and our histories) to support.
A Beckenbauer aside – a nice line in one of my newspapers : “…he was quite the libero in terms of his libido…”
First I’d heard of it, but unsurprising I guess, given stature and opportunity.
Whatever – R.I.P.
How lovely to see Royalewithcheese making a reappearance, and Lindsay – who keeps Y Ddraig Goch flying in Norwich – making his usual thoughtful contribution.
As for the prospects of me buying a book of poetry… gee being a Cardiffian poet is a tough gig when you think about whose shoes you are walking in… Dannie Abse was a trailblazer, and one of my proudest memories was briefly meeting a Cardiff based hero of mine in an off licence in Wyndham Crescent… the late John Ormond, who wrote my favourite poem written by a Brit… his glorious THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS (freely available online) with its knockout last line.
But that said, I have great respect for RWC… and were Brian Clough alive today, I am sure he would testify to RWC’s interviewing skills here…
https://youtu.be/V4TC4sFrAiE?si=UTu8oadnwal0yr3O
But these days Chris, I read MINDS rather than books… and I make heavy weather of that…!! I have not bought a book in perhaps ten years.
Before signing off… a football matter…
Do you recall Paul that we differed on the quality of the 30 year old referee at the City EPL game at Hillsborough? I told you how good I thought he was… and I also commented on the singular spelling of his surname. Barrott.
Well, in the few weeks that have elapsed, his star has really been in the ascendancy. Gosh… talk about fast tracking someone! He has officiated at so many big TV games since… including the Boro-Chelsea clash of a few hours ago. And he never seems to put a foot wrong.
And talking of feet… I will hotfoot it to bed. Look at the time…!!
DW
Well it was well past midnight… I meant EFL … not EPL of course.
Gee why don”t they make things simple for duffers like me? Call the EPL ‘division 1’ and the National League ‘Division 5’…?
One day, not too far from now, some Young Turk will suggest just this… and people will think he has just invented the wheel. Why did they ever fix something that did not need fixing?
Sure, I get it that the formation of the English Premier League in 1992, changed matters… but surely they could have added in parentheses… (Div 1)…?
DW
That was a long time ago, Dai. Abu Dhabi Radio in its infancy. I had an office the size of a cupboard with a reel-to-reel, portable mic, splicing tools, a manufactured voice and blessed unaccountability. Gerald Sinstadt and Richard Baker sent me the cribs I relied on. The petrodollars came in handy, but I would have done it for free. I was 29, knew nothing and got away with it. Cloughie interview in hand, I found my way to BBC Llandaff but turned away. I was just a kid from the Flats, see, stone’s throw from Wyndham Crescent. My poems are MAYAn As on toast. None of your Thomas sugar and sour Absie.
Paul,
I just got a lovely note from RoyaleWithCheese… and sent him this reply, which I feel sure may interest you and some MAYAns… so I post it you with that in mind…
Yrs… DAI
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris, compadre…
Thanks for your sweet words which I read soon after awaking this morning.
The subject of pseudonyms is an interesting one. And no… I never participated in Cardiff City Mad… since I have nearly always given nom de plumes a wide berth. Note that I say ‘nearly’… there was a brief time when I did adopt one, and it frightened me. Why? Well… because I found myself prepared to make statements I would never have made in a blue moon, were the honour of my good name and reputation at stake. It gave me the sort of alcohol-induced courage wrongly solely attributed to some of the people of the Netherlands. And that dodgy ‘courage’ makes one willing to risk one’s reputation… since of course it is not one’s own reputation that could be irreparably damaged… simply that of one’s internet persona. (This is where the ‘Harry Kirtleys’ of the world come in.)
Surely the only justifiable raison d’être for an internet pseudonym is for genuine whistleblowing… particularly in totalitarian states. And since I have no whistle to blow, I will always include my name.
The thought occurs that there are one or two in the Palace of Westminster (hardly my favourite place) who have positive thoughts on this subject. I refer to those MPs who would like to bring in a law that sees all online contributors made to write under the name on their passport.
Not a bad idea… but…
Whilst I would have nae problem writing under ‘David Brian Woosnam’… methinks where does that leave whistleblowers? And no doubt there’d be a black market boom in false passports…!!
All the best… I will post this on Paul’s site… it may be of interest to fellow MAYAns out there. Your words of praise for the MAYA blog are echoed by me… it would please me greatly if you would post them on the blog. As for the kind words in my direction… big thanks Chris, but I am not sure I totally justify them. All I offer is a mixture of stupidity, honesty and effort… the same mix that most people have got. I guess you could say that I have a certain ‘life force’ that not everybody has… but gee, anyone with any sense would say ‘no thank you’ for it… and settle for a quieter life.
Before signing off… coincidentally, this morning I also just received my weekly free mailing of The Culture from Prospect (Magazine).
And guess what? Ha… the lead article was on the subject of…
…pseudonyms…!!
Goodness gracious me… it is densely written stuff that the lady presents us with… but fascinating in its way.
I have copied it on to my Google Drive… here is the link for you to enjoy… excuse the small text size… it did not arrive that small, but it mysteriously shrunk when I stuck it on to my Google Drive. I have been online for a quarter of a century… but I am alas close to no wiser now than when I started…!!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ku8F7SIEmtokt816Y2Yxh800lIz1ULJn/view?usp=drivesdk
TTFN,
Dai.
Stupidity, vanity and misplaced effort in this case, focusing only on the bits of my email to you that centred upon you and bouncing it public. You feel strongly about the use of pseudonyms. Ok, I think we got that message long ago. It simply crossed my mind that we may have had fun together back in the day on a forum where pseudonyms are commonplace, a place which was much better than it is now. I don’t do ‘sweet’ words. I was being truthful when I said how I enjoy your prolific writing full of anecdotes, but you can be a bit of an old blowhard, darling.
Dear RWC,
What have you been smoking? You are a good fellow and you deserve better than to come over this way.
Please read again what I have written. How in God’s name have I abused you? And I certainly have not blown your cover by ‘bouncing’ your email to me. I was conscious of the fact that they were your words, and only you had the right to release them to Joe Public. So I consciously made sure I did not… other than point out that your email so well received by me, contained kind words about both Paul’s blog and my reappearance on it.
Clearly, that ‘pointing out’ has touched a nerve, and I am sad that it has.
Do you know something Chris? In a long lifetime of being insulted, your words here have probably shocked me more than any that have ever come my way. Don’t get me wrong: I won’t lose any sleep over them, and am impervious to any insult more subtle than physical assault. So your words won’t hurt me.
It’s just that they were so unexpected. But love and peace to you, brother.
Adios.
Dai.
I think the old gladiatorial spirit of that messageboard as it was must be lingering in my psyche. I apologise for any offence caused. Keep writing and I will keep reading. I’m not worth losing sleep over. The greatest insulter of all time! At least that’s one superlative after my name.
Must rush before the hash bar closes…
I used to enjoy going down in the dark, but now… first leg, second leg, they always go to penalties, none missed, on and on till I give up and trudge downstairs, a very blue bird that would pick a fight with a worm. Just ignore me. I do. Leeds in town tomorrow. I’ll be well up for that one!
There’s another factor. Night games… first leg, second leg, they always go to penalties now, none missed, on and on till I give up and trudge downstairs, a very blue bird that would pick a fight with a worm. Just ignore me. I do. Leeds in town tomorrow. I’ll be well up for that one!
Dear RWC,
Thanks for your noble words. I am very happy to accept your apology. None of us should hold grudges… after all, we will both be dead in five minutes…
I smile wistfully as I write this… gosh if only some of the City players had the degree of sheer bite that you exhibited in that very singular response…!! We’d be guaranteed promotion… whereas minus Rambo and O’Dowda, I see a steady decline in our league position a more distinct possibility.
Tomorrow we will meet a Leeds with Rodon and James both up for the fight. And let’s hope that Gnonto does not start… I remember the stormer he had the last time he was down at our place.
DW