Cardiff City’s final home match against a top six side ended in defeat, just like the previous five had done. There was the usual bravado from some City fans before the match about how we could repeat what only Manchester City had done so far in the Premier League this season and beat Liverpool this afternoon, but all logic said we would lose again and lose we duly did.
I don’t think anyone could really begrudge Liverpool their 2-0 victory, they were the better team throughout and I do believe the winning margin was probably a fair reflection of that superiority.
However, this was nowhere near the meek surrenders we saw down here against both Manchester clubs and Spurs from City. True, it may not have been a Chelsea where I’m still convinced we would have won but for the gross ineptitude of referee Craig Pawson and Eddie Smart one of the linesmen and it wasn’t even an Arsenal where, while the better side won, we ran them very close and might have escaped with a draw on another day.
What we saw today was a disciplined defensive effort that was probably doomed to defeat from the start in hot conditions where the team without the ball for three quarters of the time according to the stats(it seemed more than that to be honest!) were almost certain to run out of steam in the last twenty minutes. Given the difference in resources and ability between the two sides today though, it was hard not to feel pride at the way City competed before having to give best to their opponents – in terms of discipline and collective and individual application, it offered proof that we have improved over the course of this season.
In the first half at least, City, mainly through the in form Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (who, to be honest, had the hugely promising Liverpool full back Trent Alexander-Arnold on toast during that time), were able to inconvenience Liverpool at times. A better first touch from Junior Hoilett when a cross from the left landed at his feet pretty close to goal might have seen him seriously testing Allison in the Liverpool goal rather than having his effort blocked for a corner and Oumar Niasse drew a good save from the Brazilian keeper with an acrobatic volley from close in.
Moments when we forced Liverpool back were pretty rare, but happened frequently enough to make you think that perhaps this might be the day when we take our first point of the season off a top six club, but, for most of the first forty five minutes the direction of play was very much towards our goal.
However, apart from once when some superb interplay allowed Roberto Firmino in on goal for a chance he should have buried rather than, uncharacteristically, blaze over the top, Liverpool’s main danger for me came on the occasions when they were able to break with serious pace from situations where the home support were allowing themselves to dream that their side might be on the brink of taking the lead.
Far from being situations where we stood the best chance of finding the net, attacking set pieces became reasons for Cardiff to be very wary indeed as Liverpool broke so quickly to create attacks that left our one or two defenders facing a numerical disadvantage as their opponents streamed forward. It was to the credit of the likes of Bruno and Lee Peltier that it was more often good defending, rather than attacking carelessness, that foiled Liverpool on these occasions.
That counter attacking pace was the second most impressive thing about the team that may pip Manchester City to the title for me. Somewhat surprisingly, the thing that I thought Liverpool did better than any other side to have played down here this season was press us really effectively in all areas of the pitch whenever we had possession.
I can remember that when Jurgen Klopp was appointed manager in 2015 it was said that the one big change you’d see at Liverpool would be the aggressive pressing game they’d employ. There were doubts at the time as to whether Liverpool would be able to maintain such an approach towards the end of what would, obviously, be a physically taxing campaign for them, but, over the years, what was called a typical Klopp approach at the time has become less obvious until I for one began to wonder if it had been abandoned.
Well, today Liverpool barely gave us a moment’s peace on the occasions when we had the ball or looked to be taking possession of it. The consequence of this was that we were rushed and uncomfortable when we did have the ball and so the opportunities to have a short rest while we were in possession were very few and far between – all of which only added to the amount of energy being used up by Cardiff players as they battled to keep their opponents at bay on a day where the temperatures were even hotter than had been seen yesterday.
In saying that, it wasn’t always the Liverpool press that led to City presenting them the ball back at times seemingly even before they fully realised that they had it. One of the consequences of having a manager who, in my opinion, places a good technique lower down on his list of requirements for players than he should do is that we do not have as many in our team with the sort of quick feet that you would expect to see at this level.
Therefore Liverpool could be reasonably confident that the ball would be coming back to them pretty quickly even on the rare occasions when their press was not successful and we seemed to have a bit of room and time within which to play. Usually however, possession was soon turned over because of poor passing or skill levels – the fact is that we are really poor by Premier League standards at this aspect of the game.
We are what we are though. We cannot change things now and it’s almost certainly true to say that we are playing the sort of game that gives this group of players their best chance of Premier League survival. However, it is a bit of a what came first, the chicken or the egg situation because we aren’t going to play in a different way under this manager and so the strong likelihood is that players with better skill levels and passing ability will not be bought in because that doesn’t fit with what he wants, therefore we are going to continue to make the sort of elementary mistakes when in possession that you would not see from other teams at this level.
More than any other match that I’ve seen us play this season, it felt like our inability to retain the ball was eventually going to cost us because of the physical exertion when not in possession the heat was causing, but when the opening goal finally came in the fifty seventh minute, it was so disappointing and frustrating that, yet again, we were undone at a set piece.
To be fair to City, this was no instance of them being opened up while defending the normal aerial assault type of corner, this was a well worked routine where Alexander-Arnold almost rolled his dead ball delivery into the path of Georginio Wijnaldum who thundered in an unstoppable shot from fifteen or so yards.
It was interesting to learn that Jurgen Klopp said after the game that his players devised the corner routine themselves during the half time interval because it brought to mind a conversation that me and my mate had during the first half as we defended a corner with Sean Morrison and Bruno Manga on the edge of the six yard box, yards away from any Liverpool player. It was obvious that our two central defenders were marking zones rather than particular opponents, but not as clear that the rest of our players were doing the same – we concluded that it might be that we were employing a combination of zonal and man marking methods when defending corners.
Us two “experts” looking on expressed the opinion that we both must have done to each other tens of time before that we favoured man to man marking over the zonal alternative. However, I added that I didn’t like the idea of switching from one to another on an almost weekly basis. To my mind, you should decide before a season starts which method you are going to go with, work on it religiously during pre season and then stick with it – I also expressed the view that some sort of hybrid combining the two put together at short notice seemed like a recipe for disaster.
Now, the fact that Liverpool scored by putting a corner into an area where we weren’t expecting it to go suggests that our whole team was marking zonally, so I’d say some credit should go to the players responsible for coming up with this plan.
Even so, a set piece it was and we were still caught cold by our opponents like we were at Burnley, like we were against Chelsea (forget about the offside for now, Chelsea were allowed a virtually uncontested header on the near post) and like we have been on too many occasions over the past eight months.
City had one great chance to equalise when Allison missed a Joe Ralls corner only for Sean Morrison to misjudge what looked to be an easy far post header, but, apart from that there was an air of inevitability about Liverpool’s win as attention among many of the home supporters switched to a game of spot the Liverpool plastic (probably from the South Wales area) being ejected from the Cardiff parts of the ground – I could get on my hobby horse here and deride people who, when they talk about “we” and “us” are referring to some club hundreds of miles from where they live or were born, but they’re not worth the effort.
City’s cause had not been helped throughout by the fact that, once again, they were getting virtually no help from the officials. I’m not saying that Martin Atkinson was anything like in the Pawson league here, but, by my reckoning, it took him seventy five minutes to penalise a Liverpool player for a foul when there had been three or four incidents which merited the awarding of a Cardiff free kick before that.
It’s easy to claim that this was just another example of the bigger team being favoured again and it can be a convenient excuse to ignore your own side’s shortcomings, but, once again, it was hard to avoid the feeling that our big name opponents were being given the benefit of any refereeing doubt far more than we were.
In the event, once Mr Atkinson had given us one decision for a foul, he started giving us one every few minutes, but, I’m afraid he also found time to penalise Morrison for a foul on Mo Salah inside the penalty area as the game entered its last ten minutes.
As it happened at the other end of the ground from me and I’ve not seen any video of the game yet, I can’t really comment much on the decision, but, certainly the consensus on the radio as I drove home was that it was a foul – albeit one that Salah over dramatised as he fell to the floor.
James Milner must have one of the best scoring records from the penalty spot in the modern game and it’s an even better one now as he sent Etheridge the wrong way to complete the scoring.
The post match conversation featured the usual Warnock moan about a missed penalty shout for his side (a pull on Morrison apparently), along with, justified, complaints about Salah being a “diver” and what, to be frank, was a load of crap from Mr Klopp about our pitch being “dangerous” because it was too dry and how he didn’t like the way City fans jeered at some of his players for mishit and misplaced efforts at goal.
Now I’ve always liked Jurgen Klopp because of his infectious enthusiasm and humour and there is no doubt that he is a top football manager, certainly one of the best in the domestic game. However, I think he is deluding himself if he thinks it is somehow unfair that a team with our resources and players decides not to make conditions as good as they possibly can be for his collection of world stars and multi million pound players to strut their stuff.
This is especially true when the side playing Liverpool are in the middle of what is probably going to be a relegation scrap that they lose. Surely, you need to try and take every little advantage that you can to try and reduce the difference in quality between the teams and, by the same token, surely the supporters of the team facing Liverpool are going to do all that they can to put the opposing players off their game a little?
Would Jurgen Klopp have offered Bayern Munich a pitch in pristine condition and set of fans prepared to sympathetically clap any mistake by their opponents when he was cutting his managerial teeth at then 2 Bundesliga Mainz if the two sides has met in a cup tie? Of course, he wouldn’t – in it’s way us “doctoring” the pitch, always assuming that we did, and our fans giving his players a rough time are a compliment to him and his side and he should have taken it as such.
The Premier League’s other two games saw a couple of the sides we’ll play in our remaining three games in action. Unfortunately, Palace made the notion that they won’t be their normal away selves when they come here in a fortnight look a little less likely with a 3-2 win at Arsenal which dented the home sides hopes of a top four finish (although I suppose that it makes it less likely that the Gunners will be able to take it easy when they face Brighton), while our visit to Old Trafford on the final day of the season continues to look slightly less daunting as each week goes by – a 4-0 defeat at Everton was a sixth loss in eight matches for United and the wheels are certainly coming off for Ole currently.
Thank-you, Paul, for your article. I really enjoyed it. Now my thoughts.
I am reminded of an oft quoted retort by my friend, Arthur in the days of one, Phil Dwyer. Fans near him after the City defender had been done for pace by an attacker, would invariably get an earful of, “If he could catch him, he’d kill him!” The quote from many decades’ distance summed up the Liverpool game. Truthfully we weren’t close to them to do any damage. A couple of half-chances was as good as it got.
We could eulogise about Liverpool and Man City turning the PL into a two-horse race but our defeats this season, against lesser opposition, was really set in stone before a ball was kicked. To have gone into the campaign with only Zahore and Madine as target men was foolhardy in the extreme and not scoring goals will always hamper a survival bid. The penny pinching approach by the Club has been galling to swallow for this City-fan of 6 decades. A average PL striker got last summer would have scored the 6 or 7 goals that would have guaranteed survival.
Pace, moreover, is vital at this level so I’ve been disappointed not to have seen more of Murphy and Reid in the same game. We have opted for a safety first approach in virtually all games this season and our somewhat toothless attack has been even more exposed. But that shows another flaw of City 18/19 in that, at this level, our two central midfielders, usually Camarasa and Arter, has had either Gunnars or Ralls behind them in the much used 4141 formation. This of course prevented playing someone closer to our lone attacker.
There have been plusses, of course. It has been a joy to watch Camarasa, a player with a lovely light touch on the ball and ease of running that reminds me of the Argentinian Osvaldo Ardiles or our own Peter King. Without the Spaniard and Arter where would we have been? Etheridge has blossomed into a fine keeper but really the lack of positivity in the summer transfer market has severely cost us.
Arthur also stated, repeated over the decades, that, “Referees were as bent as a cork-screw!” We’ve been on the receiving end of enough decisions to bring that statement back into our discussions this year. Salah, “winner of many penalties this season,” says it all. Once upon a time, in a bygone Corinthian era, players were more concerned about trying to score in the box than rolling about as if shot by a 12 bore after feeling a defender’s arm on their back. Grannies have far more ability to stay on their feet in Mothercare than these latter day film-stars of the PL. What galls me is the contrast of when Morrison repeatedly gets his shirt pulled and an opposition player gets a penalty for minimal contract. I think you know my feelings on that one. It has happened too often this season to be left in much doubt.
Should Brighton get a draw in their remaining 4 games we need two wins (at Fulham and at home to Crystal Palace) to survive. Do we deserve to? Was it all down to partial refs? What is certain is with a striker of PL quality signed last summer we wouldn’t be sweating on these last few games.
At the time of writing this missive Paul’s report is followed by that of Steve Perry. Both contributions, in addition to very telling observations regarding the game and Cardiff’s problems, are works of a high literary standard and pleasure to read. This is one of the great joys of the MAYA site.
I have little to add in terms of yesterday’s game, apart from eulogising the work rate and — almost unbelievably — the flashes of skill from Niasse and his total commitment without adequate support from his comrades. Defensively we were often exceptional, winning the ball time after time — and then, time after time tamely giving it back to the Liverpool players via atrocious passing.
Another point I should like to mention occurred towards the end of the game when Liverpool had a corner kick and we had every player back in our own area. I commented at the time that it was pointless to bring Zohore into that pack when we would be better served by leaving him upfield to challenge or chase any clearance Cardiff might make. It almost seemed that the tactic was to keep the scoreline at 0-2 rather than at least going through the motions of looking for a goal on our own behalf.
My final observation concerns Mr Klopp. and has nothing to do with his post-match observations. In the pre-match warm-up he spent most of his time on the the field with his own players while staring intently at what the Cardiff players were doing. Even at long range he seemed an imposing and intimidating figure. My grandson sitting beside me in the Canton stand could inform me that this was typical of Klopp. It was certainly something I have never seen from any manager before.
Thanks Paul. Pretty much agreed with all that. A 2-0 defeat was actually on the slightly optimistic side of the spectrum of possible outcomes I envisaged from this game but in the end there were enough ‘if only’s’ to make this a more competitive match than I had anticipated.
The ‘if only’s’ all seem to centre around Sean Morrison. I felt the corner he conceded for the first goal was unnecessary – row z and a throw-in seemed just as easy a clearance, then there was that missed header and also his sloppy defensive work which led to Salah’s run and the penalty. Of course, Liverpool could point to misses from Firmino and Henderson which could have made the score more comfortable for them. I’m not particularly getting at Morrison who I thought, along with Manga, did a pretty good job for most of the game but he, like so many of our team, is essentially a good championship player.
We talked before the game about nine of our starting eleven being in last season’s team which I think reflects that we haven’t really added enough to that team. The £20+ million signings Reid and Murphy began on the bench with Hoilett and Mendez-Laing the preferred options. Camarasa is probably our only signing who has added any kind of extra dimension to the team and he of course is unlikely to be here next season.
There is still a chance, all be it a slim one, that we could just survive in the Premier league this season and that I think would represent the maximum that could be achieved with these type of players playing this type of football and it would be a great achievement for Neil Warnock. Survive this season or not though at some stage a change of style and personnel is going to be needed if we hope to have any kind of consolidated spell in the top division.
Thanks Paul and others. Collectively you have covered everything that I have thought over last 24 hours.
Liverpool were very comfortable throughout, although Niasse and Morrison chances would have made it a closer contest. Always felt they had another gear or two but full credit for us keeping them at bay for so long.
Have to agree re our technique and control though. Lost count yesterday of how many times a really good block/tackle/interception was made by – usually one of the back four – only for the position to be immediately recovered with a counter by Liverpool opponent.
Another good goalkeeping display by Etheridge kept the score down, but those kicks out of hand were really poor again. Surely these should be worked on in training but not getting any better as the season has run on.
I also noticed Herr Klopp prowling around in the warm-up and thought that interesting as not seen other opposing managers doing that this year. Attention to detail seems so important as he is clearly always looking for that small advantage.
Also noticed the Liverpool drills in warm-up which included some sharp crossing from full back to the strikers who seemed to take 3 practice shots in quick succession, rather than the more usual City approach of coach rolling the ball forward for each of our players to take a single shot in turn. Maybe I just mis-timed the traffic, got to my seat too early and making too much of it in the heat, but felt to me a much sharper approach to the warm-up!
Anyway, none of this matters now as we have to move on, accept this group are a good bunch of hard workers who have performed at their best and given it s right good go. I can only agree with others that the lack of pace and a quality goal scorer will likely be our undoing come the final reckoning, but we are still hanging on in there. Roll on Fulham and come on you Spurs tomorrow night!
Thanks, Paul.
Late to this and not much to say that hasn’t already been said.
My prediction was 0-3, I couldn’t see how we could score and our defence not likely to get that clean sheet that we needed. In the context of the situation I thought we did quite well. As the boss said all but two of the side were battling for promotion this time last year. Of course, that doesn’t say a lot about our incoming transfers. Steve says we should have bought a Premier League striker, probably easier said than done. Why would such a player come to Cardiff, favourites to be relegated, other than on a loan basis. If we should manage to avoid the dreaded drop who would be suitable targets? Mitrovich?. Could we afford the wages of any suitable candidate? If we are relegated the same problem exists unless we can unearth someone like Pukki.
Paul, you are in a better position than many to judge, is there a striker who could make it lurking in our ‘academy’?
Hello everyone and sorry for the late reply. Steve, while I take your point about strikers and I think it is right to be critical of the manager and/or the Board for us not addressing the target man problem in the summer, it might have been that we had signed the man who would have kept us up in January – any analysis of our relegation, if it turns out that way, has to acknowledge the sheer bad luck of us paying a club record fee for someone who never got to play for us. You mention Bobby Decordova-Reid as well and I must admit to being mystified by the way he has been treated his season – Neil Warnock has signed number ten type players in the last two summer transfer windows and yet seems to find it impossible to come up with a way in which they can be fitted into the team! While I can understand it to a large degree with Lee Tomlin, who I believe is a busted flush when it comes to the higher levels of the Championship now, Decordova-Reid is a complete mystery, he doesn’t struggle with his fitness, his attitude is spot on when he plays and yet he’s really struggling to get any game time these days even though Callum Paterson isn’t fit.
It doesn’t matter what the match situation is Anthony, I can never understand the thinking behind bringing all of your team back to defend a corner – even if you look at it in defensive terms, having one or more players on the halfway line when facing a corner kick occupies some of the attacking team, thus reducing their goal threat. Thanks for that video and photo of Jurgen Klopp before the game, I couldn’t work out what he was doing, but, judging by some of his post game comments and what he has said recently following other Liverpool matches, perhaps the pressure is getting to him somewhat!
Richard, you and Colin have pointed out exactly what I thought when I heard Neil Warnock’s comment about how nine of the line up against Liverpool were from last season’s team – while it’s impressive in a way, the fact that, surely, no City fan would have imagined that happening with the season well into it’s last month and so it has to ask questions about our work in the transfer market in the past year. I agree entirely with your last paragraph, I do feel there have been improvements in the team in the past few weeks, but not to the extent that we look to be shaping up as a “proper” Premier League side if only we can survive this season the fact that we have so many players into their thirties or in their late twenties needs to be addressed.
Well, it took them a long time Huw, but Spurs did the business for us last night! Because I’m old fashioned and think a goalkeeper is there to play like a goalkeeper and not like an auxiliary outfield player, I don’t tend to get too bothered about Etheridge’s kicking, but it was pretty bad on Sunday and I ended up questioning, not for the first time, why we appear to be hellbent on getting the ball back to someone whose kicking is so unreliable so often – it makes no sense to me.
Colin, I watched the Brentford v Leeds match on Monday and was reminded that I read last season that Ollie Watkins was someone who would develop into a very good striker. Maupey would be too expensive for us I reckon, but I think Watkins could be someone we could look at if we were relegated or maybe even if we stay up – he’d cost a fair bit, but he’s only twenty three so I’d be hopeful that he would make us money if and when we came to sell him. As for young strikers, we signed Dan Griffiths from Liverpool in the summer and I believe he has scored something like twenty five goals this season for the Under 18s, while Isaak Davies is another promising striker at that level, but he’s been hit by injury a lot in the last few months – I wouldn’t say either of them are ready for the first team yet though.
A bit late to this one – apologies.
Paul – a fantastically comprehensive report, underpinned by the contributions of the others…terrific, even by the standards of THIS blog-site.
Not much to add, especially to Steve and Colin.
As you know, my biggest beef, both in 2013 and now, is the half-baked approach to an upcoming Premier season…”penny-pinching”, as Steve says; even more galling that it’s happened AGAIN, because we should have learned (COULD have learned, if the will was there?).
Schadenfreude Corner – OGS at Old Trafford.
I told my M.Utd chums that they’d regret it, and they just said “yeah, but look at the players he had at Cardiff.”
Hah – well, look at him now…it’s like a character from Enid Blyton trying to organise a Chapter of the Hell’s Angels in Hollister, CA.
No, it’s me who should apologise to you Lindsay for not recording my admiration for that last sentence of yours – a definite candidate for MAYA line of the season 18/19!
Aw, shucks, Paul…as a Hell’s Angel probably wouldn’t say!
Anyway, let’s hope we get a point or more from the twerps at the season’s end.
Meanwhile – grief upon grief…Emiliano’s Dad, joining his son in a Vale of Tears.