If you were someone who liked football and watched this afternoon’s game between Cardiff City and Blackburn Rovers without knowing anything whatsoever about either side or what competition they were playing in, I’d say you probably would have quite enjoyed it.
After all, it was a match in which both teams were always willing to attack, there was a lot of goalmouth action, one set of goalposts took something of a hammering and there was the drama of a late equaliser.
Although it’s hardly an infallible test, I tend to think that if a match finishes at 2-2 it’s a sign of a good, entertaining contest and, overall, this was one which fitted that criteria.
Going back to the neutral observer I was talking about, given the attacking intent on both sides, they may have come to the conclusion that they were watching a tussle in a cup competition between teams from different divisions with the team in red, Blackburn, being the ones from the higher league and the team in blue the plucky underdogs from a league or two lower that probably realised their only chance of progressing lay in winning on their own ground.
It was not that the blues were without skilful footballers. For example, if they caused the reds defensive problems, and they did from time to time, it was a very fair bet that their number twenty three was involved somewhere, while, before he tired, their big lump of a number ten showed himself to be more than just a target man as he displayed a decent turn of pace and a quicker pair of feet than expected.
Defensively, however, they were a mess and their deep lying midfielders, although giving their all for the cause, were guilty at times of not being able to complete a pass which would play an attacker into the space where a gap had been opened up and also they had a habit of conceding possession cheaply in dangerous positions, particularly the number twenty one..
The team in blue looked to get on top through their work rate and closing down while trying to exploit their height advantage at set pieces, but the reds clearly had more “proper” footballers in their ranks and, when they got the ball down and played, the blues had to ride their luck with their woodwork being hit three times in the second half – in truth, the away team should have won, but you had to feel for the home side who conceded an equaliser in the ninetieth minute when they must have been dreaming of a money spinning tie with one of the really big clubs in the next round.
Of course, we all know the reality is a lot different. The two sides involved are in the same league and today Cardiff City were trying to revive their almost dead hopes of a top six place when they entertained a woefully out of form Blackburn side with their experienced manager, Tony Mowbray, coming under real pressure after a run of one win, four draws and nine defeats in their last fourteen league matches.
Ordinarily, if you were coming off successive defeats, the last of them by 5-0, then a home match against a team with a record like Blackburn’s would seem to be a heaven sent opportunity, but these aren’t ordinary times. Maybe it’s the lack of home support that is responsible for what surely has to be our worst record in this division on our own pitch since we returned to it after a break of nearly two decades in 2003, but City can take absolutely nothing for granted when they play at home this season.
I happen to think there’s also what I find to be a deeply puzzling mind set at the heart of the club I support, whereby a squad was, seemingly, purposely assembled for the beginning of last season by the then manager which is poorer in terms of technique, passing ability and dynamism than nearly every team we face and this is despite the advantage we have over so many of those sides in terms of the Premier League parachute payments we’ve been in receipt of during that time.
Neil Warnock seemed to believe that we could grind Championship teams down through a mixture of our sheer size, power and set piece domination – we were going to be even bigger and stronger than in 17/18 with even more of his beloved “bread and butter” central midfielders in the squad.
For me though, we play underdog football, (hence my rambling introduction to this piece as I try to find a different way of saying the same thing as I have been doing for so much of this season!) – we seem unable and/or unwilling to play the game like sides with far less of our spending power do, for Cardiff, the weapon of choice is a large bludgeon rather than the rapier – it’s as if we’re playing football with an inferiority complex out of choice!
Warnock has been gone for nearly eighteen months now, but we still play the game in the same way that we did when he was here (and like we did when Russell Slade was here before him). We’ve had two managers since Warnock, the first of which spoke of changing things, but was half hearted at best about it in practice as he stuck with the bread and butter midfielders he had inherited – to clarify, I think all teams need one or two such midfield players, but we have them at the exclusion of anything else!
As for our current manager, he deserves to be given the benefit of any doubt for now because he had no chance of putting different ideas into practice between his appointment and the closing of the January transfer window. A self confessed pragmatist, Mick McCarthy has looked at what was here when he arrived and, correctly in my view, deduced that they are best suited to playing a certain way and has stuck with it and, in some respects, taken it further.
I must say though that as I look towards next season and what I will be likely to be watching for my season ticket, I hope I’m wrong when I say I see a likelihood of more of the bludgeon and batter them into submission football with bread and butter midfielders aplenty.
Anyway, on to today’s game from a real person’s point of view! Dealing with things chronologically, within a couple of minutes, we saw our opponents being presented with another one of those chances where a cross is pulled back, albeit with the aid of a deflection this time, into the path of an opponent coming on to the ball around our penalty spot. This produced goals for Forest and Wednesday, but City got lucky because the player in question this time was one of the Championship’s best strikers in Adam Armstrong, yet, faced with the chance to end his six game scoring drought, he shot wide – Armstrong’s wait for a goal wouldn’t last much longer though.
City, with Keiffer Moore showing up more than in recent games and Harry Wilson more involved than normal from the start, began to find their feet though and had a good spell of ten to fifteen minutes which culminated in them taking the lead.
Before that Moore, seeking to end his run of six City games without scoring, ran powerfully and quickly down the left past a couple defenders before being foiled by a last ditch tackle and then chested down a Will Vaulks cross, turned and fired wide from the sort of chance that was going in for him during the autumn and winter.
Besides that, Blackburn keeper Thomas Kaminski was booked when he took out Harry Wilson thirty yards from goal as the City man was taking the ball around him. Wilson’s effort from the resultant free kick was blocked by the wall, but the outcome was different from a free kick some seven or so yards closer to goal when he backheeled the ball to Vaulks who shot low into the corner with the clever change of angle City had created having taken the Blackburn player who was lying on the ground behind their wall out of the game.
City were worth their lead at that stage, but they rather lost their way after that and Blackburn were pressing in the minutes before half time, so their equaliser didn’t come as a complete shock as Armstrong got in behind Ciaron Brown and put an angled low shot in from about ten yards.
It’s not with the benefit of hindsight that I say that I was surprised by the decision to include Alex Smithies in place of Dillon Phillips as one of four changes from the Hillsborough mauling (Perry Ng for Joe Ralls, Wilson for Jonny Williams and Josh Murphy for Leandro Bacuna, who was not even a substitute, we’re the others, while there was a welcome return on the bench for Jordi Osei-Tutu after around six months out with a troublesome hamstring). Returning to Smithies, faced with his first real test of the game, I’m afraid he made a horrible mess of Armstrong’s shot, which was hardly struck that cleanly, and the ball rolled apologetically across the line and into the net.
A word here about the referee at this stage. I try not to mention refs as a rule and, when I do, it’s usually to criticise them, but I’d like to praise Jeremy Simpson here. First, although I expect most City fans will disagree with me, I thought a yellow card for Kaminski for his cynical foul on Wilson law was right, but, more impressive was his use of the advantage law in both of the game’s first two goals.
For City’s, he gave the free kick for a foul on Moore after first allowing a flowing move, which showed we can put together quick, incisive and exciting sequences containing clever passing and movement, involving him, Tom Sang and Wilson which ended with the latter narrowly missing the target when he should really have scored, to continue. Then, for the equaliser, Simpson allowed the game to go on following a foul by Murphy deep inside the Blackburn half (sadly, it was the City man’s only significant contribution to the afternoon and it earned him a deserved yellow card) and a few seconds later, the ball was in our net..
Perhaps City were a little unfortunate to not be ahead at the break despite the stats showing one on target effort by us and three by the visitors, but luck was certainly on our side in the second period with Gallagher, Johnson and Douglas all hitting the woodwork for the visitors.
City had their moments as well with Kaminski denying Wilson from close range, then having to back pedal furiously to stop the Liverpool loannee becoming the second of our players to score from inside his own half this season and there was also a smart stop as Sang threatened to score his first City goal from around twenty two yards.
Armstrong shot across the face of goal late on at a time which would have had my imaginary neutral watcher of the first few paragraphs thinking it was going to City’s day, but those of us familiar with the 20/21 version of Cardiff City would have known that we weren’t going to win because we’d only scored twice, not the compulsory three plus times which is needed by us to win at Cardiff City Stadium.
As for the goal which denied us – a three man central defence really shouldn’t be undone as easily as we were by a single pass (and you can’t help thinking we wouldn’t have been if Sean Morrison had been there), but we were, as Armstrong was played through in the inside left channel and, with his confidence now restored, he was always going to score once he had eluded Aden Flint and Curtis Nelson.
Having questioned the decision to include Smithies (Dillon Phillips may have let in five in his last match, but, for me, the only goal he’s been at fault with in the almost three months he was in the team was Watford’s winner here a few weeks back), I must admit to, once again, being bemused by Mick McCarthy’s use, or non use that should be, of substitutes. His first one certainly worked, because It was Ralls, on for Murphty, who put us 2-1 up on seventy two minutes when he intercepted Kamiski’s clearance, exchanged passes with Wilson and then calmly rolled his shot past the keeper.
However, when, in a very unusual move, Tony Mowbray made five changes all in one go with fifteen minutes left, there was no response from the City manager despite him having admitted that Moore was “knackered” in his pre game briefing on Thursday – faced with half of the opposition’s outfield players having “a fresh pair of legs”, our manager stuck to his tiring, or just plain tired, troops.
Moore played the whole game yet again and McCarthy only turned to his bench again after Blackburn’s second equaliser – taking Wilson off had a bit of an air of “well I always take him off don’t I” to it, but, if the introduction of Williams suggested we were still looking for the win, Wilson leaving the pitch suggested otherwise and left this watcher baffled..
Finally, a quick word about the Academy team, they were beaten 3-1 at Crewe this afternoon with James Crole scoring from the penalty spot.
I have to totally disagree with you on the yellow card for the keeper.
He stopped a goalscoring opportunity. Yes a player was coming across from the left but compare it to a player through on goal and hacked down by a defender. We would expect the player to have a red despite the keeper still having to be beaten.
I would agree with you if yesterday that was a defenders foul and another defender coming across but not what happened. Note. The ref is from Lancashire. Hardly neutral.
As for the game it was as you say, a team with no skill against a highly efficient skilful team. They had pace, movement and the ability to pass to players in space. Not on the odd occasion like us but frequently.
MM must go.
To play vaulks in midfield and leave out Ralls is crazy.
Dropping Phillip’s is tantamount to blaming him for the past 7 games. Poor man management.
Watching other teams if the ball is dropping their players attempt to control the ball, protect it and look for a pass.
Cardiff, Vaulks in particular, do not let it hit the floor and boot it in the air and hope we win it. Or pass back to keeper. Yesterday one back pass was from Blackburn half when we were attacking.,
Massive changes are needed but due to there being too many players of below average quality this will take years. Then you have MM who thinks some of them are above average. Not a recipe for success.
I am sorry to say that we will be in the Swansea shadow for years to come. Added to that a possible relegation as I dont see a future with this manager.
He was brought in to end of season and to ensure we were not relegated. That gave the club time to get a young ambitious manager ready for August. Bellamy or another. What do we get as supporters. Total disrespect by the club who keep an outdated mercenary manager.
Thanks, Paul.
I saw nothing of the game but did see the goals on Sky this morning.
I love the “rambling” opening to your report.
I thought Smithies was poor for both goals.
Agree with you on McCarthy’s non-use of subs, surely those five pairs of fresh legs had some influence on the result.
According to a translation from Confucius, “You cannot carve from rotten wood.” In Cardiff City’s case this is not a moral issue, of course, but a summary of a general shortcoming in football talent. A very old Scottish expression points the same way : “You can’t make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear.” Or, to repeat something I mentioned on this very site some time ago, there is a need (with several exceptions) to flush the Aegean Stables.
Apologies for sounding pretentious or pedantic, but I think the wise old sayings say what I mean better than I could say it myself.
I have watched the City for over 50 years and certainly at this level can’t remember a poorer side when in possession. We don’t have one player who is comfortable on the ball.
Yesterday ‘s game was another miserable performance against an average side that should have won by at least 2 goals.
Without Morrison we simply can’t defend. We must try the younger players over remainder of the season. Do we have any who are comfortable on the ball and can pass forwards ?
Can see next season being similar to this one otherwise.
As a blackburn fan, i really enjoyed the write up. I thought it was fair and balanced although i don’t entirely agree. But that’s okay, the nature of football. Personally, I (and also the local blackburn press- two papers and thr ifollow commentary) felt Kaminski should have got a red. But on the flipside, i also thought cardiff were rather fortunate with their first as i felt if your lad gets an unimpeded shot away at goal and puts its over, that is the advantage. Didn’t seem right to then pull back for the freekick, i felt cardiff got two bites at the cherry.
But that’s football. To add, Rovers were much better yesterday than our recent form, probably made more chances than the abject 14 games before that.
Good luck going forwards.
I too was mystified by Smithies’ inclusion. If this was some kind of ploy to boost his value before selling him at the end of the season then it backfired horribly!
It is notable that ever since the Board – mistakenly in my view – gave MM a new contract we have averaged less than a point a game. I get absolutely no sense that this is a club that wants to pursue a more progressive and attractive playing style with the kind of players and manager that other clubs (Watford, Barnsley, Reading) employ to great effect. We’re stuck with McCarthy and his Jurrasic Park football. Out will go Wilson, Tomlin, Ojo etc. In will come a motley collection of artisans and water-carriers, incapable of stringing two passes together, unless it’s to an opposition player in a dangerous area. A complete re-building job is needed, which of course won’t happen under this Board and Manager. I really worry about our status next season.
hi whilst i generally agree with most comments from both yourself and your respondents there are several areas where i have to disagree The blackburn goalkeeper should definately received a red card for his offence as this is clearly what the rules state This is just another example of the side which is preconcieved to be the more physical (ie city) being penalised in games far more ofte than teams who are regarded as (footballing sides) they say that you make your own luck but many times this season we seem to have officials who have made their mind up before the game has started that any 50/50 challenges must mean a free kick to our opponents I would now like to move on to the negative comments regarding MM he has not had the benefit of any transfer window to shape the side in any way . Tdefence has been ravaged by injury .The midfield is dire (and in my opinion the cause of most of our problems) and in attack he has one proven striker who is running on empty and every winger/number 10 has had a dissapointing season (including wilson) i have looked up footage of the wolves and sunderland sides which he built virtually from scratch and they both played exciting football dominating other sides through skill and pace I have had some issues with his substitutions and his sometimes defensive starting lineup but i feel that this is because of a lack of trust in the available players which to be honest is understandable given many of their performances this season but have been heartened that he feels able to give some of our youngsters game time I am sure that he has assessed the limitations of our squad and will try to address this in the summer My own opinion is that we need a ball playing center half to play alongside morrisson a complete new midfield apart from bacuna in a holding role 2 wingers and another striker capable of playing in a pair with moore or on his own Unfortunately i feel this will take several transfer windows to deliver but MM is not usually a short term option at any of his previous clubs and should not be considered one here THANKS FOR READING MY RANT RICHIE
PS i would like to add that i believe city should look to re sign patterson if possible as i believe he would be the perfect foil playing just behind moore His energy and enthusiasm would lift the whole team and you just cannot teach the knack of being in the right place at the right time
Spot on again
P.S. Another area the club needs to improve hugely is its marketing. They need to find creative ways of engaging with the fanbase that go beyond the formulaic. Who knows how many season ticket holders will renew but, because the output of our marketing department is so scaled-back, the impression is given that the club isn’t really bothered. Other clubs are really skilled at creating a highly engaged Club community, whose loyalty goes way beyond performances on the pitch. Fans will forgive a great deal if they feel involved and appreciated. Despite being the epitome of a selling club, Borussia Dortmund continue to reap the benefits of their highly effective ‘Echte Liebe’ (‘True Love’) engagement campaign. So, Ken Choo, how about some ‘Blue Love’?
Thank-you Paul and other contributors for your reports of the game. They make interesting if somewhat painful reading considering the nature of the match and the timing of the equalising goal.
City went 3412, Murphy alongside Moore with Wilson behind them. The visitor’s straight forward 433 caused us problems increasingly during the afternoon. In a nutshell Blackburn’s three attackers gave our, ‘three-at-the-back,’ problems whilst Pack and Vaulks progressively lost their battle with their opponents’ three in midfield. Armstrong and Gallagher, too, were also afforded time that restricted our two wing-backs from adding their weight as an attacking threat. Though surprisingly, Blackburn won the long-ball stakes (94 to 62), those 62 were about 52 too many for this City fan as I’ve seen well approaching 3,500 of them going in the direction of our play this season. For all of Blackburn’s artisan thumping, this was their get-out-of-jail ball it must be said, and it belied a side that clearly loved the ball at their feet far more than City.
That said, it was a rather sprightly City that greeted the opening 15 mins of the game. Moore was a bigger threat than he had been for a number of recent games whilst the yellow card for the Blackburn goalkeeper’s foul on Wilson, who was on the point of shooting, was most fortuitous. Though a defender was perhaps 10 yds away from the incident, had Wilson shot, the defender could not have stopped the goal-bound effort. It was a decision that would prove costly for City.
Vaulks’ well struck shot from 20 yds for City’s opener was as pleasing a goal as you’d like to see. Unless carrying an injury, Ralls, consigned to the bench for the first hour of the game, was mystifying. And then when he came on (for Murphy) to again feature in the #10 role behind Moore was concerning. Pack was being turned easily whilst Vaulks just stayed on the right side of a second rash challenge. True Ralls was quick enough to seize on an opportunity to make it 2-1 to City but this was a game that he was desperately missed in the centre of midfield. The longer the game wore on the more of a football education we were treated to by Blackburn. Though their equaliser came very late on, courtesy of Armstrong’s second, Blackburn could, and should, have been out of sight by then. If this City team can do without Ralls in the centre of midfield then we have no problems. But we clearly do.
Galling though the time of the equaliser was, had Blackburn’s finishing matched their general play we would have been musing over another 5 goal hammering. In fact the visitor’s passing accuracy of 78% (of 538 passes) to City’s 57% (277 passes) and 65% possession showed the gulf between where Cardiff City 2020-21 are and where we need to be. I’ve just had enough of the 40 yd belt downfield as the default setting when a City defender has the ball. Has Brown got any other pass in his arsenal? Argh! Argh! again.
Whilst on the point of City’s three centre backs, that unit minus Morrison shows just what a miss he is. Rickety comes to mind. There is also more to playing with wing-backs than shoe-horning AN Other into the vacated role. Don’t we miss Bennett, our only true wing back at the Club? Yes, Ng and Sang have done well in that position, and I complement them, but that doesn’t mean that just anyone can play it as some of our selections have shown. Fill-ins are that and credible that their performances are you miss the dynamic of a proper wing-back. Have we really played the wing-back system properly without Bennet? Since his injury, 7 games ago, we’ve won one, scoring just 4 goals. This for a side, after the Derby victory, that were then in sixth position, above both Bournemouth and Barnsley.
The diet of Slade, Warnock, Harris and now McCarthy (since May 2014 save 12 games of Trollope) will test any football supporter. The one-size fits all Division 3N approach to football is one, after over 60 yrs of watching Cardiff City, I can live without. That Ralls and Bacuna are viewed as valid #10’s shows how moribund the mind-set is at CF11 and what seismic change there needs to be in thinking. Is Mick McCarthy capable of embracing that revolution?
Good morning Paul and others – Some sad news this morning of the passing of Colin Baker, Cardiff born and bred, and an absolute stalwart of the successful City sides of yesteryear. When so many of us despair of the lack of craft in our the side’s current midfield, oh for a current version of this splendid performer, a wing half of great ability and one who this observer of 70 years only wish we could replicate. RIP Colin.
And as for Saturday, I strangely felt absolutely nothing about the result, never expecting us to hold out for the win, and expressing no surprise at the Blackburn equaliser which was on the cards for most of the final 20 minutes. Disappointed for and with Smithies. What will MM do now?
We have another showing early on Sky on Friday evening. Could be a long week-end! As you can tell, I’m not even on glass half empty, my glass is drained. Roll on summer.
Thanks for some great replies and it’s particularly good to see some new names involved, especially John the Blackburn fan – welcome to the feedback section all of you. Starting with John, I think with the strict interpretation of the advantage law, your comments about the decision which led to our first goal are right, but I’ve always thought that foul play should leave your opponents with two distinct opportunities when an advantage is applied and so I thought bringing it back for a free kick after the initial effort missed was the correct decision morally.
As for Mick McCarthy being sacked, my view is that the absolute earliest we could expect that to happen is in the event of us making an absolutely disastrous, worse than Trollope, start to next season. Although I’d say that our manager’s results do not tell the whole story in terms of a comparison between them and performances, Mick McCarthy is still well in credit and I don’t believe there’s even a tiny amount of thought being given to him going now in the City Boardroom.
Although I can’t get rid of this nagging feeling that we’ll be watching more functional football with our “bread and butter” midfielders to the fore next season, I think Mick McCarthy should have the chance to prove doubters like me wrong, so, therefore, I feel much like Richard does in that we should wait and see what our squad looks like when the transfer window closes early next season.
TE, you have a point about marketing, the recent controversy regarding a member of staff’s alleged comment regarding “reverse racism” had me muttering “typical City” when I read it – not so much for any implied racism (I’d give the person the benefit of the doubt on that), but for their sheer crassness and that they were just so inappropriate.
Steve and BJA, your words echo my frustration and what has now become annoyance at the fact that season in, season out our season ticket money is spent on a product which offers so little in the form of entertainment and enjoyment. Of course, I’m never going to moan about a promotion, but it does lose it’s lustre a little when it’s followed by an immediate relegation. We’ve had seven seasons now since 14/15 when Russell Slade was appointed and for all of that time, apart, perhaps, from the Paul Trollope mini interlude, we’ve played what has been a passable impersonation of what we used to see from Wimbledon in the eighties and nineties.
Now, I’m sure each individual manager we’ve had in that time would look at what’s said on a place like this and think we don’t know the game or we’re just being naive, but they come and go, sometimes very quickly, while we’ve had to watch this set piece based, crash, bang wallop underdog football for what is now close to a decade and the most concerning things are, first, those in charge of the club seem to think it’s what we want to watch and, second, that we seem to be in a vicious circle whereby the signings we make through the middle of the pitch only seem to make the problem worse – Keiffer Moore is an exception to the rule, but “the Cardiff Way” is so established at centre back and in central midfield that we cannot utilise Moore’s true capabilities and the same can be said about Harry Wilson.