City losing relegation battle at home.

6 Responses to City losing relegation battle at home.

1. StrawClutcher says:

   April 20, 2014 at 10:21 am

   I think another 4 points would probably be enough. Next up are the teams 18th and 20th in the form table. We can’t say we haven’t had the opportunities to get out of this mess.

   Do you detect any general improvement in City’s play in March and April? The shocker against Palace aside, it seems to me results and performances have stabilised a bit and Ole is closer to knowing his best side.
2. The other Bob Wilson says:

   April 20, 2014 at 12:58 pm

   I’m still thinking in terms of two wins needed, but with Norwich two down and West Brom at Man City, it looks to me as if only Sunderland of the realistic relegation candidates will win this weekend, so, perhaps, you are right about four points being enough. I think we have improved a little in recent weeks and it seems Ole has decided to give a particular group of players a few games to prove themselves – it’s frustrating though when you realise what an extra goal yesterday would have got us.
3. Dai Woosnam says:

   April 20, 2014 at 2:10 pm

   Nice report as ever Paul.

   A couple of quick comments from me on holiday in the IOW. Do I detect positive pride in your voice when you captioned that Sea of Blue picture?

   If so, “include me out”, as the egregious Sam Goldwyn once said. For I believe that the blue diehards have contributed to the mess… and proved a distraction too many.

   Second, I have come to the regrettable conclusion that Ole has not got a clue, I am afraid. He picks Kenny Miller Mk 2 for EVERY game, yet the bloke is patently not a centre forward! I am beginning to think that Steven Caulker could be better: I think he might turn out to be another John Charles i.e. as happy to don the #9 jersey as the centre back one.

   I was particularly impressed with his second shot in that 2 chance mini-flurry of his yesterday.

   Will sign off now.

   Re Howard Webb and his refusal to deal with shirt pulling: I note that you made no mention of the time 3 years ago when he spotted our Israeli doing it …a decision that deprived the City of a Wembley final against The Swans!
   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/championship/8518889/Cardiff-City-0-Reading-3-agg-0-3-match-report.html
   Kindest,
   Dai.
4. Matt N says:

   April 20, 2014 at 2:29 pm

   Well, this time next week, we could be bottom of the league. Or we could have our heads above water. Survival is a tough ask – Fulham and West Brom have softer run ins, Sunderland have pulled off some miraculous results, and Norwich are showing a bit of fight over the past two games, despite their losses. It is impossible to predict, but I think we’ll sneak a win from one of the three remaining. If we can equal Fulham’s results, and not lose to Sunderland, then I think we will see City clamber above the Canaries.
   Back to yesterday’s game, I agree that the basics let us down. Throw ins? Seriously? Sloppy passing (Medel was very poor here) and surprisingly poor decisions for corners – one of our few weapons is our threat “in the mixer” from corners – why ever play a short one? On young Mats, I think our players are surprised by what he does, so haven’t yet learned to anticipate his movement to advance the move. Daehli is our crown jewel going into next season. One who certainly won’t be missed is Zaha. The breathtaking talent he showed for Palace has just deserted him. He seems clinically unable to contribute to the cause. I wonder what Bellamy thought watching from the bench?
   So, three more games of terror and anxiety left before I can relax and enjoy some football over the World Cup. Come on lads – I understand Houdini was a bluebird.
5. The other Bob Wilson says:

   April 21, 2014 at 9:42 am

   I’m happy to see so much blue Dai because fourteen months ago on the night of the free red scarves, the sort of spectacle that is commonplace now seemed impossible. As for how any protests about our kit have affected our season, I believe it’s not had any on the team in terms of how they perform at games (I accept the only way to know this for sure though is to find out from the horse’s mouth so to speak, but that’s unlikely to happen – our players tend to stay quiet on the matter of our red shirts), but I would say that the rebranding dispute is one of a number of factors (nearly all self inflicted) that have destabilised the club this season.
   Fraizer Campbell has been copping a fair amount of stick for his performance on Saturday. I accept that one of the reasons we are likely to be relegated is that we have not had that regular goalscorer that a team like the jacks have had. However, as this table
   http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/top-scorers
   shows, Swansea are virtually unique amongst sides in the lower half of the table in having a reliable goalscorer in their ranks – many of the teams at the bottom have a midfield player as their top scorer. If you are a low ranking Premier League side finding that striker who can get you ten goals a season is not that easy it seems, but, given our scoring record last season, you would have thought it would have been a priority at Cardiff during last summer and again in January and it reflects poorly on both of the managers we’ve had this season that they’ve not come remotely close to finding such a player – Campbell has played so much as as striker because he has proved himself to be the best we have in that position.
   I just looked up my comment on that Keinan penalty in my blog piece at the time – I said it was “one of the most obvious penalties you are ever likely to see” (it had to be for Howard Webb to give it!).
6. The other Bob Wilson says:

   April 21, 2014 at 9:58 am

   Thanks for those comments Matt. Sunderland’s last two results have shown that nothing can be taken for granted and, in that respect, I believe Norwich will not lose all three of their games – both sides displays yesterday has me thinking they can get something at old Trafford next week, while, if our match with Chelsea doesn’t look quite as daunting now, then I think the same has to be said for their trip to Stamford Bridge while the possibility that Arsenal might have secured their Champions League status before they go to Norwich cannot be ignored. I’m afraid my instinct still tends towards relegation for City – we’ve blown too many good chances at Cardiff City Stadium to get the results we needed.
   Agree with you about Dæhli. As for Zaha, Norwich apart, his better performances for us have come in away matches and I have a suspicion he might be in from the start next week (for Kimbo I’d guess) – I’ve been disappointed with Zaha’s overall contribution, but still have the feeling that he could have a match winning performance in him somewhere and we don’t have many players you can say that about.
   I’m not getting too worked up about things because my feeling that we are going down tends to dominate so the hope that leads to all of the angst isn’t really there – a win at Sunderland mind and that situation will certainly change!

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