Remember how long it took Cardiff City to keep two clean sheets last season? They won 2-0 at Blackpool in their second game and then it took them almost six months to repeat the achievement when they triumphed at Oakwell, Barnsley in a relegation six pointer. That was on 2 February in our twenty eighth league match of the season and we’d also played four cup games by then in which the opposition had scored each time.
So, it took us thirty two games to stop our opponents scoring for a second time with the third following a week later when we beat Peterborough 4-0 at Cardiff City Stadium. Well, tonight, in drawing 0-0 at the Hawthorns against West Brom, City kept a third clean sheet of their season in their fourth league game and, with Portsmouth finding scoring easy enough against us last week in the League Cup it’s three clean sheets in five in all competitions – it’s taken us nineteen days to do something that it took us half a year to do in 20/21.
City therefore stand sixth in the table, for what that’s worth at this time of the year and yet it is relevant because it is a great deal higher than I would have predicted this new team to be at this stage. Also, it’s only right tha,t having noted that we’d played two of the sides widely tipped to go down in or first three games (in saying that, Birmingham drew with Watford last night and Reading easily beat top of the table Blackburn 3-0 tonight!), I now point out that we’ve played two of the ones expected by many to finish in the top six, at least, in Norwich and West Brom, so we’ve probably had a tougher start than many in this league.
Tonight’s excellent point was earned without Cedric Kipre because we were facing his parent club and the only bad news of the night was that we also had to do without Jamilu Collins for all but three minutes of the game as he suffered a knee injury in West Brom’s first attack of the match. My mind went back to that match at Barnsley when Sean Morrison sustained the ACL injury from which he has not recovered yet – hopefully, in this case, the news won’t be as bad and at least Collins was able to walk off the pitch.
However, just to update things a little, Steve Morison did not sound too optimistic about the injury last night as he made the claim that our new signing from German football was the best left back in the division..
Callum O’Dowda came on to play at left back to replace Collins after having been left out, presumably in preparation for his return to Bristol City on Sunday, while new signing Jack Simpson was handed a debut in place of Kipre, despite him not having a pre season as such and so was completely lacking in match fitness.
Joe Ralls returned to the midfield for his first start of the season and it was Romaine Sawyers who missed out on a start against his former club and the team he supported as a child with the plan, almost certainly, to get him for the final third of the game when there were tired bodies and minds in the opposition ranks. In the final change from Saturday, Sheyi Ojo took over from O’Dowda.
So, this was very much a new look defence and there were the concerns I now have as a matter of course pre game about how we’d cope in the air at set pieces as Simpson hardly seems an imposing physical specimen in the way that Kipre is.
After a confident first five or six minutes from City, a West Brom side that had only a couple of draws to show from their three games gave our new found belief in playing out from the back its stiffest test yet as they pressed remorselessly and were consistently able to win back possession within our half,.
As a result, for a good ten minutes to quarter of an hour, it was one way traffic towards our game.
Still, the two Ryan’s, Allsop and Wintle, Simpson and Perry Ng insisted on restarting the game with short goal kicks and it certainly got me panicking at times as the ball was played around West Brom attackers who were about fifteen yards from our goal.
Yet, the truth is that we handled the initial West Brom press well all night – in fact we’d often beat it, but it was when the ball was played into our other midfielders and the full backs stood a bit further forward that we got into trouble against the home side’s secondary press.
Of course, if you’re going to turn over possession, it’s better that you do it forty yards from your goal than twenty as you have that bit more time to get organised. In truth, although it was a hard watch as the ball kept on coming back at us, it was more a case of West Brom getting into promising positions than them creating and missing chances.
One big reason why this was so was the performance of Ng who made a number of good blocks and interceptions all through the game, but in particular in the opening quarter when Simpson was showing some unsurprising signs of rustiness.
West Brom’s only real opportunity during their early period of dominance fell to their captain Jake Livermore whose shot from the edge of the penalty area was beaten out by Allsop, but with O’Dowda not looking out of place in his unfamiliar position and Mahlon Romeo continuing his good form, City began to come through their rocky spell and, for the second quarter of what was never a dull game, it was West Brom who had the more reason to be concerned.
Once City started to play, there were periods where they looked the better footballing side, possessing the more skilful players than their widely fancied hosts.
You really do have to pinch yourself when you think this is Cardiff City taking their desire to play out from the back to extreme lengths and it is they that are the team who are relying more on technique and a belief in passing in the middle of the park as they pick their way through the lunging challenges of their opponents – Steve Morison summed up what I’m trying to say here more succinctly than I am, when he said we had a bit of a swagger to our game at times.
With Sheyi Ojo’s more direct talents drawing a string of fouls as the home team and fans began to get frustrated, City we’re now beginning to edge what was a high quality contest and, for a while, I thought West Brom were there for the taking.
However, a look at the BBC match stats confirms that we did not have a single on target effort ll night and so again claim that we were deserving of the three points would be hard to justify.
Romeo sent a shot from the edge of the penalty area over after some lovely work to get past a couple of payers by O’Dowda and Ojo came closest to scoring for us when his shot from fifteen yards after being teed up by Jaden Philogene beat David Button in the home goal, but rolled about a foot wide. Ryan Wintle, again at the heart of almost everything that was good about City, was further away with his effort from a similar position to where Romeo was for his shot and it was Ojo again who was not too far wide with the only decent effort we had in a poorer quality second period.
All in all, it was a repeat of the Norwich and Reading matches in that a lot of effort went in from all in the Cardiff colours with very little to show for it in terms of a goal threat. While there are times when you watch this side defend and pass the ball in midfield when you think they have it within them to do a lot better than was predicted for them, we need to pose more of a threat going forward game in and game out – so far, we’ve only done it once and, even then, we only managed to score once. I made a lot of our improved goals against record at the start of this piece, but it’s only three goals scored in five games now
I’m not being fair here because I’m just being like one of those fans who always wants more no matter what, but I must say I was a bit disappointed by how we played after we bought Mark Harris, Rubin Colwill, Kion Etete and Sawyers on. The last named did give the impression that he was maybe trying too hard to impress on what must have been an emotional night for him, but I didn’t think the other three did too badly, it was just that the whole team got a bit careless in the last twenty minutes and invited pressure on to themselves.
The game ended as it began with City having to soak up a lot of pressure from the home side and Allsop was busier than he had been in the first half. In saying that mind, it was only when he plunged to his left to turn a header by ex City centre back Semi Ajayi from a cross by sub Callum Robinson around the post just as the clock showed ninety minutes that City looked like they might be breached.
So, although I’ve had a bit of a moan about us not producing a ninety minute performance, this was another big step in the right direction. On the weekend, Brentford’s amazing 4-0 demolition of Manchester United was built upon them pressing their illustrious opponents to distraction – West Brom tried to do something similar to us tonight and although it was all a bit hairem scarem at times, we came through it to earn what I’d say was a deserved point.
A word about the under 21s who got their competitive campaign off to a winning start when they beat Peterborough 2-1 at Cardiff City Stadium yesterday lunchtime. City played some excellent stuff in the first half with Joel Colwill scoring after ninety seconds and Eli King doubling the lead nit too long afterwards – 2=0 was the least they deserved at half time after a dominant first forty five minutes.
Unfortunately, City rather lost their way in the second period and they conceded a sloppy goal five minutes from time which made for a more nervy last few minutes than it should have been on the overall balance of play.
Finally, as has been the habit at the start of a new season in recent years, can I ask readers if they’re willing to make a donation towards the running costs of the blog. I say running costs towards the blog, but, that’s not really true this time because this year any donations will go towards costs incurred in the production and publication of the book I aim to have out for sale by October.
As mentioned this time last year, I decided to do another review of a season to follow on from Real Madrid and all that which was about 1970/71. This one is about the 1975/76 season and will be called Tony Evans walks on water. Currently, I would say I’m about 90 per cent of the way through the writing of the book – I should finish that by mid August and then it will be a question of tidying it up, proof reading, inserting a few photos and designing a cover before sending it off for printing.
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If we suggest that changing manager (if manager has come from outside the club), changing division or mass change of players are drastic changes which often lead to slow starts, then the majority of sides in the Championship this season are playing catch-up to the more settled club. While it is largely the settled clubs struggling so far, thus ruining aforementioned hypothesis, City are still doing better than most to manage the change so far. What a pity that the last enforced change to starting XI saw us lose badly against Reading and now we have another big enforced change going forward.
NG, one of those benefiting from the changes made, has said “I think the way we’re playing, we’re going to create a lot of chances, so it’s just about finishing them.” We’ve still got room to grow in terms of creating and finishing chances but three clean sheets out of four – averaging just 0.5 goals conceded a game – shows we’re controlling the play which is something we haven’t done for years.
“Yet the Brazilian still helped change the game through his attitude and application, chasing down and finding previously lost causes and cajoling that extra ounce of energy, belief and resolve from his teammates….When Conte finds an unpickable lock, Richarlison will be the one he trusts more often than not to run a hole into the ground so Tottenham can find an alternative route,” was the conclusion Football365 made re: Sunday’s London derby so perhaps Harris is our version and losing some of that control of the play is what happens when we’re pushing for a goal to finish off the performance – that might be what you saw when we became a bit looser later on in the game.
Collins’ injury is a really disappointing blow, shows the need for squad depth this year, as is rumours of McGuinness going out on loan. I thought he played well last year, including better on the ball than most defensive partners, but was asked to be right-footed LCB in a suddenly passing team, made a few mistakes and then lost confidence in himself. We seem to be valuing Ralls and Nelson’s off the field work highly but I don’t see them as our more talented players on evidence so far as, on talent alone, I’d have McGuinness 2nd choice behind NG rather than going out on loan (to regain his spark).
Interesting stuff DJ about Harris. At his best, he can make things happen off the bench and I don’t think Watters is really that type of player, but, because of Harris being a bit more unorthodox, there has to be an increased chance of him losing possession I suppose.
I think the notion that we’re creating chances on a regular basis is a misnomer at the moment. What we’ve done is create lots of chances in one game, but not enough in our other league games. Steve Morison’s press conference yesterday was interesting for a few reasons, one of which was that he said Watters has only had two shots all season – ayes, he should have scored last Saturday when he was clean through and he ruined a promising position with a poor first touch, but I can’t remember any other chances he has missed. Same with Etete who really should have buried that header against Birmingham, but I can’t recall him having another goal attempt besides that, while Harris has had a few pot shots from distance fly high, wide and not too handsome, but I can’t come up with anything which had me thinking “he should have scored that”.
I think a move to Sheffield Wednesday for McGuinness is a good one at this stage of his career as long as he plays well enough to maintain his place in one of the stronger League One sides. Nelson has had a bit of a disaster so far this season, but he’s been a steady, pretty consistent performer in a Championship side which played in a much different way to our current one for three seasons now, so I can understand Nelson staying here for the last year of his contract, but I wonder if Denham may overtake him in the pecking order over the course of the campaign?