I’d say Cardiff City played marginally better in losing 1-0 to Birmingham at home tonight than they did in beating Millwall by the same score on Saturday, but whether you disagree with me or not there, the simple truth is that if you throw in the home game before that against West Brom, we’ve played not far short of three hundred minutes and I’m struggling to remember a single chance we’ve created in open play.
We’ve now lost three home matches out of four and I’d say that we’ve played seven consecutive very mediocre halves of football on our own ground now since we scored twice just before half time to go in at the interval 2-1 up against Norwich. Unfortunately, having coped pretty well without Aaron Ramsey for a couple months, the last six weeks or so have really illustrated the lack of creativity and ability to deliver an effective final ball in our ranks – our set piece strength is all that we have to fall back on now it would seem when it comes to sticking the ball in the net.
Joe Ralls was missing tonight with what was described as a minor injury and I suppose he may have been able to pick out a pass or two which might have given Birmingham the odd problem, , without him though, we only had one player who drove us forward in the middle of the park and passed the ball with any cleverness.
Rubin Colwill made his first league start of the season tonight and I think the fact that Erol Bulut kept him on for the whole ninety five minutes tells the story that the player he has been critical of at times this season was the one he felt he could trust most tonight.
The problem is that, although Colwill. was my choice for City man of the match, his performance didn’t merit more than, say, a six or seven out of ten, yet I’d say that was two marks higher than any of the others in midfield and attack.
Actually, that’s probably a little unfair on Kion Etete, who was given a start and didn’t do badly until he was, surprisingly, withdrawn around the hour mark and Yakou Meite who was selected on the right wing and, in his Boris Johnson shopping trolley way, gave visiting left back Lee Buchanan some awkward moments.
The central point remains though, City are just not creating anything. Even last season with all of those games we did not score in, there was usually the odd chance created where we could show that our finishing was crap, but, lately there’s been nothing – when’s the last time a City forward missed a sitter?
Etete put a pretty good opportunity over the bar within seconds of him coming on against Millwall, but it wasn’t what I’d call a great chance – the last one I can remember is Karlan Grant in a one on one with the Norwich keeper over a month ago.
Just as on Saturday, City made basic ball control and the ability to deliver simple and effective passes look beyond them for much of the time and this time they could not use the weather conditions as an excuse for the inadequacies that marked them down as well below Championship standard when it came to the technical side of the game.
Let’s remember that tonight we were up against the team with the worst record in the Championship in the period since Wayne Rooney was appointed Birmingham manager and a team that had lost their previous eight away games. Yet, by the end, I don’t think you could deny that the visitors deserved their win even if their goal had an element of luck to it.
Referee Steve Martin had not had a bad first half really, but what happened in the time after the two minutes extra that had been shown by the fourth official rather blotted his copybook – City were attacking near the Birmingham corner flag when Etete went down under a challenge by ex City loanee Dion Sanderson and knocked his team mate Colwill over in the act of falling.
That would not have been a problem if we’d been given the free kick that most were expecting, but when the whistle didn’t come, we were left with two men out of the game as Birmingham went the length of the pitch at hardly what I’d call breakneck speed to find Juninho Bacuna who clipped the ball over an unconvincing Alex Runnarson challenge and walked it into the net with more than a minute extra having been played over the signalled two when there had been nothing that had happened to justify the addition of that extra sixty seconds.
To be honest, I’m not convinced Etete was fouled, but I don’t get why the ref didn’t blow the whistle for half time somewhere between that incident and the goal – it was hardly as if play switched from one end to the other that quickly.
After that, the ref and the linesman on the Ninian Stand side of the ground earned the wrath of the home crowd, for making most of the marginal calls in favour of the visitors. That said, it seemed to me that often the City player involved was looking for the free kick because that would give us a dead ball situation from which a goal was far more likely to come compared to anything they tried to do themselves.
When you think of all of the attacking players we brought in during the summer and the emergence of someone like Ollie Tanner, it’s rather depressing that we’re now going through a phase where we’re beginning to look even more toothless than we were last season.
If you discount Aaron Ramsey for now, I make it that we have five new attacking players this season plus the three or four who were here last year, yet we look incapable of coming up with anything from open play.
Any attacking threat tonight came from set pieces, apart from when visiting keeper John Ruddy got in a bit of a mess with a ballooned cross by Mahlon Romeo, who replaced Perry Ng after a quarter of an hour, and almost presented Etete with a tap in. Dimitrios Goutas forced Ruddy into his best save of the night with a header from a Ryan Wintle free kick and then was not far away from reaching Wintle’s subsequent corner as Mark McGuinness tried, but failed, to turn the ball in at the far post.
Forty five minutes of thud and blunder second half attacking only produced a free kick on the edge of the penalty area gained by another sub, Josh Bowler just as the signalled added five minutes was up – Colwill got his shot from the free kick on target, but Ruddy was able to make what was a pretty simple diving save and that was that.
Up the other end, Runnarson had to make a couple of decent saves in the first half and then was the busier keeper in the second period as the visitors created and wasted the chances to make the game safe – although the truth was that as long as they stayed vigilant when defending set pieces, the game was already won at 1-0.
What is so frustrating about turning up to watch the City play nowadays is the total lack of creativity in and from midfield – and the continuous passing across and back of the ball when in our own half and sometimes our own penalty area without looking to see if there is a player or a space upfield towards the other team’s penalty area!
Good morning Paul – I know memories can play tricks, but these last two matches were about as bad as any duo played at home in my many years of watching our lot. On Saturday, I mentioned at half time to my fellow supporter sitting next to me that it would be a good idea if someone could switch the lights out, the game was really that bad. Last night was marginally better, but marginally only.
No creativity whatsoever. and our “attack” (a generous description) is completely n0n-functional. Over 21 games, the “magnificent” seven, Bowler*, Etete, Grant*, Meite, Robinson, Tanner and Ugbo* have amassed the grand total of thirteen goals scored with the last named accounting for four of those. All have played thirteen games or more including substitute appearances, so none are able to complain of lack of game time. Is it now time to introduce one or two of our youngsters who seem to know how to strike a ball on target – witness Crole’s success against the young Swans recently.
As I have mentioned previously, I wait with keen anticipation the return of Messrs Ramsey and O’Dowda, and wonder what the January “Sales” will bring us together with the returns, if possible, of those marked * to their own clubs.
Whoops – Just re-checked my figures, attack scored fourteen goals, not thirteen. Not as bad as first thought!!!!!
Good morning, Paul,
Do you remember Peter Crouch’s humdinger of an answer* to this question… viz… ‘Peter, what would you have been if you had not been a professional footballer?’ … well, I cannot help but think Wayne Rooney’s answer would not have been that different.
A singularly unimpressive speaker, he let his über talented feet do the talking.
But as a manager… he does not have it. He did a fairly average job in the DC role, and although he seemingly did a good job at Derby, we now see that the brains of the operation is now pulling up trees in Hull… whilst Rooney’s hapless Blues can hardly buy a win.
Yet Rooney – a manager who, let’s face it, looks like he cannot manage a fish supper – comes to Cardiff last night and leaves with 3 points.
Shame on Erol Bulut – like Rooney, a worshipper at the altar of the Church of Guardiola… that his brand of tiki-taka was alas so lacking in goal threat.
But shame on me for saying this… but I must be honest… and I pine for those traitorous City fans who unbelievably at the height of the the red shirt brouhaha**- whilst our club were in the Premiership mark you – were allowed by fellow City visiting fans on Merseyside to display their disgusting banner… viz… ‘Tan Out’.
Oh they were obsessed with colour alright. Had he been called Vincent Evans, Vincent Jones, Vincent Williams, etc… we would never have seen that awful banner… but being a Malaysian Chinese, he stood no chance against folk who hypocritically pay lip service to stirring anthemic songs like ‘We’ll Keep A Welcome’… but only if you are ‘one of us’.
Were I the coach driver returning to Cardiff, I would have not let them board my supporters’ club bus. (Mind you, I would have shot them for desertion before they ever got back to the bus park. Imagine what damage they did to the morale of City players who were desperately fighting to stay in the EPL… and who then looked up to the stands to see such a diabolical message.)
Yet such is my loss of faith in Bulut – especially over his repeated lie on Runnarsson – that I have reached such despair that I rather wish those bounders come back with their wicked banner, and just switch the name from ‘Tan’ to ‘Bulut’.
Oh dear Kieffer… please stay away. You are far too good a player to waste your talents playing for a tiki-taka loving manager.
And to think in these pages I said in the close season that I liked the cut of Bulut’s gib. But I should not be ashamed of myself, for I really genuinely did. I have never lost faith in a City manager so quickly… even Alan Durban lasted longer in my affections.
As for yesterday’s game…
Having watched the full 90 minutes, I realise how wasted my time was. For instance, I could have watched the brand new documentary on the five footballing internationals of Alice Street, Swansea*** again… ‘ Wonderland: The Alice Street Story’.
https://youtu.be/8g6afYFs6tE?si=pxCmodjnsQNM_x-F
What a great doc this is… such a lot of thought has gone into it. Even down to the soundtrack.****
The Spencer Davis recording of ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ did not seem that brilliant a choice though… until the closing moments when Stevie Winwood’s exultant cry of ‘hey!’ is perfectly synchronised to make it look like Jeremy Charles has yelled it…!! Took me ten minutes for the smile to leave my face.
*a virgin.
**surely the most trivial reason for internecine strife since Spain’s famous medieval Bucket War.
*** and to think I thought my visits to William Street in Cilfynydd were to a freakish street… (Sir Geraint Evans, Stuart Burrows and Merlin Rees)…
****I notice in the music credits they name ‘Tom Jones’. Eh? There is a stylish jazz-flavoured instrumental intro to the C&W classic ‘The Green, Green Grass of Home’, which pleased me greatly… as I was expecting them to be clichéd and rely on the glorious inimitable vocal DNA from Tom.
Right… time to go for lunch.
TTFN,
Dai.
Apols for the fact I failed to proofread. My life as a trencherman has been my undoing all my life.
Where do I start? Well, spelling the name of ex Home Secretary Merlyn Rees like Pontypridd’s The Merlin Hotel, was one error.
Then there were several strange – often otiose – prepositions… and then there was evidence of my stomach telling me to put down my pen… with me pulling away from my Tom Jones reference without making my point… viz… that Tom had no hand in writing his best known ballad.
Must do better. As must Bulut.
Alas however, whilst I hold out a modicum of hope for myself, I hold out none for him. He is like Rooney, an incorrigible Pep wannabe.
TTFN,
Dai.
Oh jeez… I go from bad to worse.
I ruined my Rooney joke… instead of inferring he could not even manage a fish supper, I should have said ‘he is a manager who looks like he can ONLY manage a fish supper’.
A poor day at the office for me.
Now watching Chelsea v Häcken on YouTube. As I flagged up a fortnight or so back, all these Women’s European Champions League games are free to air via DAZL on YouTube.
After 25 minutes it is a stalemate, but at least the wingers are trying to take the ball to the Swedes’ byline… and manager Emma Hayes wants none of the constant square and back-passing, that characterises Bulut-ball.
DW
Thanks all for your replies and apologies for being late with mine. Graham and Dai, I see nothing wrong with passing the ball around at the back if there is a purpose to it and you are genuinely moving the opposition around, but City don’t do that. More often than not, the passing among defenders and goalkeeper/midfielders goes nowhere and so you end up with someone knocking it long and, invariably handing possession back to he opposition. There’s been a discussion on the messageboard about what part of the team is to blame for the miserable stuff we’ve had to watch in the last month or so with opinions split between it being a midfield and back like lacking in creativity and a forward line that offers so little in terms of movement off the ball that those behind them are have no worthwhile targets to hit when they look up (or pick their head up to use modern day pundit parlance!) to pass to. I nailed my colours to the first of those options when I gave my piece the title I did, but, in truth, it’s probably a mixture of the two.
Brian, I agree, those were the worst pair of home performances in a sequence of two home games I’ve ever seen from City and it seems we’ve slipped back into our bad old ways when it comes to playing at Cardiff City Stadium. Thirteen or fourteen goals scored, it makes little difference – it’s a pretty pathetic return from he seven players , minus Ramsey, tasked with providing the majority of goals this season. The one defence I’d mount for the seven is that the low number of really bad misses I’ve seen from them from day one of this season tells you that their collective poor return is definitely not down to profligacy in front of goal – that said, I’d argue that the quality of crosses put in from the wingers (as opposed to full backs) is often poor or a wrong option has been taken.
Regarding Ramsey and O’Dowda, I see their return date has been out back again with mid January being mentioned for latter and the possibility that it will be a bit later for the former. As for Ramsey, I’ve mentioned on the blog that I thought we coped pretty well without him for a couple of months, but we’ve found it much harder going in the las six weeks or so – his comeback can’t come quickly enough as far as I’m concerned.