Since we got relegated we’ve had one game a season where the wheels have spectacularly come off for the team. In 19/20 it was the New Year’s Day 6-1 massacre at Queens Park Rangers, where they were six up after about an hour and then took pity on us and then last April there was the 5-0 hammering at Hillsborough by a Sheffield Wednesday side destined to finish bottom of the league – a look at Wednesday’s record for last season shows you it was a result they never came remotely close to repeating against anyone else.
Despite this, it was no fluke win by Wednesday, they were three up in no time and had done all of their scoring by around the hour mark – they were five goals better than us, perhaps more.
However, the most pertinent thing was that those defeats were very much one offs in those seasons – last season for example, our next worst defeat was 0-2. One horror show a season is not enough for a team to lose the reputation they’ve gained for being good defensively, it’s when it’s backed up by two or three other big losses that this happens.
So, a casual observer of Cardiff City in recent years may well think that being routed 5-1 at Elwood Park today by Blackburn Rovers is nothing to get too concerned about, it’s completely untypical of the team and they’ll come through it to end up in their usual fifth to tenth finishing spot.
If you’re reading this, then I doubt it very much if you fall into the casual observer category and you’ll know better than that – what had been a pretty concerning start to the campaign has got a lot worse and it seems daft now to think that we could have gone top of the league if we had beaten the wurzels four weeks ago today!
The QPR loss happened about halfway through 19/20 and there was little left of 20/21 when we played at Hillsborough, the difference this time is that we’ve not even played ten games yet – we’re defending badly enough for similar such thumpings in the coming weeks and months.
There was so much wrong with today’s performance, but, clearly, when a team concedes a lot goals, it’s the defence that will come under the closest scrutiny and, although this is going to sound a bit like being wise after the event, I wasn’t that surprised to see us look so shaky.
While the goals against record before today may not suggest it, we’ve been poor at the back this season – there’s been one clean sheet kept in eleven matches in all competitions and many of the goals we’ve given away have seen at least one of our three “untouchables” of Morrison, Nelson and Flint at fault somewhere along the line, yet our manager was saying they’ve been “excellent” at yesterday’s media briefing!
I think it’s fair to say that, whatever one thought of his appointment at the time, many City fans admitted to liking Mick McCarthy because he was straight when asked a question, his answers were honest and right from the heart. Having seen his media style closer up now for almost nine months, I’d say our manager is a little less straightforward than he first appears.
Yes, you’ll get the honesty when he is critical of his team and you very rarely hear him blaming officials – if there is any of the latter, he’ll often add to it something along the lines of “but that doesn’t excuse what we got wrong”. That’s the sort of stuff that will make the headlines from a McCarthy media appearance and it all adds to the public perception of the man, but there’s also a lot of very bland manager speak in there as well, hence the my three central defenders have been excellent baloney we got yesterday.
Was that our manager being the blunt, plain speaking Yorkshireman that is the bedrock of how he is thought of? Hardly, but I wonder if he feels the same way about the trio concerned tonight!
Actually, I thought we started quite well today with Morrison having a header cleared off the line as we enjoyed a measure of midfield control, but once the Blackburn plan became more apparent (to draw us on to them and hit us on the break) our domination of the ball (the BBC stats showed us having sixty one per cent possession) became more understandable.
Blackburn are not the first team to be happy for us to have possession of the ball as long as it doesn’t lead to us having too many set pieces opportunities because, although we passed it fairly well by our standards today, there was little sign that we had the guile to create anything in open play.
This goes to the heart of my continuous, and monotonous, criticism of City – we lack creativity and do not pass the ball well enough.
However that is to ignore something else that is central to why we are something of a basket case of a team currently. As soon as Blackburn began to bear their teeth, it became clear that, just as at Coventry, we couldn’t live with our opponent’s pace. So, we were losing sprints to Blackburn players all over the place, but they were also making our movement of the ball look ponderous.
Our lack of pace had something to do with shocking goals of a similar nature that we conceded at Peterborough and Coventry, but it couldn’t be blamed too much for the first one we conceded today. True, the fact that Marlon Pack and Will Vaulks were nowhere near home midfielder John Buckley as he played a fairly straightforward pass forward to Sam Gallagher was partially down to a lack of pace in midfield, but when you’ve got three central defenders covering the sort of area Buckley’s pass was aimed at, it shouldn’t have been too much of a problem.
Now, Mick McCarthy maintained after the game that Gallagher was offside – that thought never entered my mind as I watched the horror unfold or, as far as I’m aware, those of the two commentators I was listening to, but even if our manager is right, that’s no excuse for Flint being no way to be seen as Gallagher waltzed through a yawning gap between Nelson and Morrison and shot beyond Dillon Phillips – it was abysmal defending.
Blackburn had the bit between their teeth now and we endured a very tough second quarter of the game which saw us concede two more.
Before that though, rugged Blackburn centreback Daniel Ayala (I often wonder why he never ended up with us for some of his career, he seems such a natural for us, but there’s still time I suppose) headed a corner on to a post, before Blackburn’s pace did for us again a few minutes later. Tyrhys Dolan skinned the lumbering Flint (for what it’s worth I think he was our best central defender today, but, given the competition, it’s hardly a compliment) out on Blackburn’s right, Nelson was drawn out to meet Dolan, but was helpless to stop a cross that reached Chilean international striker via Nottingham, Ben Brereton-Diaz who volleyed in with no defender near him.
City looked like they would stumble their way to the dressing room at half time only two goals down, but there was a third one to come for which the word “farcical could have been invented. City were by now in a state of panic every time a Blackburn player ran at them, but the isolated Brereton-Diaz had few options as he started off down Blackburn’s left about thirty five yards from goal and flicked a poor pass which should have meant that the danger was over, but Vaulks and Morrison played an inadvertent and, admittedly, unlucky one two between them which left the striker bearing down on goal once he had burst clear of Morrison’s half hearted challenge. The comedy was far from over though, as Brereton-Diaz slipped and was only able to poke a half hit trundling effort at the frantically onrushing Phillips who went to ground in an uncontrolled manner which left him unable to deal with the dribbler of a shot that was coming at him. The ball rolled towards the empty net, but there was nothing the keeper could do about it now and it was left to Nelson to just about keep it out, only for the clearance to hit Brereton-Diaz and roll in from point blank range.
This was the latest in a small number of goals I’ve laughed at despite the fact they were scored against us – it was either that or cry.
For the second consecutive away game, Mick McCarthy made a couple of half time changes with Mark Harris and the returning Ryan Giles coming on for Perry Ng and Vaulks (the first named could feel somewhat aggrieved at his withdrawal, the second named, less so).
Although I still can’t quite figure out what formation we were playing, the changes did lead to some improvement after the break. For a start, Giles’ presence on the pitch ensured our strikers had some good crosses to work off and Harris brought about home keeper Thomas Kaminski’s best save of the match with a header from one of them, while Morrison glanced in a Giles corner.(it had to be a set piece of course) to record yet another second half goal.
By then though, we were four down as Gallagher outjumped an isolated Joel Bagan to nod across to Dolan who burst forward in a way a City midfielder never does, to beat Phillips.
The scoring was completed when more panicky defending led to a succession of loose balls being lost before Phillips came charging out brainlessly to bring down sub Khadra for a clear, yet unnecessary, penalty which Bremerton-Diaz put away to complete his hat trick.
Although there will probably be some who are critical of the younger players in the team, it’s men like Phillips, all of the back three, Vaulks and, to a lesser extent, Pack who should be criticised first and longest. It’s tough enough for young players trying to deal with the step up into senior football, but it’s doubly so when they are getting so little help from their elders and, alleged, betters.
Just a quick few words on Blackburn, they were good today and have made a promising start despite the loss of an unreplaced, in the transfer market at least, twenty plus goals a season striker. Despite this, I hear manager Tony Mowbray is not too popular with their fans. Earlier on, I said that Daniel Ayala seemed a natural fit for us and, at first glance, Mowbray would appear to be as well when it comes to the manager’s job. After all, he was a no nonsense centre half as a player and he has enjoyed success at this level in the past, but, if you look a bit closer, Mowbray teams have tended to be attack minded, easy on the eye with more than a fair sprinkling of star quality – clearly, that’s always been too much of a stumbling block to be overcome as far as City’s hierarchy are concerned.
At this point, I’d like to thank Jason Perry for something he said on Rob Phillips’ phone in tonight. I like Ewan Robert’s, but he, like a few in the media, has this notion that City fans are happy to put up with the boring, one dimensional dross we’ve had to watch for so long.
Just because there is no Swansea style “it’s our way or you’re out” attitude among City fans, that makes a few in the media believe that we have to put up with what we’re given so to speak, but Jason was very quick to point out the attitude of most supporters towards the likes of Kav, Steve McPhail, Jason Koumas and Whitts as proof that they enjoy and appreciate good, skillful, footballers and football..
I think Perry is right when he says City fans like a high tempo, pressing game which includes a decent level of quality football, but that’s an awful long way from what we’ve been getting for at least three years.
Whatever the truth, the way I feel tonight, City can get along without me on Tuesday, I’ve bought my season ticket, they’ve got my money and, based on the attitude of those who make the decisions at the club in recent months, that’s all they’re interested in.
For myself, City don’t seem worth making the effort for these days – crap football and a changed sense of priorities brought about by 150,000 of your fellow country men and women dying in a pandemic have seen to that.
Finally, the Under 18s were in action at Colchester this lunchtime in their first game since their 7-1 loss at Wigan. They had a tough time of things defensively again, falling 1-0 and then 3-1 behind, but goals from James Crole, Caleb Hughes and sub Rhys Schwank ensured that at least they made the long journey home with a point.
It’s the time of year again when I ask readers of Mauve and Yellow Army to make a contribution towards its running costs. Before I go into detail about this, I should, once again, offer my sincere thanks to all of you who have helped ensure the future of the blog over the past three years through a mixture of monthly payments via Patreon, monthly Standing Orders into my bank account and once a year payments via bank transfer, PayPal, cheque and cash.
The first time I made this request for assistance, it was prompted by a need for funds to pay for three yearly web hosting costs which, frankly, I was in no position to meet following my move of house a few months earlier. However, I’m pleased to say that, this time around, the web hosting bill was settled back in June with none of the problems there were back in 2018.
Therefore, any monies received this year will go towards other running costs and, although it’s too early yet to make any formal commitments despite so many of the pandemic restrictions in Wales being lifted recently, I am minded to do another review of a season from the past book to follow on from “Real Madrid and all that” which looked back on the 1970/71 campaign. At the moment 1975/76, the first promotion season I experienced, looks to be favourite for the book treatment, which would mean a lot more trips back and forth to Cardiff than my finances have become used to over the past year and a half – hopefully, the majority of them will not have to be made via Radyr Cheyne!
As always, the blog will still be free to read for anyone who chooses not to make a donation towards its running costs and, apart from the one in the top right hand corner which is to do with Google Ads, you will never have to bother about installing an ad blocker to read this site because there will never be any.
Finally, as mentioned earlier, donations can be made through Patreon, PayPal, by bank transfer, cheque, Standing Order/Direct Debit and cash, e-mail me at paul.evans8153@hotmail.com for further payment details.
I couldn’t agree more with your column.
I paid for my season ticket as I had tv pass last year. £3 for my sons.
Going by this season so far even that £3 was a waste of money .
Don’t sack mm bring in a director of football and make mm answerable to him. Hopefully this will humiliate him enough to force his resignation. Thus saving us millions. Perhaps then he will never get the chance to destroy another football club as he is doing to us.
I doubt I will go to another game. My son has packed up due to disillusionment.
Well done mm you are doing what I truly believe you came for, destroying cardiff so you can get sacked to pick up the compensation.
Personally I didn’t want him there. Didn’t want him to get a contract but since that day we have rapidly gone backwards. This is why I say he is playing for the pay off.
Keep him but humiliate the horrible man.
Some time ago, not long after Mick McCarthy came to Cardiff, I mentioned on this very site that the team seemed to be playing with enjoyment, and a modicum of flair.
More fool me.
It is painful to watch so-called quality players without basic skills or, it would seem, a modicum of football intelligence. No-one now seems to have the ability to control the ball quickly, and that is the first requirement towards accurate and properly weighted passing. By the same token the potential receiver of the pass should be taking up the appropriate positions. Who is to blame? The players or the trainers? Why do we have what is virtually no response in tactics when our bumbling strategy is manifestly failing? Who insists that we stick to the bumbling strategy? Is it because of the players we have, and if so, who recruited them? How can improvement be achieved?
Thanks both for your replies, after another day more to stew on what happened, I still feel the same way, but the problems run a lot deeper than just what happened at Blackburn – all that did is give more credence to those who believe things cannot continue like this. Pr, for the first time I began to accept the possibility that we may sack the manager, but I still believe it won’t happen because that would involve us paying out too much in compensation. I notice you have covered for that though with your Director of Football idea – I like the thinking behind it, but Dalman has said in the past that there is no need for a DofF because the transfer Committee can do all of the work he’d do and there we have the sort of thinking that goes right to the heart of our problems! That’s why the club hierarchy definitely need to be added to the list of contenders as the answer to Anthony’s who is to blame question.
Anthony, your questions should be on the lips of those running the club and, if they were honest with themselves, they’d have to acknowledge their culpability. I try to avoid falling into the trap of giving the impression that I know better than the professionals who earn their living out of the game, but what we’ve seen at Cardiff City since the summer of 2019 when we frittered away so much of the parachute payments which should have given us such an advantage is conclusive proof that there are times when the fans do know best (I’m not talking about myself there, there are thousands who have been proved right time and again as problems they foresaw occurred exactly as predicted). I can remember the reaction to the players Warnock brought in that summer as he built the foundations, which are very hard to demolish, of the current, very limited, group of senior pros and yet the Transfer Committee, who know more than enough to make the appointment of a DofF a pointless exercise apparently, signed all of the cheques without a murmur.
The likes of Choo and Dalman have a chance to start to put right the damage they’ve caused in the summer when a lot of contracts run out, it will be a time when some vision and a sense of purpose could see the club begin to start a recovery from this self inflicted mess, but, given their past form, are there really genuine grounds for optimism?
Hello Paul and others – My glass last week was of the half empty variety, it is now completely empty. I have little doubt now of the need for a change from top to bottom, and sadly I do not see that happening, at the very top anyway, any day soon.
Last year when Neil Harris was sacked, I suggested Stephen McPhail as a possible replacement. It found some favour from your correspondents. If, as I fear, there are to be more drubbings on the way we may well have to seek a replacement for MM and Co. and he would be a popular choice.
I believe there are many contracts due to end at the end of the season – and as far as this spectator is concerned, their shelf life is now well past their City sell by date. So as I suggested last week a central defence of McGuiness and Nelson with a recall for Wintle from Blackpool would do for starters, and recall possibly for Watters as well.
It really is time for action as I do not think I can take much more of watching MM in front of me scratching his head. And I’m not bothering to go to see the Baggies either.
Hello BJA, well, your fears of another drubbing were proved correct (I was thinking more in terms of a “plucky” 1-0 defeat similar to the Bournemouth game). I still think the thought of paying up our manager’s contract means that it’s unlikely that he’ll go, but I must admit it’s looking a lot more of a possibility now. Once it reaches the sort of stage it did last night, there’s usually no coming back fir a manager – it may look for a while as if he’s come through it, but soon as there’s any sort of dip in results, the supporter discontent is back.