Remember when we used to be crap at local derbies? Cardiff City kept their first clean sheet since they beat Bristol City 2-0 at Cardiff City Stadium in early March tonight when they came out on top in the south Wales derby by the same score.
That triumphalist line at the start was in jest. I may say that I think of Bristol City as our main rivals, but anyone reading my pieces on the previous four games, and quite a few of the ones before them, against Swansea will know how annoyed I’ve been after the recent humiliations (I don’t think that’s putting things too strongly either).
The last of the four wins for the jacks could be called a little unlucky I suppose because we’d fought back from 2-0 down and were then beaten by a goal deep into added time. However, we had momentum behind us at 2-2, but only seemed interested in holding out for the draw, whereas Swansea went after the game and, as such, deserved their win.
Even the one game we won since the derbies were resumed after our relegation four years ago was devalued a little by the fact there were no fans in the ground because of Covid restrictions and it was very much a case of scoring early and then hanging on for the win.
The truth is that before tonight, it’s only just short of a decade since City we’re deserved winners over the jacks. That was when Steven Caulker’s goal decided the first ever Premier League meeting between the teams, but now, Cardiff fans can point to 16 September 2023 as a night when City went some way towards redressing the recent balance between the teams – 2-0 didn’t flatter City in the slightest either, in fact, the margin of victory could have been greater.
Despite the victory was a pretty comfortable one in the end, the fact of the matter was that for three quarters of the game it looked like City would not be able to cash in on what had been a growing domination of the second half after a non event of a first period, but then a superb career transforming intervention by Ollie Tanner completely altered the mood of the night as he scored within forty seconds of coming on and then won the penalty which gave City a 2-0 lead which, this time, they did not lose!
Before going on to describe the game, a few words about the jacks. On this evidence, their position in the bottom three is a true reflection of the way they have been playing – I’ve not seen a Swansea side of the last fifteen years make passing the ball look as hard as this one did.
There’s no doubt that we made life easier for Swansea in the previous four meetings between the teams, but going back before that, in games at Cardiff City Stadium in particular they’ve been good and have made strong, fast starts to games epitomised by the fact they had scored inside the first ten minutes in their last three visits here before tonight.
That had to be in the minds of the City players who’d been here for some time in particular, but it seems it wasn’t when it came to new manager Michael Duff and his coaching staff. I’m still not sure what the plan was tonight for the jacks. First of all, I thought their tame start and use of long balls forward (they weren’t a route one team by any means, but they did hit passes of a type you would never have seen under most of their.managers since Roberto Martinez).
The longer it went on though and the more slipshod their passing got, the more the penny dropped that they are a team going through what I’ll call a double crisis – that is, one of confidence and one of identity. It seems that the transition, which seems pointless from the outside, that the appointment of Duff was always going to trigger is one that those who were there during the Russell Martin years are either unwilling or, more likely, unable to fully take on board.
From memory, Jak Alnwick, restored in goal after being left out at Ipswich, had only a first half cross that he punched decisively away to deal with in the first eighty minutes. Swansea did force Alnwick into a couple of saves late on and sub Josh Ginelly had an air shot when the muted Matt Grimes’ best pass of the night found him unmarked twelve yards out, but they were two down by then and showing very little sign that they would be joining Leeds, Colchester and Ipswich in the teams who have come back from two down to Cardiff club.
The fact that Swansea were so toothless did them little harm in a poor first half which had nothing noteworthy happen in front of goal in it until well past the forty five minute mark when Ike Ugbo did well to head an Aaron Ramsey cross into the path of Yakou Meite whose crisp snapshot from ten yards was well held by a diving Carl Rushworth in the Swansea goal.
City, with Ryan Wintle in for Joe Ralls and Ugbo for Tanner in the two changes from the Ipswich match were slightly the better of two out of form looking sides in the first period with Aaron Ramsey’s quality offering some hope that he could engineer something to break what was an attritional deadlock, but not for the first time since his comeback, it felt at times like most of his team mates were not on the same wavelength as him.
Meite, like most in the City team, had been ordinary in the first half, but his shot right at the end of it, seemed to act as an inspiration to him because within thirty seconds of the restart he had won possession forty yards from the Swansea goal, made about ten yards ground forward and then cracked a left footed shot which drew another good save from Rushworth as he turned the swerving, dipping effort over the bar. Soon afterwards, Meite was shooting again, but this time the keeper was not troubled as much as he been be the first two efforts from the former Reading man.
Nevertheless, Meite’s transformation was the clearest evidence of an improvement in quality and approach by City as, for the first time, a team began to take control.
While calling it an onslaught would be going over the top, Swansea were wilting as City stepped up the pressure and Ramsey’s influence grew – a superbly improvised cross from the right by the Wales captain presented Ugbo with a chance he appeared slow to react to and then in the scramble which followed, Karlan Grant’s shot looked to have beaten Eastwood only for Jay Fulton to clear from close to the Swansea goal line.
Ugbo was withdrawn shortly after this to set the scene for the cameo from Tanner which earned him a place in City folklore. Tanner had hardly got out on to the right wing when the excellent Jamilu Collins, one of the few men in blue to play well in the first half, pinged a forty yard pass across field to the young winger who controlled the ball well and in one movement, cut back across new Swansea signing Josh Tymon and smacked a low left footed shot beyond Rushworth from the corner of the penalty area.
The ground erupted as City took the lead in a home game against the jacks for the first time since Caulker’s header from Craig Bellamy’s corner hit the net in November 2013. Perhaps predictably, a hyped up Tanner was booked soon afterwards for a foul, but he was soon back tormenting the left side of Swansea’s defence, although it was Ramsey who skinned his opponent on that flank next before knocking over a cross that the completely unmarked Grant headed over from six yards.
I thought that could be a big miss, but within a few minutes, Ramsey had found Tanner in space and the winger had, another new Swansea signing Kristian Pedersen where he wanted him as he jinked outside the defender who brought him down for an obvious foul.
The only question was whether the offence had occurred inside or outside the penalty area – referee Samuel Barrott pointed to the spot and Ramsey scored his second nonchalant penalty in four days with what I always think of as a Peter Thorne type effort where you wait for the keeper to commit and then roll the ball in the opposite direction.
Given the pressure of the situation, it was a great penalty by Ramsey and my mind went back a few months to last season as I recalled how hard we made scoring from the spot look in 22/23.
Callum Robinson came on for a few minutes after recovering from his back injury and forced the Swansea keeper into another save, while Wintle might have been disappointed to have shot over an unguarded net from forty yards as Rushworth was stranded well off his line, but, as the rain hammered down, City had done enough already and completed what was their most complete home performance in ages.
The BBC reported that it was the biggest winning margin by City in the fixture in fifty eight years! This appears to be true for league games, but, from memory, there have been quite a few two goal wins in various cup competitions since the 5-0 win at Ninian Park in April 1965 when Welsh football greats Ivor Allchurch and John Charles scored all of the goals between them and a couple of three goal wins in the Welsh Cup (by 3-0 in 1976 and 4-1 eighteen years later)..
Elsewhere, City’s under 18s lost again as Troy Perrett’s goal couldn’t prevent a 2-1 defeat at home to Sheffield United and, in local football, only Treherbert Boys and Girls Club were in action in the Highadmit League as they beat Llanrumney United 2-1 in the Premier League following their first defeat of the season last weekend.
Finally, the start of the season is the time I ask readers to show their support by making a voluntary donation towards the blog’s running costs and to help towards things like book projects that I’m working on. Back in 2018, the blog would not have survived without the contributions of some of its readers as I just did not have the financial means to pay the web hosting bill I received that summer.
Since then, my finances have improved and, with me now receiving the state pension to go with my works one, I can say that there is no longer any need for anyone to donate towards running costs – touching wood, the blog will never ever be in a position again where it’ll need help from readers to survive.
So, with nothing in the pipeline in terms of new projects this year, I can say to all readers, and especially those who do still donate towards the blog, there is no need to do so this year at a time when many need every last penny to make it through the cost of living crisis.
That is not to say you cannot still make a contribution if you want to – they can be made through cash, bank transfer, cheque and PayPal. Many of you who do contribute will already have my bank details, but anyone wishing to make their first contribution can contact me at paul.evans8153@hotmail.com for more information.
As always a big thank you to all those who have made donations in the past and especially to those who still do (particular thanks go to the Owl Centre for their continued very generous sponsorship), a happier Cardiff City season than last time around to all of you!
First time poster here.
Thanks for such an in depth, knowledgeable and balanced report. A very welcome antidote to the lazy, clichéd writing on that awful Walesonline site.
Cardiff rose to the occasion last night beating a diminished and aimless Swansea. Their manager and some of the players looked out of their depth and I had that feeling after 15 minutes that at the very least it wasn’t going to be a fifth consecutive defeat. Everyone played at or considerably above their level last night. McGuinness was immense at the back. No silly errors, no indiscipline – just a hard fought and deserved victory.
Although he plays on the right, Tanner’s style of play and his demeanour are akin to Grealish (which ought to be a good thing I think!). That goal was a thing of beauty and he, Bowler and Rambo all offer something we’ve recently been lacking ie, a dribbling threat to any team’s back 4. Credit to Bulut as well – the boys did well enough in the first half but his H-T team talk obviously did the trick. Very satisfying win. Let’s hope it’s replicated against Coventry and gets our season heading in the right direction.
Paul and fellow MAYAns,
What a second half…!! Proof positive there is a God after all.
As ever, Paul, you capture the whole event in your summary. Much thanks for your efforts.
Thanks also Paul for allowing me to use the comments section below your latest quiz (on Cardiff v Swansea matches down the years), to nail that lie that many people under 70 seem to have swallowed re the 1958 World Cup… that it went largely unreported here in Wales. Trust me, as someone who lived through those weeks in 1958, almost every house in our street in Porth was listening to the commentary on the Brazil game.
I also talked about Esme, the widow of the unforgettable Ivor Allchurch… great though that video link was (to her walking around the Vetch as it is now), I reckon this one – link below – is its equal…
I love her Swansea accent, and her willingness to ‘tell it like it is’… for example her line that Gareth Bale might as well have been playing golf… (or words to that effect)…
Also (somewhat topical to our recent discussion)… I note she knows how to pronounce ‘Neco’…. Please tell Mr Williams, Esme!!
https://youtu.be/ltfIBPS-16k?si=mJeGdoIiEp5hEnas
As to the events of last night, I want to start with Esme’s Gareth Bale. Yes… seriously.
Why Gareth comes into my thinking is that I genuinely wonder if Ollie Tanner* and Bale are distantly related. Physically he has so many of the same characteristics, and his wonderful balance and sheer raw speed are straight out of the Bale playbook. Not to mention his two-footedness and his powerful shot.
As Private Eye used to say ‘I think we should be told if they are related’.
About two/three weeks ago when there was talk about him being sent out on a further loan, I said on your pages that if Erol sent him out, then we may as well all pack up and go home, or switch our interests to another sport… ‘cos clearly football had lost its collective mind… for the boy Tanner has ‘star quality’ written all over him.
Talking of feeling vindicated, I also said when we signed Yakou Méïté, that we were signing a proper player. I added the proviso that injury and attitude of course could have been factors as to why his Reading career had stalled so markedly.
Well last night, he showed us just what he can do when so motivated… and here I want to draw on another player physical comparison.
Around about the time of the Russell Slade period, we played Forest at CCS. I cannot recall the score, but I do remember Forest brought on their sub with about 25 minutes to go… and that bloke who’d come to them from Sheffield Wednesday (but who I am ashamed to say I knew nowt about, even though he was in his mid twenties), proceeded to make the other 21 players on the pitch seem like boys… and he, the ‘man amongst boys’…
So menacing, so fast, so darned… powerful. He terrified our defence.
I wrote on your blog that this thrilling player would soon be a name to conjure with… and wondering what the dickens he’d been doing warming the subs’ bench for the previous two thirds of the game.
And that Superman’s name?
Well, I know Paul you will have got it two minutes ago… and most fellow MAYAns too.
Michail Antonio, of course.
And I genuinely see a strong resemblance between the playing styles of Yakou Méïté and Antonio.
I would like to see him given a run of games at centre forward, with Ugbo coming on for him from the bench.
I am not sure that Ugbo does enough in a game. Oh for sure we can point to that sweet back header that set up the Méïté chance just before halftime, but what else did he do? He is not a giant centre forward, but neither is he the tiniest… and I cannot see why he does not impose himself a bit on their big central defenders. He seems to bounce off them.
As for Grant, when we signed him I pointed out all the sitters I had seen him miss with previous clubs. I suggested his ice was in his lemonade, rather than his veins. That header howler last night was classic Grant. Oh how Wilf Grant would have netted it… (oops that reference to a favourite City striker is wasted on folk under 75…!!)
The mystery is just how he went on to a scoring run at Huddersfield. A temporary boost in his confidence? Probably. But I will say this about Grant, he never hides. God bless him for that.
Still, I would, in a starting Xl, put him on the bench, with Josh Bowler** in his place.
Just in case this contribution from me might appear to be an exercise in vaingloriousness, let me quickly disabuse readers of any such idea, because I am now going to point out one massive mistaken prediction of mine…
Eejit that I am, I genuinely doubted the wisdom of the Ramsey signing, even though I much respected his performances for Arsenal and Wales down the years.
How wrong could one man be? I feel real shame at being so stupid… the guy’s been really great… he has oozed not just class, but also effort.
And finally… great to see Mark McGuinness being so consistent. How Stephen Kenny can ignore him is beyond me. He should be the first name on that ROI team-sheet… given the current paucity of Irish stellar talent.
* Ollie Tanner… is ‘Josh’ his nickname? Have you got info Paul that the rest of us hoi polloi have not been blessed with?
** I am guessing this is where your unconscious went to give us Ollie’s nickname.
TTFN,
Dai.
Let’s have a big shout out for Siopis, what a find. He was outstanding didn’t stop running wouldn’t let the Jack’s settle, superb performance.
Hello Mike, I’m conscious of not mentioning Siopis much in my pieces, apart from being mildly critical of him in the Sheffield Wednesday one. This isn’t because I don’t rate him, it’s more that I believe I’m taking him for granted already. I promise I’ll try to mention him more in the future, but, for now, I’ll reproach myself for not mentioning how he did something I’ve never seen before on Saturday when he changed his top while in possession of the ball and his interview on the club website, which was added yesterday, in which he puts his style of play down to “genetics”!
Dai, people have made a comparison between Ollie Tanner and Jack Grealish which I presume is down to physical similarities between the two and the way he plays with his socks down. I think your Bale comparison is much more on the mark though. Tanner is an entirely different type of footballer to Grealish, but you do a good job of describing the similarities to Gareth Bale. That’s not to say that Tanner is comparable to Bale in his pomp or even that he can develop into anything like the player Bale was – like any newcomer to a Championship team, oppositions don’t know what to expect from him, but, second time around, they’ll be better prepared for him.. However, if Tanner retains the pace and explosiveness he currently has, the power he also has will help make a combination that even well prepared defences at this level will find very hard to cope with. “Unplayable” is a word that gets used too often these days to describe someone who is just generally effective, but even the best teams found Bale unplayable at times and Swansea found Tanner unplayable on Saturday – I think other Championship defences may well do as well over the coming months.
Great credit to Yakpu Meite for being such a prominent part of City’s gradual improvement from about the fortieth minute onwards on Saturday. As you say, he has things in his locker which could make him a formidable player at this level, but he’s not convinced me yet – we could have five more points now if he had not missed so badly at Leicester and Ipswich (that one was as bad as Grant’s on Saturday). On the plus side, his injuries do not seem to have diminished his pace and power, but maybe they have had an effect on his confidence? If he can get a goal or two to regain it, then, perhaps, we could start to see the player you believe he could be.
As for Grant, I was surprised by the decision to use him as a winger originally, but now I can see why Erol Bulut did it, I think he can be an effective wide player at this level and, more than most of our other attacking players, you can see some evidence that he is on the same “wavelength” as Aaron Ramsey. I have no great hopes of Grant being a ten goals a season plus man any more though.
I haven’t taken too much notice of West Brom fans’ comments on Grant because he’s associated with a team and group of players that they think failed dismally, but what one of them said has stuck in my mind. According to this baggies fan, Grant is very good at coming in from the left flank and curling the ball into the net with his right foot – that’s his party piece it seems, but, so far, I’ve not seen any evidence of it, maybe him regaining his ability in that part of the game is the best we can expect from him in terms of being a goalscorer?
If someone is happy in their work, it should follow that they’re good at it as well and, so far at least, I think that’s what we’re seeing with Aaron Ramsey. I think I was more optimistic about what he could do for us than you were, but I wasn’t expecting performances like Saturday’s from him. I’m probably exaggerating and getting caught up in all of the reaction to Saturday’s game, but I reckon we’ve got a better player than the one Juventus and Nice had because he’s happy, he’s with his family and he’s at a place he has a real connection with, a place where the fans will forgive him almost anything.
Hello Paul and everyone – Thanks Paul for the excellent summary once again on proceedings at the CCS and the relief at ending our nightmare against those from down West. We were worthy winners and the margin perhaps should have been greater than just two goals. But hey – a win is a win, and I’ll take that any day of the week.
A number of thoughts to ponder. I genuinely believe that at long last we have a Manager who knows what he is doing. He quickly realised that young Tanner has more ability than the shipped out Ojo and whilst the latter always wanted to come on the inside from the right wing, he rarely produced anything worthwhile, whereas our new hero on arrival instantly controlled the long Collins pass and set about something positive, and how positive was that. And then took on the defender on the outside to win the penalty. Good move Mr Bulot. I still think he has the touch of a Grealish about him
And the signing of Siopis has been inspired from what I have seen so far. Tough, hard working and enthusiastic at being a member of the team. And that allows us to have Ralls and Adams on the bench should it be necessary to bring on re-enforcements later on. The mid-field is arguably stronger with his presence.
And then we have our Wales skipper. He seems to be relishing being back home and the Manager has allowed him the licence to wander around the pitch as he seems fit and that is causing problems for the opponents whoever they may be. (Leeds, Leicester and Ipswich fans have all acknowledged).
The decision to re-instate Alnwick in goal was also positive but may not have been easy bearing in mind his persuasion of the national Icelandic ‘keeper’s signature.
Early days yet, of course, and we have not beaten anyone of note so far even though perhaps we should have done. But for once my glass is just more than half full and I look forward to a good week ahead against stiffer opposition.
If the headline of this blog is accurate I would like the first sign to be a club statement that Ollie has signed a new 4 year contract.
He has all the physical raw material to be a Gareth Bale and judging by reports that he tuned down Spurs because he wanted an earlier route into first team football he seems to be ambitious.
He sounds like the sort of guy who will want to attract the attention of top managers on his way to the top.
Does he have the dedication to overcome the obstacles he will face when,as Paul points out, oppositions know his strengths?
The last player we had with his potential was Zohore but unfortunately his ambition seemed to be satisfied when he could afford a luxury car!
Whatever Ollie goes on to achieve he has already given me and thousands of City supporters our best weekend for a decade as well as a bit more optimism for the future
I agree that he has the Grealish look with his socks rolled down but am I the only one who thinks he looks like a young Sam Allardyce?
Thanks all for your further replies and apologies for the delay in replying. BJA, I tend to agree that Alnwick will have to keep on performing really well to keep his place because I’m pretty sure that Runnarsson was brought here to be the number one keeper, but credit to Erol Bulut for bringing Alnwick back after the Ipswich game because what he was doing in effect was admitting that he’d got his selection wrong for Portman Road.
One end of season prediction I’m prepared to make is that Siopis will be in he top three when it comes to voting for our player of the season and he could well end up winning it – I also think he’s bringing more out of players like Wintle and Ralls. It’s not very often you can say one player improves a whole team, but I think Siopis’ influence goes beyond just our midfield.
Lindsay, my belief in the three men who, essentially, run the club had hit rock bottom by the end of last season and so I was not expecting much from Erol Bulut because he was Mehmet Dalman’s choice, but I’m beginning to think that our Chairman got it right with this latest managerial appointment. I still think he messed up somewhat at Ipswich, but, even there, at times we played football of a quality that I’ve not seen from a City side in two years or more – it must be said as well, that the last two goals Ipswich scored owed quite a but to luck and we were very unfortunate to lose that game.
Mike, I think you summed up the Tanner situation well. I understand that we already have the option to extend his contract for another season to 2024, but, at a time when the club have done well to get some important players to sign long term contracts, I think Tanner has done enough over the lest three months to merit an improved and longer contract which will more reflect his current value as a twenty one year old making an impact in the Championship. However, as you allude to, even if he doesn’t kick on and improve from here, Ollie Tanner has already provided one of the great City moments of the twenty first century, something that supporters of the club will be talking about long after I’m dead and gone. We need to enjoy and savour the feelgood factor around the club currently because you never know how soon it will all change, but one of the great things about it is that a major player in getting supporters excited about the club again is someone who I fully expected to be out on loan at another National League club (or lower) by now when pre season training started back in June.
Welcome to the blog and you’ve got me envious straight away by revealing where you’re from! Thanks for your kind words, I’m not sure what happened with your message as I only came across it for approval this morning (28th) although you clearly wrote it more than a week ago – unfortunately, this sort of thing happens with the version of WordPress I have and I can only apologise for my late reply.
Things have moved on since you wrote and although last night’s result was a disappointment after the fine win at Birmingham, the forward momentum gained from beating Swansea has seen us continue to progress. Although there was an element of luck about Sunday’s win, I thought we still did well and the apparent one way traffic towards our goal was not solely down to Sunderland pushing us back, we were happy to get men behind the play and play in a completely different manner than we did in our previous two matches. The challenge for us now comes in the form of a home game which everyone will be expecting us to win pretty comfortably – the fact that it would have been impossible for me to contemplate us beating anyone at home a month or so ago is one of the biggest testimonies to the Bulut influence I can come up with.