If you’d have told me that within four weeks of Cardiff City’s miserable home loss to QPR that I would talking of routine away wins, I wouldn’t have said to your face that you were mad because I’m not that type of person, but I would have thought it! That night as we slipped to our sixth straight loss, it was hard to see where a point was coming from let alone three and there was a sense of inevitability about the winner for the visitors – worse than that, there was a sense of resignation from team and fans after we had slipped behind.
Tonight against a disappointing Luton outfit that I thought looked a better side in losing 4-0 at Cardiff City Stadium in November, City started brightly, but faded as the first half went on and a slow start after the restart had me thinking that the tiredness which was seen on Saturday against Coventry was putting in a reappearance. Then, from nowhere, a stunning shot had us in front and four minutes later a combination of very good technique and a bit of luck saw us double our advantage- after that, there were one or two scary moments, but, generally speaking it was all quite comfortable, a routine win in fact.
City went into the match with the same squad as had faced Coventry save for Alex Smithies making a return from the virus which saw him leave the field very early on in the match at Bristol City. Dillon Phillips had done nothing wrong since then, so retained his place in the starting line up and Smithies replaced George Ratcliffe on the bench.
Luton under Rhondda born former City youngster and supporter Nathan Jones have consolidated in the Championship following last season’s late run to safety on the back of some fine form after the first lockdown. This time around, they’ve sacrificed some of their attacking threat for a great deal more defensive resilience – only twenty three goals scored in twenty nine games now, but just thirty one conceded tells a story of a team for whom, the first goal of the game is usually decisive as Luton have not lost when going 1-0 up, while they had only managed to gain a single point in matches where they’ve gone 1-0 down.
A confident City side took the initiative early on perhaps sensing that their opponents would really struggle to come back if they conceded in the first few minutes and there was flurry of the sort of set piece situations that they thrive on. Initially the opportunities were wasted as Harry Wilson’s free kick from the corner of the penalty area was hopelessly over hit and went out for a throw in, while one of Will Vaulks’ long throws went directly out for a goal kick as he got the direction and trajectory of his delivery completely wrong.
City were more convincing and clever however when Wilson played a short corner to Perry Ng who rolled a further pass into the path of Vaulks whose well struck shot from twenty yards was well saved by Simon Sluga.
Keiffer Moore then missed a decent opportunity after Josh Murphy charged down a clearance and the ball headed towards our top scorer who was stood in glorious isolation inside the penalty area, but it was spinning sharply and it got away from Moore just as he looked on to score his fourteenth goal of the season.
After that, apart from two penalty shouts that were shown to be clear penalties for fouls on Sean Morrison and Murphy which were not given by a referee in Tim Robinson, who gave us very little all night, City looked more likely to concede that all important first goal rather than score it.
Without ever fully taking control of the match, Luton took the initiative and started to force a few attacking dead ball chances of their own.
Phillips was forced to turn a Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall free kick over as the Leicester loanee became more of an influence, but it was striker James Collins who missed the best opportunity for the home team when he headed Tom Lockyer’s inviting cross down and then wide from just six yards out.
The early stages of the second half had me thinking that If anyone was going to break the deadlock, it was going to be Luton, because City were increasingly being pushed back. However, on fifty three minutes, the game’s first goal arrived and what a goal it was!
Aden Flint was still upfield from a previous dead ball when he nodded down into a central position some thirty yards from goal from where Wilson burst on to the ball and, using Luton captain Sonny Bradley as a kind of marker, guided the ball about a yard wide of him and beyond Sluga into the corner of the net from about twenty five yards out for his first goal since before Christmas.
Although this was another match that Wilson flickered in and out of, it was one which showed that a small contribution from him can be worth far more than a more substantial contribution from others. Within another three minutes, Wilson again picked up a loose ball a bit further out than he had been earlier and tried his luck for a second time. This time Sluga was able to divert the ball over for what looked a fairly routine save on first viewing, but a second look at it showed how much swerve and dip the City man had managed to get on the ball, so a competent save became a very good one.
Not that it did Sluga and his team mates much good though, because, although Luton managed to deal with the initial threat caused by Wilson’s corner, the clearing header fell to Vaulks stood in a similar unmarked position as he had been in the first half and this time his shot found the corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area.
The BBC’s match report called the goals typically Cardiff and, in so much as they came from a long aerial ball and then a corner, I suppose they were, but that is to disregard the level of skill and good technique involved in both finishes.
From a Luton point of view, I would have thought their manager would be unhappy about the amount of room afforded to Wilson and Vaulks on more than one occasion when it came to the space in front of their defensive line, but both goals still needed a lot of scoring.
In Wilson’s case, he’s proved on many occasions that he can deliver in such cases, but Vaulks’ control of a shot that was awkward to hit because of how high the ball bounced was exemplary, even if it did need the bit of luck given it by a slight deflection off Bradley, and a sign of a confident player whose game has improved a lot in recent weeks.
With Luton’s poor goalscoring record and the problems they have when they concede the first goal, they knew they faced a huge task now, but in the time that remained they played a bit better than they had done in the first hour.
Midfield man Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu crashed a well struck effort not far wide and then probably should have done better than dribble another shot wide from around the penalty spot, while Curtis Nelson showed more evidence of his recent improvement as he diverted a shot from sub Harry Cornick wide after the Luton man had taken advantage of a slip by Morrison and cut inside Flint.
City never really threatened another goal apart from when two of their substitutes combined late on when Leanadro Bacuna played in Max Watters, but the new striker was unable to fully control an awkward ball and the chance was gone.
Mention of Bacuna and Watters confirms that Mick McCarthy did what he didn’t do on Saturday and made more use of his substitutes as he took the opportunity to give important players a short rest – Watters for Moore and Bacuna for Wilson were predictable changes, but opting for Joel Bagan to come on for Murphy (lively, but not as influential as on Saturday) was a surprise and the young full back did a decent job playing in front of Joe Bennett.
City have therefore closed to within three points of sixth placed Bournemouth who will play their game in hand on us tonight when they entertain a Rotherham side who are probably more of a test away from home than on their own ground at the moment and the Yorkshire side, who I’d say gave McCarthy’s Cardiff their toughest test so far last week, are coming off a free weekend following the postponement of their home game with QPR on Saturday.
Cardiff’s visit to a Cherries side that have been stuttering a bit of late next week is taking on the mantle of a very important game, but, first, they entertain Preston, another of a large number of teams at all levels of the pro game it seems who prefer playing away than at home when it comes to Covid football, and it needs to be remembered that after we beat Stoke on 8 December to record a fourth successive win and close to within two points of the top six, it all went wrong in spectacular style for us. City seem a happier and more resilient outfit since those days, but, although any talk of relegation should now be banished for the 20/21 campaign, I still feel we are fairly long odds outsiders for a top six finish.
While City’s first team have been attracting the attention in the last three weeks or so, recent Tuesday lunchtimes/afternoons have been notable for Cardiff City Under 23 matches at Leckwith that, have invariably offered rich entertainment, stylish football and wins!
In fact, the dramatic improvement in fortunes for the Development team can be traced back to before Christmas when a single, late goal by City young player of the moment, Rubin Colwill (who along with striker Isaak Davies signed a pro contract until 2023 yesterday) decided a hard fought match against QPR.
I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that Rubin came on as a sub that day, so it really does emphasise what a rapid rise it’s been for the local boy who has been with the club since he was seven.
Anyway, Colwill played a full part in the run of consecutive home wins in recent weeks which began with a come from behind 2-1 win over Swansea. Next up was a 4-0 win over an Ipswich team that were in second place in the league at the time, then there was a 4-1 win over Colchester seven days ago.
This time around, City faced the team they always draw with, Millwall, who came here with hopes of an end of season Play Off place by finishing in the top two based on a very mean defence for this level that had only been breached eleven times in fourteen games.
Well, we didn’t draw with Millwall today – we beat them 3-0 and at half time I found myself wondering if I’d ever seen a City Under 23 team, especially such a young one, play so well.
City’s control in those opening forty five minutes was complete – whereas losing opponents tend to get bludgeoned by our first team, this was strangling the life out of a traditionally resolute adversary as they were denied the ball, and therefore hope, by a City team playing with a degree of that very un Cardiff City like word, panache.
At 2-0 down and having had a player sent off, Millwall were looking at a thrashing, but, to their credit, they dug in and gave City a tougher challenge than they had when they had a full allocation of players, but it also needs to be said that, as the pleasant almost spring like conditions of the opening forty five minutes gave way to torrential rain, City’s chances of repeating their excellent opening half receded markedly.
The main item of interest in the City selection was the inclusion of Lee Tomlin in what turned out to be a false number nine position as he returned after almost six months out with a groin problem which required surgery. There were also pointers as to selection for the first team match at Luton a few hours later in that George Ratcliffe returned in goal to indicate that Alex Smithies had recovered for his illness that had kept him out of the last two matches, while the absence of Colwill and Davies suggested both would be on the bench for the senior team again.
Tomlin filled the gap left by Davies, while Colwill’s replacement was Roland Idowu who certainly put himself about with some very firm challenges, one of which led to Millwall’s left back being forced to go off early in the match – Idowu also played as well as I’ve seen him do for us while he was on.
Another change saw Oli Denham replaced by a trialist who slotted into the three man defence as if he’d been playing for us for all of his life.
Right from the first whistle, City’s pass and move football had them in full control – this control never manifested itself in a siege on the Millwall goal and, thinking back, there weren’t too many goalmouth incidents, but it was still so impressive as James Waite stood out in the early minutes as a left wing back with an ability to get to the bye line and deliver threatening crosses.
What also helped to make City’s showing impressive was the quality of the two goals they scored. I’d rank the first one after thirteen minutes as the better of the pair, but there wasn’t much in it. Waite made it with another incision down the left and his cross found Idowu who laid the ball back to Keenan Patten who smashed a first time shot into the roof of the net from around twenty two yards.
Tomlin became more involved as the game went on and set up Waite for a chance that Millwall keeper Gilmore seemed to touch onto an upright from where the ball rebounded to Idowu who saw his close range effort blocked for a corner.
On thirty one minutes it was 2-0 as Tomlin switched a lovely diagonal pass from left to right to find wing back Cameron McWilliams who crossed low to Kieron Evans who showed great composure to sidestep a defender and shoot home from twelve yards.
There was a strange end to the half when Millwall’s number six went down off the ball with Tomlin close by – when Tomlin walked towards him, there seemed to be some pushing and shoving between the pair of them, but, after consulting the nearest linesman, the ref took no stronger action than to speak to both players. However, before play could restart, the linesman called the ref towards him and after further consultation a red card was shown to visiting centre forward Alexander who was, as far as I’m aware, twenty yards or so away from the original incident throughout- the only conclusion to be drawn surely was that the sending off was for dissent.
Last week, Colchester had a player sent off inside two minutes and it rather ruined the match as a contest, but this time, City had played their best football already and, if anything, the dismissal appeared to affect them as much as it did their opponents.
Indeed, Millwall were the better side in the early stages of the second half as, maybe fired by a sense of injustice, they took the game to City and caused the under employed Ratcliffe a few anxious moments, but, gradually, the control which had characterised the opening forty five minutes was restored.
City, with Tomlin and Idowu replaced by Dan Griffiths and Taz Mayembe came pretty close to adding to their lead through McWilliams and Waite, but it was in the closing ten minutes as Millwall tired that City stepped up their goal threat, notably when a delightful pass by Sam Bowen put Evans into a similar position from where he had scored, but this time the skillful attacker was disappointed to shoot over.
There was one more goal though as Evans made ground down the left and, once again, when the cross came it was a low one that this time was turned in from six yards by Mayembe.
There were good performances all over the park for City with Bowen and Patten dovetailing well in midfield again, but best player for me today was Keiron Evans with a performance he sustained through the ninety minutes.
Finally, it’s now less than a month to the fiftieth anniversary of our win over Real Madrid in the European Cup Winners Cup Quarter Final First Leg in March 1971. To commemorate that anniversary, I’ve written a book called Real Madrid and all that – details of which can be found below;-
Thanks, Paul.
Well I watched the game on Sky and I wasn’t that impressed. I may well be a glass half-empty sort of person.
It’s not often I disagree with your views, Paul, but I see that on a forum that we both used you are happy with Dillon Phillips. In my opinion, based on last night’s viewing (my only viewing of him), the sooner Smithies is fit to start the better. I feel our young keeper is reluctant to come off his line to boss his area. That cross should never have reached the head of James Collins and there was another similar occurrence, just about the same period of the game. Where was he when that corner bounced in his six-yard box? Granted he made a number of decent stops but I’m not sure he is filling his defence with confidence. He is young, of course, and there’s every chance that as he gains experience the confidence will come.
After the good reports I’ve read of our new full-back Ng I was disappointed with his start to the game, he did improve as the game progressed. The three-at-the-back formation worked well enough on the night but I fear that against a sharper attack they might well be found lacking in acceleration and agility.
I feel our midfield still lacks composure. I had watched the EFL Cup game between Oxford and Tranmere and I feel that the quality of the passing was much better than either City’s or Luton’s.
I must be unlucky with my viewings of Josh Murphy and Keifer Moore come to that. I’m prepared to accept that both may have not been at their best last night but I saw nothing to suggest that Moore is the best player in the Championship (WhoScored) and Murphy was as consistent as ever.
Two excellent goals and an invaluable three-points. In the very unlikely event of us getting into a play-off position it will be a sad indictment on the standard of the Championship this year.
Strange decision by Don Goodman (doing the Sky punditry last night) to give the Man Of The Match award to Harry Wilson, who he had referred to earlier in the game as being “anonymous”. It was a cracking goal mind.
I felt the ref was a bit of a ‘homer’ but the BBC stats show that he gave the same number of fouls to both sides.
Hello again, gents and thanks to Paul for an extremely quickly posted report. You must have burnt the midnight oil there young man.
Luton’s 3412 virtually matched up City’s 3421, leaving little space in a congested midfield. It was Luton’s 3 against our 2 in the centre circle that gave the home team the upper hand. Their 65% possession (City: 35%); 479 passes (City: 265) and passing accuracy of 74% (City: 56%) showed clearly the team on the front foot for much of the game. However, not for the first time this season, we could pose the question: “What’s the point of possession if your attackers are profligate?” Or to put it another way; “What’s the use of having a bag full of red pencils if they are all blunt?” This season, City may not have as many pencils at their disposal as many teams but have a couple that are sharper than the teachers down the corridor. This was definitely not one of City’s better performances this season, in fact there were throwbacks to Warnock/Harris as many 45 yards punts were employed from the City rear-guard, but the two finishes of Wilson and Vaulks were examples of football of the highest order.
Overall, Mr Tim Simpson had an okay-ish sort of game but his two decisions not to award the Bluebirds two penalties were baffling. On 21 minutes Morrison was pushed from behind and pulled via a handful of blue shirt from in front and at the same time, doing well to stay on his feet for as long as he did. Again, on 37 minutes, Murphy was sent tumbling in the box but the man in black did not trouble his whistle.
City started quite well but the longer the first half went on the less of a threat we posed. In fact the game was quite unforgettable apart from the two excellent finishes on 53 & 56 minutes. That purple patch of play either side of the goals was in stark contrast to much of the fare on view from the visitors. Though we missed Ralls’ energy, nevertheless I thought Vaulks got through a prodigious amount of work whilst, the longer the game went on, Pack took to running around all over the place in the opposition’s half. He gave a good impression of Trevor Hockey with his clipped strides. This was quite a departure from his usual steady-eddie role 5 yards in front of our penalty box.
Permit me time to give vent to a rumination. I am perplexed. My issue is a simple one. It’s the almost glue-like way that the words, “physical,” and, “Cardiff City,” always, always, always are synonymous. Managers, tv pundits et al use the two terms repeatedly. Ok, we might not be the best of football teams even in the Championship but are we physical? This term, “physical,” was again used by last night’s opposing manager. Is it a polite way of saying that City area bunch of cloggers, hod-carriers and the like that, when on a night out, you’d rather not bump into? To flesh out the terminology, are we that bunch of crazed psychopaths in blue being never better pleased than roughing up the opposition. If it is then I must vehemently disagree with Nathan Jones and company. Yes, admittedly we are a powerful, tall team but a team that softens the opposition up, turning the pitch into an Emergency Ward 10, festooned with all sorts of medical equipment to bring the supine back to life? Whilst on this rant permit me to go further. The two worst excesses of wanton physicality that I’ve witnessed this season were by the two artisans, Hunt (Bristol C #2) and Ostigard (Coventry C #2), both purveyors of a forearm smashes on Wilson that miraculously did not inflict serious damage to his face. Both were straight red card offences and amazingly not even a yellow was given.
If Luton had more of the ball, City’s seven shots on target to the home team’s three were a better indication of the winner of the encounter. The 2-0 win places City in 7th position, a heady position for the run-in. We can but hope.
City’s League record: 2020-2021
Home: 15 … 5 … 3 … 7 … 23-19 … 18
Away: 16 … 7 … 4 … 4 … 19-14 … 25
Total: 31 … 12 … 7 … 11 … 42-33 … 43
Oops.
City’s League record: 2020-2021
Home: 15 … 5 … 3 … 7 … 23-19 … 18
Away: 15 … 7 … 4 … 4 … 19-14 … 25
Total: 30 … 12 … 7 … 11 … 42-33 … 43
Good afternoon chaps – Fascinated by Steve’s deep thoughts about the City’s “physicality” label, so I thought I would investigate further on one of the Football Statistics websites that exists. I presume that they are accurate. You may recall that I was bothered by the number of fouls awarded against us in the Coventry match, 24 I think, which seemed monstrously high. So what did I find out:
To date, the City have had 45 yellows and 3 reds awarded against us. Nine clubs have had more of the former, but only three of the latter although three also share our number of reds. So not the worst by any means. Watford at 54 yellows and Sheff Wed with 5 reds lead these particular tables.
This same site indicates we are comfortably the best at winning aerials 35.4% , and similarly rated with 19 goals coming as a result of a set piece.
I hardly think these makes us “physical” if that word is used in a derogatory manner, but it does indicate perhaps where are “strengths” lie. Hardly criminal.
So, keep it going lads.
Hi BJA … and other august students of the beautiful game,
Thank-you for your ferreting around in the murky depths of the internet to reveal your interesting disciplinary facts. My feeling, obviously I could be wrong, is that particularly in recent years City players can seem to be booked for rather little when greater misdemeanours (eg the forearm smashes by Hunt and Ostigard on Wilson) went unpunished when they were clearly straight red cards. Furthermore some other challenges on Wilson this season have bordered on the x-certificate and again little or no retribution has been forthcoming from the referee. This does rankle with this City fan.
In previous years, when I had more free time, I took it upon myself to frequently write to the PGMOB (Professional Game Match Officials’ Board) over the handling of City games, and, whilst I appreciate they couldn’t comment on individual incidents in or the handling of games by certain referees the feeling I got was that I was banging my proverbial head against a brick-wall despite assurances that my comments were valued and taken onboard.
In the pursuit of balance it must be noted that for a few years after the FA Cup victory over Leeds Utd in 2002 I did feel there was an appreciably colder response by officials to City in games. I can remember an incident at Tranmere where a 6 ft plus defender, standing behind Earnshaw, pushed him over and then landed on top of him in the penalty area. Nothing was given. I suppose the proof of the pudding is this: are incidents in games involving City being refereed impartially? While I’m not suggesting there is now a sinister, orchestrated plot afoot maybe there might be a subconscious bias, however slight in some referees. That said it must also be stated that I’ve felt some referees this season have been very good indeed. I’ll say no more.
Bit late getting round to replying this time to some very interesting points made. Colin, regarding Dillon Phillips, I thought he was very good at Rotherham and I’d rather give credit to the quality of Luton crosses than ask questions of our keeper. Going by what I saw of him last season, I think Smithies will come back into the starting eleven quite soon, but Phillips is very young for a keeper and if we were minded to cash in on Smithies in the summer, I wouldn’t be too bothered about finding a new first team keeper. I agree with you about Ng and Moore though, while I thought it was a good night by City midfield standards, it still wasn’t what you’d expect from a side challenging for a top six. To return to Ng, I think that against Coventry and Luton, he fell a little below the high standards he’s set for himself in his early matches, but there was still quite a bit to enthuse about, while it was a night where Moore was not at his sharpest.
As for the point about our physicality raised by Steve and commented on by BJA, my recollection from looking at disciplinary records in previous seasons is that, for some time, we’ve been one of the better behaved sides in the Championships when it comes to red and yellow cards. Therefore, those figures quoted by BJA surprise me a bit, because it we’re quite a bit “dirtier” this year than usual. I had a feeling throughout Neil Harris’ time, which I can’t back up with any stats to prove it, that he was less concerned about us picking up cards than Neil Warnock was. Warnock’s a shrewd old fox and I seem to remember that his City teams were above average for the number of fouls committed per game, but below average when it came to the number of cards they picked – as a qualified ref himself, maybe Warnock had a better idea as to the sort of misdemeanour an official would think worthy of penalising, but no further action after that?
My take on our “physicality” is that it’s meant more as a kind of compliment when it comes to our physical strength, rather than an accusation of us being cloggers, because the facts don’t back that up. Indeed, I’m struggling to think of a time when we’ve been accused of that apart from when Mark Robins had a go last week – we did give away a lot of fouls that day, but, although I’ve again got no way of proving this, I think he was very upset about a challenge by Joe Bennett very late in the match and so it was still fresh in his mind.
One last thing, I think the area where we have most right to complain about officials is when it comes to the treatment Sean Morrison receives when he goes forward for set pieces – it seems that at least once a game, there is a blatant penalty for a foul on him, but you can count the number we’ve been given for fouls on him on the fingers of one hand.