,
Well, all of the late additions in the January transfer window and the returning Aaron Ramsey have made no difference, we’re still not just bad at home – we’re pathetic.
Our early exit from the FA Cup meant that we did not have a chance to break up a schedule which had us not playing at home for four weeks, but, in a way, that was no bad thing because it gave the chance for the horror show that was Cardiff 0 Leeds 3 to fade from memories, while last week’s good win at Watford offered the hope that the feelgood factor that victory generated could spill over into the home game which followed.
Of course, if you are a cynic (I’m afraid I’m definitely one now when it comes to City playing at home) or, as I would argue, a realist, then you would remember that no end of good away wins have been followed within the next eight days by a turgid home defeat.
In fact, it’s happened so often over the past three and a half years that you know that no matter how much the personnel changes on or off the pitch, we are a lot more likely to lose than we are to win when we have what most other clubs regard as the advantage of playing at home.
I mentioned the Leeds game earlier, well, today’s 2-0 loss to Preston wasn’t as bad. Against Leeds there was a complete absence of hope that we could stem and then turn around the tide which saw play centred around our goal, but today there was hope for a while – a short while perhaps, but twenty minutes or so of “domination” is a scrag end bone to be fed on voraciously if you’re a City fan.
Before going on to the small amount I want to say about the game (this is going to be a shorter report of the actual match than normal because, as I’ve said before, it’s gets impossible to think of anything new to say about a problem that has existed for close to four seasons now), a few words about City’s starting line up.
Erol Bulut has been picking City teams and formulating match tactics for six months now and my opinion is that, like very many managers, entertainment does not figure high on his list of priorities, but I now think he is in the Jose Mourinho class when it comes to ensuring that his teams does not entertain. Bulut couldn’t have been more clear about what he expects from his players when they don’t have the ball and, although I accept that this is an important part of the game, I think it’s possible, or even probable, that he places more importance on it than he does on what they can do with the ball.
On second thoughts, that might be too harsh a judgement, but I definitely think Bulut’s tactical approach and selections are dictated by what he thinks the opposition will do. Using today as an example, Preston played with two strikers and a proper number ten in beating Ipswich last week and so, Bulut went even more defensive than usual today as, besides having his normal two sitting in front of the defence, he also instructed David Turnbull to play deeper than you’d expect him to on his home debut with the result that our striker (Kion Etete) was left even more isolated than usual and often dropped into the sort of areas that you’d expect a number ten to be filling.
So, while Preston, as the away side, went ahead with what was quite a bold approach, we got even less players into forward areas than we normally do in home games – and people wonder why we’ve only scored in two of the last seven games played at Cardiff City Stadium!
The area I’m talking about is the one Rubin Colwill has been occupying in recent games. Colwill was very influential last week at Watford and has, by general consent, been playing well lately. However, as someone who always fights the Colwill corner, I did make a point in my Watford reaction piece of saying that his performance, while very encouraging, wasn’t perfect.
Nevertheless, I think it’s fair to say that Colwill has been winning over some of his doubters recently and has been playing well on a pretty consistent basis. The question Erol Bulut was asked about Colwill in the pre game press conference on Thursday reflected that thinking, but the manager’s answer was a surprise as he once again voiced reservations about the player and came over to me at least as someone who was more intent on burying Colwill than praising him.
It came as no real surprise then to see that Colwill was back on the bench today, but what was a shock was that, with his team lacking invention and an X factor as they laboured to string two passes together once they went behind, Colwill was not introduced until the seventieth minute and was the last of the five substitutions. To my mind, he should never have been on the bench in the first place, but, having been put there, he should have been the first one to come off it, not the fifth.
Despite Bulut’s even more defensive selection and tactics though, City, playing towards the Canton Stand in the opening half for the first time in ages after Preston won the toss, made a bright start, by home game standards at least, by doing most of the attacking early on.
With Manolis Siopis dictating things and Preston looking pretty sloppy, there were even on target efforts from City early on, when in recent home games it’s often been a case of spot the shot.
However, the two shots by Etete and one by Karlan Grant were all straight at Freddie Woodman, not that well struck and were all from around twenty yards out.
Preston were toothless during this period and it really was against the run of play when Emil Riis cut in from the left in the space vacated by Perry Ng (one of several City players whose average level of performance in away games is some way above what we’re seeing from them in home matches) who had lost the ball deep in Preston territory, beat Dimitri Goutas too easily and shot home from eight yards.
The effect of that goal was dramatic as City collapsed like a house of cards and Preston were never troubled again until Goutas (having his worst game in months) had a very well struck effort from thirty yards held by Woodman deep into added time at the end of the game.
That shot represented City’s only worthwhile effort on goal in a second period which began with the introduction of an understandably rusty Aaron Ramsey and Josh Wilson-Esbrand for Ryan Wintle and Josh Bowler. The Welsh international was able to offer little to overturn Preston’s comfortable superiority and, in fact, the latter couldn’t either, but the Man City loanee was at least able to add some much needed pace to his pedestrian team.
Maybe City would have offered a bit more resistance were it not for the visitors doubling their lead five minutes before half time. The move which ended with Ben Whiteman besting Jak Alnwick from twelve yards was of a quality and slickness City never came close to matching, but the visitors’ cause was aided considerably by referee Dean Whitestone who first, bafflingly, decided to penalise Etete for some reason and then ignored a blatant two handed push on the striker by Jordan Storey which provided the possession for the visitors which led to the goal. Those decisions earned Bulut a yellow card for his protests regarding the first one and Etete one for dissent against the second one – the latter one in particular being a disgraceful decision in my opinion,
City cannot blame the ref for their defeat though, just like they cannot blame officials for the fact we’ve had more than three and a half seasons of rubbish being played on our own pitch. Although I doubt it myself, maybe today’s defeat will finally end the talk of a Play Off place – our home form since we last reached them in 2020 is just not good enough to think of such things now.
February is the time of year when selection for the Academy team begins to reflect who will be getting pro deals and who won’t. Usually around now, there’s an influx of younger players into the under 18s team and this may explain why their results have taken a turn for the worse in the last week or so, with a 5-0 defeat at Watford last weekend followed by 1-1 draw at Leckwith against Colchester this lunchtime with Jac Thomas’ equaliser coming in the ninety sixth minute.
Our best memory of yesterday was after we parked, as uysual, some distance from the ground and were walking through the stadium towards Asdas for some pre-game food when we suddenly realised our season tickets were still in the car.
N0 time for food , we thought, as we turned back to get them.
As we reached outside the stadium, a taxi turned up, the passengers got out, and I seized the opportunity to ask the driver to take us back to the car.
“Out luck’s in” I said tome grandson. In fact the taxi took us to the car and then took us close to Asdas.
We had a our meal and were on our seats in the stadium with four minutes to go. “Yes, definitely our lucky day” I said as a quarter of an hour came round.
But, as the old vicar used to say, “It’s effing bullshit.”
What a performance !
Even John Toshack would have been a total failure as the team failed to provide any effective crosses. In fact, the players were like Dracula faced by the sign of a cross. And is it true that Bowler has an artificial right leg?
If our players and backsteet individuals are truly professional, they should hang their heads in shame.
O’Dowda, cometh thy hour !
I was told off by a fellow supporter for praising ref John Busby’s handling of the Watford game last week, because he said it meant we’d be bound to get a stinker of a ref this week to balance things up. And so it proved in Dean Whitestone yesterday. Looking at the stats, Preston committed more than twice as many fouls as us (eleven), and most of them seemed to be on Kion Etete, and yet the only yellow card given to a Preston player was for time-wasting near the end.
As you mention Paul, this was likely because Etete was usually the only player in a forward position, so the Preston defence didn’t have anyone else really to focus on. However for the sheer number of fouls on him I would have expected at least one yellow card.
Then there’s also the number of times he was fouled, without a free-kick being given, such as in the build up to Preston’s second goal.
That the ref then only added 6 minutes of time on at the end was another reward to Preston for their persistent time-wasting in the second half. My calculations were that nine minutes would have been a much closer figure, although whether that would have made any difference to the outcome is debatable.
At the start of the game I also noticed that having won the toss, Preston decided to play in the opposite direction to almost every team to visit us. I wasn’t sure whether this was because there was a relatively small turnout of away fans, or whether they didn’t want ex-Swans keeper Woodman being barracked by our fans in the second half, or whether they just wanted to un-settle us.
That said however, we were much the better team for the first half-hour, although I remember saying to the person next to me, that if we didn’t score during this period of domination, then we may well pay later.
When Preston scored their first, from an excellent counter-attack after we lost the ball near their penalty area, I knew we were in trouble, as they are a team that works hard, are well organised and are very good in grinding out a result. When they scored the second I pretty much knew the game was up.
Our only hope of getting back into it would be an early second half goal, and when we spurned that great chance from a Ramsey free kick just outside their penalty area, I was pretty certain we weren’t going to score, however much time the ref chose to add on.
There were some positives for me though, as well as our first half hour dominance. Wilson-Ebrand looks a player with skill as well as speed, although his young age meant he sometimes was second best against Preston’s physicality. And I thought Nat Phillips generally had a decent home debut in defence.
In some ways I can see why Colwill wasn’t used from the start. He generally played well against Watford last week, but his anger at not being awarded a free-kick earned him a yellow card then, and he seemed to keep on talking to the ref a while afterwards, which I think may be part of the reason why he was subbed. Erol probably rightly decided that Preston’s approach meant that Colwill would have got far more ‘treatment’ from them than he did at Watford, so maybe he has some maturing to do.
I’d also be surprised if either team troubled the playoff places. Neither looked playoff material on yesterdays evidence, even though in theory we are both two of the ten teams (we are currently the lowest btw) who could make the two playoff places still available.
Good morning Paul and everyone – As someone who has always believed in the impartiality of referees in every sport, and accepted that very often their duties are put to the test by players’ shenanigans, Mr Whitestone’s performance on Saturday tested my beliefs by a total biased and incompetent appearance. Etete was assaulted so many times whilst he was on the pitch, but no yellow card to his grappler. And from my vantage point, the award of a free kick to Preston when Etete was accused of a foul was a monstrous decision which caused our Manager to receive a yellow card for his outburst and ultimately produced Preston’s second goal. I do not know the finer points of any protocol for a Club’s objections to referees’ performances, nor if there are any League officials present at matches that monitor such performances, but I just hope that some comment be made by the City over the efforts of the aforesaid Mr Whitestone.
Having got that off my chest, our performance was once again dismal from a home spectators perspective. Not much cohesion, not much pace and absolutely nothing to show from possession statistics and attempts on goal, all of which seemed to be from yards out. I usually take my seat well before kick off and watch the warm up with interest and as I sit in the half of the ground where we do our pre match procedures, wonder why it is that our practice shooting at the goal bears little resemblance to the sad feeble attempts during the match itself. If I remember correctly, it was only Goutas’s fierce attempt that warmed Woodman’s hands all afternoon and that was in added time. All other shots on target were directly aimed at Woodman which caused little concern.
Our wing play was non existent. Surely it is time to ditch Grant from that role. He may run about a bit, but there is no end result, and Bowler and Ng need to work together a little more to provide the occasional over lap for a decent cross into the penalty area.
I was in a positive mood when I took my seat, but the last minutes of the first half resulted in that demeanour changing and the second half was a hard watch. I’m really not sure where we go from here. Four newcomers and returning Ramsey failed to excite and unless Mr Bulot can light a fire under his charges, the next two games will prove a hard watch with a potential of no return even if they are away from home!
Here’s a question for you, Paul.
Has anyone scored three own goals in the same game in the British professional league system?
I ask because I had a nightmare last night that Bulut our most negative manager in yonks, had signed a new Turk who senselessly repeatedly passed the ball back to his Coloradan keeper… and notched an o.g. hat-trick in an astonishing ten minutes.
Even more astonishing was seeing the Turk presented with the match ball…!!
That is how much the negativity of Bulutball has so affected me… nightmares like that.
Nice to see AMO back in form with his account of the Asda stop being more of a highlight of his day than the CCS stop. Bravo, Anthony. Keep writing.
DW.
Morning everybody, yes it was great to hear from AMO again. To be serious for a while, the fact that he and his friends got a taxi ride to where they had parked really does bring home how much times have changed. I passed my driving test in November 1974 and I have a clear memory of driving to a game against Aston Villa just after Christmas in my own car and because there was a medical emergency I got involved with it meant I was still stuck close by Fairwater Green ten minutes before kick off, yet I was able to get to the ground and park in the car park of the factory just across the road from the Grange End entrance in time to hear the ref’s whistle signalling the kick off just as I went through the turnstile. Similarly, as recently as our Cup Final season (07/08), I can remember still being in my house in Pentrebane at 2.35 and still getting to the ground to park close enough to it to be in my usual place on he Grange End just as the game was kicking off – such times are never going to come back, but I do wonder if it is really necessary to have the twenty plus minutes walk to the ground that seems compulsory these days which car owners who do not have a ticket for the club car park have to make?
AMO and Brian mention wingers and crossing. City have played with two wingers constantly in recent years and, for me, that conjures up images of excitement and entertainment of the kind which first got me interested in the great game. Yet, excitement and entertainment has been missing from the home side in games at Cardiff City Stadium since at least the early days of Neil Warnock’s tenure. Wingers used to mean crosses, but now, in these days of “inverted wingers” who cut in onto their stronger foot to get away shots it’s changed. I’ll leave others to argue if the change is for the better or not, because, for now, all I want to say is that whatever type of winger City are meant to be playing with, the individuals concerned are failing miserably in one of their main duties.
If Bowler and Grant were supposed to be playing as old fashioned wingers on Saturday, there was a complete absence of crosses into the box from them and if they were meant to be coming infield trying to repeat what Bowler did at Watford, they failed in that task as well.
One of the reasons I was fairly optimistic about Saturday was that I thought Bowler’s fine goal the previous weekend would provide him with a big confidence boost but it made no difference whatsoever – I don’t like singling out individuals, but I thought Bowler had a shocker on Saturday. He started by slowing play down and invariably checking back to play a backwards pass and just progressively worse as his touch deserted him as he found different ways to present the opposition with the ball. Our wingers were as useful as chocolate tea pots on Saturday in terms of attacking play, just like they have been all season, apart from the occasional moment back in August and September from Ollie Tanner and I can remember Bowler doing well at Huddersfield. As for Grant, I think there’s a player there, but not as a winger – or not as an offensive winger anyway, he’s quite good as a defensive one and that’s very, very important as far as this manager is concerned.
Brian also mentions the ref (Blue Bayou talks of the lack of action taken against defenders for clear fouls on Etete as well) and here I’ll agree with Erol Bulut regarding his rugby remark after the game – Kion Etete is getting a lot of stick off City fans on social media these days and while some of it is justified I reckon, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a target man get as little protection from officials as he does week in, week out.
Just like City always play with two wingers, they also have to have a target man centre forward every week and my question is why? Corners and free kicks tend to be aimed at central defenders who’ve come up, while apart from Perry Ng at times, they never get quality crosses to work off in open play (in fact, most times they don’t get any crosses at all from our non productive wingers). So, I’m left thinking that the likes of Etete, Meite and Diedhiou are there to receive long balls whacked up to them by goalkeepers and defenders and, as exacerbated by Bulut’s so negative decision to play Turnbull deeper on Saturday, they are usually completely isolated when that happens.
Blue Bayou, I think you are being very generous to our manager regarding Rubin Colwill, but, that apart, I agree with all that you say and I’m grateful to you for mentioning something I should have noted in my piece – Nat Phillips’ quietly impressive first start for us.
You also mention us playing towards the Canton End in the first half. My thoughts on learning this were that, maybe, Preston’s ex City player Hughes had suggested it, but, then again, it’s hardly the first time he’s played down here with Preston, so he’s had plenty of chances of doing it before and, seemingly, he didn’t bother. For myself, it’s something I’ve always favoured – if I were the captain of a Premier League team, I’d always be looking to get Liverpool to play towards the Kop, Manchester United to play towards the Stretford End etc. in the first half.
Dai, the famous own goals game I remember is the one between Villa and Leicester I think it was in the 70s when Chris Nicholl scored all of the goals in a 2-2 draw, I don’t know of anyone who’s scored three own goals, but I am reminded of that Argentinian international (Valencia?) who missed three penalties in one game.
As for our manager, as I have mentioned on social media since Saturday, I still don’t think he should be sacked, but I’m now at the stage where, if Vincent Tan felt differently, I wouldn’t be too bothered – in terms of how he sets his teams up for home games in particular, he’s as negative as any City manager I’ve seen.