I called a thread I started on a City messageboard this week “Have you ever wanted City to lose a game?” with today’s final match of the season in mind. Like all of our fixtures for the last few weeks, it was a game that meant nothing to us and yet for our opponents Rotherham, it condensed their whole season into ninety minutes- in a three way fight with dodgy Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham had to win to stand a chance of being the one out of the trio to avoid relegation, then hope that Derby didn’t.
I answered my question by saying that I’d never wanted us to lose a game, but I wouldn’t be bothered if we lost to Rotherham and, on reflection, that would have been the best way to have worded it – have you ever not been bothered about City losing a game?
My answer to that question would have “yes, a few times”, but I have to admit that as Marlon Pack’s eighty eighth minute equaliser hit the back of the Rotherham net this afternoon, the first word to leave my lips was “bugger!”.
I can’t imagine that I’ve reacted in the same manner to a City goal before, but I did so today for a couple of reasons. Firstly, out of sympathy for Rotherham, but moreso because it became clear that we were going to see what I’d call a miscarriage of justice whereby the Championship team which, in my opinion, has done most to deserve a points deduction in recent years were going to keep their place in the league because of the six points Sheffield Wednesday were deducted for the sort of financial irregularities that I could have sworn Derby were also guilty of.
Derby clung on to their Championship status thanks to a Martyn Waghorn penalty though which enabled them to scrape a 3-3 draw with a Wednesday team which would have stayed up themselves if they could have come up with a late winner.
Meanwhile, fast finishing Wycombe earned a 3-0 win at Middlesbrough to leave them ruing their narrow defeat at Cardiff City Stadium a fortnight ago as the team that had been bottom of the table for virtually all of the season found themselves ending up just a point behind Derby.
To City’s game then. Before it, Mick McCarthy had said he had to pick a strong team because there was something riding on the game, but the integrity of the league argument looked a bit hollow for most of the ninety minutes because his side hardly played like an outfit which had such noble thoughts on their minds.
In saying that, I do have quite a bit of sympathy with the players on this occasion at least, because, repeating my cricket reference from last week, I might well have spent more time watching Glamorgan’s game at Lancashire if it had not been for the rain which seems to have hit the whole country today.
So, if I could not get too enthused about our game today, why should I expect the players to? The obvious answer which springs to mind is that they’re, very highly paid, professionals doing their job, but I can remember how I used to feel on my last day before a fortnight’s summer leave and, in the case of footballers they get virtually a couple of months, not a couple of weeks, off. Add to that the fact that they barely had a break last summer before they were reporting back for pre season training and the term “demob happy” springs to mind!
Perhaps if City had two or three enthusiastic young debut makers in their ranks, that may have led to an improved display on their part, but the two youngsters named as substitutes, Kieron Evans and Sam Bowen, were never going to get on today for reasons I’ll come to shortly.
Hardly surprisingly, Mick McCarthy went with the team which had won 4-0 at Birmingham last week, but the contrast between the way we looked dangerous almost every time we attacked at St Andrew’s and our slow, weak and listless effort today was of the chalk and cheese variety.
Rotherham, who have struggled for goals and points in recent weeks as they’ve endured a brutal schedule caused by a combination of postponed games through Covid and the weather, were the sharper team from the off as they aggressively went about their business with a verve and speed that was enough to earn them dominance in a one sided first half.
The visitors had also got a goal lead to lift spirits within the first ten minutes and a fine one it was too, as Lewis Wing volleyed in from twenty yards to leave Dillon Phillips with no chance. No matter how good a strike it is when your opponents score though, there is usually something in the team conceding’s play which a manager and his coaching staff can seize on as falling into the should have been done better category – this time it may have been a clearing header which Perry Ng did not get enough distance or power on and/or half hearted efforts to block Wing’s shot which were in total contrast to what we saw at the Liberty Stadium when it seemed that today’s game could have been a preparation for a Play Off campaign.
I’d expressed sympathy for Rotherham earlier, but the truth is that they had no one but themselves to blame for their failure to be out of sight by half time. Captain Richard Wood, forwards Matt Crooks and Michael Smith and central defender Angus McDonald all squandered good chances with the last named at least having the excuse that it took a fine save from Phillips to deny him.
Apart from a free kick by a subdued Harry Wilson which flew some way over, City had little to offer in response and an angry McCarthy changed things at the interval by bringing on Mark Harris for Rubin Colwill and abandoning the Marlon Pack at the back experiment as he moved back into midfield and City switched to a back four (I thought Pack’s passing out of defence was one of the few positives of the first half mind).
The changes worked to the extent that City looked more urgent for a while and Moore fired over within minutes of the restart, while Wood did well to block the striker’s shot as City failed to capitalise on a three on two break.
It was still Rotherham who looked more dangerous though as Crooks missed another very presentable opportunity and Phillips denied Smith on his near post, but the keeper had given up on another well struck Wing effort from distance which flew about a foot wide.
Moore’s season, with City at least, was ended early in the second period as he and an anonymous Leandro Bacuna were replaced by Jonny Williams and Josh Murphy on the hour and Wilson’s City career came to an end shortly afterwards when he made way for another who was almost certainly making his final appearances for us in Sheyi Ojo.
However, besides the two youngsters I mentioned earlier, there was also no sign of Lee Tomlin who had made the first team squad for the first time in nearly nine months of his injury ruined season. It seemed odd that, having named Tomlin on the bench, our manager chose not to use him in a situation which seemed to be crying out for him, but there was only one other sub called upon and it wasn’t him.
A combination of Rotherham tiredness and City’s efforts to avoid yet another home loss meant that, for the first time, most of the action was around the visitor’s goalmouth in the last ten minutes or so, but, although Rotherham were just about out on their feet, they were able to cope quite easily with what was a largely aerial assault.
However, when a half clearance rolled into Pack’s path, his precisely placed effort from just outside the penalty area was far too good for Jamal Blackman who had only been given routine saves to make up to that point..
The goal which broke Rotherham hearts and made Pack a hero in Derby came out of the blue and represented the final piece of goalmouth action in the game, but added time brought two matters worthy of comment which showed City in a contrasting light.
Firstly, maybe it was just me, but I found it so disappointing that, in a game with nothing riding on it for them, City decided not to look for a winning goal from two free kick opportunities they had inside the Rotherham half as, instead, they appeared to be more interested in running down the clock – why? If Rotherham had caught us on the break and won the game (most unlikely considering how knackered they were) then good on them, but, no, we looked to settle for a point in a situation where, surely, we would have been looking for a winner normally – I’d like to think that City would have been left in no doubt as to the crowd’s feelings about that piece of unnecessary negativity if there had been one there.
To counter that though, it was great to see Sol Bamba come on for the last ten seconds or so (in fact it was the highlight of the afternoon for me) following the completion of his course of chemotherapy about a month ago and kudos to Rotherham manager Paul Warne for his classy gesture in congratulating Sol just as he was about to come on despite knowing his team were almost certainly going to be relegated within seconds – apparently, the whole of the Rotherham team joined in with the applause which greeted Sol’s introduction which is another reason to be disappointed by their relegation.
So, a unique season ends with a feeling of disappointment and anti climax for City. I’ve often said that I think we had a better squad than last season’s and I still believe that, so an eighth placed finish is, I would say, below realistic expectations even though it did looked like we were going to finish a lot lower than that when Mick McCarthy was appointed – McCarthy turned our season around, but he couldn’t cure the home blues which, for me, were the biggest single reason why we couldn’t repeat last season’s top six finish.
Finally, Rubin Colwill was named Academy Player of the Year despite the fact that I can’t remember him playing for the Under 18s this side of Christmas. Colwill has long since moved on from teenage football, but what I would say is very close to the strongest side the Under 18s could field now was picked for today’s season’s finale against Ipswich at Treforest and they responded with a 6-0 win despite having Ryan Kavanagh sent off in the first half – the goals came from a James Crole hat trick, a couple from Cian Ashford and Eli King.
Rotherham have a classiness sadly lacking at sleazy, slimy, slippery Derby and that’s why our equaliser disappointed me.
Good Morning Paul,
I agree wholeheartedly with your reaction to Rotherham’s performance, and given the way Cardiff played for most of the game I would not have been too upset if we lost. Which brings me to “the Cardiff way”. In short, In short I’m glad to seem glad to see this season over. I’m reminded of a song from the ‘fifties which various singers performed but because of her Cardiff links I’ll mention that Shirley Bassey was one of them — “The party’s over/It’s time to call it a day.”
So, we look forward to next season and quote Vera Lynn: “There’ll be bluebirds over/ The white cliffs of Dover/Tomorrow just you wait and see.” (It’s immaterial that the song was written in America and there are no indigenous bluebirds in Britain even though Donald Campbell used the name Bluebird in which he died on Coniston Water). Dover can easily mean the EFL everywhere, and as loyal Cardiff City fans we have to put doubts aside and, for the moment at least, look forward with optimism to the coming season. The performance of Mark Harris, I should add, augurs well for the future.
I surely represent everyone in hailing the sight of Sol Bamba coming on to the field yesterday and, although I didn’t see it, I would congratulate the entire Rotherham team, players and non-players, on their response and like you, Paul, see this as a further reason for disappointment for Rotherham’s fate.
Finally, thank you, Paul, and all the contributors for making the MAYA blog easily the best and most balanced accomplishment in football as it continues to be after several years.
Thank-you Paul for your last report of this 2020-21 Cardiff City season. Thank-you, too, for your consistently high standard of writing for the entirety of this season’s matches. The fact that there has been no opportunity to chat with fans, who over the years, have become friends as we watch our beloved Bluebirds, has given added importance to this fine blog. Thank-you for the hours of unseen work that has made this possible.
Yesterday’s match was yet another strange encounter in a strange batch of home games this strange season. Eight wins and nine defeats supports the view that we have missed our fans more than most in this Covid-19 world. That said, our awful record against the poorer sides in the division has far more to do with on-field rather than off-field issues. Conceding twelve goals in 6 games against the bottom three sides, winning only two, is nothing to do with whether fans are present or not.
After a diet of Slade, Warnock and Harris the Club went with McCarthy, a straight up and down Yorkshireman, who admittedly steadied the ship beyond our wildest imaginings but his tenure next season poses the question: ‘Is he the man to evolve a style of play at CCFC more akin to the 21st Century Premier League than the Third Division North of the 1940’s? If that seems harsh, let me temper that with these words that I give him great credit for what he has done with the fag-end of this 20-21 season. To flirt with the play-offs when we were heading for the bottom three places is worthy of great applause. And he has that from me.
City and Rotherham both utilised a 3421 formation, but so frustrated did City become at their inability to break down the visitor’s defence that we changed shape twice: on 58 mins (to 442) and on 77 mins (to 4411). It all came to nought. As you rightly note, Paul, Pack’s equaliser, a fine shot from outside the box with two minutes remaining, caused me the same conundrum. Was it a reason to celebrate or be inconsolable as Derby benefitted from Rotherham’s misfortune? I chose the latter. If ever two clubs deserved to have started this season in the Third Tier they were Derby and Sheff Wed. That they didn’t is a kick in the face of the Corinthian spirit. That they were in the Championship this season is not a reflection of viewing their indiscretions as minor offences not demanding of relegation but the total abrogation of good governance by the football authorities. There are some clubs, Huddersfield and Rotherham being two in point, that have shown great sympathy and class. Sadly others are nowhere near that company.
For most of yesterday’s game we were chasing shadows, being given a lesson by our bottom three opponents. Though we had 62% possession what we did with it was not much. Rotherham had purpose and drive, showing incisive attacking whilst City were lacklustre. With more clinical finishing the visitors could have scored many more from their 17 shots. You know we are not playing well when our long ball count creeps up. Yesterday it reached a mammoth 86, virtually one a minute, of which 60% didn’t find a blue shirt. Yes, it was one of those games we have witnessed too often this season. We were also dispossessed 12 times (Rotherham: 4 times).
Pack was removed from his centre-back role after 30 mins. In fact I was surprised it took until the hour-mark to go to four at the back. I was left wondering, not for the first time this season, why play with three centre-backs at home when the opposition play with only one striker? Again, we saw that Brown is certainly not a left wing back whilst Phillips’ handling was less than competent. Thankfully blushes were spared at the death by Pack.
But the real highlight of yesterday’s encounter must have been for the shortest substitution in British football history. The sight of seeing Sol Bamba running out on the pitch in the fifth minute of added time will be remembered long after what went on in the game fades. Our very own, ‘Mr Cardiff City,’ deserved to have heard 20,000 Bluebirds’ sing his name when he entered the CCS pitch. That, as soon as he stationed himself for a ball into the box, Graham Scott whistled for the end of the game didn’t matter one iota. Referee or not, it was a nice touch from the official with which to end the season.
For an early kick-off in May to be played in incessant rain, necessitating floodlights in the second half, the game was as gloomy as the surroundings. You know the match is not up to much when thoughts wander to Leonard Cohen songs. A verse from his song, ‘Last Year’s Man,’ [from his 1971 album, ‘Songs of Love and Hate’] came to mind:
“The rain falls down on last year’s man
That’s a Jew’s harp on the table
That’s a crayon in his hand
And the corners of the blueprint are ruined since they rolled
Far past the stems of thumbtacks
That still throw shadows on the wood
And the skylight is like skin for a drum I’ll never mend
And all the rain falls down amen
On the works of last year’s man.”
For MM this was a half season rescuing a floundering ship that had a crew not of his choosing. I just hope that his blueprint for the 2021-22 season is not of the old, dusty and ruined variety than Cohen sings about but fit for purpose. Trusting that the skylight, that is Cardiff City, is mended and our Last Year’s Man becomes Next Year’s Man, too. Any less and it will be more like many games this season where we were unable to overcome ordinary teams.
Best wishes for the summer one and all.
Thanks Paul and all.
Nothing to add to the excellent summaries above.
The game summed up our frustrations at home this season and was in complete contrast to the almost free-flowing football we saw against Birmingham last week. And therein lies the frustration of watching our team .
Just about right where we have ended up in the table and credit to MM and TC for a more interesting last few months that many of us were expecting.
Not sure what the shape of the team looks like going forward, but at least a few home grown youngsters are emerging. If only we can find an improved midfield combination and a return to greater levels of consistency.
A word of sympathy too for Rotherham who played well and deserved better. My feelings and thoughts were very similar to Paul’s.
Finally adding my thanks to Paul for another fine season of top class reporting and analysis through this site. Really don’t know how he does it so expertly, but very glad he does.
Thanks also to fellow regular contributors for maintaining the high quality of debate – all adds to the mix and especially valuable when you can’t have the usual post match analysis sloping down Sloper Road after each match.
Roll on next season?
Paul, – Thanks once again for your thoughts on our final game of the season, and the season itself. It was, and I will not mince my words, a huge disappointment. With the supposed attacking talents at our disposal, and a settled defence apart from one full back position, this was supposedly a team stronger than that which gained promotion some three terms earlier, but only on a few occasions did the assembled eleven produce the performance that so many of us expected. Our opening loss to Sheff Wednesday sadly set the scene for the next nine months.
So what went wrong. The discussions concerning a poor midfield have been well documented, and that may well be partly the cause of the problems, but I really think there are more fundamental issues than that. Ball retention, the lump upfield, wretched passing, a lack of defensive awareness, and no wing play. I, through the City’s TV service and Sky, managed to view all 46 matches of our season. And for only a few did I believe that this was a team that the pundits had suggested would put in a strong challenge for promotion. The removal of Neil Harris with Mick McCarthy coming in did for a while improve matters, but the humiliation that this team suffered again at the afore mentioned Sheff Wednesday some few weeks ago summed up the situation for this spectator – a huge disappointment.
Saturday’s last minute rescued point another indicator. Like so many, Rotherham deserved more than a single point and perhaps their own inability in front of goal cost them their position in this division. Shame that.
Our new Management duo have great experience in this division. I just hope that some of our youngsters with pace, midfield especially, are given a chance. If that means saying goodbye to one or two of the present incumbents, so be it, but change is needed. There is much talk of comings and goings, or rather the other way round as we will not be active in the transfer market until we raise some money. I understand Junior’s departure and wish him well for the future and thank him for some of the thrilling moments he gave us.
And the only way for me to wrap up this response is to join with others and thank you once again for all of the many words of sense that you have written these past months.
It is a privilege to have my views recorded, so even more thanks.
Hi! Paul and fellow commenters.
I haven’t posted for a while but I have to join in with the gratitude expressed by others for the effort you put in with this blog. I realise that over the years you have covered you have watched many barren (in terms of quality football) spells but it is a wonder to me that you keep finding interesting things to say when the football we are forced to accept is so far from interesting.
I think I mentioned in a post some time ago that I would have settled for “same old, same old”.
Don’t particularly want to pick over team selection, substitutions and game plan again. But after the Birmingham performance I felt just a little optimistic about next season then we had Saturday’s ‘effort’ ?
Pleased that McCarthy turned things around as far as league position is concerned but please God can we have a little more quality in the way we play.
Talking of ‘God’, surely the fact that Derby weren’t relegated proves that there isn’t one?
What is the feeling about season tickets for the coming season? Does everyone feel safe with the situation. With my underlying health being shite I have grave reservations.
It should be an educational close season at least, Cardiff’s transfer business will obviously be very telling. I think we might be looking at another season of mid-table mediocrity. Glass half-empty again you’ll notice but I hope sincerely that I am wrong.
Whatever lies in front of us we can be confident that it will be covered accurately, objectivel and lovingly by Paul and this excellent blog.
Thank you again, Paul.
Good morning everyone and thank you both for your replies and your, very kind, comments about the blog. I’ll start by saying that I’m in full agreement with the first, short, comment received from PontBlue, although there is hope that Derby will get their just desserts after the Football League’s appeal against the original decision not to dock Derby points was upheld yesterday – what an achievement that would be for Wycombe if they were able to stay up at Derby’s expense!
This was an odd season for so many reasons, I think not being able to attend games had an effect on me and, judging by our home record, the lack of support for the team clearly had an effect on them. Mind you, given the nature of too many of our performances at home in particular, I think the nature of the “support” coming from the stands if we had been allowed in what not have made the players feel more comfortable! BJA makes his anger clear in his post, while I believe Steve, Huw and Colin can be numbered among the malcontents and there’s, another, classy contribution from Anthony.
For myself, I found it a difficult season to cover because I was acutely aware of the fact that I was often trying to find different ways of saying the same thing – I’ve said them so many times that I’ll not repeat them again, but the nature of the replies I’ve had all season reassures me that I was not alone, or mistaken, in my comments about the lack of what I think are very basic skills among too many of our players. Although the first half of the season was a write off results wise, I still got a some satisfaction out of the way the Under 23s played and from the turn of the year, their matches kicking off at Tuesday lunchtime’s were often more pleasing to watch than the senior side. As for the Under 18s. I barely saw them play, but was quite impressed by them in their Youth Cup matches against Derby and West Brom – results were very inconsistent, but my impression was that this was a group that had more players in their first full season at this level than normal, so maybe next year will be the time to judge them best.
What is still blindingly obvious though is that we support a club which plays the game a certain way at all age group levels only for its senior team to go about their job in a completely different manner – we can but hope that Mick McCarthy begins the task of bringing a consistency of approach to the club over the summer and I don’t mean converting the way the youngsters play either!
Have a good summer everyone – as always, I’ll be writing regular updates as the close season progresses and it looks like the Euros will be going ahead next month, so there’ll be Wales’ progress in what seems to me to be a much tougher group than the one we had in France five years ago to look forward to.