As I left the ground following yesterday’s 1-0 home win for Cardiff City over Middlesbrough, I remarked on how few goalmouth incidents there had been in the game. In the past, I’ve seen City fans criticise Sky’s short highlights packages of each of the league matches we play because they do not represent a true reflection of how a match really panned out, but, for any one who wasn’t present yesterday, I’d say that Sky got it right this time – these highlights are a fair representation of the important goalmouth action in what always promised to be a tight encounter.
So, given the lack of moments of excitement to get you out off your seat, why is that I, and I reckon a great deal of those present in a crowd of 18,720, which I suppose represents a pretty good turn out by the disappointing standards of this season, feel as optimistic about our chances of securing a top six, or even top two, finish this season as we have done since before Christmas?
The answer is simple for me. Neil Etheridge does not feature at all in those highlights – in fact he is never seen in them. That is the best way of capturing what a frustrating afternoon it must have been for Middlesbrough and their supporters as they saw the attacking life being strangled out of their team – I can remember a daisycutter from Adoma Traore in the first half which Etheridge dealt with comfortably and a break out which presented Stewart Downing with an opportunity that he pulled harmlessly across the face of goal in the second and that was it.
I think Middlesbrough were many peoples choice for League Champions back in August after a summer when their then manager was allowed to spend a huge amount by Championship standards – at that time, their squad looked a formidable one on paper, but I think it’s fair to say that at no time this season have they lived up to that billing.
That is not to say that, although the top two looks beyond them now, they cannot still get into the top six come May – they are currently four points behind sixth placed Bristol City and, with forty two points still to play for, it would be foolish to write them off yet. However, the truth as I see it is that at no time so far this season have they suggested that they have the sort of run of results they need to turn their campaign around in them.
From what I’ve seen of Boro in their two matches against us and the, relatively few, televised matches they’ve had, they seem something of a paradox in that they have probably the quickest player in the Championship in Traore, yet the tempo they tend to play at always strikes me as being among the slowest in the division.
Now, with Tony Pulis having replaced Gary Monk, they are in a transition from a somewhat plodding, passing side into a more physical and direct outfit in the image of their manager.
While I think the labeling of Neil Warnock and Tony Pulis as long ball dinosaurs in a game that has moved on since the days of Wimbledon’s “crazy gang” favoured by some in the media and in the game is simplistic and, in some ways, disrespectful towards a pair of managers whose records over a long period stand comparison with most, it’s also true to say that any contest between sides managed by the two of them is unlikely to have the football purist purring.
Pulis has a tried and tested method and I’m sure Middlesbrough must have known what they were letting themselves in for when they appointed him. It would mean there would be a transition period where the way the team played would change quite markedly, but, probably rightly, they figured that the new man would get the club on an upward path again eventually.
So, in some ways. Middlesbrough came here as an outfit that was trying to make themselves into a kind of replica of a Warnock team.
A combination of pessimism and our record of almost total failure over a period of years when it comes to winning both of a pair of Tuesday/Saturday or Saturday/Tuesday home matches, had me in a frame of mind whereby I was trying to convince myself that a draw wouldn’t be a bad result (good enough to overtake Derby after all). However, that was to disregard a couple of things – first, Middlesbrough’s appalling record against Neil Warnock managed teams (apparently, no Boro team has ever won an away game against a Warnock side) and, secondly, in their current transitory period, they were, in many ways, a team absolutely made for us.
Middlesbrough were coming to Cardiff to take us on in a physical battle and thus going to play in a way which suited us down to the ground.
I think I’ve mentioned before on here that I have always found it hard to appreciate what Cardiff City sides over the past fifty years or more are good at – I think I’m not alone among football fans in being much better at working out what our opponents are good at compared to what my own team excels at.
However, we’ve had a year and more under this manager now where the team have consistently proved that we have a habit of coming out on top against sides that want to take us on in an arm wrestle. In fact, if runaway leaders Wolves want to make it a physical battle when they come here in April, then I’d say the chances of us beating them would improve considerably – we may not be, or claim to be, the Championship’s best in many facets of the game, but there is evidence around to say that when it comes to matches played in a certain way we are, or are very close to being. the best around.
So it was yesterday. If, as I’ve often seen it said, the outcome of a football match is decided by which team wins more of the individual battles which are taking place all over the pitch, then the early signs were good for City yesterday.
Although, there was little to record in terms of goal attempts apart from a few wayward shots from distance in the game’s first quarter, it was possible to detect that it was Cardiff that had what momentum there was around at that stage. It wasn’t by the sort of margins that some City players won their individual battles against Bolton on Tuesday, but it was the players in blue who were just edging their one v one tussles in many cases early on.
Whenever a match finishes with a single goal winning margin, the last few minutes are always going to be tense, but I must admit to being surprised by the use of the term “nervy win” in their match report by the BBC’s website.
Yes, the margins between the individuals involved were never that great, but City’s early very slight superiority when it came to those battles I mentioned earlier, developed to the extent that the winning margins in many cases had got that bit larger, so that a late Middlesbrough equaliser would have come as a complete shock to me.
It may have taken longer for some to edge their individual battles than it took for others, but, by the end, I think it could said that, for example, Joe Ralls and Marko Grujic had just shaded theirs, Joe Bennett and Armand Traore on our left had marginally come out ahead in theirs, Junior Hoilett had, as he usually does, got the better of his direct opponent and the rejuvenated Kenneth Zohore had given the pair of experienced and capable centrebacks he came up against a testing time of things.
However, the most marked superiority for Cardiff came where their defenders took on Boro attackers. Traore had his moments, as he occasionally burst clear of his markers and Etheridge’s most impressive piece of work came when he plucked out a testing cross from the right by the winger in the closing stages. However, the returning Rudy Gestede (kudos to him for doing the Ayatollah when requested to after he had been substituted) had a very thin time of it, as did Downing.
With Sol Bamba back and performing to a much better standard than he did at Millwall and Bruno Manga’s awkward moments tending to come in our attacking, rather than defensive, third, City generally looked solid at the back, but, once again, it was captain Sean Morrison who shone most in defence.
Morrison notched another goal with a header from very close range which owed much to the quality of Hoilett’s free kick from the edge of the box, but admitted after the match that it was a fourteenth league clean sheet of the season (two short of the pre season target which it was figured would be enough to secure a top sic finish) which meant more to him.
Morrison’s critics (who seem to be a bit thinner on the ground these days) have said that while he has always been very good in the air in attacking areas, he was less impressive with his head when defending. Well, having remarked upon how I didn’t see him lose a defensive header against Bolton until added time at the end of the game, I cannot remember him losing out once in the air in defensive situations yesterday, which is some achievement when you consider he was jumping against Gestede most of the time.
More than that though, there was a confidence and authority about his work on the ground as well and he was also good at covering for fellow defenders on the rare occasions they were beaten in one of those individual battles.
Apologies for not replying to the regular correspondents who responded to some of the stories that appeared on here last week, but I just didn’t have the time to give the replies the attention that they deserved. However, to show that I did read them all, I’m going to quote something Richard Holt said about Sean Morrison;-
“a third of all the league goals we have conceded this season were during the 5 games that Morrison missed”
Just think about that, we’ve conceded only eighteen goals in the twenty seven matches Morrison has started. That’s 0.66 goals per game, compared to the 1.8 a game we let in when he was wasn’t playing. In fact, Morrison’s figures are even better than that in truth, because one of the two goals we conceded at Reading came after he had gone off injured, so the reality is we’ve conceded 10 in something like five and two thirds game without him and seventeen in twenty six and a third matches with him. Richard concluded that figures like those make Morrison his player of the year so far, and, although, my vote would go to Hoilett currently, those stats are very hard to argue with.
So bearing all of the above about our captain and so many of his team mates in mind, I repeat that I find “nervy” to be a strange way of describing yesterday’s match from a City perspective. I’ve watched plenty of “nervy” wins in my time and they come when City somehow survive wave after wave of late pressure as you watch the game through the fingers that you are holding up to your face while enduring seconds that seem like minutes!
Yesterday was not like that at all – if Boro had scored in those final minutes, it would have come as a bolt from the blue. If any win can be described as comfortable in a match that was as close, hard fought and competitive as this one was, then this was it – Boro fans would no doubt have a completely contrasting view of proceedings this morning after their five hundred and seventy mile round trip, but I found it a gripping match which set me thinking “I still feel we’re more likely to make the top six than the top two”, but we do have something about us and we might, just might, be able to be celebrating in May without the need for a journey to Wembley for what, most definitely, would be a nervy game!
Just a quick note on what I’m pretty sure is a personal record over the past five days that I’m fairly sure I’ve not equalled or bettered in all of my years supporting City. On Tuesday, I watched our Under 18s beat Millwall 1-0 and followed that with our 2-0 win over Bolton. Two days later I saw the Under 23s triumph 2-0 against Coventry and now, best of all, a 1-0 win over, despite what I’ve written here, a good Middlesbrough team yesterday. Four games, four wins and no goals conceded in five days – I know it’s part of every supporter’s DNA to moan about their team and praising them can feel a bit unnatural, but that is an impressive record in anyone’s language and it emphasises that, despite my occasional whinging about our style of play, transfer policy, lack of opportunity for young players etc, etc. City are getting a lot of things right these days.
I’ve read in your reports before that the least effective way of including Bamba, Manga and Morrison is to go to a back 5 but that’s what happened from 70minutes and we subsequently became second to balls in the middle and asked Zohore to work his socks off almost alone. I think nervy describes allowing Boro to get more crosses in and move the ball around our area more easily than they had done up until that point, although Warnock could have pointed to the first 70 minutes as evidence of how toothless they were and suggested our back three could easily deal with anything coming into the box. While Morrison was chosen for special mention here and MotM on Walesonline, I think Zohore work was our most important contributor – we might not have won the game because of him but we would have invited even more pressure onto our defence and probably ended up conceding without him. Perhaps how this game will be remembered will be determined by results against Ipswich and then next Sunday: either a) demonstration of how Warnock knows this division and uses his squad to restrict one of the pre-season favourites to one shot while also keeping plenty saved for two big games in six games or b) a style of football that sees three center-backs and three full-backs, several players over 6 foot and very few TV highlights. I doubt many teams win pretty against a Pulis side and this sort of win is often said to be the sign of a successful season on the cards, but I can’t be as positive as the write-up I saw on walesonline this morning even if i walked away quite happy.
Spot on with Morrison. He has been rated by fans but certainly not managers. I liken him to Hudson, I saw a lot in both players immediately but they both needed quality alongside them. Not having to cover poor payers such as Gypes.
Yesterday was a professional performance with the right result.
Borough have spent a lot of money and if they had clicked that equaliser may have come . The fact it didn’t was down to a team performance.
I am also liking Grujic, I think he could have a big say in where we finish. His reading of the game is exemplary. He strolls around making the game look easy but we saw a few times how quick he is, both in defence and pushing forward.
Great to see Zahore back, he gave the borough defence a torrid time.
Can we make 2nd. Why not if we keep picking up results, get a point at villa and Derby and that hinders them then we could do it.
Keep the faith and keep calm.
The one massive dissapointment for me is our crowds.
For years we needed and wanted a Warnock, now we have him the support is not there.
Sell out for FA cup yet the bread and butter, the important games half full ground.
COME ON CARDIFF AND VALLEYS GET DOWN TO THE CITY GROUND, GET BEHIND THE TEAM AND HELP PUSH THEM OVER THE LINE.
Thanks as ever, Paul. Your insights are much appreciated…particularly your comparisons between the Warnock and Pulis approaches.
And you and Richard Holt will soon have me believing that Sean Morrison is a top class defender, and not just a superior form of a Steven Caulker*…i.e. a centre forward manqué.
Mentioning Tony Pulis: despite making all the right noises to the Teesside faithful**, he is immediately under big pressure from the fans. A significant number of boo boys are already coming out of the woodwork on the Boro fanzine. And he has put the (Teesside) Evening Gazette’s chief football writer’s nose out of joint…in the most peculiar of ways.
The chap has taken offence over Pulis’s way of conducting his press conferences: claiming that Pulis’s idiosyncratic way of always conducting them standing up throughout, is somehow “pretty poor form”.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tony-pulis-fingerprints-already-over-14285461
I kinda understand where the journo is coming from: it is as if he is saying “Mr Pulis clearly is sending out signals that he does not plan for us to overstay our welcome”…!!
I am not sure that Tony is meaning that at all, but given that he says in ten words what Gary Monk said in fifty, it all helps confirm that suspicion…if one is in a mind to think such things in the first place.
Before signing off…an apology to Royalewithcheese. It has taken me thirteen days to answer your question. I genuinely had missed it. Sincere thanks for your great words.
Please read my answer on the same post that you filed your question on.
* I watched him in action for his new team, Dundee. Just signed for them last month, on an 18 month contract. Scored a goal, but that is no surprise, for that end of the pitch was never his problem.
** Pulis had started out so well and won over Teessiders with lyrical comparisons between Newport and Middlesbrough. Something I had always believed, (in the same way that I believe that Swansea is Wales’s Lisbon). Newport and Middlesbrough have identical sized populations, and are both towns built on heavy industry, where pubs abound, sport is king, and are largely flat towns, but with hilly sections. And both contain the only working transporter bridges in the UK, and despite their many nouveau riche inhabitants , both remain triumphantly working class places.
Thanks for another enjoyable summary Paul.
I thought every team member merited at least a 7 out of 10 and we are now seeing Grujic perform to the standard you would expect from a Liverpool player, he may be very influential during the run in. Another pleasing aspect is the return to form of Zohore, could not fault his effort, just lacking that goal.
I cannot remember a City team with so many players over 6ft, must be intimidating for the opposition.
Lets hope for another successful week and a convincing derby day win.
Thanks Paul yes a bit of a milestone for you with all those sides and not conceding ,perhaps we truly are a club on the way in terms of organisation and direction.
I be we thought we would be back in second place after the Derby and Villa thrust , my head was saying we would hang in the top 6 at best as we had an ability as you say to stand toe to toe with anyone.
So I’m now official confused, the next crop of fixtures are very winnable I’m sure we will drop points ,however I do sense a bit of togetherness, more measured approach to the recent games where developing for ball to feet and that for me times in with Kent’s recent improved performance, Holiet is on fire , th e midfiled is solid , Morrison is a giant and huge influence on this team now , I’d go as far to say now its his team to now steer home on the field .
It an only get better , pinch myself again , yep where still second , well, who would have bet on that one .
Despite the praise being heaped on Zohore, I remain unconvinced. I admit that yesterday his hold-up play was much improved and that he did a lot of running. He is still easily pushed over for such a big and powerful man because he seems to have a very high centre of gravity (as I have frequently mentioned in the past) and he is still very timid in challenging for a high ball (in fact, he continues to duck rather than jump). If he does score goals, it’s almost invariably an individual “wonder goal” — it is never a goal where he goes in where angels fear to tread and — to mix the metaphor — where he puts his body on the line. He rarely exhibits a goal threat, and neither does he terrify or even upset defenders because they have worked out his style of play. Although he runs well going towards the left, he is easily shepherded by experienced defenders who know his right foot is just for standing on. He does a fair bit of running, of course, but closing men down is not another of his strengths.
It may seem that I have some kind of personal bias against him, but nothing could be further from the truth. I genuinely want to praise him, and I mention his weaknesses only in the hope that he can improve on them in the future. If he proves my assessment wrong, I should be delighted.
Excellent report Paul and the contribution from our supporters. Due to eye problems i have missed nearly 9 home games, but now back in full swing.
I can say a few things on yesterdays game that at last we are now so strong in midfield. I was watching Ralls in particular yesterday, he is a class player, he defended, he never gave up. He was strong and chased any loose balls. Grujic was also excellent. Zohore played a great game and the others were brill also. I thought and it has been sometime, we can now hang onto a one goal lead.
Good read and summing up Paul. My son & I have been remarking for a while how much better we are when Morrison is playing than not. I admit to having been a critic if his on occasions in the past, but he’s grown in stature immeasurably this season.
Similarly I thought Grujic was ineffective in his first few games, but was very influential yesterday and could well be key if he’s up for it. A shout out from me for Neil Etheridge too. He’s been key in stopping some real chances lately. Not much to do yesterday, but what he do, he do well. I hope we can keep it going.
I commented on a Sean Morrison article on the WalesOnline website a month or so ago. Like PR above I compared him to Hudson, primarily as I’ve always felt most Cardiff supporters believed we overpaid for both of them and thus – unfairly – expected more from them. They were also handed the captain’s armband despite the fans wanting someone who was more ingrained in the club. In Morrison’s case perhaps he was given it too soon – it’s easy to forget that he was just 23 when we signed him and he only turned 27 last month, and with Gunnarsson leading his national team so effectively he seemed a natural choice. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the occasional defensive mistakes and lapses in concentration, which made Morrison a constant scapegoat under Solskjaer and Slade, are progressively disappearing as he approaches his peak. Let’s not forget that the 4-game losing streak we suffered over Christmas coincided with his injury.
Speaking of Gunnarsson – and underrated Cardiff players – Ralls continues to be undroppable, going about his business without fuss and reminding me more and more of McPhail with every game; Grujic is LITERALLY undroppable (and thankfully looks like he’s finding his feet in the Championship pretty quickly); and it looks like Warnock is utilising Patterson in midfield to good effect. I’m really enjoying Patterson’s embodiment of Warnock on the pitch – a constant thorn in the oppositions’ side, getting high up the pitch to break up play, racing to the ball to prevent quick free-kicks, you name it – there was a lovely moment early in the game where a Boro player lost his boot and he punted it into the crowd as soon as the whistle blew. So my question is, how does Gunnarsson get back into the side? Is he an automatic selection considering how much football he’s missed this season and if so, who does he replace? The reason I ask is that I wonder if there’s been a relationship breakdown between player and manager, after all it does seem as though he defied Warnock on a couple of occasions this season by turning out for Iceland while he was still injured, only to end up spending a longer stretch in the treatment room. Frustrating considering his place in the Iceland team is guaranteed regardless of how much he plays between now and the World Cup. With all that in mind I’m beginning to suspect that we may have already seen his last game in a Cardiff shirt…
I hope you are wrong with that last suggestion, PJ.
He needs a last game at least.
As I mentioned in my match reaction piece, apologies for not replying to those of you who responded to posts put on here last week and the usual thanks go out for the replies to what I wrote yesterday.
David, I noticed the switch to a back three when Peltier came on, but our system was so fluid during those closing stages that I found it hard to keep track of what it was. Peltier seemed to be doing a man marking job on Traore which meant he moved into a central midfield area at times and it seemed to me Paterson was moved back to a right wing back position for a while before being pushed further forward again and then Manga moved over to play on the right again – as I say, I found it hard to keep track of it all, but if we did play a three centreback system (we also used it for the opening minutes of the Bolton match until Jamie Ward picked up his injury) for the quarter of the match, then I’d say it worked better for us than it has done at times in recent months.
Re Zohore, Morrison was my man of the match, but our centre forward was second to him as far as I was concerned – I thought he started a bit slowly and looked a little like he did through January for a while, but he got progressively better as the afternoon went on and, by the end, he had succeeded in giving both Ayala and Gibson an uncomfortable time of it.
PR, I agree about Grujic, he has been good in our last two matches and we look more organised and authoritative in central midfield as a result – I also completely agree with you about our home crowds which have been poor all season and it says it all really that my reaction to the announcement that there were just under 19,000 there on Saturday was to say I suppose that’s not bad – we should be getting something like 22,000 for such a game.
Dai, I think that journalist is full of himself when he criticises Tony Pulis for not sitting down at press conferences, there are far more important things happening as to whether he is going to be accepted at Middlesbrough than how he deals with the media – rightly or wrongly, any club which appoints someone like him or, say, Sam Allardyce are going to have a nucleus of supporters who will turn against them as soon as something is perceived as going wrong (or even before that in some cases) because of the kind of football they are associated with (did you hear all of the talk about Rochdale playing “good” football yesterday?) and I feel supporter opinion as a whole is always more likely to turn against managers associated with advocating a brand of football which isn’t “good” quicker than it would against someone who talks about playing football the “right” way.
Jeff, I got into trouble on a messageboard for saying I wouldn’t have given Etheridge more than six out of ten because he had so little to do – I agree though that all of the outfield players were worthy of at least a seven.
Russell, I thought we’d said goodbye to an automatic promotion for good (as far as this season goes anyway) and it is to all associated with the playing side of things credit that we have been able to put right the damage done by those four successive defeats within just six matches with four wins and two draws – we may yet fade away like I saw a Villa predicting we would on Channel Five on Saturday, but the predictions of early January about a gradual slide down the table were proved wrong and it feels as if there’s a belief within the squad that the Villa supporter will be shown to be wrong as well.
Anthony, I suppose the acid test with Zohore and going where “angels fear to tread” will be when he gets a chance like the one Morrison had on Tuesday where he flung himself head first into an area where there was a boot flying to score our second goal. I agree his heading is poor for someone of his size, but I’m not sure we’ll ever see that situation changing. What I think has changed in the last two games is that, reservations about his heading aside, he is playing the traditional target man role probably as well as I’ve seen him at the moment. Last season it was his ability to burst clear of his marker and his finishing which really impressed me, but, to a large extent, we’re not seeing that in his game this time around – if he can get himself a goal sometime soon and rediscover those missing elements to his game, while retaining the qualities he has shown in our last two matches, I’d start thinking that automatic promotion was a realistic target.
Glad to hear you are over your health issue Geoff, I’ve always liked Ralls since the time I watched him in our Academy team as a sixteen year old, but he’s definitely moved up a level this season and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see interest in him from Premier League clubs this summer if we don’t go up.
Simon, I think some thought I was being critical of Etheridge yesterday when I wrote about the mark out of ten I’d give him, but that’s not what I meant at all – I think he has shown his best form with us over the last month or so and has been instrumental in getting us draws at Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall, he’s also kicking the ball better than he was.
I’ll end by saying that it’s good to see some new names on here today (please keep on posting!) and I’m going to include an e-mail message I got from another new poster in Glen Williams a member of the subscriber list – Glenn is right about Vincent Tan being something of a Jonah for us as we lost both of the games he saw over Christmas (Fulham and Preston), but, to be fair to him, he was also there for the Villa and Leeds wins – I think I’m right in saying that he has seen us play more this season than he has done in the previous three seasons put together.
“Thanks Bob, interesting perspectives as usual and thoroughly readable.
It does pain me to have to sit here watching Ifollow especially without any commentary to bounce my thoughts off or disagree with.
That apart, yesterday’s game was very comfortable for Cardiff and left me having to convince myself that Boro are a good side albeit, as you say, in transition to Pulis’ vision of how they will make their Prem return.
Most pleasing, there was an air of confidence throughout the whole Cardiff side with everyone, it seemed to me, comfortable in the role they had to play – something not always possible to say.
I was most impressed also with Morrison’s post-match interview which confirmed for me that he’s as comfortable in his own thoughts about City’s ’14 Cup Finals’ as the team seemed to be on the pitch yesterday.
Final thought – no-one seems to have mentioned that Vincent Tan must be kept away from CCS until our fate is confirmed. His appearance around Christmas coincided with the disastrous four defeats and to my knowledge he was present for at least two of them!
Seriously, though, I can’t help but be extremely buoyant about chances of a top two finish – just hope that’s not my own kiss-of-death to the campaign!
Regards
Glen”