Did that Huddersfield game happen or what is a dream? I ask because it just seems so out of sync with what a 21/22 Cardiff home game should be like. Yes, there was the usual absolutely dreadful goal conceded in the first half, but rather than settling the game like it usually does, we came up with two of our own from somewhere – after watching the truly miserable 1-0 defeat by Hull tonight, you even start wondering if we used up our allocation of home goals this season once Keiffer Moore’s late winner hit the back of the net in our previous home game.
Tonight was back to the truly awful stuff we had to endure during the agonising final stages of Mick McCarthy’s stint here right down to the over cautious and baffling team selection.
As soon as I saw the names Vaulks, Bacuna and Pack in the starting eleven with no Colwill, I groaned and started expecting the worst. There must be games at some time in the past two and a half seasons it almost is now when those three have been our midfield and we’ve played well, but none spring to mind for me at the moment.
This was a selection which ignored the positivity which should have been provided by consecutive wins as Isaak Davies and Keiffer Moore (back after missing the Preston match, but some way short of full fitness on this evidence) were left to fend for themselves up front and the reward for James Collins and Rubin Colwill for match turning second half contributions on Saturday was a place on the bench – a truly baffling decision in the case of the latter in particular.
Although there was little to show for it in terms of a final product, Davies showed as much urgency and desire as the rest of his team mates put together in yet another woeful first half showing.
City sauntered through the opening forty five minutes slowly passing the ball sideways and backwards to no effect whatsoever until someone lost patience and whacked it forward to invariably lose possession – Steve Morison has got a lot of praise for what he’s done since he took charge and much of it has been deserved, but this was a night where questions can legitimately be asked about aspects of his approach.
The praise he’s been getting stretched to his handling of the media in his pre match briefing on one the messageboard’s I use, but I thought it was a tetchy and unnecessarily aggressive showing by the manager in which he said he wasn’t bothered by the ridiculous lack of goals from the side in the first half of matches as long as we keep on scoring in the second half, but, surely, it’s clear that we’re not scoring enough second half goals to make up for the total lack of first half ones – it was unconvincing stuff and I’d be surprised if it fooled anyone.
Steve Morison has shown he can use the half time interval to get better performance levels from his team (he did tonight, but to no avail), but, apart from QPR where we started fairly well, we’ve been slow out of the blocks from the start of the game in every one of his five matches in charge and tonight Hull we’re given a gentle settling in period as they enjoyed plenty of possession and forced a few corners while never looking too dangerous until they got a so simple match winning goal from one of them after fifteen minutes.
Strangely, I found myself thinking of a game I played as a kid as I watched the goal – if I remember rightly, you could only move while the person who was “on it” spelt out the word London, once they finished shouting “L O N D O N, London” you had to stop moving. Well, the BBC website describes Hull’s goal as “well worked”, but it must have helped them greatly that the City team were playing “LONDON, London” as Honeyman took the corner and, presumably captain Pack must have just finished his oration as boot made contact with ball because everyone in blue stood like a statue as Longman ran unhindered to the near post to glance on a header which was turned in from six yards by an unmarked Lewis- Potter.
Seriously, this was the latest in a long list of absolutely shocking goals we’ve given away this season – clearly, whoever was supposed to be marking Longman and the scorer have to take a share of the responsibility for it, but no one seemed alive to what was going on.
I’m not going to waste my time going into a great deal of detail on the rest of the game – Bacuna, in his only match affecting contribution carelessly lost possession which led to the corner from which Hull scored and Vaulks threw the ball into the net for his only contribution that I remember and that was as close as we came to scoring in a woeful first forty five minutes.
It was better in the second half and, by the end, I think we’d done enough to deserve a draw. Much of the improvement came from the introduction of Joe Ralls for Vaulks at the break and, surely, one of the messages from tonight has to be that if Ralls is fit enough to make the eighteen, he has to start (the same applies for Sam Bowen as far as I’m concerned) – while Ralls is one of a midfield four which I believe is at the root of our problems, he made more passes which caused Hull a problem than the three that started did put together – the movement in front of the starting three wasn’t great in the first half, but it cannot solely be down to the players in front of them making runs for Ralls and not for the other three, it was more to do with only one of the four I referred to earlier playing any successful, penetrating passes.
Ralls forced a save out of the under employed Hull keeper Nathan Baxter and there were headed chances for Mark McGuinness and Bacuna from which they should have done better, while this definitely applied as well to sub Collins who headed against the post in stoppage time after a Pack long throw had been deflected to him. Moore was inches away from connecting with a Ryan Giles (I thought he had a very good second half) cross and there were plenty of scrambles and shouts for penalties from the frustrated crowd as the ball bounced around in the Hull box late on. City were unable to come up with an equaliser though and I’m afraid Steve Morison is probably the latest of a long line of City managers who’ve talked about making our home ground a “fortress” who’ll not get to see his wish come true – certainly, we’re as bad at home this season as we have been in decades.
On a more positive note, the under 23s stretched their lead at the top of the table to six points while recording their ninth win in nine matches at QPR on Tuesday, James Crole opened the scoring from the penalty spot and captain James Connolly came up with a couple of second half goals after the home team had equalised to further emphasise the huge difference in fortunes there is at City between the age group sides and the first team.
Quite what Frank Burrows would have made of City’s home performances this season, I dread to think. It’s a close thing between him, Jimmy Scoular and Eddie May out of the managers I’ve seen as to which one I’d least want to get on the wrong side of. Burrows, whose death at the age of seventy seven was announced today was, like May, a no prisoners taken type centreback who was in the Swindon side which stunned Arsenal in the 1969 League Cup Final and his management style was an extension of his approach when playing .
Burrows, who had spells as City manager in the eighties and nineties (the second one just about made it into the new Millennium) won a promotion in both of them and the 87/88 and 98/99 sides that went up to the third tier did so while playing some entertaining football. By and large, Frank Burrows was a good wheeler/dealer in the transfer market as well – Jimmy Gilligan was sold at a very large profit, as was Kevin Bartlett and perhaps his most impressive achievement was to sign Mark Delaney (who would have upped City’s dynamism ten fold tonight if he had been playing!) from Carmarthen.
RIP to Frank Burrows who I rated in the top ten managers I’ve seen at the club and possibly in the top five.
It’s the time of year again when I ask readers of Mauve and Yellow Army to make a contribution towards its running costs. Before I go into detail about this, I should, once again, offer my sincere thanks to all of you who have helped ensure the future of the blog over the past three years through a mixture of monthly payments via Patreon, monthly Standing Orders into my bank account and once a year payments via bank transfer, PayPal, cheque and cash.
The first time I made this request for assistance, it was prompted by a need for funds to pay for three yearly web hosting costs which, frankly, I was in no position to meet following my move of house a few months earlier. However, I’m pleased to say that, this time around, the web hosting bill was settled back in June with none of the problems there were back in 2018.
Therefore, any monies received this year will go towards other running costs and, although it’s too early yet to make any formal commitments despite so many of the pandemic restrictions in Wales being lifted recently, I am minded to do another review of a season from the past book to follow on from “Real Madrid and all that” (copies now also available om match days at the reduced price of £8.99 from the Trust Office, near gate five) which looked back on the 1970/71 campaign. At the moment 1975/76, the first promotion season I experienced, looks to be favourite for the book treatment, which would mean a lot more trips back and forth to Cardiff than my finances have become used to over the past year and a half – hopefully, the majority of them will not have to be made via Radyr Cheyne!
As always, the blog will still be free to read for anyone who chooses not to make a donation towards its running costs and, apart from the one in the top right hand corner which is to do with Google Ads, you will never have to bother about installing an ad blocker to read this site because there will never be any.
Finally, as mentioned earlier, donations can be made through Patreon, PayPal, by bank transfer, cheque, Standing Order/Direct Debit and cash, e-mail me at paul.evans8153@hotmail.com for further payment details.
The performance? It would be flattered to be called abysmal.
In the Huddersfield comments section I concluded with the following:
“Lots of ups and downs to come… but feels like fans are enjoying the process again and willing to have a longer view on things whatever the result.”
Well after a nearly silent crowd for first 35 minutes maybe I got it wrong? It was a 6 pointer that we struggled to make an impression in so can understand boos at the end but think we need to be more than that for the team this year.
Regarding the game, I don’t think Moore was match-fit but Collins disappointed again when coming off the bench – that combination hasn’t worked yet; Isaak Davies played well for 45 minutes but was struggling second half – along with NG and Giles probably out stars of the game; Colwill tried to create magic by doing things he was comfortable with but not what the game needed; and Hull were clever in fouling Flint on wrong side for linesman and with bodies between him and ref but we definitely should have had a penalty.
Players not in top form, young players learning their game, bit of bad luck in one box and poor defending at crticial time in our own (Smithies wonder save aside, we should have conceded from set-pieces in three straight games) made it an extremely frustrating watch and an accurate representation of our season so far. Anyone else wishing we were about to go into another international break?
It’s disappointing to read that morrison doesn’t understand the booing and negativity.
Come on wake up, after what we have endured what does he expect when he picks players who are out of their depth in this league. Vaulks. A player out of position. Bacuna and frankly I believe is also out of his depth due to being error prone, has lapses of concentration and on time ambles around the pitch.
Then pack who is passed his best in Central midfield.
Then he tries to play the passing game when you have Nelson who’s passing is as erratic as the weapons used during his namesake era. 1 out of 10 will find the target.
Sorry to say this but Collins is a third division striker. Another costly miss from him
MM has destroyed cardiff city. I and many of us were critical of warlock but he galvanised the club. Mm destroyed all of that good work.
My season ticket has been used once this season and I cannot see me ever going again.
Welsh youngsters is a dream and can work with a nucleus of good experienced players. Something we are in short supply of.
Ralls I have always felt has been unfairly criticised, let’s be honest who has he had around him for the last few years.
He has to do it all and add the drive and energy to our static midfield. As he did last night. A few weeks ago Vaulks said they can pass. Prove it to us Will because I don’t see it. Especially from you.
For all of the good morrison has done he undone it all last night with firstly his team selection and then criticising the fans.
If he doesn’t like it . Move to onside and get Bellamy in.
“It’s disappointing to read that morrison doesn’t understand the booing and negativity.”
I’m fully on board with Morison’s viewpoint. Don’t forget that Klopp criticised Anfield crowd for not staying til the end early on his reign and since that point fans have stayed and so many late goals have been scored by Liverpool – the new manager calling out awful home support (and crowd was pathetic last night) can be the right thing to do so long as crowd reacts in the right way to it.
I agree with a lot of above you can’t play those three donkeys together and hope to be creative. Ralls made a difference when coming on and must play every game. I suspect he didn’t play collwil because being a youngster thought he should rest him, all well and good but rest him in second half he is another one who must start every game. I thought Moore drifted to much and should stay more central and always be in the box when we are attacking other players need to collect the ball in the these areas, but the problem we have as I have said before we have to many players other teams only have one of in their starting lineups. We need to get some of our loaners back ie. waters and winter whi are regular in their sides and Blackpool are above us.
I don’t think comparing city with Liverpool is a fair comparison. Liverpool suffering was not winning a title whilst still winning European cups.
Their fans leaving early wasn’t out of suffering years of garbage like we have. Years of 2nd rate managers
I agree with the fans , needing to get bind the team but that team needs to provide drive and energy from the 1st minute not the 45th.
Sitting there watching the away side take control of the game from the start is hardly inspiring.
That was also from a team below us
As usual you’ve covered the night and performance really well so there’s nothing I can add to what has already been said.
So, I’ll just comment on the ‘experience’ of going down there last night and sitting through another dire exhibition of the game I love.
I turned to my wife at half time and said I”m really not sure I can take anymore of this. I never leave a match but I was about to until a friend of mine came and sat with me and kept me going through the second half. I felt like I was on some show called ‘I’m a Cardiff City Fan, Get Me Out Of Here!’
I completely understanding the booing. There were a lot of comments around me along the lines of ‘these players don’t realise how much we pay to come down here’. And that’s my biggest dilemma. It’s all well and good us being Cardiff City supporters, but take that away and the football side is as bad a product as you could ever imagine. We’re paying to watch this. I know there’s lots of debate about how things will take time, but in all honesty, time is way too precious to waste. Right now, I’m desperate to go to a match and see some football being played, as it should be, by professionals.
Thanks for the write-up Paul. I was busy last night so didn’t see the game. All I can say is that the result and match reports were pretty much what I expected once I saw our starting line-up about 20 minutes before kick off. I’ve always been a bit sceptical of that old much-vaunted notion of Tan being involved in team selection but I must admit to that idea gaining a bit more credence when I saw that line-up. Tan’s football expertise surely wouldn’t stretch to imagining that putting your highest paid midfield players together in the side would be bound to produce the best results………. or would it ?
Hello Paul and everyone – So that is now 14 and a quarter hours of first half league football in which we have still not scored a goal. I am not a betting man, but if I were, I would have had a modest flutter that we would have removed that monkey off our back last night, but no, another blank. Just what is going wrong?
It was better last night after half time, but it could hardly have been worse. And when I state better, it was still so poor. We have no mid-field, and haven’t had for some time, and those that started the game produced once again wretched performances.
I gather we had over 60% possession over the whole match. I just wonder, what percentage of that possession was as a result of passing sideways and backwards. Oh so sad.
Am not sure, like others, if I will bother to attend on the 4th December. I have much more enjoyment these days taking the dog for a walk.
Thanks all for your replies, must say that I found Wednesday’s loss a hard one to take because we were up against a poor side who I don’t think we could say any more than we were equal to and I’m being a bit generous there – I’d add as well that I found our manager’s post match comments about the small amount of booing to be as disappointing as his pre match ones. Seems to me he was trying to deflect attention away from his team’s inadequacies, some of which he seems no closer to solving than Mick McCarthy was.
Anthony, your short message captures the additional disappointment I believe many fans would have felt about the game given that they had a right to expect more against fellow strugglers and that we were coming off the back of successive victories. This is why I can understand the booing at half time (I thought it was harsh to boo at full time after an improved, but still not very good second half performance). Isaak Davies apart, the team showed no urgency in the first half and what makes that worse is that we see the same in most matches we play these days. Managers and coaches have to take their share of responsibility for the fact we always seem to need forty five minutes or so to cope with what our opponents are doing, but players have to take responsibility as well and too many of them are letting supporters down this season – put that with the fact that we’ve lost eight of our last nine home games in all competitions, seven of them without scoring and we only managed a fluky own goal in another one, and if I was surprised by the booing at half time, it was only because there wasn’t more of it!
Just a few short comments on some your responses. DJ, I agree with your point about the team needing mote than boos this year, but it’s a two way thing, that first half performance was shocking in both means of the word, fans are entitled to expect a lot better than that. Pr, concerning Will Vaulks, I thought he was very good in the second half at Preston, but that was the filling in a sandwich where the bread was two utterly ineffective first half performances at Deepdale and then on Wednesday and that shows an inconsistency which cannot be carried in a side that is struggling like we are.
Good to hear from you Darryl, I agree with you completely about Colwill, he doesn’t do it as often as I would like him to, but he more than anyone else in the team is the one who makes things happen from the middle of the pitch and it’s so telling that we’re so reliant on a teenager and someone only just out of his teens in Giles for so much of the creativity we show, therefore he has to be playing every game, particularly opponents that are below us in the table.
Simon, you’ve stripped away the crap and got to the basics there – I believe that my season ticket is very reasonably priced for a more normal season, but, so far, 21/22 is anything but that and, for something that you go to hoping to enjoy and be entertained, it’s appalling value for money and I really dread to think what season tickets sales will be like for 22/23 if things continue as they are.
Richard, I don’t know if you’ve seen the thread about Ben Turner’s appearance on the Under the cosh podcast this week? In it, he says Vincent Tan used to pick the team when Ole was in charge – it’s a long podcast, but it’s a good watch of you have the time, here’s a link;-
https://youtu.be/NMCbopg3Du4
BJA, I make it that it’s 855 minutes without a first half goal then and, based on our typical performance and urgency levels in first halves, it’s hard to see the run ending any time soon. Regarding our possession figure against Hull, I think they were perfectly happy to let us have the ball once they went ahead, safe in the knowledge that the midfield three that started the match would not be able to create anything given how poor they were while it was 0-0 and, until Ralls came on to improve things, they were right. It’s not just that though, the three centrebacks are so poor at playing out from the back as well – everyone said McCGuinness would be able to do this, but I’ve seen little evidence of it so far – he’s the best out of the four centrebacks we’ve been choosing from at it, but that’s a bad bunch and short of something radical like putting a Pack, Bagan or Ng in there, I don’t really see how it can be improved without new signings.
Hi! All.
Bit late to the feast and not a great deal to add to the above.
As Paul suggests seeing the line-up I thought Mick had been re-instated.
Totally depressing team selection, performance and result.
I had visions for a while of a football team emerging from the mess that has been created.
It seems that someone in the ‘management team’ doesn’t want progress or success.