Memo to Cardiff City, we really do need to have a serious chat about the “R” word.

5 Responses to Memo to Cardiff City, we really do need to have a serious chat about the “R” word.

1. GRAHAM says:

   December 12, 2024 at 10:06 am

   Thank you, Paul, for stressing that after last night’s disastrous performance we really are already in a relegation struggle … although struggle is a positive way of performing and there was little or nothing at all about last night’s effort that could be seen as positive. And at half-time did Riza tell the players to stop passing again and again across and back and to start looking always for attacking play going forward? If he did they paid no attention, apart from O’Dowda who alone seemed to know where the Preston goal was. Well done and thank you to the supporters who stayed to the end but there will be fewer and fewer bothering to turn up from now on.
2. Roger Blandford says:

   December 12, 2024 at 11:27 am

   Absolutely spot on. Relegation looms even larger with a group of players that have a very limited profile in terms of skill aptitude and attitude.The problem now is that even the good players will start to be affected by the ‘virus’ of ineptitude that exists in the majority. If the lack of a finishing forward of any quality is not addressed soon then Cardiff will definitely become a League 1 outfit next year. Relegation may in the end become a salvation allowing a new broom a clean sweep. Let’s face it we were very lucky by default to escape relegation last year. I feel sorry for Omer and any future manager inheriting this situation …….poisoned chalice?
3. Dai Woosnam says:

   December 12, 2024 at 11:42 am

   Thanks Paul, for a fine detailed report of last night’s farce. It was men against boys was it not? In some ways literally… because they looked such a bigger team than us.

   Reading the player ratings in WOL, whilst in favour of freedom of expression, I am now reluctantly of the opinion that Glen Williams should be sacked: there is a limit to his repeated bizarre ratings. Last night’s were his craziest… and his choice for ‘City man of the match award’ can only be seen as some sort of ‘black comedy’ joke. A player whose political stance on Gaza greatly impressed me… but nothing he has done for us with his feet has. I recall him when he was a decent player at Villa, but now alas he has lost all motivation.

   No player was worthy of a 6… and only O’Dowda and possibly Alnwick and Bagan worthy of a 5. There were several only just scraping a 3… the (as usual) too easily brushed aside and surprisingly slow Robinson, Rubin (stop playing backwards) Colwill, Goutas (no surprise he cannot make the Greece national team) and Robertson… (alas Alex for all his work rate is not even a Tommy Doyle, let alone a driving force in midfield à la a Bryan Robson wannabe, as some suggested he was at Pompey last season).

   And it does not bear thinking about that we lost our one jewel in Mark McGuinness (and potential captain for years to come?) to replace him with Calum Chambers… a player who I genuinely think to be our weakest first choice centre back for over 20 years. I’d give him a 2. He was so desperately poor.

   But there was one man poorer: Omer Riza. He truly morphed into Erol Bulut last night. His team played backwards and square, and unlike the energetic Preston management couple, he stood slumped with hands in pockets, totally undemonstrative. Someone said to me last night, ‘if only Vincent had kept him without a short term contract, he would have been passionately urging his team on from the sidelines’. An interesting point of view, that I cannot easily refute.

   Look… the plain fact is that our recent transfers-in have all been duds, and we now have the worst squad of players since we came up following the 1-0 extra time play-off win over QPR, two decades or so back. Alas, we are doomed to go down.

   A final point on throw-ins. If there were statistics to show which team of the 24 Championship clubs most often lost possession of the ball within 10 seconds of them taking a throw-in, then I guarantee it will be us. Indeed strike ‘24’, and insert ‘all 92’ in the four tiers. We are hopeless.

   No movement from teammates to help the thrower… and the number of throw-ins that go backwards are shocking. It made me hanker for the days of Neil Warnock when he had long three long distance throwers on his books… and if there was no obvious recipient for a throw-in when in our own half, he would always get his team to throw ‘up the touchline’ and gain yardage… usually with another throw-in going to us.

   Exciting? Of course not. But at least we did not surrender possession so pitifully as we have been all this season from our throw-ins.

   Oh and before closing… I am a Jak Alnwick fan, but I realise managerial pressure is on him to play out from the back. So I cut him some slack there, as he inevitably passes the ball to his ponderous back four to add to our possession stats with their negative square passing to one another, as we all fall asleep. But one thing for sure, Jak is no captain.

   Is Ramsey finished? Or is he coming back? One thing for sure, he is the only man with the character and gravitas to be in the middle of the park leading by example, urging on his teammates, and scolding them for an occasional lack of effort.

   TTFN,
   Dai.
4. Dai Woosnam says:

   December 13, 2024 at 9:34 am

   Apols for my slipshod submission yesterday. A supernumerary ‘long’ and ‘one thing for sure’ being TWO things for sure. Pitiful from me.
   You deserve better. Sorry.
   DW
5. The other Bob Wilson says:

   December 14, 2024 at 7:21 am

   Thanks for the replies after what has to be a serious candidate for worst performance of the season. I can only agree with you Dai about the markings on the Wales Online site. I thought no one in the team played well at Sheffield Wednesday and it was much the same against QPR – if anything, Wednesday was even worse. As I mentioned in my piece, I thought Bagan and Rinomhota were among those having reasonable games and couldn’t understand why they were among the ones substituted with the second half barely under way and I went into some detail about how little Meite has done for us over the elngth of his contract, but he seemed more likely to cause Preston a problem than Robinson who has often looked less than fully fit to me in recent games.
   We passed the ball too slowly, but I thought the almost complete of pace in the team was more of one because I don’t see that situation improving until certain players are fit again and that seems some way off yet. In that respect, Riza has been unlucky, but he’s looked powerless to alter things when they were going badly wrong in our last three home games – with Sheffield United coming to Cardiff City Stadium next, Riza could really do with at least a point today.
   Roger, I’m convinced that, whether it be this season.or not, we’re heading for relegation in the not too distant future unless the club owner has a serious change of mind or sells the club on to someone else – I say little chance of the second option happening until the Emiliano Sala situation is resolved and, on all of evidence we have at the moment says that the first one is even less likely. So, to some extent, I agree that we may as well go down this season and I’d be looking to see if the good youngsters we have sink or swim in League One – the number of players in a failing squad who are out of contract next summer means that yet another rebuild is likely and bringing in fifteen or so cheap newcomers like we did two years was, at best, only a very limited success, so why not show a bit more faith in youth?
   Graham, I’ve been surprised how much home crowds have been maintained at a decent level despite the fact that in recent years, they’ve seen so few wins and even less good quality performances. However, it’s beginning to look now as if the dominoes are starting to fall and there are also signs that a bunch of players who have got off lightly up to now because people have tended to blame Tan, Dalman and Choo or whoever was manager more are now looking more critically at their performance and attitude – in the majority of cases, both of those were just not good enough on Wednesday.

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