One step forward, two steps back Cardiff finish their home season with another defeat.

5 Responses to One step forward, two steps back Cardiff finish their home season with another defeat.

1. ANTHONY MOR O'BrRIEN says:

   April 28, 2024 at 10:37 am

   I am to the financial logistics of managing a football team as Joe Biden is to honesty. Even so, I have a thought concerning Aaron Ramsey. I believe he is still under contract as a player for Cardiff City. So, he receives his salary whether or not he plays next season. However, if he is immediately given the title player-manager he could be in charge of the team (or at least, second in command) and continue to keep his wage. Presumably, this would be enough to be manager at guaranteed money without anything extra involved. I honestly believe he has the football intelligence, history, and links with Cardiff that would allow him to be an outstanding manager capable of experienced man-management and successful results. Or is this just pie in the sky?

   As respect our current manager, I don’t believe he has the flexibility and footballing know-how to change his response to the game. I feel that on the rare occasions our team have shown initiative and effective forward play, it has been from the players, not from the manager.

   Yesterday’s performance, sad to say, is like the first four words of a famous song , ” I go to pieces”. A lady on Call Bob yesterday claimed the players not the manager are responsible for our performance. Even so, there is a hardcore of very good players already in the team, and given the return next season of the likes of O’Dowda and McGuiness (who, incidentally, would be my choice as captain) there is every possibility of a team playing with successful and attacking football, given the right manager.
2. Dai Woosnam says:

   April 28, 2024 at 4:10 pm

   Thanks as ever, Paul.
   I pray for miracles, but have really resigned myself to him avoiding the axe.
   DW
3. Dai Woosnam says:

   April 30, 2024 at 9:40 am

   AMO is right.
   I don’t think Bulut really values the two players I rank as my favourites: McGuinness and Jak.
   They would love to have Mark at Hillsborough, and if the current owner sells, then expect a big bid with American money. And that money Vincent will hand to Bulut to buy a striker and presumably Phillips… a decent player but not an EPL player in a 100 years.
   Mark McGuinness, as Anthony says, has class written all over him.
   DW
4. Blue Bayou says:

   April 30, 2024 at 10:49 am

   Reading your report of the Boro game Paul, I was reminded of Eric Morecambe’s reply to conductor Andre Previn, about his piano playing ability.
   In your case, I’d say your report used a lot of the right words, just not necessarily in the right order.
   For me, an end of season game with nothing riding on it for either team is one where performance matters far more than the result, and so the result of the game was far less important to me than the performance.
   Although the match had something of an end of season feel to it (neither team was in a hurry to take throw-ins and no cards issued to either side), I thought it was largely an entertaining game played in the right spirit.
   We had more shots than Boro although fewer on target. That was the main difference for me.
   After Boro’s fortunate first goal at the end of the first half (defender Matt Clarke looked as surprised as anyone when the leg he stuck out to stop the ball going behind for a goal-kick, resulted in it bouncing off the underside of the bar into the net), Boro showed clinical finishing for their remaining goals. It was indicative to me that just after a Goutas header hit the post and Ashford failed to convert the rebound, that Boro demonstrated how to finish at the other end.
   I think it’s significant that the Boro squad cost much more than ours (their squad value was @ £63M when I last checked, whereas ours is £20M less).
   We started the match with Diedhou upfront (rated £420k) whereas Latte Lath (who scored an excellent third goal) is rated just over £3.5M and surely rising!
   One other thing I appreciated was our teams character. Despite being 4-0 down, we didn’t give up and kept competing, and we deservedly got a consolation goal.
   Once again Raheem Conte and Luey Giles played really well as full-backs and must be considered as first team candidates for next season. Although Ashford didn’t quite have the impact as against Southampton (he seemed to have Boro defenders quickly on him, as if they’d seen his Southampton performance), I thought Joel Colwill was excellent in midfield when he came on.
   I think all this indicates that the players are very much playing for Erol Bulut, and as such I think it would be madness if our board didn’t extend his contract (although judging by recent Board decisions, it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t). And hopefully, if he stays, Erol will be backed to a greater degree than so far, in the transfer market.
   I’ve just seen a report that Vincent Tan has authorised contract discussions with Erol to take place. The slightly mischievous side of me wonders if the contract will include a clause that requires Erol to take Vincent’s half-time phone calls?
5. The other Bob Wilson says:

   May 1, 2024 at 8:24 am

   Thanks for the replies and apologies for my belated reply. I’m with you Dai, I don’t want Erol Bulut to be our manager next season and, given that Lamouchi reached a similar stage where he was talking to the club (Tan) before he left, I wouldn’t quite say that it’s inevitable that our manager is staying, although I’d accept that it’s more likely that he is than it appeared a week ago.
   AMO, I think Nat Phillips has been the best of our January signings, but I confirmed a suspicion I had this morning when I checked our goals against record – we let in thirty eight in twenty eight matches before he made his debut for us (i.e. when Mark McGuinness was starting) and twenty seven in seventeen games since Phillips broke into the team – there’s not a great deal in it, but our defensive record was better without Phillips.
   I’d like to see Aaron Ramsey given a chance to manage the team if it was what he wanted to do, but, and I know Dai won’t like this, you have to factor in when asking anyone to take over at Cardiff what their response will be regarding working with our owner – I definitely believe the list of candidates is restricted somewhat when we’re looking for a new manager because of the Vincent tan factor.
   Blue Bayou, I decided not to write too much about Saturday’s game because the conversation seemed to be more about the managerial situation. I tried to say that the situation was not quite as straightforward as some would have it. I’ll probably develop things a bit more in my piece on the Rotherham match because, barring something sensational happening, we’re probably going to get a game which will not offer much insight into what we can expect in 24/25.
   What I will say about the match now though is that, despite it representing out joint heaviest home defeat of the season, we were nowhere as pathetic as we were in the Leeds game which was also lost by three goals. 4-1 greatly flattered Middlesbrough I thought, but I also thought they coasted through the last half an hour or so once they went 4-0 up.
   As for the players being behind Erol Bulut, I think you’re always going to get the required effort from youngsters eager to impress at the start of their career in senior football and, for that last half an hour, more than a third of our team fell into that category. The more senior version that played for the first hour were less impressive in terms of giving everything for the manager – the words “go to pieces” were well chosen by Anthony.
   I must admit that I change my mind a lot as to whether Bulut has the backing of the players – our wins tend to come in tight games that are quite often won by late goals. This is suggestive of a strong team spirit and a squad that is playing for “the gaffer”, but, on the other hand, the last game we lost by a one goal margin was way back on December 13 when Birmingham won at Cardiff City Stadium – that says to me that heads can go down too quickly in the team and that is quite often a sign of an unhappy dressing room.