Feeble Forest flattened as City continue their fine start to 2005.

Posted on April 5, 2010 by The other Bob Wilson

The closing months of 2004 had seen City dropping down the table after the boost they had received from the arrival of Gary O’Neil from Portsmouth on loan. O’Neil’s last match was a 2-2 draw at Rotherham on 6 November and it left them in eighteenth position some four points clear of the bottom three – while we were still too near the bottom for comfort, we did have some momentum behind us and we were heading in the right direction. However, five defeats in City’s next six matches meant all of the good work had been undone and, whereas Christmas 2003 had seen City in poor form, but still entertaining thoughts of a top six finish and a place in the Championship Play Offs, the festive season a year later had us one point off the bottom three in real danger of heading back to the lower divisions that had been our home for much of the previous two decades.

If one player encapsulated the decline in our fortunes from the previous season, it was captain Graham Kavanagh – whereas Kav had perhaps been playing the best football of his life in 03/04 as he regained his place in the Republic of Ireland squad with a series of fine displays which saw him finding the net regularly, the 04/05 version had been uninspired, off the pace and had found the net just the once. Kav had looked a little like his old self when he had O’Neil alongside him, but it was back to normal after that with his poor displays mirroring those of the team.

In saying that mind, Kav couldn’t be criticised too much for what went wrong on the pitch during the poor run following O’Neil’s departure because he was sat in the stand watching the side lose most of the time! In the first game without O’Neil, the City captain had been given a straight red card during a 2-1 defeat at Reading which led to him missing the next three matches (two of which were lost), he was back for the 2-0 home defeat by Sunderland and then saw red again as two yellow cards had him sitting out the second half as City threw away a half time lead given them by Millwall loanee Neil Harris  (more on him later!) to lose 2-1.

A 1-1 home draw with Wolves on Boxing Day and a goalless stalemate forty eight hours later at Watford in the two games our captain missed with his latest suspension steadied the ship a bit, but improved results for those below us meant that only goal difference separated us from a bottom three spot as we entered 2005. With Kav missing so many games and hardly pulling up any trees in the ones he did start, it was obvious that we needed strengthening in central midfield and the game at Vicarage Road had seen  a debut for Junichi Inamoto who had been many people’s choice as Japan’s stand out performer as they made it through to the last sixteen of the 2002 World Cup which they co hosted with South Korea.

Inamoto’s signing on a loan deal from West Brom which eventually lasted three months was something of a coup for the club and for a time, City crowds were boosted by a Japanese media presence and a smattering of spectators from his native country, but, although he proved to be a more than useful addition to our squad, they didn’t see Inamoto at his best as continued his recovery from a broken leg received in a friendly international with England in the summer of 2004.

Inamoto and Kavanagh formed a new central midfield partnership for the New Years Day lunchtime visit to a Derby team who were destined to reach the Play Offs and City upset the form book courtesy of Peter Thorne’s first half header which had the distinction of being the first goal scored in the Football League in 2005. The feeling of a new year and a new start was added to with the City squad having pre and post match hurdles which, although they often strike me as being pointless exercises, seemed to be somehow appropriate for a squad which had hardly given the impression of being a united one over the previous five months or so.

The huddles were seen again two days later as Nottingham Forest visited Ninian Park for what was already being described as a relegation six pointer. With Andy Reid and Michael Dawson (who was out injured that day) in their ranks, Forest did not lack quality, but, a dreadful away record which had seen them pick up four points, all from draws, in thirteen attempts meant that the side which were winning European Cups twenty five years earlier were in real danger of dropping into what is now League One.

The decidedly portly looking Reid was the best Forest player on the day, but that was not saying much – his second half free kick represented just about their only goal threat throughout the game as they were outplayed in all areas of the pitch. Included in the shot shy visitors’ attack was Neil Harris who had, understandably, accepted the offer of a longer contract at Forest than the one and a half year deal we were offering him, but, with the crowd giving him fearful stick, it was to be an unhappy return to Cardiff for him and he was taken off at half time to be replaced by one of the million pound misfits on the bench David Johnson, while the other, that lovely person Marlon King, was introduced just past the hour mark.

With Forest struggling to cope throughout with the pace and direct running of the emerging Cameron Jerome, City really should have been in front at the break but two bad misses by Jobi McAnuff kept it at 0-0 and, with us struggling to score home goals that season, there was a fear that our domination would count for nothing. Ten minutes into the second half though, City got the ideal opportunity to break the deadlock when Jerome was brought down by full back Thompson for an obvious penalty and, after an unseemly squabble as Richard Langley tried to grab the ball from him, Peter Thorne stepped up to take the vital spot kick. Over the coming weeks I would get used to Thorne’s unique penalty taking technique which involved him running slowly up to the ball and waiting for the keeper to commit himself before rolling the ball slowly into the net in the opposite direction but as he sauntered up to the ball, I became convinced he was going to miss – oh ye of little faith! Thorne’s penalty taking method took an awful lot of bottle because he risked looking a right idiot if the keeper could have kept his nerve and taken that split second longer before diving, but they never did and so I continue to rate our ex striker as one of the best penalty takers I have seen.

A one goal lead always looked to be enough against a Forest outfit who disintegrated after that. Unable to offer anything going forward, they lost their discipline and resorted to foul play as sub Loius-Jean really should have been sent off for a viscious foul on City sub Paul Parry which would keep the winger out for nearly four months. In the last five minutes though it went from bad to much, much worse for the visitors as Thorne bundled in his second after a Kavanagh corner had been helped towards goal by James Collins, centreback Hjelde was red carded for a foul on Jerome which was nowhere near as malicious as Louis-Jean’s had been and then Kav went on a run from half way which he ended with a trademark drive from the edge of the penalty area which left keeper Gerrard helpless.

The goal was the icing on the cake for the captain after an individual  performance which strongly suggested that he had got his appetite for the game back and the reaction amongst his colleagues was telling as they all (including keeper Tony Warner) made their way to the corner of the Bob bank and Grange End to join in the celebrations where Kav was milking the applause for all that it was worth. Although they had not really had anything to beat(Forest were so poor that, after this game, I regarded them as certainties for the drop, so that, with Rotherham already tailed off, City were just trying to avoid the one relegation place), this victory felt like a corner had been turned by the team. With Inamoto offering clever and understated support to him, the rejuvenated Kav helped City to a run of results which won Lennie Lawrence the Manager of the month award for January only for the fall out from our financial woes to plunge us back into trouble a few weeks later. Kav was sold to Wigan on Black Friday as City struggled to pay their wages for February, but that money helped save us from Administration and City fans were able to give him the send off they had been denied a few weeks earlier when he returned with his new club to an ovation that was a bit more welcoming than the one Neil Harris had received a few months earlier!

3 January 2005

Cardiff City 3 (Thorne 2 (1 pen), Kavanagh) Nottingham Forest 0

City; Warner; Weston, Collins, Gabbidon, Barker; Langley, Inamoto (Parry)(Vidmar), Kavanagh, McAnuff, Thorne, Jerome (Lee); Subs (not used) Alexander, Bullock

Forest; Gerrard; Thompson (Louis-Jean), Morgan, Hjelde, Doig; Reid, Derry, Bopp, Rogers (King); Harris (Johnson), Taylor; Subs (not used) Doyle, Robertson

HT 0-0

Att. 13,545

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In praise of Dave Jones.

Posted on April 4, 2010 by The other Bob Wilson

After about forty two minutes of yesterday’s match I was just about to ask what the chances were of Michael Chopra being substituted at half time, but then City were awarded a free kick in the Swansea half which Jay Bothryod nodded down and a certain Michael Chopra fired the ball high into the net for our equaliser! Luckily for my self esteem, I kept my thoughts to myself, but I wonder how many others were thinking something similar at the time because up until that moment, Chopra had been having one of his increasingly familiar anonymous matches where you almost forget he is still on the pitch.

Mind you, this time Chopra did have the excuse that he was playing in a different position to his normal one alongside Jay Bothroyd. I see Dave Jones called the formation we used last night 4-3-3, but, like most teams who use that system, it soon becomes 4-5-1 when they don’t have possession and much of Chopra’s game was played in an unfamiliar withdrawn right sided role as our manager, I think for the first time ever in a City home game during his time in charge, changed from his usual 4-4-2 because of the questions asked by a Swansea side who are an exceptional outfit at this level.

I say “exceptional” there, not because of the quality that the jacks possess, but because their system and approach presents any Championship manager with challenges which are probably unique at this level. Despite their current poor run, Swansea are likely to be contesting the end of season Play Offs and, if they do so, it will, almost certainly mean that they are, by a distance, the lowest scoring team ever to take part in them at Championship level. Swansea’s lofty position is based almost entirely on a defensive record which, until recently, was second to none, but, although the keeper and back four are all good to decent players by the standards of this league, their great goals against record has more to do with how many midfield players they have behind the ball even when they are attacking.It was instructive to see keeper Dorus DeVries throw or roll the ball to one of his back four about 90% of the time as opposed to the normal long ball aimed toward a target man that we see from most Championship keepers. For me DeVries does things differently because Swansea’s whole game plan is to draw the opposition on to them so that it becomes a more equal contest for their lone striker when he gets the ball. For the last four matches we played against them, we stuck with our normal 4-4-2 and decided to “have a go at them”, but, in doing so, we played right into their hands in many respects because their midfield five (which is always made up of clever, technically proficient players) are better than most at exploiting the advantage that their extra player in that area of the pitch gives them. This means that our second striker and, to a lesser extent, our two wide players are starved of possession so that, in essence, Swansea have almost made the previous games between the two sides a ten against seven or eight contest when it comes to outfield players.

I’m sure City aren’t the only side to have suffered in this way at Swansea’s hands – the evidence of the past two seasons is that sides who commit two players forward all the time are handing Swansea the initiative straight away, but less and less teams are doing that now, particularly at the Liberty Stadium, and, with match winning forward players like Scotland and Gomez missing this time around, there is increasing evidence that Swansea are, slowly, being found out. In particular, sides have started to push one of their forward players on to Swansea’s holding midfield player Leon Britton and up to now at least, the jacks are struggling to find a way to overcome the new challenge they are facing. Therefore, Dave Jones moved Peter Whittingham into the centre of the pitch from his wide midfield player role and and with Chopra and McCormack playing that bit narrower than you would expect wingers to, we more or less, set out to play Swansea at their own game.

Although this could be construed as a defensive move, it becomes less of one when the four players you use to provide an attacking threat have a total of fifty two goals between them. That’s how many Bothroyd, Chopra, McCormack and Whittingham could muster compared to the twelve that Dyer, Pintado, Pratley and Van Der Gun have managed for the jacks – therefore, although others apparently disagree, I thought that by going with a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 to match Swansea’s, Dave Jones and his staff got things dead right.

Much of the build up for the game had centred on how important the first goal was going to be  – both sides had yet to lose a match in which they had scored first and when you throw in our notoriously bad record under Dave Jones in games that we concede first in, I for one had a feeling of “oh well that’s it then” when Swansea exploited our current weakness in dealing with high balls into our penalty area by scoring from a corner (which I am still not convinced was correctly given). If playing against Swansea is difficult at 0-0 then it becomes doubly so at 0-1 and, having been second best up until that goal, they then showed us what they are best at, but for all the “oles” of their supporters, there was very little in the way of an end product at a time when a second goal for them would have, surely, left us with too much to do – I don’t know why but I was reminded of Dennis Healey’s comment that being attacked by Sir Geoffrey Howe was like being “savaged by a dead sheep” while watching Swansea stroke the ball backwards and sideways for the quarter of an hour after they took the lead.

Nevertheless, Swansea aren’t supposed to lose matches when they get in this position and frustration levels were growing amongst City supporters. I heard one of two comments of “do something Jones” at this time and so our manager did do something – it was risky, but it worked. By pushing Chopra back up alongside Bothroyd, Dave Jones was making it easier for Swansea to pick us off, but it did lead, indirectly, to our equaliser and it also got Chopra playing in the second half as we reverted to 4-3-3/4-5-1 and his lovely run and cross, which deserved better, was as close as we came to scoring in the second half before his dramatic winner. To be honest, the second forty five minutes offered little in the way of quality football (I’ll remember our win as a great occasion rather than a great game) but, for the second successive match, there was tension all around in the closing stages despite the suspicion that both sides would gladly settle for a draw. Such thinking was blown out of the water though in those dramatic final stages as David Marshall’s brilliant save preserved our point and then Chopra’s natural striking instincts (the jacks don’t have anyone who would have made a run in the opposite direction to where the ball was going in anticipation of it being returned into his path like Chopra did) turned that one point into three.

So it was that City won a game which by rights probably should have ended up as a draw but, despite Paulo Sausa’s talk of his team having completely dominated, I think that he was outsmarted on the day by Dave Jones and his staff. I’m sure I’ll be critical of our manager in some way in the not too distant future, but last night he proved that he isn’t so tactically inflexible as many of us would believe – he had come second in his previous battles with Messrs Martinez and Sousa in the past eighteen months, but this time it was his turn and perhaps some City fans should be a bit less grudging in their praise for our manager’s part in a great and dramatic win.

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