No shame in defeat by World’s number one for depleted Wales.

Posted on March 25, 2021 by The other Bob Wilson

For about ten minutes tonight, Wales may have felt that they could take their unbeaten run against  world number ones Belgium to five games, but it wasn’t to be. For the first time in a match against us, Kevin DeBruyne showed why he is sometimes described as the best midfield player in the world as he came up with a lovely equaliser to a great Welsh goal and proceeded to be the dominant player on the pitch for the next seventy minutes or so as his team quickly added another goal and a second half penalty meant the 3-1 score line went in favour of the Belgians this time, rather than against them.

You won’t be getting a breakdown of the qualifying procedure for the 2022 World Cup from me because I’ve not got a clue as to what’s happening, but what I can say is that we will be going to Qatar next year if we win the qualifying group which, besides us and Belgium, contains the Czech Republic, Estonia and Belarus – the first two named met in the group’s other game tonight as the Czech’s confirmed that they are going to be the team most likely to beat us to second place, if anyone does, by winning 6-2 away from home against a side that already look like whipping boys.

Sadly, the situation with Aaron Ramsey has now reached the stage where we may as well look upon his presence in a Welsh team as a bonus. I believe his latest injury, which has caused him to pull out of the squad for this three match international break, means that he will have only played in three out of our last twenty three games. With David Brooks also ruled out, Wales really could have done without the news that Ben Davies had withdrawn as well and, if that wasn’t bad enough, Joe Allen’s first match back in the Welsh team following his cruciate knee ligament injury around a year ago lasted just eight minutes before he left the pitch with what looked like a pulled hamstring, so I would say it’s practically certain that he won’t be featuring again in this international week.

Rob Page, again deputising for the indisposed Ryan Giggs, made some brave selection calls with Danny Ward starting in goal rather than Wayne Hennessy and Harry Wilson providing the Cardiff City representation, with Keiffer Moore only getting a place on the bench. Other inclusions worthy of comment were James Lawrence and Chris Mepham at centre back and Ethan Ampadu in central midfield.

Ampadu was joined by Joe Morrell, who has played little first team football for Luton this season, as Allen’s replacement, but Wales reacted to the blow of losing their senior midfielder by taking the lead three minutes later with a memorable goal as a move that probably ran to double figures in terms of passes completed, ended with Wilson, Gareth Bale, twice and Conor Roberts exchanging first time passes to leave Wilson free to score his second goal in two internationals with a confident left footed finish past Courtois in the /Belgium goal.

The lead might have lasted a lot less time than it did if Romolu Lukaku had not fired over from four yards following a DeBruyne cross that was only inches away from a couple of his team mates before it reached the striker who has such a prolific scoring rate for his country in recent years. 

That apart though, Wales were coping well until DeBruyne was not closed down quickly enough by Morrell and the Manchester City man fired home with a low shot from twenty five yards which was just out of Ward’s reach and went in off a post.

As expected, Belgium were dictating the game with an almost complete monopoly on possession and the home side turned the screw with a second goal just before the half hour mark as Thorgen Hazard headed in a Munier cross. Whether Hazard would have been able to score if Conor Robert’s hadn’t slipped on what was a poor surface is up for debate, but, for now, Belgium, who have a fearsome record both in terms of results and goals scored looked like they were on their way to maintaining their record of scoring an average of four goals a game in home competitive matches since their 2016 loss to us and maybe more on top of that.

Wales were glad to get in at half time at just 2-1 down having spent forty five minutes chasing the ball. For someone like Harry Wilson, it must have felt like life as normal, but a difference was that, this time, when he was in possession it was in positions where he could display his talents more and the passes he received were usually able to be brought under control pretty easily – hence, a case could definitely be made for saying he was our best player in the first period (he was withdrawn for Tyler Roberts midway through the second half).

If Wilson’s influence was not as great in the second half, his team were able to establish a foothold in the game with a brave showing in which they tried to take the game to the Belgians. There weren’t too many opportunities to come from the pressure they were able to exert on the home team’s goal, but Bale worked his way into what looked like a shooting position only to be crowded out inside the first couple of minutes and then couldn’t get proper contact on an attempted overhead kick after Dan James had knocked back a Roberts cross and the Manchester United winger twice had efforts which missed the target – the first one from the sort of position cutting in on to his right foot that he has scored quite often from for club and country in the past and the second, a snatched and slightly selfish effort from the right that flew yards wide after Courtois got into trouble from what was often a pretty effective Welsh press.

Apart from when their opponents almost worked Lukaku into a good shooting position, Wales were surviving quite comfortably in the second period until Belgium clicked into attacking action and a fluent move down the right ended with Ward making his first serious save of the night, but the keeper was unlucky as the ball went towards Mepham who, in a season where he has become more error prone and lost his place in the Bournemouth starting eleven as a result, was unaware of Dries Mertens appearing on his blind side and so his attempted clearance turned into a wild hack which earned the home team a clear penalty from one of only three fouls Wales committed in the whole game.

Lukaku had no problems with the penalty and the final few minutes saw the home team preserving their energy for the two other qualifying matches they face in this “break”. Wales, on the other hand tried, none too convincingly, to get back into the game with Moore (who I hope sees no action on Saturday in the pointless friendly with Mexico) on as an eighty fifth minute sub for Bale.

Wales were hardly disgraced as their eleven match unbeaten run in competitive matches ended. After all, they were facing the team ranked best in the world, who have averaged three goals a game during Roberto Martinez’s time in charge, with a side missing important, and in most cases, experienced players, none of whom will be back for the home match with the Czech’s on Tuesday. If we can win that one, then there was no real harm done tonight as far as our realistic finishing position in the group is concerned.

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First derby double postponed yet again as defiant Cardiff grab a crucial win.

Posted on March 21, 2021 by The other Bob Wilson

Just over ten years ago, Cardiff City went to the Liberty Stadium having been beaten in the home game against the jacks with the following team,

Heston, McNaughton, Hudson, Keenan, Quinn, Whittingham, Olofinjana,Ramsey, Bellamy, Bothroyd, Chopra – Chris Burke came on as a sub as well.

This evening, City went to the Liberty having lost to Swansea in Cardiff in December with the following team,

Phillips, Morrison, Flint, Brown, Sang, Pack, Vaulks, Ralls, Bacuna, Moore, Wilson

Looking at those two tsides, I’m struck by the attacking talent in the 2011 side with five players there who I would say would walk into the current side, as would Seyi Olofinjana, while Chris Burke was a more effective winger than any of those in the current squad who have played there have been this season.

In saying that, Keiffer Moore has been judged the best player in the division at times over the past few months, Harry Wilson has been a tremendously effective player in this division at other clubs and there are four midfield players there who are all very experienced and, I would say, proven at this level.

Behind those midfields and attacks though you’ve got two defences that don’t strike you as very imposing and effective bearing in mind that Swansea went up in 2011 and they are well in the running to do that automatically this year.

Ten years ago, we had Israeli international Dekel Keenan making his debut and Paul Quinn, who never really established himself as a regular member of the team at left back.

For that defence to keep a clean sheet which enabled City to win thanks to a superb solitary goal by Bellamy in the eighty fifth minute with Ramsey and Bothroyd playing their part in its creation was a great feather in their collective cap.

However, I would say that, if anything, the achievement of a rearguard consisting of Sean Morrison, Aden Flint, Ciaron Brown, with wing backs Tom Sang and Joe Ralls was even more impressive as they kept their opponents out to clinch another single goal win.

Brown was making only his third start for the club, Sang his second in a position he is not used to playing and Ralls, one of those experienced central midfielders I mentioned earlier, had played a couple of matches at left back in 2012, but had never played as a wing back in his life as far as I’m aware

If the lovely winner in 2011 was a reflection of the type of team City were then, the winning goal and the manner of the performance tonight was typical 2021 – it wasn’t just that the goal was scored early where the Bellamy goal came late that made the two games like chalk and cheese despite the identical scoreline and the denying of the that first double.

City’s eighth minute winner tonight came from a Will Vaulks long throw which bounced about in front of the Swansea goal before Marlon Pack jabbed a shot towards goal which forced home keeper Freddie Woodman into the first serious save he has had to make in a South Wales derby in his fourth appearance in one. Woodman’s reflex block of Pack’s close range effort was a fine save, but the ball lobbed out to Flint who flung himself at it to head his first goal in fourteen months from about eight yards out.

It was hardly a thing of beauty, but it was a reward for a purposeful start which was completely at odds with the passive opening to the game between the teams in December – indeed, City remained passive throughout that lunchtime when I’m sure my blood pressure rose to dangerous levels because it’s a long time since I’ve been so annoyed during a City game as I was that day as Swansea won more comfortably than the 2-0 score line indicated.

With the confidence of their first goal in the fixture since 2013 behind them, City went on to enjoy a spell of superiority the like of which we’d not had in the fixture since that day when Steven Caulker’s header earned us a win in the first top flight meeting between the teams.

It wasn’t a superiority born of remorseless pressure on the Swansea goal, more that the home side were denied almost anything that offered them hope of a way back into the match.

Losing Conor Hourihane, who had forced Dillon Phillips into an early save from a free kick, to an injjry with less than twenty minutes played helped the City cause, but they were comfortable against a Swansea side that has, generally speaking, been getting results recently without playing well and here they were looking lethargic in the face of City’s intensity and organization here.

Leandro Bacuna’s well struck left footed effort from a fine Vaulks pass forced Woodman into another save, but was the last suggestion of a second City goal for some time as Swansea gradually worked their way into the game through a series of inventive corner routines which told the story that they didn’t fancy their chances of winning headers from conventional deliveries.

Swansea were gaining an attacking impetus as the half drew to a close, but it was City who came closest to scoring the game’s second goal as Woodman passed the ball straight to Moore some twenty five yards from goal. It was a horrendous error by the keeper who partially atoned for it with a legal challenge on the striker which left him with an awkward bouncing ball to steer into what looked like an empty net. Moore made light of the vagaries of the bouncing ball though and stroked it towards goal as I’m sure he thought he had doubled our lead, but the word “stroked” is the clue that he had not hit the ball hard enough to take home centre half Ryan Bennett out of the game and he was able to clear off the line – I think Sky summarizer Andy Hinchcliffe got it right when he said Moore probably though Bennett had been left a long way behind and it only needed an on target effort to make it 2-0.

At the time it felt like it could be a defining moment in the game and for the whole of the second half, it looked like it was going to be. Swansea were completely dominant in terms of possession and territory after the break as the half revealed some of the best things about this City side, while also providing a pointer as to why I feel we’re unlikely to have a second successive top six finish come May.

City had to repel wave after wave of Swansea attacks and there was something heroic about the way the patched up defence threw their bodies on the line to block shots by the home side – all three of the centre backs defended superbly at times, while the makeshift wing backs stuck to their tasks brilliantly..

However, at the end of a nerve shredding second forty five minutes, I’m still left wondering how City managed to win, because the fundamental passing weakness that raises its head far too often with us was there throughout the second forty five minutes. Despite having all four senior central midfielders in the starting line up as well as Sang who has shown already that, in terms of passing ability, he is one of the best we have at the club, we were totally unable to take the sting out of the game by having the sort of short periods of possession that can diffuse the opposition’s attack when they’re searching for an equaliser.

Harry Wilson forced another good save out of Woodman in our only serious intrusion into the Swansea half after half time. That might sound like me exaggerating if you haven’t seen the game, but I honestly cannot remember us spending any concerted time outside of our own half – it was all a bit Rorke’s Driftish with heroic defiance aplenty, but nine times out of ten, you’re not going to win games by inviting such intense pressure for forty five minutes.

“Inviting” is the right word as well because you got the distinct impression that it wasn’t so much that City players couldn’t find another blue shirt, it often looked like they didn’t want to. The contribution of Josh Murphy, who replaced Bacuna for the last half an hour or so, summed it up as the large majority of his contributions amounted to little more than boots downfield to no one in particular to grab his team a few seconds rest before the siege began again.

To be fair, after another selfless and extremely hard working effort, Moore was little more than a passenger in the last twenty minutes as another full game passed by with him kept on because our manager believes he has no one else who can perform his role, both in attack and defence, well enough, but, especially if Moore starts, say, two of the three matches for Wales in this break, you have to worry that the time is coming soon when his body will give out like it did in the first game with the jacks.

The pattern of play in the second half ensured Swansea dominated all of the stats except for two. According to the BBC, they had seventy five per cent possession and eleven corners to none, they also had twenty three goal attempts (their most in any game this season apparently) to our nine, but, besides the score line, perhaps the most telling stat was that while we were very efficient in terms of attempts on goal with five out of those nine forcing Woodman into action, another one being cleared off the line and the other one finding the net, In contrast, the only Swansea on target effort came very late on when Phillips turned away a well struck Morgan Whittaker effort from twenty yards.

Swansea were unlucky when they went for a conventional corner and possibly surprised themselves when the relatively diminutive Andre Ayew headed against the inside of the post – that apart though, their finishing was poor.

Sky’s Man of the Match award could have gone to Flint, but Andy Hinchcliffe opted to award it to Morrison and in his post match interview our captain admitted that City owed this win to the fans after being “nowhere near” in the three previous South Wales derbies.

It was a good day elsewhere for City with Barnsley and Middlesbrough losing and Reading drawing at home(Bournemouth were in FA Cup action) and so the gap to sixth place is down to four points as we go into the last international break of the season. When fixtures resume we face matches at fourth placed Brentford and sixth placed Reading and six more against teams in the bottom half of the table including the current bottom four – I reckon we need something like sixteen points to make the Play Offs.

There was a defeat at Leckwith today for the Under 18s as, despite another goal for James Crole, a team featuring more than the normal amount of sixteen year olds, and one or two younger than that, were beaten 2-1 by Hull.

Finally, the fiftieth anniversary of City’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid on 10 March 1971 passed on Wednesday, so here’s a further reminder of my book Real Madrid and all that which is a review of both that match and the 1970/71 season in which I’m afraid another home defeat by Watford played a major part! Real Madrid and all that can be ordered from;-

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