Huge contrast in styles as City’s pre season programme ends with a defeat.

Posted on August 5, 2018 by The other Bob Wilson

Cardiff City brought the curtain down on their pre season programme by playing for the first time on home soil as a clever and classy Real Betis side left with a 2-1 win in front of a crowd of just under 10,000.

City only lost two league matches after scoring first last season (at QPR and Derby), but it’s happened twice already to them in their warm up matches – Rotherham, like Betis, were able to come back from conceding early on as new signing Josh Murply found the net for us, but the Yorkshire side, hammered 5-1 yesterday by Brentford on the opening day of the Football League competitions, were also able to turn things around to win by the odd goal in three.

It was my first chance to watch City in the flesh this season, but, with the match being televised live on S4C, my guess is that most people reading this will have also seen the game in one way or another. So, this will be no blow by blow account of proceedings, more a set of reflections on an encounter which I felt was both interesting, in terms of the complete contrast between the way the teams went about their business, and entertaining when judged by the normal standards of these pre season affairs.

Before doing so though, I’m going to lay a bit of background to things by commenting on what seems like the ending of our summer long pursuit of Marko Grujic, Liverpool’s Serbian international central midfielder.

At various times during the last few months, it seemed like a formality that Grujic would be returning here for another loan spell. Indeed, I think it was in my piece last week that I confidently predicted that he would be here with us come the start of the season.

However, I began to change that opinion when I read an interview with Grujic early last week that included comments about how he would wait and see what happens before making a final decision on where he will play his football in the coming season – he also claimed that there was plenty of time yet for things to be sorted out. I’ve just been looking for the interview but can’t find it at the moment – suffice it to say, it hardly read like the views of someone who was committed to coming to Cardiff for the season.

Word is that the deal fell through because the new contract Liverpool wanted Grujic to commit to before letting him go out on loan (Harry Wilson was only allowed to make his temporary move to Derby after signing a new contract) remains unsigned and Neil Warnock mentioned that, with Liverpool in three competitions where the Premier League’s twenty five man squad rules would not apply, there may be first team opportunities for the Serb, even if he cannot play in the Premier League.

Whichever way you look at it though, its been a bit of a mess and, although I accept that I could be accused of being wise after the event here, I think questions need to be asked about why City were so keen on holding on for Grujic as long as they did (Neil Warnock spoke of possible transfers City didn’t follow through on because they were so confident Grujic was coming here).

After all, it’s hardly as if Grujic did anything last season to suggest he would be an indispensable performer for us in the Premier League is it. If we were talking about, say, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, then waiting for months on the understanding that we were likely to get him while we allowed other possible targets to come and go would make complete sense, but we aren’t – Grujic did a pretty good job for us last season in the Championship and an argument could be made for saying that he may be one of those players who are more suited to the Premiership, but I think there are plenty of City fans (including this one) around now wishing that we had moved on from the whole thing weeks ago.

So, with just days left to do something about it, that’s how we find ourselves in a position whereby our central midfield options are considerably fewer than they were last season with Greg Halford, Craig Bryson (who played ninety minutes for Derby in their win at Reading on Friday night) and Marko Grujic all having left the club since May with no one brought in to replace them.

The real extent of our problems in this area were emphasised when Aron Gunnarsson’s name was missing (presumably because of injury) from the team sheet for the Betis match. Did the use of a three centreback formation, with Sol Bamba often pushing forward into a deep midfield position, with wing backs and a very flexible front three come about because of a lack of central midfielders?

So it was that we went with Lee Peltier and the excellent Joe Bennett as wing backs and Junior Hoilett, Bobby Reid and Murphy in forward positions. In the middle, Joe Ralls was supported by Callum Paterson who would move forward to become the target for Neil Etheridge’s long clearances and, occasionally by either Bamba moving forward or Reid moving backwards. It all looked a bit England in the World Cup to me where for Ralls, read Jordan Henderson – England, essentially, played with a one man central midfield in Russia because Gareth Southgate didn’t think the others within his squad in that area were good enough to start in games, whereas City went with a central midfield of Ralls and, er, no one else because they didn’t have any one else!

Yes, I know Loic Damour came on for the last half an hour or so, but the point is that it only took an injury to one of Ralls and Gunnarsson for us to look totally threadbare in the middle of the park.

I suppose the one consolation is that we are probably better placed to cope with a situation where we only have a couple of fit central midfielders because, if you judge the need for them in terms of time spent in possession, we don’t need many – if any!

This was really brought home because of the total contrast in philosophy between the two sides. Where Betis keeper Pau Lopez would venture thirty yards from goal to join in when his central defensive team  mates passed it around until they spotted a colleague in a good position further forward, our goalkeeper would always look to bypass the middle of the pitch as he aimed long kicks towards Paterson.

There was a period between Betis’ goals when they seemed to have possession continuously for about ten minutes  – in truth, it wasn’t really like that of course, but what touches City did have in this spell tended to be tackles which would present the ball back to Betis or misplaced passes which, again, ensured that the visitors never had to wait long before they got their ball back.

What yesterday’s match emphasised most to me was just how little possession of the ball is valued at Cardiff compared to virtually any other side in the Premier League or Championship.

I should emphasise here that I found yesterday useful because it really brought this attitude towards the issue of ball retention at Cardiff to the fore when you contrasted it to Betis’ way of playing the game. However, it should be said that quite often the ball wasn’t surrendered by City because of poor control or shoddy passing, it was given away because City were always looking to use their pace to counter attack and so were constantly looking to play early, high risk, passes to the trio up front.

When you do that all of the time, you will invariably hand over possession more than you’d want to. Even so, I dread to think what the possession stats were looking like at half time (something like 85/15 against us would be my guess), but that disparity cannot all be put down to Betis’ talent and our lack of talent or the fact we were playing in a way that was never designed to keep possession of the ball for long periods (we often “gifted” Betis possession because we were always looking to open them up in as few a number of touches as possible). Athough Burnley beat Liverpool a couple of years back with just 20 per cent possession, that game is remembered because it was exceptional – most times when you only have the ball for a fifth of the game, you end up getting beat.

What was encouraging though was that the combination play between Reid, Murphy and Hoilett was quite often causing the Betis defence serious problems.

If City were emulating England when it came to the centre of midfield, then I would say we were mimicking Spain circa 2012 with our lack of anyone who could be described as a centre forward. However, even when those possession stats must have been so much against us in the first half, the pace and movement of Reid, Murphy and Hoilett, along with our threat from dead balls, ensured that Betis had quite a few narrow squeaks before being able to go in at the break 2-1 up.

Now, although there was promise in the way the front three combined, it should also be noted that Betis are such an attacking  side that it would often only take one pass to get City players running at an undermanned defence – I’ll be surprised if we are going to see a side which looked as open as Betis did at times playing us at Cardiff City Stadium, or anywhere else in the Premier League for that matter, in the coming months.

This trend continued in a second half which saw City, if not dominant, have the better of things. We were grateful at times for some good last ditch defending by Bruno Manga especially, but we were often able to build promising situations for ourselves by looking slightly more assured in possession.

However, City were unable to get the draw they probably deserved after their spirited second half showing and you couldn’t help but think it wasn’t going to be our day when Murphy shot wide when one on one with Lopez.

This was the only blemish in a man of the match display by our new signing from Norwich whose evening began with a beautifully struck shot inside five minutes, after being neatly put through by Sean Morrison, which beat Lopez all ends up on his near post.

Betis’ reaction to going a goal down was impressive and for a fifteen minute spell around the half hour mark they threatened to run away with the game – Etheridge saved well from Lorenzo Moron, only to be beaten by him within a minute and then the visitors took the lead when Cristian Tello’s shot was diverted in by Bamba. The veteran Joaquín then smashed a shot against the crossbar and great covering by Bennett I think it was, denied Takashi Inui what seemed a certain goal.

At this stage, you could be forgiven for despairing of our Premier League chances, because we just couldn’t get the ball off our opponents and were being opened up seemingly at will, but, by the end, our ability to fashion chances out of very little possession suggested we have a chance if we can defend better than we did at times today.

Our fluid play at times in the final third offered hope that we aren’t going to be just a one trick pony in the Premier League, but, despite the four new signings, I must admit that we still look like a side that has a Plan A and not much else.

Most, if not all, of our Premier League opponents could start their campaign with a certain playing philosophy (e.g. a patient passing approach) and switch quite comfortably to something more direct if it was failing, but I don’t think we are able to be as flexible as that, because our squad has been put together to play and behave in a certain way and I doubt we would succeed if we attempted to pass the ball more with our current squad, so, although I cannot see it happening, I would argue that, if we are to make a couple of midfield signings in the coming week, they should be players who are also comfortable at playing a more possession based game.

Just a couple of quick news updates to end things. City’s Development team were able to beat Armiens in a practice match on Friday by 3-1 with Anthony Pilkington and Gary Madine adding to a first half own goal which had got us level again after falling behind early on.

Finally, Mark Harris joined Newport County on loan until January during the week and he was an unused sub as they opened their league season with a disappointing 3-0 defeat at Mansfield, while there are also reports linking Omar Bogle and Lee Camp with similar such moves to Ipswich and Bolton respectively.

 

 

Posted in Out on the pitch | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Weekly Review 29/7/18.

Posted on July 29, 2018 by The other Bob Wilson

What will probably be the last of these weekly reviews this summer is dominated, as it should be at this time of year really, by the warm up matches being played by Cardiff City at senior and Under 23 levels – there have been some stories in other areas, which I’ll come to later, but it’s on field action first and foremost this week.

I say that despite acknowledging the received wisdom that pre season games count for nothing in the grand scheme of things. However, within that definition, I would still say that, especially for a team whose prospects for the new season appear to be as dependent on things like spirit, belief and camaraderie as City’s are, a run of poor results going into the competitive stuff can be a concern.

City’s senior team had begun their pre season programme by filling their boots in predictable fashions against Tavistock and Bodmin with a combined aggregate of 17-1 in their favour, but their final game in the south west saw them draw 1-1 at Plainmoor against Torquay United. The former Football League club represented a pretty significant step up in terms of ability from the the two Cornish sides, but will be competing in the Vanarama National League South (the level below what I still call the Conference) in 18/19, so there will have been a few eyebrows raised at that outcome.

When a Premier League team follows a result like that up with what was generally regarded as a deserved 2-1 defeat after scoring first at a newly promoted Championship club, then I believe that, while not exactly setting off alarm bells, there would be a desire to get back on track, so to speak, in their next game.

Last Wednesday City went to Rotherham, took the lead through Josh Murphy, but were then caught, and eventually overtaken, by the home side amid a general consensus that the result was right. Like every team we’ve played up to now, Rotherham were a week closer to the start of the “proper” stuff than us, so that needs to be factored in, but it was a second consecutive performance which would have to be rated as disappointing.

Just one last thing about Rotherham, young midfielder James Waite played for the first forty five minutes and did pretty well by all accounts. As someone who is always banging on about the lack of first team opportunities for young players at Cardiff, you’d think I’d be pleased about this news and I am to the extent that it’s better than nothing. However, Neil Warnock’s post match comments made it pretty clear that Waite’s selection was little more than an acknowledgment of his good attitude during the week in Devon/Cornwall – listening to our manager, it seemed fairly clear that Waite would be back with the Development squad for the next game and he duly was.

About ten days ago, Club director Steve Borley answered questions from members of a new(ish) Cardiff City messageboard (which is well worth a visit if you’ve not done so up to now). Thanks to Steve, and to Steve Davies who helped set the whole thing up, for this – it’s great that there is someone in  the Boardroom willing to do this.

However, for me, the one disappointing answer that Steve gave was the one concerning the club’s Academy. It’s not so much that I disagree with his views on what I see as the failure of the current system on a national level or that it has to become harder for young players to break through the higher up the pyramid we go, it was the air of inevitability about it all he conveyed with the impression given that there was nothing that can be done about it all.

For about ninety per cent of it’s existence since becoming a Football League club in 1920, Cardiff City made the second tier of the system their “natural home” with a policy of giving young, locally produced players a chance. Many of them were still teenagers when they were given their debuts, but enough of them were able to swim, as opposed to sink, to give the club a history whereby they spent far more time in the upper half of the four division system than the lower one over a period of ninety years.

During this decade however, the conveyor belt which gave local youngsters a route into the first team has virtually stopped. Has the quality of young players being produced in Cardiff and it’s surrounding areas declined in that time? Qualification for and success at Euro 2016 isn’t conclusive proof that the answer is no, but it is suggestive of it and yet you look at what has been happening at the nation’s capital city club since 2010 and you’d have to conclude that the answer was yes.

I’ll finish this semi rant by saying that a situation has been allowed to develop at Cardiff City where the divide between Academy and first team now looks to be an almost unbridgeable one. Despite talk of a new start at that level a couple of seasons back, the Development team still strikes me as a kind of waiting area where nineteen year olds with their first pro contract go to pass their time for anything up to five years before their almost inevitable release by the club. It would be so great for someone to break through to prove my assessment wrong, but, despite what Steve Borley says, there is still that progression at many other clubs – yes, the Academy system nationally can now be viewed as a failure in my opinion, but Cardiff City’s Academy is even more of a failure because it just does not do what it is supposed to and hasn’t done for years.

Anyway, sorry about that, back to the first team’s preparation for the new season! This continued at Burton yesterday and, on the face of it, that need for a performance and a result was answered with a 5-1 win against a side who were in the same division as us last season.

True, Burton were missing eight players with injury and they were worth the lead they held for much of the first half following a slightly harsh early penalty award against Joe Ralls, but City were ruthless once Junior Hoilett’s free kick was headed into his own net by home captain Jake Buxton.

Further goals followed before half time as Kenneth Zohore’s netted for the first time following his belated introduction to the Devon/Cornwall tour and Nathan Mendez-Laing scored a beauty from over twenty yards with one of those shots which start out outside the upright by some way, but curl back in to leave the best keepers helpless.

Bobby Reid capitalised on hesitancy by former City men Ben Turner and Stephen Bywater to notch a fourth after the break and the scoring was completed by sub Callum Paterson with a twenty five yarder which found the bottom corner.

Mention of Reid brings me on to a mistimed tackle on him by Buxton which sent him up into the air to land on the back of his head. It looked frightening, but, thankfully, Reid recovered and was able to carry on and get an hour’s more game time in before he became one of a raft of players to be substituted.

Lee Peltier wasn’t as lucky though after a sickening clash of heads in which no one was to blame as committed players challenged for the ball in the air. Apparently Peltier remembered nothing about the collision and so was sent to hospital for further examination – there is no news yet as to the extent of his injury, but you’d like to think that this is a case which falls into the no news is good news category.

In his post match press conference, assistant manager Kevin Blackwell brought home how serious Reid’s injury might have been when he talked about the conditions caused by the prolonged spell of hot, dry weather which has occupied so much of summer 2018. The pitches are so hard at the moment and this probably explains why one of the first things Neil Warnock has emphasised in all of his post game sessions with the media this year has been that his squad had not received any significant injuries.

Other sides have been less fortunate. Burton have cancelled their final warm up game in a few days time because of all of their injuries and City scheduled visit to Morton on Tuesday has also had to be be cancelled because the Scottish team have so many unfit players. Blackwell mentioned that a behind closed doors game at the FA’s St George’s Park complex on Friday against Ligue One side Amiens (I think that’s who we’re playing anyway – it’s hard to be certain without having what he said confirmed in print) had been arranged as a replacement for the Morton game.

The reason Kevin Blackwell was answering the questions yesterday was that Neil Warnock had left the game early to catch a plane which was taking him  to see a transfer target. I should say here, that I’m not going to waste much time on the Marko Grujic situation this week – suffice it to say that it’s still ongoing and I’m now trusting that the reason City are  pursuing this deal is that they have assurances that once a hold up regarding a new contract for the player between Liverpool and his agent has been sorted out, Grujic will sign for us for the season.

All of the signs were that we were only looking for a new midfielder (Grujic) and a striker, both on loan, but, after the Rotherham game our manager stated that he had a back up for Grujic who he wouldn’t mind signing even if we do finally get the Serbian. So. it seems we are after three players now and my feeling is that it is this mystery second midfielder who Mr Warnock was going to see yesterday – I also got the impression that the trip was for a meeting with the player, rather than to watch him play,

The aforementioned James Waite was in the starting line up yesterday for what was a very strong Development team which took on Hereford United at Edgar Street. The home side have done superbly since starting from scratch a few years ago after the old Hereford club was wound up and will be competing in the Vanarama League North in the new season.

Hereford competed well in the first half and could have been ahead at the break, but had their work cut out in the second period as a City team including Lee Camp, Cameron Coxe, Matt Connolly, Stuart O’Keefe, Anthony Pilkington, Lee Tomlin, Omar Bogle and Kadeem Harris began to get on top – Bogle, Pilkington and sub Rhys Healey all scoring to secure a 3-0 win.

With Premier League managers having to name twenty five man first team squads just before their first competitive match (home grown youngsters can also be included), you have to think that not many of those I listed in the last paragraph will make it into the twenty five at Cardiff – in fact, it might be right to say that all of them are available for at least a loan move, but, as yet, I think I’m right in saying that not one City player has gone out on loan. Now would seem to be an appropriate time therefore to mention that goalkeeper Ben Wilson, who was released by the club at the end of last season signed for Bradford this week.

Before leaving the Development team, I should mention a couple of players who came here as trialists, but may well have signed contracts of some sort with the club for the coming season. Brayden Shaw was not involved yesterday it seems, but he featured extensively in the south west last week and was referred to by name rather than by the much used “a Trialist” designation by the club website, while Jacob (Jake) Evans, who played a number of games at Development team level last season, played the second half at Hereford.

Finally, although I suspected the plans for a new training complex for the club had been shelved, they are still ongoing and, in fact, took a significant step forward on Friday – I’ve questioned whether such a step was necessary, but, having seen that line about fifteen pitches, I can appreciate more why the club feel that they need a step up from what they have at the current Vale complex.

 

Posted in Out on the pitch, Up in the Boardroom | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments