All very predictable at Oakwell.

Posted on April 5, 2017 by The other Bob Wilson

I suppose your reaction as a Cardiff City fan depends on whether you believed Neil Warnock was right when he said that, with his side having reached, and then exceeded, his survival target for the season of fifty points, he still felt that one or two more points were needed to be absolutely sure that we would avoid relegation.

Assuming that you were one of those who believed our manager was correct, then last night’s 0-0 draw at Barnsley has to be seen as a good result – especially when you look at the results of those sides in real danger of accompanying Rotherham into League One.

The draw puts us on fifty two points and was particularly significant because twenty third placed Wigan’s 3-0 loss at Ipswich leaves them needing to win all of their remaining six matches to equal our points tally – our goal difference is significantly better as well, but, presumably, that could all change if Wigan were to win all of their remaining matches and we were to lose all of ours!

Does anyone really think that is going to happen though? I don’t and, after last night, if anyone reading this is still worried about the possibility of relegation, they can partially comfort themselves with the knowledge that it’s now 99.9% certain that there are two sides in the bottom three now who cannot catch us.

With Bristol City crashing to a 5-0 defeat at Preston (a very worrying result for the wurzels who looked to be well on the way to getting themselves clear of the drop with their 4-0 thumping of Huddersfield in their last home match) and Forest losing 1-0 at Wolves, even the sides just outside the relegation places are, realistically, going to have to win at least four of their remaining six games to stand a chance of overhauling us.

Blackburn’s 3-1 loss at Reading leaves them in twenty second position needing four wins or three victories and three draws from their six games left to equal our tally – they’ll cling to the fact that they’ve still got matches against the two teams above them to come, but that’s good news from City’s perspective because it means that it’s impossible for the three side who would need to finish the season like trains to stand a chance of getting past us to get eighteen points from their final six games.

So, if the thought of possible relegation still keeps you awake at night, maybe you were able to get a decent night’s kip after being buoyed by how the latest round of games went, but for the rest of us living in the real world, the game at Oakwell was a lot of fuss (well, actually, there wasn’t much fuss!) about nothing.

Doubtless Sky would have bigged up last night’s encounter between the league’s thirteenth and fourteenth placed teams beforehand as much as they could if they had the misfortune to have been televising it. However, games in April between sides with virtually no chance of going up or down are always decent options for betting men or women looking for possible goalless draws to place their money on.

Neil Warnock may have spoken about the need for those one or two extra points before the Wolves game, but his team selection for our last two matches tells the story of someone who thought we were already safe. This especially applies to last night as Sean Morrison, Jazz Richards, Joe Ralls, Kadeem Harris and Junior Hoilett, who I’d say were all members of what would have been classed as our first choice starting eleven since the turn of the year, found themselves dropped/rested – Warnock has never struck me as one for new fangled ideas such as squad rotation, but it’s hard to think of what else to call last night’s selection.

Back in December, Barnsley came to Cardiff and really looked like a decent outside bet for a Play Off spot as they edged a seven goal thriller with their winner coming deep into added time. That match offered a fascinating contrast of styles and Barnsley impressed me as one of the best sides to have visited our ground so far this season, but, in saying that, City’s barnstorming fightback to 3-3 in the closing stages made it a game that they were very unfortunate to lose – it was the type of match where defeat was a bit easier to take than it normally is because you knew your side had played well and they would be okay if they kept on performing like that.

You have to feel for manager Paul Heckingbottom and the Barnsley fans when you see what’s happened to their team since then – January saw important players sold as a side with one of the smallest budgets in the Championship found themselves the target for under achieving “money bags” sides such as Aston Villa and, to a lesser extent, Sheffield Wednesday.

So, the post January transfer window period has seen Barnsley drop down the table as a result of a spell of one win in their last twelve (it’s eight matches now since they last won).  Put that sort of form together with a Cardiff side showing increasing signs of end of seasonitis and you just knew that there was very little chance of last night’s match coming anywhere near emulating the mini classic of four months ago.

Occasionally, you get a 0-0 draw full of thrills and spills at either end of the pitch, but, mostly, such matches end up with the scoreline they deserve and this was definitely the case last night it seems, but, even dreary stalemates can have their plus points if you look hard enough for them and, for me, there were two last night.

First, when your clean sheet record is as bad as ours has been this season, any game where you stop your opponents from scoring has to be seen as a positive and, secondly, Brian Murphy, brought on at half time for an injured Allan McGregor, made a few decent saves which added to a feeling that he has done enough in his first team appearances in 16/17 to suggest that he should be our back up keeper next season. I had said on a City messageboard this week that we would need two new keepers this summer, but I did so thinking that Murphy had only signed for us on a one year deal – it turns out he’s contracted for next season as well, so, although I still believe we need someone who can come in and be our obvious first choice between the sticks, Murphy can be a more than capable back up for him.

That apart though, there was little to get too excited about in City’s display and it must be some time ago since we played ninety minutes and had as few even remotely promising attacking situations. Also, it appears that none of those brought into the line up did enough to demand that they be included on Saturday against in form Brentford.

Declan John (again, rightly in my view, being used as a winger) was withdrawn just past the hour mark, Matt Connolly did okay just by being his normal, unflappable self, Greg Halford, just as he always is for us, was solid without being remotely spectacular, Craig Noone had one of those nondescript days that give opposing full backs a nice, quiet ninety minutes and Anthony Pilkington, apparently, put in a lot hard work which achieved little in the way of an end product.

Worst of all was to hear Keven Ratcliffe say during the Radio Wales coverage of the match that some of the City players didn’t look particularly bothered out there. Yes, I know Ratcliffe is not rated as a summariser by many, but I tend to think that it’s pretty easy for someone who had played as many matches as he did to spot when professionals are, for want of a better expression, taking things a little easy.

To repeat myself on something I’ve mentioned a couple of times on here recently, once an individual or group believe they have achieved the target they had been working towards for months, it’s to be expected that many of those involved will ease down on their commitment levels.

It’s easy, as well as understandable in many ways, for supporters to get annoyed when some of their players are accused of not trying – in fact, in many cases when it happens, it’s absolutely unforgivable . However, I find it harder to be too critical of anyone whose commitment may drop a little in the current circumstances which, to all intents and purposes, sees us becalmed in mid table with a month of the season to go.

If you look back through my comments on here since Neil Warnock was appointed back in October, you’ll find very little, if anything, that is critical or questioning of him, but I do wonder whether his constant references to what we’ll be doing in the summer and what we are hoping for next season are having an effect on some of the players who are still here.

I’m referring in particular to those players who are being put forward as candidates to leave in the next few months. Three of the five bought in last night are among the names often mentioned when there is any debate as to who we would be happy to let leave the club this summer and I can see that it must be hard to come into the team as it is now and put on a committed and effective performance.

When there is so much talk about how different things will be next season, you have to wonder how those who are struggling to get much game time at the moment will react when given an opportunity which, in truth, bears all the hallmarks of end of season experimentation – indeed, Mr Warnock has suggested that this is what he will be doing between now and the end of the campaign.

Under such circumstances it must be hard to, firstly, motivate yourself to be in a frame of mind whereby you can force your manager into changing his opinion of you in one game and, second, if you do have that motivation, to play well enough in it when intensity levels in general are bound to be a little lower than normal.

Of course, all of this should be judged against a background whereby the club’s plan in recent close seasons has been to get rid of players that they no longer had any need for. The trouble City have had when it comes to this approach is that many of the players concerned have time left on contracts that pay so well that they are unwilling to leave on a permanent basis. Additionally, with prospective buyers, understandably, being not willing to pay the same wages as we do for players who are, in most cases, not first team regulars at Cardiff, you tend to gravitate towards a situation whereby City have to make a contribution to his new club towards the cost of a player’s loan or permanent transfer.

So, I suspect the reality is that, even though there are definitely players City would like to see taken off their hands this summer, it is, in many ways, a buyer’s market and so I think that even moreso in this summer where we are being told that the club may be willing to spend more than in the past two years, we should not rule out at least one of City’s “big guns” moving on in the close season.

Neil Warnock has categorically stated that Kenneth Zohore will still be here next season, but will the club’s resolve be so strong if a bid of a size that enables Warnock to spend the £6 million that’s been talked about on new players, while also giving us a handy contribution towards coping financially in the season when our parachute payment ends is received for our top scorer?

Posted in Out on the pitch, The Championship | Tagged | 5 Comments

Impressive Huddersfield too good for City’s Development team.

Posted on April 4, 2017 by The other Bob Wilson

If Charlton Athletic are the side you usually tend to find at or near the top of the Southern section league in which Cardiff City’s Under 23 side compete, then, based on my rather limited knowledge of the competition’s Northern section, it’s Huddersfield Town who are most likely to be somewhere near the top of it’s counterpart.

In saying that, Huddersfield look likely to miss out on a top two finish this season, but they came into last night’s match at Cardiff City Stadium in good form having won their last four matches.

Eight days ago, City, fielding the usual very young side full of teenagers, played Northern Section leaders Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough and, although you don’t get the full picture of how a match goes from the brief highlights available on Cardiff City World, appeared to be well worth the very creditable 1-1 draw they returned with.

Huddersfield last night was a very different matter though. Birmingham were good in beating us 4-0 at the Vale early in the season, but they fielded a team with a smattering of first team squad members – from what I can gather, Huddersfield had no one with first team experience in their starting line up last night, so, for me, they have to be the most impressive side I’ve seen us play at this level this season.

Twenty year old Philip Billing, scorer of what is probably Cardiff City Stadium’s goal of the season so far in Huddersfield’s 3-2 defeat here back in November, has broken into the Terrier’s successful senior squad this season, but, rather like at Charlton where the tendency at first team level lately has been to look for players in the transfer market rather than promote from within, it seems to be getting harder for the talented youngsters at the club to break through.

So, I’m not sure how many of the players in last night’s very good winning side will get a chance at first team level at their present club, but some of them at least will surely be able to make a good career for themselves in the game if they can maintain the levels of pace, commitment, technique and intelligence they showed last night.

Unlike our Under 18s who are really an Under 16 team, our Under 23 side, which these days comprises mainly of kids still qualified to play for the Academy team and young pros not yet into their twenties, have been able to remain competitive for the second half of the season when facing opponents who tend to be a year or two older than them, but last night they came up against a side which was just too good for them.

Up until they faced Huddersfield, the current team had been able to hold their heads above water – true, away results have not been good, but at home they’ve coped well and when they are on their game, the youngsters play better, more effective and attractive, football than the older side that played at this level did during the first half of last season.

Within just a few minutes of the start last night we saw evidence of how well this young side can play as some slick and incisive first time passing completely opened up the left hand side of the Huddersfield defence to send right back Cameron Coxe scurrying into the area, but, forced to shoot with his left foot as he cut in, his effort flew well wide.

However, by the time Mark Harris forced visiting goalkeeper Luke Coddington into his first real save of the night, City had been reliant on a string of fine stops by Oliver Byrne to keep the game goalless. The keeper built on his good showing against Sheffield United last Thursday as he made four or five quality stops as Huddersfield warmed to their task.

Like most sides we play at Under 18 and Under 23 level these days, Huddersfield were that bit bigger than the City youngsters, but, unlike, say, Barnsley’s Academy team who, basically, beat us on Saturday because they were able to bully us off the ball, they were also sharper and, on last night’s evidence, better technically than us.

City were fortunate to get to half time with the game still goalless, but then early in the second period, came the moment that sealed their fate – they scored! Ibrahim Meite, on as a half time substitute for trialist Tom Rosenthal, did well to play James Waite into a position where he could take on the last defender. Waite is very good at turning such promising positions into goals and this time he was able to sidestep the defender and fire high up into the net from around the penalty spot.

For all of Byrne’s heroics, Huddersfield had been guilty of being a little wasteful until that moment, but falling behind seemed to concentrate their minds and five minutes later they were in the lead.

The equaliser came when Jordan Blaise, part of a City back four that, despite the problems they were being caused, had defended pretty well until then, came out from his position to try and intercept the ball around the halfway line. It was the sort of thing that gets watchers complementing some good anticipation if it works, but offers a risk if the player involved does not come away with the ball – Blaise didn’t and the visitors were able to exploit the yawning gap behind the City man as Ronan Coughlan was allowed to run twenty yards with the ball before coolly beating Byrne.

The keeper was also helpless when Huddersfield’s impressive captain Regan Booty played a short corner, received the ball back and curled a lovely effort beyond him from the corner of the penalty area.

Huddersfield continued to look the better side and the more likely scorers of the game’s fourth goal, but City responded well to falling behind and came close to equalising on a few occasions, most notably when Waite showed his quick feet to create an opportunity for himself which he fired very narrowly over – Jamie Veale’s free kick flew not too far over as well.

However, the last ten minutes saw the visitors pull clear as all of the defensive work they had put into the game told on the City players – young Jack Bodenham lost a challenge on the edge of the penalty area which enabled Lewis O’Brien to score and then, as the game went into added time, Sam Warde headed home a corner on the far post.

4-1 was a bit harsh on a City side that had competed well throughout. It was hardly “another disastrous result for Craig Bellamy’s team” as I saw it described on one of the City messageboards, they were simply beaten by a very good team on the night – there’s no disgrace or disaster in that.

Posted in The stiffs | Tagged , | 3 Comments