The most Cardiff City like performance of the season, but limitations still exposed.

18 Responses to The most Cardiff City like performance of the season, but limitations still exposed.

1. ANTHONY O'BRIEN says:

   August 31, 2019 at 10:34 am

   During the Great War many an upstanding Englishman attributed German atrocities to the fact that they did not play cricket which, in those halcyon days, was based on absolute fair play. This same Corinthian spirit was inculcated by the comics I devoured more than sixty years ago. Although they later re-emerged as comic strips, they were originally and invariably well-written and seeped in the idea of sportsmanship.

   I recall Bernard Briggs, a kind of rag-and-bone man who drove a motor bike with an old tin bath as a sidecar. He only ever conceded one goal (in a pre-match warm-up, if I remember correctly) but remained the very epitome of sporting fair play.

   Then there was Limp-along Leslie, orphaned in a car crash and injured so severely that the wound never fully healed. He was an immaculate inside-left who would never resort to dishonest practices.

   Why do I dwell on such nostalgic reminiscences? Simply because they influenced myself and probably most of my generation into always “playing the game” — and that is why I feel bound to say that Artur was fouled before he went down. I was a only a few yards away from the incident and my first reaction was to blame Morrison. In fact, I thought he was going to be booked rather than Arter.

   From a sense of fair play I also need to note that I thought that Fulham’s goal was the result of some superb footballing skill and movement. By the same token Cardiff had the spirit but not the skill. In addition, I should like to congratulate our Blogmeister for his — as always — balanced and fair-minded report on last night’s game. His blog is a credit to him, and to the contributors who add their comments to his words of wisdom.
2. Steve Perry says:

   August 31, 2019 at 11:31 am

   Thank-you, Paul. You must have great mental discipline to have resisted the great temptation of devoting reams to the role of the ref or Fulham in last night’s encounter. Perhaps I am less charitable so here goes.

   There are those on message-boards who call Fulham, ‘a horrible little club.’ What I will say is that in 60 years of watching City I doubt that I’ve never seen a team that exhibited so much time wasting, diving and feigning injury in my life than the Londoners. That the London-based national media drools over them as if they are Brazil is perplexing. Yes the ref bookd 6 of their players and sent off Arter in the last 1/2 hr but he brought it on himself by letting them get away with it for 60 mins. That Parker then sought to defend the indefensible dive by Arter; and their fans (the ones I read on their sites this morning) criticised the ref speaks so loudly about that little club by the Thames and King Crimson’s practice room (1969-1971) on the Fulham Palace Road.

   In a sentence: whereas I had clearly bought into the media view of Fulham FC before the game the reality was oh so different. The bark was nowhere near the bite. They were toothless in their attacking third as they preferred to play, ‘catch me if you can,’ with the ball their side of the halfway line.

   What of City. Whyte, I am beginning to think could turn out into being a good prospect whilst Bacuna had another good game. Ralls, another who gets pilloried by some, is so essential to City and played excellently. Was there a foul outside the box on Morrison before the visiting goal or was it a slip?

   Having seen the effort at Blackburn again on tv it was Bacuna and not Glatzel who blazed the effort over. I say that to say this: by playing a system where Glatzel gets one chance every 2 games is profoundly concerning. As a mate said to me this morning: “Warnock is a striker’s grave-yard.” There will be no lasting hope while this situation continues.
3. Colin Phillips says:

   August 31, 2019 at 12:31 pm

   Good morning (afternoon by the time I’ve typed this) , Paul and friends.

   Probably our best performance to date but still a lot to sort out.

   I’m having to adjust my position on Bacuna, he seems to be growing into the job. Potential to be seen in Whyte and Glatzel. I know Murphy scored the goal but why did he think he’d done enough. Once again seen strolling back when Fulham attacked down the right. I think Warnock is asking too much of Ralls and Bacuna, the other three midfielders are not the types to help out defensively. We need a fit Marlon Pack back PDQ.

   I thought we got lucky last night, if Fulham had come at us with a little more positivity they would have gone home with three points. From early on Bettinelli was taking his time over restarting play, even after his booking for time-wasting he didn’t change his ways knowing that he wouldn’t get a second yellow and then a red (has any keeper received two yellows for this offence?). The keeper wasn’t the only culprit. What has happened to Tom Cairney? Looked a really nice player on previous games in Cardiff he seems to have lost a lot of his influence on a game and yesterday got on the refs tits by I’m assuming constantly complaining. In his post-game interview Scotty Parker proved there is a lot of scope for improvement in his media skills, his comments on the red card incident made me glad he’ll never referee a game.

   What are we going to do about Callum? As my daughter pointed out ‘he doesn’t even look like a footballer’. I can see why Neil brought him on, he was likely to break up the constant sideway and backward passes that Fulham persisted in, by the way I thought it was a bit nonsensical for us Cardiff fans booing that tactic, it was up to us to win the ball off them.

   Just before the sending I had the feeling I wanted to be somewhere else. The incident certainly changed the approach by both sides.

   Before the game I would have taken the one point so in that respect I should be happy but there are still so many things that are wrong with the way we play. After the game I heard Neil say that we were naive – picking out Gavin Whyte trying to stay on his feet after a push when if he had gone to ground he would have won a free-kick. After the amount of time he has been in football management it would be silly to accuse him of naivety but he is so out of touch with the modern game that that might be the case. We are still over-committing at set-pieces, I feel we are at our most vulnerable when we get a corner or free-kick around their box, we give the ball away so easily and so often. I think I’ve mentioned the futility of our throw-in tactics once or twice before.

   Where do we go from here?
4. huw perry says:

   August 31, 2019 at 7:04 pm

   Thanks Paul and all.
   Have to agree a decentish performance although Paul is right to highlight again our difficulty in breaking teams down when we have momentum and numerical advantage.
   Like Colin I too am reassessing thoughts on Bacuna and Whyte shows good potential and has real pace and a trick or two. Just needs to get better on final delivery. Ralls again outstanding and sure we were all willing Tomlin to show some magic. He did ok but used up a lot of his energy reserves chasing and closing down, rather than in the attacking third of the pitch.
   As others have commented in recent weeks, Glatzel just needs a goal. He does look the part, has skill and a turn of pace and won some headers, but should have taken at least one of his few opportunities. As Steve says above, he will be living off scraps the way Warnock sets us up and can’t see that changing for the foreseeable. ( PS Steve well done on working in a King Crimson reference into your post match analysis- could be a regular feature ?).
   As for Fulham, again have to agree. Pretty passing, which I am envious of, but little by way of end product considering the skill at their disposal. Sure that when they click they will regularly score 3 or 4 .
   Pauls statistical analysis proves that our more limited approach can work, but it is not pretty and not working as effectively as 2 years ago. As an example, I rarely now feel we will score from a set piece or long throw – more likely to get caught on the break. We have all spotted this.
   Time for a breather for a couple of weeks. Maybe we all need to lie down and reflect after a strange opening block of fixtures. Bit sad though that pre-season optimism is starting to evaporate before it is even September!
5. Richard Holt says:

   August 31, 2019 at 7:50 pm

   Thanks Paul.
   As I mentioned prior to the match yesterday, next week marks the 60th anniversary of my first ever City match – a 4-2 win against Bristol City. I can’t remember too much about the actual game but I suspect there was enough excitement and entertainment to entice my six-year-old self to want to return to Ninian Park the next time I was offered the chance. With that in mind, I couldn’t help wondering as I watched so much of last night’s proceedings whether a 6/7/8 year old witnessing that as their first City game would leave with a burning desire to repeat the experience. I also wondered what all those other, mainly long departed folk on the bob bank that day would have made of what they saw last night.
   I felt what we saw were two teams who seem to have become caricatures of themselves. 1-1 didn’t seem a just scoreline to me – 0-0 would have been far more appropriate. In their way, Fulham were just as locked into their own stereotypical style as we were, until Arter’s sending off threw both sides into a kind of confusion as both manager’s best laid plans slid into disarray.
   I wouldn’t be too harsh on any of our players individually – they showed plenty of commitment and the system they are being asked to play isn’t their fault. The bigger questions about our direction as a club and our true ambition and purpose for this season remain however.
6. Lindsay Davies says:

   September 2, 2019 at 9:42 am

   Big thanks to Paul as ever, but, also to all the others – for an exile, the contributions were full of deft observations and informative ‘portraits’ of players I, inevitably, don’t know well.
   As for Fulham, I’ve always rather liked them and their ground (King Crimson notwithstanding).
   I lived in West London for decades after Welsh college graduation in 1970…used to watch Osgood, Cooke, and Hudson at The Bridge; Marsh, Bowles, and Givens at The Loft; a beautiful Fulham forward line of Conway, Earle, Halom, Barry Lloyd, and Les Barrett (they beat Bradford City 5-0 one Tuesday evening, scoring one each…at 4-0, kept feeding Les until he finally notched his).
   I saw some of my favourite Bluebirds away performances at Craven Cottage, including great goals by Buchanan and Nathan Blake in victories, and an amazing rearguard draw, featuring ten men for 80 minutes (Dwyer sent off? Billy Kellock holding it together? Or, the other way round? Paul will tell us).
   Meanwhile, I must have blinked – I thought we “HAD to let Camarasa and Arter go” because we were relegated. How come that chippy little geezer, The Dodgeful Arter, is playing for another Championship side? Anyone know?
7. Colin Phillips says:

   September 2, 2019 at 10:55 am

   “Bouncing Bernard” and “Limp Along Leslie” them were the days, Anthony.

   Those comics were never the same after they went”comic strip” ………jumpers for goalposts, mutter, mutter…..
8. The other Bob Wilson says:

   September 2, 2019 at 11:33 am

   Morning everyone – thank you for continuing this season’s trend of the Feedback sections reaction to matches being a lot more interesting than the matches themselves!

   Anthony, Limp Along Leslie meant nothing to me, but I found this after some research;-

   http://storky-knight-s-roy-of-the-rovers-forum.1112789.n5.nabble.com/Limp-Along-Leslie-td994.html

   http://www.britishcomics.20m.com/leslie.htm

   Regarding Arter’s dismissal, as I mentioned to you yesterday, my view of the incident wasn’t the best because lots of people sat around me all stood up just as it was happening, but what I saw was the slightest of contacts on Arter by Morrison and then, after what seemed like quite a long delay, a blatant dive by the Fulham player. I agree that it could have been a foul by Morrison, but in this instance it was good to see a player punished for reacting in such a theatrical manner. I agree with you about Fulham’s goal – there was some talk of it being a little lucky on Radio Wales at half time, but I didn’t see much good fortune involved.
   Steve, I’ve always quite liked Fulham from the time they kindly agreed to lose my first ever City away match 5-1, but I agree with you about their performance on Friday – Fulham teams are rarely dull in my experience, but I thought this one was. I’m with you as well on Glatzel who looks a good footballer to me, but he is now reaching the stage where he needs a goal and yet, as you mention, chances come along so rarely for him with the system we play. Also, too often there is a lack of support for him when he gets the ball in what would be dangerous areas if it wasn’t Cardiff playing Warnockball involved.
   Colin, I couldn’t agree with you more about our supporters booing Fulham while they were passing the ball back and forth – it’s said quite often that we are happy to let our opponents have the ball in certain areas of the pitch, but sometimes it seems to me that we don’t want to have the ball full stop! Regarding Paterson, I think players who miss part, or all, of pre season training often struggle to “catch up” and I know what your daughter means about him not looking like a footballer, but, although I know Neil Warnock likes him, would he be picking him if he was as overweight as some supporters insist he is?
   Huw, our lack of success from attacking set pieces last season could be explained away by the higher standards of the league we are in, but we’re not the threat we were last time we were in the Championship either. Off the top of my head, I make it that Flint’s goal against Luton is the only one we’ve scored from a set piece. Morrison taking the long throws probably doesn’t help, but I reckon his lack of goals since our promotion may be getting to him a bit, because I reckon he would have scored with that header from Bennett’s cross in 17/18, but now he seemed to want to make too sure with it – he looked like he was thinking about it too much rather than just going at in instinctively.
   Richard, that’s an interesting line about the two teams becoming caricatures of themselves, but I think you’re on to something and I agree about 0-0 being a more appropriate scoreline. As for what you say about what would kids watching Friday’s match have thought of it, I’ll apologise in advance for, perhaps, saying something that you may have heard from me before, but I’ll be as bold as to say that absolutely no one first gets into football as a child as a result of watching it played in the manner that we do. With adulthood comes things like team responsibility and more appreciation of the tactical side of things and there’s also the fact that the very best young players often end up making football their job, so it becomes a case of putting food on the table for some. However, I would still say that even the most cynical pro would prefer to play the game with the sort of freedom and room for expression that they had when they were, say, twenty five years younger and I can’t help thinking that our style of play would start to grate even for pros if they had been playing it for two or three seasons.
   Lindsay, I’m afraid I won’t be able to tell you for sure about the rearguard action you talk about – I do have a dim and distant memory of Andy McCulloch, maybe, scoring for us in a 1-1 draw where we’d had someone sent off which must make it sometime around 1973/4. Just looked it up and we did draw 1-1 at Craven Cottage on 31/3/73 with McCulloch getting our goal – Dwyer, Kellock and Alan Couch all played that day, but nothing I’ve got would record a sending off, so I can’t help you there, Richard would be able to though. As for what you say about Harry Arter, I think the fact that Scott Parker is his brother in law may explain why he was prepared to drop onto the Championship with Fulham.
   Never was a huge fan of King Crimson (more of a three minute singles man myself), but it is a source of annoyance that I can never find Twenty First Century Schizoid Man on Spotify to add it to my favourite playlist.
9. Lindsay Davies says:

   September 2, 2019 at 1:12 pm

   Paul.
   Just checked, that 1973, Craven Cottage 1-1 – McCulloch scored, and was the one sent off!
10. Richard Holt says:

    September 2, 2019 at 5:28 pm

    Yes, Andy McCulloch scored after 18 seconds of that game and was then sent off in the 12th minute for arguing over John Conway’s equaliser for Fulham. Certainly the first and possibly the only time we’ve had a player score and be sent off in the same match.
    I’m also trying to work out when an ex City player was last sent off playing against us.
11. Steve Perry says:

    September 3, 2019 at 1:41 pm

    A PS:

    For Bob and others
    Here’s a snatch of the epic 1969 Crimson performance of 21stCSM at the Rolling Stones’ Hyde Park concert (July 1969) featuring vocalist Greg Lake.

    https://youtu.be/MM_G0IRLEx4

    And a little more recently:

    https://youtu.be/3028oDEKZo4

    Incidentally, I was at Fulham for that 5-1 City victory. The headline in the Pink Un SWEcho was: ‘City Sizzle and Batter Fulham.’ Talking of Vic Halom … Don Murray’s challenge on him 15 yds outside the box in the inside-right channel was one of the worst x rated challenges I’ve ever seen on a football pitch.
12. huw perry says:

    September 3, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    Thanks for the music feature Steve – a welcome diversion. Different times….
13. Mike Herbert says:

    September 3, 2019 at 8:51 pm

    First game this exile has been able to watch – thanks to Sky – and I have to agree with your analysis of the game and our approach Paul – particularly about the need for Glatzel to get more support from players getting nearer to him when we attack. Lots of interesting comments again from everyone. Your research into “Limp Along Leslie” – mentioned first by my old friend Anthony brought back memories but of earlier stories in the comics of the 1960’s (newer readers of the blog might not be aware that Anthony (AMO) and I were compatriots at school then) but I cannot for the life of me remember whether they were in The Rover, The Wizard or The Adventure. Perhaps the “fair play hero” who lasted longest though was Roy of the Rovers who, I think, first appeared in The Tiger?
14. Lindsay Davies says:

    September 5, 2019 at 9:37 am

    Limp Along Leslie was surely inspired by the one-and-only Garrincha – he of the twisted legs and banana shots, and diverting love-life.
15. Colin Phillips says:

    September 5, 2019 at 5:32 pm

    Perhaps the other way round, Lindsay.

    Think Leslie pre-dated Garrincha.
16. Lindsay Davies says:

    September 5, 2019 at 6:40 pm

    Thanks, Colin…I think you’re probably right.
    I was going on Paul’s second ‘link’ being from a Wizard of 1960 – exactly at the half-point between Garrincha’s breakthrough World Cup (’58 – unlucky Wales!) and his Annus Mirabilis (’62 in Chile).
    My own Sunday League team at Aber in the late-60s was Melchester Rovers.
17. The other Bob Wilson says:

    September 6, 2019 at 9:55 am

    I had an e-mail conversation with Anthony earlier in the week in which I mentioned that I was sure there was a football comic around in the late 60s, but I hadn’t been able to find anything online to confirm this. Well, I’ve now found something which confirms there was, but I was wrong on a couple of counts because, first, there were two of them and, second, they came out in the early seventies;-

    https://www.soccerbilia.co.uk/acatalog/Football_Comics_.html
18. ANTHONY O'BRIEN says:

    September 6, 2019 at 9:09 pm

    I’m pretty sure that Limp Along Leslie preceded Garrincha who was probably still deciding which boot to put on which foot before hitting the big time.
    By the mid-1950s I was an avid reader of comics with well written stories which were not told via cartoon illustrations.
    By the late ‘fifties I had gravitated to football magazines, or rather one such publication, Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly. which ran a competition to name a football team made up from professional players with the same surname from anywhere. I chose players called Williams. I think the goalkeeper was named Clarence Williams and the two fulbacks were the Welsh internationals from WBA, The prize was a T-panel ball and I remember taking it to a training session at Llantwit Fardre but forgot to take it home with me. When I went back for the next session I was told that someone had kicked the ball into the main road and a lorry had run over it. I took this story as gospel but many years later was struck by the possibility that someone had actually acquired the ball for themselves. If the ball was run over why did I never see the poor carcass? Had I been too trusting originally or had I become more cynical with the passing of the years? This and other such questions as what is the meaning of life, what was the real reason the chicken crossed the road, and what is to become of Cardiff City this year remain beyond the reach of all human comprehension. The most taxing one remains the fate of Cardiff City Football Club.

Comments are closed.