Top of the list to cover this week has to be Cardiff City’s week in Devon and Cornwall, where their results went as follows;-
15/7/18 Truro City 0 Cardiff City Development 2 (Pilkington, McKay P)
16/7/18 Tavistock AFC 0 Cardiff City 6 (Hoilett, Ralls, Madine 2, Reid, Ward)
17/7/18 St Austell 2 (Eddy, Goldsworthy pen) Cardiff City Development 4 (Healey 2, Tinsley og, Veale)
18/7/18 Bodmin 1 (Gilbert) Cardiff City 11 (Reid, Mendez-Laing, K Harris 3 [2 pens], Murphy J 2, Ward 3 [1 pen}, Madine)
19/7/18 Porthleven 1 (Beasley) Cardiff City Development 9 (Healey 5, McLean, Evans, Waite, Veale)
20/7/18 Torquay 1 (Keating) Cardiff City 1 (Murphy J)
21/7/18 AFC Liskeard 0 Cardiff City Development 11 (Tomlin, Shaw 2, Pilkington 3 [1 pen], Waite 2, Wootton, Healey, McLean)
The first thing to say is that senior players Stuart O’Keefe and Omar Bogle did not travel to south west England with the party – hardly surprising in O’Keefe’s case really, but Bogle has dropped a long way down the pecking order after his flurry of goals in the limited number of games he got after signing from Wigan.
Also, as can be seen from the list of scorers in Development team games, Anthony Pilkington and Lee Tomlin were used at that level – neither of them were involved in the three senior side games and the same applied to Lee Camp. Therefore, it seems pretty obvious that the five players I’ve mentioned are among those the club are looking to move on, but that might not be as easy as it sounds if they have all had wage rises following our promotion.
Aron Gunnarsson traveled with the squad, but did not get any game time because he was not considered to be ready to play yet following his late return to training after the World Cup, while Kenneth Zohore only featured for forty five minutes in the match with Torquay after being given time off after he became a father for the first time.
As for the results, well, it would be easy to look at that draw against a Torquay team which are now in the sixth level of the domestic pyramid following their relegation from the Conference last season and fear the worst for the coming season, but if the big wins against Tavistock and Bodmin are, rightly, written off as meaning nothing in terms of our prospects for 18/19, then shouldn’t the same apply for Torquay?
One other matter I’d mention is that both of the goals conceded by the senior side came via the same avenue – a long ball over the top which caught our back four cold. Now, normally what happens in these days of “sweeper keepers” is that there is a further line of defence able to nip such problems in the bud if your back four is caught too square and too far up the pitch by a ball played over them, but both of our keepers (Smithies and Etheridge) were caught on their heels and so allowed the opposing forward to get to the ball before them – this is the sort of thing which can be sorted out on the training pitch, but it is a little concerning that such basics were falling down against limited opponents.
Moving on, it would be interesting to find out just what Neil Warnock sees as the primary function of these week long trips to the county which is now his homebase. I believe this is the seventh or eighth time his teams have done it, so he, obviously, places great store by it. However, with the eyes of the national media on us so much more as we are now a Premier League club, it’s hardly surprising that the contrast between what we were doing and what probably all of the other nineteen sides in the division were up to as they jetted to all parts of the world was remarked upon.
Does our manager see it as a team building exercise first and foremost or is it a way to ensure that there is a winning mentality at the club right from the start? I suspect that both apply to some degree, but my feeling is that it’s the team bonding element which takes priority.
The truth of the matter is that, while not every Warnock led expedition to Cornwall has resulted in on field success, the precedent set last season says that, at Cardiff anyway, the approach worked as an unfancied team secured a promotion which was widely put down to a great team ethic that enabled them to perform at a higher level than their collective ability suggested.
Already, it’s being said, probably correctly, by many pundits that if Cardiff are to survive in the Premier League, it will be down to that united front which relies on everyone putting a full shift in as they cover for any team mate in trouble.
Hardly surprisingly, it’s been a quiet week on the transfer front. Matt Kennedy, who was released at the end of last season after a City career which saw him occasionally threaten to break into the first team as a regular starter, signed for St. Johnstone and I wish him all of the best there (he has the talent to succeed at that level).
However, it’s a potential move that is threatening to justify the “transfer saga” label so beloved by the press which has been the only real subject on that front this week with Neil Warnock suggesting that the clubs (City and Liverpool) want the move, as does the player (Marko Grujic), but the agent doesn’t.
Is that just our manager wanting to stir things up a bit in his usual manner or is he saying it as it is? There’s no way of knowing is there, but I read that Grujic will choose between us and Galatasaray (who can offer Champions League football) in the next few days.
I cannot deny that I have a little sympathy with the view expressed by some City fans about this loan move – while I would say it is over simplifying things to say Grujic is just not good enough full stop, it is a fact that he was more out of our team than in it as last season came to an end.
Neil Warnock says we are looking at two more signings (both of which will be loans), one of them is Grujic, while the other is a so far unidentified striker. Now, it wouldn’t surprise me if our manager, as is his wont, is being a little “economical with the truth” there, However, if we really are only looking at a Grujic type player in terms of our central midfield, then I maintain that, having lost the assets which Craig Bryson possessed more than anyone else in the middle of the park for us (e.g. box to box and closing down of opponents), we will be weaker in that area of the pitch than we were last season and we were hardly brilliant then!
No, the area where I have most doubts about our team ethic being sufficient to cover up for other defects is in the middle of the park – if we have to have “bread and butter”, can it at least be of the artisan variety – our manager is very keen on artisans after all!
Thanks Paul for the latest situation and view as always spot on .
I agree Cornish tour is just an exercise and I agree with Warnock better this than foreign exscertion deemed as another holiday.
Thanks for the Zohore update I was worried he was injured ,I’m so looking forward to seeing him apply his skills in the higher league,this is such a big moment for him and the club ,his goals could be so crucial if the supply route is there (and there may lay be real big issue ,supply ,and its quality )
Our side in my opinion is at best a top 4 quality Championship side, we will do so well to survive ,the only way we will do that is too fight ,keep fit,give no quarter,take the dead ball opportunities and use pace on the break in a deadly way.
I have no doubt our centre backs will be caught out as they have no real pace and will get turned,I do wonder if Manga will partner Morrison with Bamba just in front of them ?
I don’t think Grujic is the answer , and if wanted to come he’d be here by now , if he does come we cannot commit to him playing every game ,that’s crazy, and blackmail , surely he applies himself and is picked on merit, I’d rather Snodgrass.
As the season approachesits getting scary.
Thanks for your update Paul which pretty much concurs with my thoughts.
I’ve been of the view all summer that Warnock would be given sufficient resources to at least give us a fighting chance of staying up. I have to say that I am beginning to wonder whether I’ve been a little over optimistic. I feel that we are still probably 3 or 4 good signings away from being in that sort of position. Grujic and another striker would still leave us short in midfield as you’ve explained and I’m one of those who doesn’t feel that Peltier, Manga or Richards are quite up to the right-back role at Premier league level.
Of course Warnock’s ‘premier league poverty’ claims may be a clever bit of gamesmanship to conceal a bit more clout in the transfer market than he wants to admit to and there may be a few more surprise incomings yet. At times though it can sound a bit like excuses being got in early.
Anyway, let’s see how we’re feeling three weeks today after our Premier league baptism at the little third division ground just down the road from me.
Cheers again Paul for the update and I agree that the midfield situation is worrying. I don’t think Gruic returning is the answer, he lacks the necessary discipline and after all Gunna was preferred by the manager.
Its strange how Bogle and Tomlin have both struggled to make an impact. They are obviously talented but appear to have attitude and fitness issues. At their best they are probably championship footballers and would not cope in the premiership.
I am intrigued as to how both Paterson and Reid can fit together in the same starting eleven as I presume both favour the number ten role. Without Paterson we lack a physical presence up top although Reid will harass and offer a goal threat.
Let’s hope our Neil can acquire a quality midfielder, Arter would be my choice.
Good morning Paul and everyone.
A fine summary of the last seven days, and I take on board your thoughts about the first team’s efforts over this period, but surely we should be dispatching Torquay with the same efficiency as Tavistock and Bodmin. I think we all know how “friendlies” pan out with the many second half changes, but I’m sure the 900 or so City followers who travelled to Plainmoor to support the team would have been surprised and disappointed that we only managed one goal.
Pace is so difficult to defend against. Whilst I applaud our acquisition of two quick attackers in Murphy and Reid, I am anxious that our current defenders, particularly on the right hand side, as others have mentioned, lack that commodity and will be found wanting in the months ahead. Your comments that our “sweeper” keepers did not react quickly enough to the goals conceded during the week was alarming as I would have thought that that was an aspect of the current skills necessary to be a top quality keeper would be already ingrained into their make up. Training ground work essential.
I suspect that Grujic will arrive, there’s been too much talk for it not to happen and with Liverpool having so many mid-fielders to choose from, far better for him to leave either temporarily or permanently. Many players before him have found opportunities limited at “big” clubs, and success when they have moved to so called lesser teams and become established, Shawcross to Stoke and Drinkwater to Leicester being fine examples.
Apart from lacking pace in defence, a mobile mid-field is also necessary. I believe we all believe that Ralls has that quality, and there is no doubt that our wingers are capable in the speed department, but they are not tacklers, and as NW likes wingers, just who will be our supporting mid-fielder of the box to box type? Much as I like Paterson, I’m not quite sure where he will fit in to the starting eleven if Reid is to play in support of Zahore. Will Bennett start in a more advanced position? And who will be the second loan signing if Grujic is the first? We could do worse than Arter – but how I wish for Arslan ( it has gone quiet on that front ).
When I try, somewhat foolishly, to select our best eleven, I inevitably come up with thirteen, and that’s not allowed!!!! And as I have stated so many times, trying to second guess our leader is a mug’s game. So it’s wait and see, and I suspect we’ll have a better idea when the Spaniard’s come calling in a week or so’s time.
Thanks all for your replies. More then perhaps any other City manager I can remember, Neil Warnock is his own man and so, I believe it makes him harder to predict when it comes to new signings in particular. That said, we are now beginning to get a better idea of the sort of players he likes (e.g. wingers who have to do their bit going backwards as well as forwards, full backs who are, first and foremost, defenders, “bread and butter” central midfielders and big strikers). I could go on about who I would like to see us sign – one of the pair mentioned by BJA in central midfield (Arter or Arslan) would do me, but are we likely to see them coming here? I’d like to proved wrong, but I don’t see it happening.
So, my first question when considering someone as a potential new signing is “are they a Warnock type player?” – then again, is my understanding of what a Warnock type player is flawed? So much of our manager’s popularity, and unpopularity, stems from the perceptions people have of him as a man and of the football they believe he advocates- I’d say that getting on for two years of him as Cardiff City manager has shown that despite the honesty and straightforwardness of the character he puts across to the media, he is more complex than that.
There’s a bit of a theme in your messages about the right back position and how we accommodate Callum Paterson. The first thing I’d say is that it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see us starting with Peltier at right back at Bournemouth – he’s not the quickest, but as part of a back four playing away in the Premier League, I would not expect him to venture forward much into positions where he could find himself in a foot race with a speedy winger. I’d also say that with Cunningham being talked of by our manager as a possible member of a three centreback selection (he should add a bit of pace in that area), that may open the way to Paterson being used as a right wing back – I know wing backs and wingers don’t particularly mix that well, but could our manager be willing to dispense with the latter at times in the Premier League? I could see Paterson carrying a goal threat from right wing back because he was a virtual wing back at times for Hearts where his goalscoring record was so impressive.
Russell, I was hopeful of Snodgrass coming a few weeks back and it may still happen, but, if I had to guess, we aren’t willing to pay the sort of loan fee West Ham want or make the size of contribution to his wages that they are asking for. As the time left on the transfer window ticks down, it could be that West Ham will relent, but I suspect the fact that Premier League clubs can loan players to EFL and continental clubs until the end of next month will mean that they will hang on in the expectation that they will make more from a loan deal with one of those teams than they would with us.
Richard, I’d be surprised if we make just the two more loan signings, but, having spent £20 million plus so far, I wouldn’t have thought there’d be a huge amount left to spend on another permanent signing unless we sell someone for a significant fee.
Bogle must have done something to really upset our manager Jeff and the fact he played, and scored, for the first team after the event, makes me suspect that that there is more to it than just his sending off against the wurzels.
Paul, Just read an article in the Liverpool Echo that the Reds are trying to raise £100 million by offering seven players for sale, Grujic being one and with a price tag of £20 million, yes a whopping £20 million!!! However the article goes on to state that he may well be loaned out for a year, and we appear to have agreed terms for such a loan deal.
Shopping at Harrods is most definitely out, and as Pondland has gone bust, perhaps we should try Amazon.
Thanks Paul, as ever. And all the MAYA gang for their comments.
I still maintain that we needed a top centre back…and missed the boat with Aden Flint. And I hope that Cunningham has been bought as a left back, for Joe Bennett, for all his improvement under Neil, is not really a strong defender. Going forward though, he has become the real deal, and I can well see him in a Peter Whittingham role.
Before signing off…have you ever flagged-up this “footballgroundguide.com” website, Paul. Probably you have…and I have forgotten. Apols, if that is the case.
I find it mesmerisingly good. I can easily lose not just five minutes, but five HOURS, going through the different grounds, and in addition, clicking on the links to the old, rich-in-character stadia that preceded the new often soulless ones. And finding out such fascinating trivia like for instance, if I visited B&Q in Huddersfield, I would find a plaque in the car park that denoted the centre spot of the old Leeds Road stadium.
What a labour of love this is from a Birmingham City fan who is a member of the “visited all 92” bunch of fellow football enthusiasts, and decided to help make all our lives that little bit richer. God bless him.
Particukarly interesting are the away fans’ comments…as at the bottom of the Cardiff City page…
http://www.footballgroundguide.com/leagues/england/premier-league/cardiff-city-stadium.html
Well, the City are off to Champneys Leicestershire now. Of course there is not a Champneys in Devon and Cornwall. So I would still love to know where they based themselves during the West Country tour. (For instance, when the Millennium Stadium stood in for Wembley, I used to always want to know which team had bagged The Vale, and which was staying in the Celtic Manor or St David’s. To most other people I know, this was inconsequential. To me however, it was the vital codiments with the meal.)
As the distances were so small, my bet is that they never changed hotel. Can any of the MAYA gang help find out for me, please Paul…?
And here’s for why. No …I am not looking for dodgy lasagne to explain away Plainmoor…!! It is just that I am a paid up member of the Obsessed With Trivia club.
And there is a method in my madness.
I have always believed that what is ostensibly “trivia”, is in fact quite the opposite. You can actually trace back momentous sporting achievements/disasters, to what seemed at the time, ostensibly totally extraneous factors.
Oh dear…apols for my typos. D’oh…!!
“particularly” and “condiments” both jump out at me now.
Well, it is a lot cooler at 10.45 pm…than it was twelve hours ago.
And morbidly obese chaps like me, cannot take this heat.
Belated thanks, Paul, for the West Country upsum (Pentagon-speak)…incredibly helpful to those of us in the baking Far East (Norfolk).
For no sensible reason, I feel much more optimistic than even a few weeks ago…can’t wait.
Incidentally, on Googling Josh Murphy, I discover that the twins’ younger brother is a chorister at Ely Cathedral – something to delight all Welshmen.
Also, their parents run a restaurant in these parts, called “Arbuckles”, presumably named for Fatty, disgraced silent movie star of that ilk; I’m guessing the lithe and speedy, footballing, twins don’t eat there too often!
Forza Bluebirds!
I mentioned somewhere recently that i thought may still have one permanent signing left in us BJA, but £20 million for Grujic? No thanks. I just wish the whole thing would be wrapped up one way or another so that we can move on to someone else if we have to.
I’ve not got a clue where the team stayed last week Dai, but I would assume it was the same place as last year and that didn’t work out too badly for us! I take your point though, if we had to go somewhere else this year and we ended up at, say, the place John Cleese and Connie Booth based Fawlty Towers on, then the whole “vibe” of the week would have been different and this could easily have consequences as far as things like team spirit are concerned. Thanks for the link to that site, it’s a new one on me and I’ve just bookmarked it.
I’m more confident than a fan of a club with what has to be the lowest playing budget in the Premier League should be Lindsay – just hope we end up with a central midfield which is better than Last year’s was (we’re not that yet and still won’t be if Grujic is the only addition in that area of the pitch).
Last word – for now- from here.
Apparently, the wonderful James Maddison cost Leicester City £20m approx.
If Grujic is worth the same, then I’m a sun-dried tomato!
As for the Boys in Torquay – maybe they did, indeed, stay with the Fawltys, and were distracted by the view from their rooms of “herds of wandering wildebeeste”.
I believe they stayed at St Mellion golf resort in Saltash. Certainly had a day of golf there.
Thankyou to our buddyJeff Blight, for being such a reliable gumshoe. Your sleuth-like work deserves a medal. Well done, Jeff.
It seems a very good value hotel…roughly a third the price of a similar (bog standard) room at Champneys.
I note that this hotel resort is in Saltash …so it is just a couple of miles into Cornwall, and a similar short distance from Neil’s farm. Yes clearly, this was their base alright, throughout.
https://st-mellion.co.uk/
And my thanks also go to our esteemed longtime MAYAn, Lindsay Davies for his info on the Murphy family restaurants.
I have discovered that the Arbuckles in Downham Market was originally a Fatty Arbuckles. The chain as we all know, folded about a decade or so back. And collapsed not least because a few years before folding, they were daft enough to drop the “Fatty” because they thought it counter productive to healthy eating. (As a paid-up member of the Morbidly Obese Club, I say serves them right. I note that sizeist discrimination rarely succeeds…though you might say that Kentucky Fried Chicken got away with it when they became obsessed with the negative aspects of the word “fried”, and decided to use their initials instead…and figured that KFC would not need translation worldwide, any more than KGB or GESTAPO does/did.)
I also guess that they thought that nobody was still alive who remembered the notorious Fatty Arbuckle on the big screen, and that the cineastes who did know of him, were too busy visiting tapas and sushi restaurants to bother with ersatz American diners…!!
Anyway, checking out the Murphy family’s admirable website, I have to say that they would not see the likes of me in a hundred years. Oh sure, their menu looks attractive and varied, but it is a bit overpriced. As is the identical menu at their Ely restaurant. And seeing as both Downham Market and Ely have “Spoons”, then it is Tim Martin’s empire that would see my custom.
But the real thing that has me spitting nails re the menu of the Murphy family, is their taking americanisation a stage too far in granting this 15% extra discount to members of the military, NHS and emergency services…!! How dare they discriminate against the unemployed, students, old age pensioners, bus drivers, librarians, schoolteachers and a myriad other occupations…!! It is the worst kind of “virtue signalling”…something you see in so many diners in the USA. In the immortal words of the late John Junor…”Pass the sick bag, Alice”.
I suppose to be fair though, such a blot on a menu of a British restaurant that sets out to be an American diner, does help add that vital degree of verisimilitude…if nothing else.
http://www.arbuckles.biz/history-of-arbuckles-restaurant/
Will sign off now. Just watched the Rotherham winner on Sky Sports News. Oh dear…how we needed a real quality centre back like Aden Flint. He’d have made the tackle that Sol Bamba flunked. And Etheridge would have probably saved the shot our new £4 million goalie let in.
I should be so lucky!
My rather paltry offering regarding the Murphy family background in the ‘hospitality’ industry has brought forth the richest of Daigressions…a positive feast of info and asides that the original – and unlucky/innocent – Roscoe Arbuckle would have relished.
As for Sol Bamba – I was certain he’d be a shoe-in for Time Magazine’s Man of the Year come December.
Lindsay has too much class to deliberately correct me, but I note his classy choice of “unlucky/innocent” as the words he would use to describe Roscoe Arbuckle. A guy I had called previously called “notorious”.
Now, I could here hide behind the American usage of that word…often, Stateside, it is used merely to mean “publicly or generally known”.
But I won’t.
I have known about Fatty Arbuckle for 50 years. But in truth I had forgotten the minutiae of the case…and in the back of my mind had filed him under “unlucky with that particular woman, but generally asking for trouble with his louche behaviour”.
Now checking things out, I find that – far from being dissolute – he was a pretty decent guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, and so Lindsay’s choice of words trump mine. So, apologies Roscoe.
A Chedwyn Evans of his time.
Oh, and before signing off, a word Paul about my recent comments on the pronunciation of the name of the new golden boy of French football. Well, it is time for me to don sackloth and ashes here too.
On CNN last night, I saw an interview with the mayor of Bondy, the gritty Parisian suburb some 12 miles ENE of the city centre. He is a big buddy of Kylian, who grew up there.
And throughout, he pronounced the name “mm-BA-pay”. This got me scurrying to Wikipedia, and yep, there was the acute accent over the letter E.
So there we have it. The fact that his French team kit manager had obviously run out of accented letter Es, was the cause of my confusion.
Apols.