Cardiff City

[hi there, i'm chris]

Just got in, log burner blazing nicely and kettle on. My thoughts;

Last season, a significant number of people on here slated Knight. Another MOTM performance for me tonight - time to give him some credit. Warnock and Mills did what was needed, when it was needed and given that Warnock was often very exposed on our left side and facing 2 red shirts, he ran Knight a close second for me.

Mark Davies ran the midfield today and finally loooked the player he should be in this league. Andrews, Chungy, Eagles were quiet but solid.

The bloke sitting next to me was on Pratley's back from the first minute. I actually think he's an intelligent player who needs someone with pace in front of him. The 2 balls he played in front of SKD were wasted whilst Kev wound his legs up and too often in the first half he was forced to go backwards as there was no movement aound him. Kev Davies isn't a starting option for me these days but should now be playing the 'Holdsworth' role - bring him on with 15 to go when we are one up and need to keep possession.

I like Bogdan and I don't want to blow his confidence but we need some competition in the nets at the mo.

Before the match I was happy with 4 points from this one and Tuesday. I'll still be happy with that, but 6 would give us a huge boost.

Not to be picky, but wasn't the 'Holdsworth role' start the match and play for 65 minutes, run the opposition's defence ragged, then have Ricketts come on and finish them off? That's pretty much what happened yesterday (except Davies didn't have the best of games), so I could see it working in the same way the Ricketts/Holdsworth tactic worked.

[adamworthy2002]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... IOr2priusY

Charlton

[Toni_DelijeSever]

Close enough.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Close enough.

Indeed - thanks Toni.

[Martin_Cruise]

Sordell played the race card after we lost at Millwall so if we back Sordell on that point we can't really complain when the opposition do the same thing after they lose against us.With the Mikel situation after they lost it's becoming the fashionable thing to do after a defeat.

[bobo the clown]

But these are Welsh.

[Martin_Cruise]

Fair point Adolf

[jonnycooper]

Fair point Adolf

I don,t know who has the biggest chip on their shoulder(TAFFS OR JOCKS)....They can,t stand the ENGLISH TEAM and cheer for whoever is playing us...On the other hand pretty much everyone I know likes to see any Brit team win (unless it,s against us)......But for some poor old Cardiff LOSER to pull the race card is just pathetic.....CARDIFF accept you lost,Move on,,You were up against a better side..

[coffeymagic]

At some points in the first half we were firing the ball around quite well with some decent one touch stuff - until it was time to go forward. TPFKASKD wasn't able to shake his marker(s) and once again we lacked the cutting edge.

Eagles was wasteful, Bogdan was giving me kittens and when the goal came I wasn't surprised.

Good for Doug he gave them 10 minutes to change and then changed it for them.

While Cardiff are a good team (and probably deserved a draw at least) football's not all about that and at last we showed a bit of spirit at the back and withstood the pressure.

Despite his detractors and general rubbishness thought Zat had a decent game and his GTF at the end was great to see. If we had ten more players prepared to do a bit of that we wouldn't be in the mess we're in.

N'gog was a dick flying in for that second yellow, could have really cost us but at least Kev will be pleased as it'll mean he starts again tomorrow.

Baptism of fire for the new boss but initial signs good.

And he's not prancing around in his shorts neither.

[89bwfc89]

For whoever asked - yes the people who booed Ngog when he came on celebrated his goal. Bunch of cretins in the North Stand Lower. It absolutely makes my blood boil. Same with booing Pratley, granted he's not the best and I'd much rather see Spearing in ahead of him but when they put on a bwfc shirt they should not be booed by their own fans. No wonder Pratley has no confidence whatsoever.

[boltonboris]

Where's that dick who reckoned we were gonna get spanked 4-0 with Helguson getting 6 of 'em?!

[thebish]

Where's that dick who reckoned we were gonna get spanked 4-0 with Helguson getting 6 of 'em?!

to be fair to him - he DID have the grace to return after the game (on the "Cardiff Fan" thread) - and comment thusly:

it was probably our worst performance of the season we couldnt put 2 passes together and your chasing down made us pump long balls all the time so all credit to your tactics and game plan it worked .

and..

congratulations on the win could have gone either way i probably underestimated your team good luck for the season .

[Athers]

I had an argument in the gents at half time with someone going on about, "It was abysmal that, totally abysmal," and, "Probably time to start voting with our feet don't you think."

45 minutes in to the new manager, playing top of the league in a dull but generally even contest. Christ.

Can't wait to see him on Tuesday, unless he's voted with his feet of course.

[89bwfc89]

I had an argument in the gents at half time with someone going on about, "It was abysmal that, totally abysmal," and, "Probably time to start voting with our feet don't you think."

45 minutes in to the new manager, playing top of the league in a dull but generally even contest. Christ.

Can't wait to see him on Tuesday, unless he's voted with his feet of course.

Let's hope so!!

[89bwfc89]

Don't know if this has been discussed but did everybody who went enjoy the fireworks!?

[bobo the clown]

Where's that dick who reckoned we were gonna get spanked 4-0 with Helguson getting 6 of 'em?!

to be fair to him - he DID have the grace to return after the game (on the "Cardiff Fan" thread) - and comment thusly:

it was probably our worst performance of the season we couldnt put 2 passes together and your chasing down made us pump long balls all the time so all credit to your tactics and game plan it worked .

and..

congratulations on the win could have gone either way i probably underestimated your team good luck for the season .

What a w@anker !

[TANGODANCER]

.

While Cardiff are a good team (and probably deserved a draw at least) football's not all about that and at last we showed a bit of spirit at the back and withstood the pressure.

They're obviously a decent side, but can't quite understand why they deserved a draw at least? First half was pretty much equal if incident free till their goal (which was a bit fluky as Bogdan's view was blocked, and it was hardly a pile-driver) . Second half we were all over them and kept it that way till near the end when we went to defending our lead. We had a perfectly good goal disallowed and came back from a goal down to win. If it had been the other way around, would they say we desrved a draw? Makay already thinks they should have won.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Some thoughts.

An interesting starting XI. I had expected Andrews to return but imagined him alongside, rather than replacing, Spearing. That's now a few successive managers who think Mavies can play in the deeper midfield role, and they might be right as long as there's plenty of positional discipline from him and his midfield partners. Andrews quietly offers that and recycled the ball well - always available to keep it ticking over, and happy to hold the line when Mavies got more adventurous later on.

The defence was much better. Despite throwing his hat into the ring for a centre-back slot, Ricketts looked very much at home at right-back and on the season so far, Knight deserved his recall and showed the wisdom of the decision. Maybe this is more his level but I'm no longer worried about him. I'd like to be able to say the same of Pratley. I can appreciate his defensive diligence and workrate, but in attacking terms he didn't click at all, frequently running into the back of KD or alternatively making mad runs wide. That's perhaps partly a problem with KD, for whom very little worked creatively: there was a somewhat telling shot of him on the bench after Ngog's goal, exhaling deeply. That's not to say he wasn't delighted, but Ngog's cameo offered a very interesting alternative reality wherein physical presence is allied to speed around the park. Ngog simply seems to link better with other players - if he could become a regular goal threat he'd be some player in this system.

Ah, the system. A hard-working but creatively flexible 4-2-3-1. In the first half it was rather narrow and deep but did a better job than most these season at halting the league leaders, bar a somewhat fortuitous opener. Credit to Freedman for giving that starting XI another 10 or 15 minutes to impress - and they did, for the first five minutes of the second half, moving with flexible penetration and ominous purpose. The two quick substitutions maintained the shape - despite remaining a goal down, which is hopefully a commendable sign of confidence rather than rigidity – but Ngog improved on Davies and Petrov improved on Pratley.

The third substitution was interestingly ballsy. There are those who think Ream isn't even a defender, let alone a defensive midfielder. You can imagine the reaction had either of Freedman's predecessors brought him on instead of Spearing. It was a brave decision which was eventually vindicated and, in hindsight, makes much more sense against an increasingly direct team than bringing on a midget.

Nice to see us riding a result out, too, with determination (Zat again) and maybe even a touch of belief. And a great last-ditch intervention from Bogdan's face.

Onwards, then. Intrigued to see the team for tomorrow: it might once again raise a few questions. But again, this season remains much more interesting than trying to finish 17th in the top flight.

[coffeymagic]

Tango. Would you have had any real complaints if it had finished 2-2 though? There was the pen(s), the 'offside' and a few decisions that on any other night might have gone either way.

We were pretty toothless in the first half and they came back into it as they pushed forward for the last fifteen.

We've never been able to hold out against sides with our penalty area resembling Fred Karno's Circus and if Bogdan had managed to get his face out of the way then it wouldn't have surprised you would it?

Still, like I say that's what football's all about. A good result, a battling performance and something to build on.

Fingers crossed!

[TANGODANCER]

Tango. Would you have had any real complaints if it had finished 2-2 though? There was the pen(s), the 'offside' and a few decisions that on any other night might have gone either way.

We were pretty toothless in the first half and they came back into it as they pushed forward for the last fifteen.

We've never been able to hold out against sides with our penalty area resembling Fred Karno's Circus and if Bogdan had managed to get his face out of the way then it wouldn't have surprised you would it?

Still, like I say that's what football's all about. A good result, a battling performance and something to build on.

Fingers crossed!

Too right I would. Soft goal apart they were no better than us first half and didn't deserve a lead. Second half we were much the better side and unlucky on a few occasions. I don't really like us going totally defensive but we had a deserved lead and did it to hold for three points. Taken that way a draw would have been dissapointing, yes. Football doesn't work on "deserve" does it?