Cardiff City (H) Match Thread

[Jourdan]

2 minutes ago, reverendo de duivel said:

Just say No, in future!

Hear me out.

I didn’t see the game tonight, but from the other games I’ve seen, we have been reasonably unlucky to go six league games without a win. Cruel and fine margins.

We should have beaten Swansea and West Brom, for example. It also sounds like we deserved more tonight too. 

I just suspect one win might be a turning point in our season. One game where everything falls for us just might lift a weight off the shoulders of the players and the manager.

We are the archetypal confidence team. A big win and we could look a completely different proposition.

[GenBr]

Lowe, Malone, Holmes and Bielik all had good games. Waggers a lot better second half and Zoon caused some problems when he came on.

Usually i don't mind Roos, but today he was so poor. Couldnt catch it at all and was all over the place with his positioning. It just felt like the defence weren't confident in what was behind them. The defence are also not blameless though - there were a lot of occassions where two or more players would just leave the ball for each other and then scramble frantically to lump it away. A lot of risky passes across the back line as well.

The play as usual broke down with Lawrence a lot. I would say im surprised hes managed 5 yellows in 7 games, but its sort of his trademark to petulantly hack down opposition players when he loses the ball.

There was a spell in the second half where we were pointlessly lumping the ball to Marriott, but overall i think we were the better team. Defence needs to work on commumication, but attack looked fine.

[ramit]

We had visitors, so missed the game.  Reading through the comments after 3 glasses of white wine i got the following.  Roos can't catch a cold, Lawrence is poo, Clarke had a stinker, but thank God for Holmes and Bielik and somehow average Malone scored, but superstar Marriott didn't, Waghorn won another penalty not given and it's all Keogh's fault, no wait Clarke's, err Cocu's.  Lucky to draw, but should have won, if we had been better.

Does that about cover it?

[LittleEatonRam]

18 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

You've not been watching for very long then ?

Haha, I've been watching for 25 years, I just got carried away!

[GenBr]

4 minutes ago, ramit said:

We had visitors, so missed the game.  Reading through the comments after 3 glasses of white wine i got the following.  Roos can't catch a cold, Lawrence is poo, Clarke had a stinker, but thank God for Holmes and Bielik and somehow average Malone scored, but superstar Marriott didn't, Waghorn won another penalty not given and it's all Keogh's fault, no wait Clarke's, err Cocu's.  Lucky to draw, but should have won, if we had been better.

Does that about cover it?

Keogh gave the penalty away so it was his fault on this occasion. Its been a while since we had something to blame on him, so you have to give us this one.

[Topram]

After being at Forest and Brentford I enjoyed tonight, unlucky not to win really! Did well against a very physical side and a ref that did his best to ruin the game! 

My MOTM was Waghorn  he looked dangerous when running at the opposition.

really good to see Martin back aswell! 

Roos 6 not much to do

Malone 7 decent game poacher...

Keogh 7 solid baring giving the pen away

Clarke 7 sloppy first half much better 2nd

Lowe 6.5 doing ok filling in at RB

Bielek 7 good signs 

Huddlestone 6.5 better when he plays at home and not away 

Holmes 8 battled hard great on the ball as always 

Waghorn 8.5 dangerous 

Lawrence 6 got better 

Marriott 6.5 cracking effort just didn’t fully get in the game 

[clough08]

Looked decent to me. Our best line up with Bogle back.

[atherstoneram]

Lost our confidence in the 1st half after they equalised and Clark tried to much and rushed his passes, seemed to have settled more in the 2nd half and commanded the ball better.There were 1 or 2 silly mistakes in the 2nd half but the team seemed to get the composure back and could easily have got all 3 points in the last 10 - 15 minutes.

 As for some saying Cocu will be gone by christmas, well, no he won't. MM said on Sky before kick off, promotion is not the aim this season but bringing the young players in are and Cocu is doing that and the fact we had a poor off field pre season.

Due to the fact we had a delayed pre season,which knocked into the start to the season we are a month behind where we should be but we have injured players coming back and we will push on and start seeing a settled team. It just seems everything is conspiring against us at the minute and can't buy a win for love nor money but our fortunes will change, it's a marathon not a sprint.

[LB_DCFC]

22 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Clarke gives me nightmares every time he gets the ball played to him. Shocking. We miss Tomori so so much. We need to address to LCB position and bring in someone comfortable on the ball. 

This was very much one of Clarke's strong points for Portsmouth, and trust me he was brilliant on the ball. Think you're making a very hasty judgement on someone that is pretty unwarranted. Do think he looked nervous, but once he settles he definitely has the ability. Plus he was vastly improved 2nd half, oh, and by the way, whoscored, who base everything on the statistical side of the game gave him MOTM. Think that's a bit excessive, but he wasn't bad tonight overall

[Tyler Durden]

2 minutes ago, Topram said:

After being at Forest and Brentford I enjoyed tonight, unlucky not to win really! Did well against a very physical side and a ref that did his best to ruin the game! 

My MOTM was Waghorn  he looked dangerous when running at the opposition.

really good to see Martin back aswell! 

Roos 6 not much to do

Malone 7 decent game poacher...

Keogh 7 solid baring giving the pen away

Clarke 7 sloppy first half much better 2nd

Lowe 6.5 doing ok filling in at RB

Bielek 7 good signs 

Huddlestone 6.5 better when he plays at home and not away 

Holmes 8 battled hard great on the ball as always 

Waghorn 8.5 dangerous 

Lawrence 6 got better 

Marriott 6.5 cracking effort just didn’t fully get in the game 

I'd have given Bielak MoM but was toss up between him and Waghorn

Roos am sorry was shaky and unconvincing all evening a 5

Lawrence probably the same score 

Clarke a 6 as on first half performance lucky not to have gifted Cardiff at least one goal 

[Carnero]

36 minutes ago, 1967Ram said:

I thought Jozefzoon looked good in the time he was on today.

Never knew he was that fast!

Perhaps he's been playing with an injury?

[Zag zig]

19 minutes ago, ramit said:

We had visitors, so missed the game.  Reading through the comments after 3 glasses of white wine i got the following.  Roos can't catch a cold, Lawrence is poo, Clarke had a stinker, but thank God for Holmes and Bielik and somehow average Malone scored, but superstar Marriott didn't, Waghorn won another penalty not given and it's all Keogh's fault, no wait Clarke's, err Cocu's.  Lucky to draw, but should have won, if we had been better.

Does that about cover it?

You missed Colin and his team are time wasting bankers but yeah pretty as you were ?

[Whoneedshuls]

I don’t like this no wingers thing we’re always waiting for full backs too bomb on and it slows play right down or Huddlestone plays a crap ball out too them..

[Brammie Steve]

6 minutes ago, LB_DCFC said:

This was very much one of Clarke's strong points for Portsmouth, and trust me he was brilliant on the ball. Think you're making a very hasty judgement on someone that is pretty unwarranted. Do think he looked nervous, but once he settles he definitely has the ability. Plus he was vastly improved 2nd half

Without his kick off the line over the bar we'd have lost 2-1. He looks a tough guy too!

Holmes was pretty impressive throughout IMHO.

[mozza]

7/10, would have been 8, if we could have fluked a winner..

[RamNut]

Great to see chris back. Nice recption for him. 

If the ref could pace out ten yards it might have been a spectacular return.

[jono]

Team better balanced tonight. We deserved a win .. not by a lot, but there were enough good moments to justify it. Ref made some poor decisions that cost us and let Cardiff offf the hook. Cardiff physical  verging on dirty but you can’t knock them for endeavour. Keogh and Clarke had some communication issues and Clarke looked unusually unsettled, but like RK he is gutsy and skilled. They’ll sort that out in training I’m sure. 

Holmes played a blinder .. quick thinking, great touch always eager and full of the terrier. Bielik .. good in parts but didn’t quite look the full beast tonight against Cardiff’s giants.

Lawrence just not coming off for him atm

Lowe, another good game. The boy can tackle as well as run fast. 

Malone, yeah a couple dodgy balls but he had a good game, scored, couple of great crosses, brave. He speeds our ball movement a lot. Very under rated. 

Waggy and Marriott .. hungry and full of effort. Both were so close ! JacK hitting the woodwork and Waggy nearly doing a Messi .. fine margins 

Hudds was Hudds but contributed well .. and got a couple of solid tackles in too. Looked a bit quicker - Push bike as opposed to peddle car but hey ...cliche of the moment “fine margins” 

Flo Jo looked good when he came on. 

Its weird, we are several games in but we look like a pre season team just getting to know each other .. hoping we’ll click soon. Still desperate for that happy walk home feeling but at least there are signs. COYR

 

[LB_DCFC]

1 minute ago, Brummie Steve said:

Without his kick off the line over the bar we'd have lost 2-1. He looks a tough guy too!

Holmes was pretty impressive throughout IMHO.

In the top 10% of League 1 defenders for Aerial duels won, Defensive duels won, so very good in the air and duels, but also in the top 5% for forward pass accuracy, Dribbles, Through balls and successful passes into the penalty area. Both tough and very cultured, really good mix.

[DCFC Ram]

Roos 5 Struggled when the ball was head height or higher. Missed chance to catch. Doesn't dominate enough for his size

Malone 6.5 Did well at times - poor positioning / decision making at times. Scored though

Keogh 6.5 Did what he does. Threw himself into blocks but got the wrong side of his man for the penno. Ran out with the ball well but nearly give the ball away when passing sideways.

Clarke 6.5 Good goal-line clearance but some errors with the ball and also nearly cost us with dodgy sideways passes

Lowe 6.5 did ok

Bielek 7 Looks a class apart. A decent game but it looks like there's a lot more to come.

Huddlestone 6.5 Did ok when it was 'Battle of the Giants'. Some decent passes but still looks too immobile.  

Holmes 7.5 Looked a threat throughout. Dangerous. One of the few who moved the ball between the lines and showed to get it back in a forward position.

Waghorn 6.5 Did what he does. Appreciated the crowd. Worked hard. Nearly scored from a handful of reasonable and half chances. But didn't.  

Lawrence 4 Unacceptable again. Flitted in and out. Looked quite interested when he had the ball. But when they took it off him he did little to get it back.  Usual petulant yellow card. Ship him out in January.

Marriott 6.5 Did what he does. Didn't get on the ball enough. Is it his lack of showing as Waghorn gets more. Looked very dangerous the few times he had chances. 

Zoon 6.5 Looked a threat when he came on - albeit a short run out

 

With the exception of Bielek and Holmes we look a mid table championship team. We need Bogle back and Marriott to click in a settled side. 

[Millenniumram]

Well think we have to start any analysis of that game with the refs performance. Dire, bias, inconsistent performance contributed hugely to us not getting three points imo. So many fouls just went unchallenged for Cardiff, but every time we touched them they went down “injured” and got a free kick for it. We were never allowed a quick free kick, they could take one whenever they wanted. Could go on and on. Awful performance by a man who looked like he was probably too scared of Warnock to make the proper decisions. 

In terms of how we performed, it was a lot better than Brentford (not hard granted) with some good positives to take from it, but also some lingering long term worries. In terms of what went well, the midfield looked much much better without dowell for me. Beilik and Holmes as expected were both very good, the latter showing how much we’ve missed him and his ability to carry the ball and create chances. At times we actually looked like we had a midfield that knew what it was doing, playing some proper pass and move football. Bielik looked good carrying the ball through midfield and playing through balls along the deck as well. Need to make sure to get him and Holmes involved wherever we can, they could be vital to us and start to control games. Much better than the static poo we had there before. Good to see Martin back but Also impressed with Waghorn today, really battled well, moved about and made some intelligent touches, deserved a goal really- their goalie made some very good saves. Josefzoon looked for Ince like there may be a player there when he came on too, looked better running onto balls from Bielik rather than carrying it himself.

Still some things that worry me though. Not least of which is this is the third game we’ve chucked an early lead away. We seem to have a tendency of dropping much deeper immediately after scoring which tends to cost us as we can’t defend well enough. We’re better, especially at home, continuing with what we’re doing instead of dropping off. Can only assume this comes from the manager, cocu needs to braver as it keeps costing us. Also, don’t know what was going on with the defence today, Clarke in particular. Nobody could seem to distribute to save their lives, dunno what they’ve been practicing over the break. Neither did anyone seem to have much clue where to be defensively, no organisation at all, made it very easy for Cardiff and made them look much better than what they are. Worrying cocu hasn’t coached them how to do this sort of thing yet, being renowned as a coach in the way he is. Still seemed to lack movement going forward too, that’s why we struggled to score imo, need to make more intelligent movements. Another coaching issue for me and makes me worry still, in spite of a better performance, whether cocu is doing the right things on the training pitch to ever get anything out this side. Huddlestone still poor too, bar the odd moment things tended to break down with him.

In summary, a much better performance than recently that gives renewed hope- but with the caveat of there still being some confused problems that make me worry long term. Certainly not the worst result recently, but a game we should be winning that as well imo- and on balance of play, probably deserved to in all fairness.