Cardiff City (H) Match Thread

[LB_DCFC]

3 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I don't think it is ridiculous to say we need more cover in that position. Curtis isn't a good passer, and what if Clarke gets injured, or Keogh for that matter? Many have made the step up. But also, many haven't been able to. That was kind of my point. Being good at the level below doesn't mean it'll translate, it might, but there is also a chance that it won't. So I don't think you can point to Clarke's pompey career and say that'll make him a success here. I wish we had Ben White. Looks a hell of a lot better than Clarke. 

I personally think it's better to judge players from watching them and drawing opinions on that, I don't care at all what Clarke's whoscored stats say, I'll reiterate that again, I think it's far better to judge from what you see rather than going off the stats that give them a 97% pass accuracy but they only play the ball back to the goal keeper. Hyperbole, but it's to make my point. 

Cover? now Evans is injured yes, but your original post said the position 'needs addressing'. That doesn't mean cover. You can't point at his Pompey career and say he will definitely be a success, but you can use it as a basis of the type of player he is, and with the evidence of the Huddersfield game that he is more than capable, it suggests he isn't at all worth binning yet. Obviously watching the players is very important, but I'd bet you would dream to have Brenford's recruitment department, who make all their decisions based on stats, reinforced with the 'eye test'. Stats are completely underrated by many. 

[angieram]

I just liked this view with the moon rising over the South Stand tonight.

Pride Park under the floodlights. Something special.

 

[MaltRam]

Much better performance. Probably deserved to win it. Cardiff will be a handful for anyone.

Nice cameo from Flo-Jo. Confidence boosting goal and goal-line clearance from Malone. Waghorn looking sharp. Keogh at his best. Holmes sparky. Positives folks; keep focussing on the positives.

[LB_DCFC]

11 minutes ago, Carnero said:

Out of interest, who are the 3, alongside Keogh, that are above him?

Ben White , Van der Hoorn, Jansson and Cooper. Unfortunately not our wide-eyed lord and saviour ?

[Andicis]

Just now, LB_DCFC said:

Cover? now Evans is injured yes, but your original post said the position 'needs addressing'. That doesn't mean cover. You can't point at his Pompey career and say he will definitely be a success, but you can use it as a basis of the type of player he is, and with the evidence of the Huddersfield game that he is more than capable, it suggests he isn't at all worth binning yet. Obviously watching the players is very important, but I'd bet you would dream to have Brenford's recruitment department, who make all their decisions based on stats, reinforced with the 'eye test'. Stats are completely underrated by many. 

It does need addressing. Cover was meant as a general term, the thought that we'd only have Curtis to bring in if we get a centre half injury isn't good, but also when Clarke drops a stinker like tonight, he still can't really be dropped as we don't have a player that will fit the system to bring on. Why is the Huddersfield game good evidence, but the majority of games when he's been poor not? And yet, Brentford are still in the Championship. They get revered for their recruitment, yet are still no better off than we are. Stats are helpful, but are far from the most important factor. They are decent for a small amount of insight, but until you watch the player you don't get the full story.

[Andicis]

2 minutes ago, LB_DCFC said:

Ben White , Van der Hoorn, Jansson and Cooper. Unfortunately not our wide-eyed lord and saviour ?

And yet I would say Keogh has been better than Clarke. Maybe stats aren't everything.

[sage]

Roos 5

Lowe 6

Keogh 7

Clarke 6

Malone 7

Tom 7

Bielek 7

Holmes 7

Waghorn 7

Marriott 6

Lawrence 3

 

[Carnero]

5 minutes ago, angieram said:

I just liked this view with the moon rising over the South Stand tonight.

Pride Park under the floodlights. Something special.

 

How were the prawn sandwiches?

[Anna]

14 minutes ago, angieram said:

I just liked this view with the moon rising over the South Stand tonight.

Pride Park under the floodlights. Something special.

 

I'd be interested in seeing a higher res version of this... coz I wanna spot myself ?

[LB_DCFC]

14 minutes ago, Andicis said:

It does need addressing. Cover was meant as a general term, the thought that we'd only have Curtis to bring in if we get a centre half injury isn't good, but also when Clarke drops a stinker like tonight, he still can't really be dropped as we don't have a player that will fit the system to bring on. Why is the Huddersfield game good evidence, but the majority of games when he's been poor not? And yet, Brentford are still in the Championship. They get revered for their recruitment, yet are still no better off than we are. Stats are helpful, but are far from the most important factor. They are decent for a small amount of insight, but until you watch the player you don't get the full story.

I said the Huddersfield game is evidence that he is more than capable at this level as he was excellent that night. It suggests that he has a level of play that is more than good enough for this league, now whether he demonstrates it consistently enough is another question. I firmly believe he will, he doesn't look confident at the moment, but that doesn't make him a bad player. Players go in and out of form, he could be just having a bad patch, which has coincided with the start of his Derby career.

And the only reason brentford are still in the champ is because they have to sell their best players every year for FFP reasons. If they didn't, they'd be in the Prem. Incredible recruitment system, and have far less and less expensive failures in the transfer market then most if not all other clubs. 100% you don't get the full picture unless you watch a player, but Brentford wouldn't find said players without the use of stats, it it their base for all transfers, and therefore the most important part.

[Woodley Ram]

4 minutes ago, sage said:

Roos 5

Lowe 6

Keogh 7

Clarke 6

Malone 7

Tom 7

Bielek 7

Holmes 7

Waghorn 7

Marriott 6

Lawrence 3

 

Don’t agree with that at all Roos was fine, Holmes and Keogh were out best players . Marriott didn’t really get a look in , Waghorn played well especially in the first half. Clarke worries me he was our worst player, seems to lack confidence as did Lowe but he got better. Lawrence was in and out, wouldn’t say he had a bad game but he didn’t pull up any trees either. Malone got better after his goal.

thought we were sucked into playing hoof ball in the first half and played better in the second, in part because we passed it out from the back. 

Another hour I will be back home in Reading 

[goldstar]

I have to admit, this season is either going to go one of two ways, and it's currently on a on a knife edge. 

1 - we could click as a team whether that be soon or not, and a win will start the ball rolling. We may scrape playoffs or be mid table but we manage to gel as a team and individual mistakes are lessened. What appears to be average championship players turn out to be the Sheffield United of this year and we improve with every transfer window.

2 - the draws and losses continue in a mix of bad luck and bad decisions and missed chances. Pressure builds and the team begins to disconnect with Cocu and he loses the dressing room. His tactics remain defensive, creativity dwindles and individual mistakes continue as the team cannot find a way to make this new system work. Gates are down and little to no rapport with the fans makes things worse. Finding ourselves in a near relegation battle the hunt is on for yet another new manager. 

[Marriot Ram99]

2 hours ago, Tyler Durden said:

Selective memory the ref against West Brom did everything in his power to hand us the match and we still contrived not to win 

What including giving them a pen for a dive that cost us the 3 points?

[CWC1983]

2 hours ago, Tyler Durden said:

Which is probably more than we'll manage so what does that make us

2 mid table clubs this season. 

[DavesaRam]

A great thing about tonight's match was that we weren't bullied by the Cardiff team which consisted almost entirely of gorillas. We might have been out-muscled at times, but not bullied, so well done. That is progress. Cardiff were not only physical, they were dirty, they dived, pushed, shoved, took 5 - 10 yards extra at throw ins, harangued the ref, and played hoof ball. i could be forgiven for thinking it was a Neil Warnock team .......................... oh wait ..............

For the first 15 minutes we were crafting chances while Cardiff were kicking the ball up in the air. I find it fitting that the first thing which Colin did after coming onto to pitch after the match wasn't to congratulate the team for a hard-fought point. No, he went straight to the ref and shook his hand. Which was actually no surprise. One wonders whether he was simply confirming the value of a few well spent fivers. It wasn't just the penalty decisions, it was his entire performance. From stopping play because of a not-head injury. I thought head injury was the only reason to stop the game? I don't know who he was, but the Cardiff Number 13 is lucky to be alive- he suffered at least 4 head injuries, as well as a knee and a couple of ankle injuries, and the ref bought them all. Or was it that the ref was bought? Somehow Holmes was consistently bullying the 7 foot Cardiff  man-mountains. There should have been 3 yellow cards towards the end of the first half for diving, but nothing given, and the heinous assault on Holmes in the second half was outrageous. The defender not only clattered into him and flattened him, but elbowed him in the back of the head as well. But despite stopping the game every time a Ram stood on a Cardiff shadow, the ref let play go on, despite Holmes clutching his head.

The re f has already won the annual "Worst ref at a Derby game by a country mile. But that means that for the rest of the season we are going to get a load of even worse performances because every ref from now on will be trying to outdo tonight's pathetic lump to get their hands on the much coveted prize.

There was an improvement in our passing tonight, with some great pass-and-move one-twos, and some very intelligent through balls which were very close to cutting Cardiff wide open. Perversely we had a patch towards the end of the first half when the entire defence went AWOL with their passing, but we got away with it. It is also clear that Malone has learned the importance of the phrase "ROW Z", and had a much improved game as a result. Marriott worked hard with scraps, and a curious insistence to play high balls for a guy who is only 5 foot not very much inches against the 7 ft Neanderthals which made up the Cardiff defence. His only real opportunity saw the bar being rattled. MOM by a huge distance was Beilik. Great at tackling and breaking up play, he has Thorne's ability to get himself between his opponent and the ball, he looks to get things moving and can run well with the ball. Hopefully, having finally landed where he should be, I hope that he will flourish in his new position. It was also good to see the Wardrobe back amongst us. He didn't change the game, but his awareness where all his team-mates are allowing him to play some great lay-offs and through balls.

We are nearly there, guys. It won't take much to get things clicking. It may not be the best squad we have had n recent years, but we still have some good potential which i am sure that Cocu will bring out. My only concern is our lack of depth. Having seen a  lot of other players come and go in the team, tonight's team is probably the best we have out of this squad, at least until the next window, so we are running a little thin in terms of injuries.

We have to sit tight, and keep our support going while we wait. COME ON YOU RAMS!!!!

[Alph]

2 hours ago, Nick_Ram said:

Still going... 

Still editing posts pretending it was baiting...

[Andicis]

24 minutes ago, LB_DCFC said:

I said the Huddersfield game is evidence that he is more than capable at this level as he was excellent that night. It suggests that he has a level of play that is more than good enough for this league, now whether he demonstrates it consistently enough is another question. I firmly believe he will, he doesn't look confident at the moment, but that doesn't make him a bad player. Players go in and out of form, he could be just having a bad patch, which has coincided with the start of his Derby career.

And the only reason brentford are still in the champ is because they have to sell their best players every year for FFP reasons. If they didn't, they'd be in the Prem. Incredible recruitment system, and have far less and less expensive failures in the transfer market then most if not all other clubs. 100% you don't get the full picture unless you watch a player, but Brentford wouldn't find said players without the use of stats, it it their base for all transfers, and therefore the most important part.

But with loan players, do you have time to be patient? Isn't that the point of loan players, to make an instant impact, and if they don't, shouldn't you be questioning the signing of them? With long term signings like Bielik, I can understand being patient. But with Clarke, he's been brought in for instant success. Otherwise by the time he hits form he'll be back off to Brighton and we won't have got much use out of him. 

[Ambitious]

I think there was enough to be happy with tonight, but the result was the most important thing tonight and we didn't quite get it. Nevertheless, for me, personally, it has the feel of a transition season that I would probably be able to enjoy. 

We've got plenty of good players, but definitely not the right balance. In all honesty, I think it was also the case last season, but we had players who could pull rabbits out of the hat. Dowell was brought into to help with that regard, but just hasn't had the desired effect. Left out tonight. 

If we could send out an army of scouts far and wide to go find two wide players who can be stars at this level, it would make all the difference. 

Nothing to be too down about. 

[Gritstone Ram]

38 minutes ago, sage said:

Roos 5

Lowe 6

Keogh 7

Clarke 6

Malone 7

Tom 7

Bielek 7

Holmes 7

Waghorn 7

Marriott 6

Lawrence 3

 

I would give Roos a 3 for his flapping and punching instead of catching. Apart from that you are pretty much spot on.

[BramcoteRam84]

It wasn’t bad tonight. Could be better. Definitely deserved to win on chances created.

A right footed full back will make a huge difference. Bielik for the first time tonight looked like a midfielder. He was class. We need to be bold and not pick Huddlestone, we can’t get enough players to support the forwards. Either needs Shinnie now Evans is out or even go Knight or Dowell alongside Holmes. 

Lawrence was ok tonight and a lot better than some have made out. 

It was a stop start game because Cardiff made it that and the ref helped them. Easily the worst ref at PP in a good while.

We’re still a work in progress but the component parts are there to have a decent season and position ourselves well for the the future with a manager who I think is top class.  If we’re still in this position next month or even by Christmas and we get rid of him...we’d be fools. He knows what he’s doing, he needs time.