| Going Back in Time – Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff 08:51 - Nov 1 with 3100 views | HarryfromBath |
“It’s far too early to jump to conclusions, wait until the clocks go back.” This is a familiar refrain on opposition forums in the early stages of a season and it carries some merit. I always view the gaining and loss of the hour as two major milestones in the season along with Boxing Day. Night had fallen as I left Bath and trick-or-treaters were giddily running up and down my street with their quarry.
I travelled to the game with a supporter who is now retired and has followed the Town longer than many of us and he had an interesting angle on Mick’s post-Burton remarks about the heckling he had received. He rates Mick’s footballing judgement highly but felt that Sir Bobby would have been ashamed if he had known that any successor would use the sort of language which Mick uttered.
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When I had parked up at the ground, a fellow-poster texted the team across with the suggestion that this would be an industrial 4-5-1 to grind out the game and focus on a Saturday win. He also added that I always picked the weird games to watch. Little did I know how true this would prove.
It had been a dash from work to get to the Cardiff City Stadium, so I didn’t really have time to look at the shape of the line-up until I was in my seat (we all sat throughout the game — that should tell you something) and the game had started. Including Ward, Smith, Downes and Iorfa suggested that Mick was trying to add some physicality, but there was no Waghorn and it was a raft of changes to make.
Cardiff had unsurprisingly scuppered their three-at-the-back nonsense which was nullified by Millwall and switched to a back four. Craig Bryson was dropped for the more physical Sol Bamba in midfield, but the inclusion of Lee Tomlin was no surprise. Danny Ward struggled against Millwall’s defensive titans so the inclusion of the stronger more athletic Omar Bogle also shouldn’t have been a surprise.
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Cardiff started on the front foot and it was quickly apparent that Tomlin and Junior Hoilett had brought their ‘A’ game with them. Tomlin was a handful on the ball, disguising passes and pulling players out of position, while Hoilett quickly gave poor Dominic Iorfa a taste of what was to come when he reacted to the defender’s tepid header to quickly fashion an early chance.
The opening goal came as no surprise, as Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who was to be the quieter of the Bluebirds’ attacking quartet, was given ample time and space to fire a cross to Hoilett, who had even more ample time and space to fire home. Such was his freedom that he had shaped himself into the form of a subject of a Greek statue ahead of the cross, seeking extra marks for artistic impression.
Several of our players half-heartedly appealed in vain for offside but this actually said more about how alert they had been. It was a ridiculous amount of space to give such a dangerous player, and Cardiff now had their first goal from open play in four games. Iorfa had a difficult night up against Hoilett, but it was no game for an out-of-form player in an experimental line-up at a difficult ground.
Bart made the first of several superb interventions shortly afterwards, when Hoilett’s cross was met by Bogle only for our keeper to get in the way of the finish. He followed this up with one superb stop in the second half, and it’s no exaggeration to say that tonight could easily have been another 5-1 Reading game if he had not been in such good form.
There would be some bright notes to take away from the game and one was the performance of Flynn Downes. He seemed to be anchored closest to Joe Ralls for most of his time on the pitch and he kept his more experienced opponent quiet, breaking forward on one occasion to win a freekick on the edge of the area. He later had one superb chance to score which Ralls did well to intercept.
The midfield kept the balance of the side intact throughout the first half, and both Cole Skuse and Kevin Bru worked well with Downes linking play. The lack of inventiveness from the centre was highlighted by a friend at half-time. He noted that Skuse was our most dangerous player in the first half at times with his 'marauding' runs committing the City players more than anybody else.
Preston fans this week have been saying that Joey Garner was a brilliant finisher or a brilliant hold-up solo striker but that he struggled to do both at the same time. This was what was being asked of him tonight and at one point later in the game he was on his own with three giant Cardiff defenders as he waited for a cross to come into the box. He was up against ridiculous odds but battled hard.
As we sought to get back into the game, Garner flicked on one corner which fell to Tommy Smith who was the wrong man to receive it and diverted the ball wide. The New Zealander was short of his best form tonight, notable playing one suicidal ball straight to Mendez-Laing and Knudsen did well to divert it out for a corner from the ensuing chaos. It was casual but it typified our wider defending.
The first period ebbed to a close with a series of half-chances for both teams but the difference was already telling between the two sides. Cardiff were more cohesive. They defended more confidently and robustly, they were more imaginative and incisive in their build-up play and they had a greater urgency and alertness about them. We were a goal behind but we weren’t really in the game.
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“That was better than Burton.” The half-time inquest was amusing and alarming in similar measure, mixing takes of wind-assisted football in Staffordshire with discussions of just how fat the Brewers’ keeper actually was. The fact that this was an upgrade on Saturday was alarming, along with the comment that our lack of shape and playing style was causing us similar problems in both games.
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As we resumed our seats, we just had time to see Mendez-Laing square the ball to Bogle who had about the same amount of space as Hoilett earlier, and he made us pay for it just as equally. This was one of those goals you could see coming seconds before it actually did and these seem to hurt that bit more. We hadn’t a snowballs chance in hell now of getting anything from this game.
Cardiff were now hell-bent on working on their goal difference and Hoilett flashed a dangerous cross which Bogle failed to meet. Shortly afterwards the ultra-defensive Lee Peltier was given the freedom of our left side to wander towards our penalty area and curl in a fine cross. It was one for the album. It was then the turn of the ebullient Callum Paterson and Lee Tomlin to seriously threaten our goal.
The game then entered a very weird phase and it started with the substitutions. Downes and Bru were both understandably taken off, but Callum Connolly and Freddie Sears were quixotic players to bring on and it felt like a signal to cease hostilities. Cardiff withdrew Tomlin and Hoilett, their most dangerous threats and brought on the defensive Loic Damour and the less threatening Liam Feeney.
There now came a phase midway through the second half where all tempo disappeared from the tie. Cardiff sat back, waiting for us to try and fashion something and we would amble forward and see what we could come up with, usually getting the ball to Ward or Celina as nobody else had much of an idea up their sleeve. Cardiff didn’t even bother with their mid-second half fake injury conference.
It also hit me just how subdued we were as an away crowd. There was not a peep out of us, barring the odd heroic voice at the back. It wasn’t that anyone thought Mick was Super or that his football was alternatively you-know-what. Nobody was thinking anything. There was a generality of play in front of us with plenty of industry but little pattern, little creativity and not a great deal of quality.
Cardiff had worked out that they could play this game out. We had hardly won an attacking header all night and we couldn’t unlock them on the deck either. Both sets of fans were having to content themselves with indignation over minor refereeing decisions. Watching football games can be an exhausting experience with so much to take in, but there was precious little to deconstruct here.
Maybe our plan was to lull the Bluebirds’ into an error, because out of the blue we scored. We broke forward at pace and managed to get in behind Cardiff’s defence. Sears and Waghorn had efforts blocked and the ball broke to Ward who had a terrific energetic game all night. He kept his head and teed up Celina, who fired home. We fans had been dozing contentedly but were suddenly awake.
It was fitting that Celina scored our consolation because he was the only source of creativity which could consistently hurt Cardiff tonight. He was at the heart of our best moves and technically he was just as comfortable in a central role after the break as he was out wide earlier. His runs were ahead of defenders, he delayed passes long enough to commit his markers and he was selfless in his play.
Town fans were up on our feet and a game of football had broken out again but there was one snag. Cardiff had woken up too. A quick counter attack saw Mendez-Laing haring in on our goal in that same amount of space I mentioned earlier. Bart did well to parry his shot but it broke to Danny Ward and he ended any nonsense of a Town comeback. The full-time whistle followed soon afterwards.
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“Some nights you come away from a game feeling that defeat was undeserved, but this was not one of those nights.” There was some gentle gallows humour as a few of us chatted before getting into our cars. In a division which throws up bizarre results like confetti, to be consistently good against weaker teams and consistently falling short against the better ones really takes some doing.
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There was no lack of industry tonight, but some of our defending was that bad at times tonight that all you could do was laugh about it. We are going nowhere this season and were comfortably as poor against Cardiff as Sunderland were poor against us. Some of the defending tonight had me thinking that the clocks had gone back five years to the Jewell era, and not just by one hour this weekend.
This was a disjointed display from a line-up which lacked familiarity. The understanding and trust you take for granted in a well-drilled team was missing and this contributed to the lack of a pattern to our play on one level. It also explained our wide-open inept defending on another. The team had the hallmarks of one you would see in a pre-season friendly and the game at times resembled one.
Heading back to Bath, I remembered Hammers saying that Sam Allardyce would take weeks with Tuesday games as a three-game block rather like in a tournament, planning to get most out of the week as a whole. Maybe Preston, knocked sideways by a defensive injury crisis, might provide richer pickings for a stronger XI on Saturday. If this really was our gamble, I hope to God it pays off.
[Post edited 1 Nov 2017 9:48]
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 09:06 - Nov 1 with 2982 views | Guthrum |
Good stuff Harry, great to catch up with you again. [Post edited 1 Nov 2017 9:06]
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 09:11 - Nov 1 with 2964 views | christiand |
Great read as always Harry. |  |
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 09:43 - Nov 1 with 2849 views | SWGF |
"little pattern, little creativity and not a great deal of quality"
That's been us for far too long. |  |
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 09:44 - Nov 1 with 2838 views | Warkystache |
| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 09:11 - Nov 1 by christiand |
Great read as always Harry. |
Nice one Harry - seems we're as bereft as we all thought though..... |  |
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 10:14 - Nov 1 with 2766 views | ITFC_Forever |
Pretty scathing by Harry's standards.
What a mess. |  |
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 11:05 - Nov 1 with 2648 views | ericclacton |
The home games I've seen this term have been very ordinary.
The club as a whole is in a bad place.
Good post Harry, thanks
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 15:44 - Nov 1 with 2399 views | MaySixth |
Dreadful performance |  |
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 16:17 - Nov 1 with 2361 views | HarryfromBath |
| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 15:44 - Nov 1 by MaySixth |
Dreadful performance |
Although we were just a goal down at half-time, we had a mountain to climb to effectively change the pattern of the game. The tie was dead and buried when the second goal went in so anyone leaving early really had seen the decisive moments played out.
I am one of the sad people who always stays until the last player has left the field after full-time as you don't know what you will spot. Even if the game is done and dusted you might see little things which you can add to the mental database.
That said, the pattern of the second half was quite bizarre after we made our first two substitutions as Cardiff sensed we weren't going for it. They sat back and we had no threatening rhythm as we were so disjointed, so the tempo dissipated and the game had all the hallmarks of a pre-season friendly. There was nothing to glean from watching the action.
What you did miss was that bizarre last two minutes when we did break through and they slapped us down again, as much because Cardiff initially had switched off as anything else. It showed that, limited as we were, that we didn't give up, and Celina was well worth his goal.
When a group of us met up in the car-park waiting for the gates to open, there was an initial moment of bemused silence as nobody quite knew where to begin. There was no feeling of injustice, that one thing was certain. | |
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| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 16:28 - Nov 1 with 2334 views | PJH |
| Going Back in Time — Reflections on Last Night’s Game at Cardiff on 16:17 - Nov 1 by HarryfromBath |
Although we were just a goal down at half-time, we had a mountain to climb to effectively change the pattern of the game. The tie was dead and buried when the second goal went in so anyone leaving early really had seen the decisive moments played out.
I am one of the sad people who always stays until the last player has left the field after full-time as you don't know what you will spot. Even if the game is done and dusted you might see little things which you can add to the mental database.
That said, the pattern of the second half was quite bizarre after we made our first two substitutions as Cardiff sensed we weren't going for it. They sat back and we had no threatening rhythm as we were so disjointed, so the tempo dissipated and the game had all the hallmarks of a pre-season friendly. There was nothing to glean from watching the action.
What you did miss was that bizarre last two minutes when we did break through and they slapped us down again, as much because Cardiff initially had switched off as anything else. It showed that, limited as we were, that we didn't give up, and Celina was well worth his goal.
When a group of us met up in the car-park waiting for the gates to open, there was an initial moment of bemused silence as nobody quite knew where to begin. There was no feeling of injustice, that one thing was certain. |
As you said in your OP and again (sort of) in your last sentence you sometimes leave a game after a defeat thinking that you deserved at least a point and sometimes more-Leeds away this season for instance-but last night's game was all over with their second goal.
The team selection for Saturday will be interesting because I believe that Bru, Ward and Celina did enough in their varying times on the pitch at Burton to justify selection last night and all three did enough last night(I believe)to justify starting again on Saturday.
I think Waghorn must start on Saturday and deciding on a back four(or three plus wing backs)will also be an interesting problem for MM. |  | | |
| excellect report that I've just found on 09:21 - Nov 2 with 2050 views | unstableblue |
I think this sums up my concerns in general:
"Cardiff were more cohesive. They defended more confidently and robustly, they were more imaginative and incisive in their build-up play and they had a greater urgency and alertness about them. We were a goal behind but we weren’t really in the game."
We did seem to find some urgency, some alertness, and critically imagination and incisiveness in a few of our opening games... but the opposition was weaker and we have gone into Micks cautious mode of the last few seasons.
What also strikes me from the report is the question of did Spence and Webster really need resting? Wasn't the merit of keeping a consistent back line and not playing players with question marks over them far greater, than 'resting'.
Great to hear Downes did well. Let's just start the lad, give him a run. |  |
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