Bristol draw at Cardiff, Basket weaving and the tactical mouse

Cardiff City 0 Bristol City 0

I'll get to the tactical mouse later

would this mouse play 4-4-2?

 

Bristol City started the day as a club in the swamp pit that is the bottom 3. That means that out of 24 clubs in this mediocre of mediocre Championships, 20  clubs have proved themselves to be better than them. Count them. 20.

Cardiff City is a side with Premiership players who the bookies felt were good enough to top the league.

When the dust settled, and the fat lady wept rather than sang, we saw that Bristol had totted up 6 strikes on target and the Cardiff City wonders zero. Yes count them. Zero. That would be, oh yes, none. Not a single strike against one of the worst teams in a miserable league. Their goalkeeper could have practiced his basket weaving undisturbed.

 

Is this the sort of mouse that plays 4-4-2?

Before we get to the tactical mouse let us use our logical powers. Best players in league cannot even challenge one of the worst. Something is wrong. Agreed?

And it has been wrong for a year. 4-4-2 can be crushed by the opposing team adding a 5^th player to midfield. Bristol played with the 5-3-2, meaning they would be difficult to break down but could power forward when in possession. It isn’t rocket science. This isn’t Pepe Guidiola thinking at its most revolutionary. This is a playground formation.

4-4-2 means we rarely kept the ball and couldn’t use it when we did. Pitiful.

Can you see this mouse playing 4-4-2 every week?

 

If the tactical mouse asked any Cardiff fan to be honest and they will admit that Bristol should have won, maybe by a hatful. For that we can thank Marshall (as usual!), the woodwork and the fact that this is one of the worst teams in the league. I was beginning to think that even without our defence Bristol would have spooned the ball over the bar rather than score.

Months ago it was time to thank Mr Slade for his efforts. It is now embarrassing. Within a few weeks it will be Christmas and the next manager will be facing the steepest of slopes.

The bookies thought we should win the league with these players. The Cardiff City board thought otherwise and kept on a manager who has no experience of championship soccer, no tactical nous and judging from the last few performances no capacity to inject vim into the team.

 

Ah yes tactical nous, not tactical mouse. That wouldn't be useful at all.

Definitely some tactical mouse

 

 

 

Preston 0 Cardiff 0, Message to Mister Tan Russell or my Aunt Ethel?

Preston 0 Cardiff 0

 

It has not been possible to publish any blogs recently because, well to be honest, nothing has changed. You would be reading the same anguished words.

Cardiff are still underperforming. With the players at their disposal, playing in the worst Championship I can remember, we ought to be easily in the top six - really in the top two.

We are drifting away from the top six. Don’t get too excited that we are in 8^th position, in terms of points we are 8 points from top spot but only 9 from bottom placed Bolton.

Before Saturday’s match, our opponents, Preston had been bottom but even their incompetence and ragged team managed to grasp a point from a Cardiff Side bereft of ideas.

 

There is no doubt that within weeks of Trollope arriving last season, Cardiff’s defence became more solid. Over the following weeks the midfield improved immeasurably. But attack is still a problem and goals are as rare as Cardiff City Fans at a home match.

When Tan dumped Russell Slade on us we all hoped Vince knew something the rest of us had missed.

Many of us were under the impression Cardiff was a club with the ambition to seek out a manager who at least knew the Championship and at best also knew the Premiership. We would even have been patient with a young, go ahead ideas man from anywhere in the world.

What we got was a man managing a team just above the relegation zone in the league beneath us. A manager whom, his boss, the Leyton Orient owner said was about to be sacked. It is a bit like the Mercedes Formula One team building an incredible car and then asking my Aunt Ethel to drive it. Ethel is a lovely lady but knows nothing about driving, can’t park or overtake and only has experience of a 1 litre ford Fiesta.

Mercedes' table topping Formula One car
 

Aunt Ethel not very good behind the wheel of a racing car but understands 4-4-2.

 

I am not a Vincent Tan hater. I admire, and am grateful for the way he has steered our basket case of a club into benign waters. I remain thrilled that when we were promoted he had the guts to chuck £30 million at the club for players. Had Malky bought a premiership goal scoring striker for £10 million rather than Cornelius then maybe Malky would still be with us and, just maybe, we would still be in the top flight. I did say 'maybe.'

I honestly don’t believe Vince brought in Slade to punish us for the appalling treatment he suffered at the hands of city fans, well the mouths of city fans. I think his business head is screwed fully on and he needs Premiership soccer to recoup his dosh. Perhaps, like the rest of us, the man has an ego and would love to own a club playing the top teams in the world. I get all of that and support it.

Big hitters like Tan are often swayed by the apparent character of a person, promoting them above their natural level. Russell has been with us for a year and indeed we are better than under Solskjaer, but only marginally – and in all honesty could we have become worse?

I had hoped Russell would grow into the job. He had a torrid six months managing us in the championship when his single directive seemed to be to cut the squad. He had a few months in the summer to learn about playing in ways other than 4-4-2. That being the only formation in which the amazing Mats Møller Dæhli couldn’t function. Don’t get me started! *sob* *sob*

The evidence on the pitch is that we haven’t moved forwards since Paul Trollop worked his magic.

I am sure it isn’t the players in the squad, though I wouldn’t turn down an aggressive, fast goal scoring, forward. Sadly you won’t find many of them for sale at Splott market on a Sunday Morning.

I also want to add that I like Russell. From what I have seen in interviews he is an honest, pleasant hard working cove. But it ain’t happening on the pitch and the board need to fly over to Malaysia and have a word in the boss’s shell like.

‘Hey, great idea Mister Tan. Russell kept us safely in the middle of the table last season with dull as dishwater football. He reduced the squad and drove away the fans. Who do you think we should get in for the next step?’

A  Cardiff City board member Greeting Mister Tan

 

Even if a new guy was brought in today he would have a tough task to get to know his squad and for the players to get into a new mind-set before Christmas. Better now than in January when we could well be mid table with the top six flying away from us.

As I say at the end of every one of blogs please Mister Slade prove me wrong.

 

 

 

  

The case for and against the defendant Russell Slade

Lucky bastards Rotherham 2  Unlucky Cardiff 1

What do we think? Two losses on the trot and we slump from the giddy heights of second to eighth. We sit uncomfortably at the upper end of the mid table muddle.

Is it down to Slade?

In his defence ...

May it please Mister Tan ...

 

Against Hull we were playing against Premiership quality yet giving a good account of ourselves. Players like Huddleston and Dawson should be playing in a higher league, and their attackers are blessed with skill and pace. Cardiff enjoyed loads of possession, good ideas from defence to midfield but as with last season we lacked the imagination to take advantage in attack.

Against Rotherham the man who usually saves our bacon cost us the match. In a moment of red mist he did a Cantana and kicked out at his tormentor, Derbyshire, a niggling little bastard. Red mist equals red card. Moore came on for the industrious and in form Mason and suddenly we were exposed up front and a goal down. Cardiff were left to chase the game. To add insult to insult, in the final seconds the superb Connolly clips the ball at the near post and watches it dribble across our line. We deserved the point and ended up with nothing.

Ok we know Marshall has form. His red card at the end of the last season meant he couldn’t play for the first 3 matches of this season. We are unlikely to ever forget his method of discussing a defensive situation with Anthony Gerrard – though in fairness Gerard was never a guy to walk passed a fight. I guess it is how a scot and scouser discuss matters. Fists raised, temper on overload.

Marshall Would you mind awfully tracking back with the forward?
Gerrard: What a spiffing idea David. Many thanks for advice.

 

Marshall must get that rage under control, even when arseholes like Derbyshire are around. In fact especially now that players up and down the country know he can be needled.

So the Russell Slade defence barrister can offer up solid reasons for the two losses.

 

And the case against Mr Slade ...

 

However the truth is that Hull, for all their qualities on paper were ordinary yet still mugged us. If we cannot score when we have the upper hand with some of the division’s best strikers when are we going to hit the back of the net?

As with last season when plan A fails Cardiff carry on doing it. When it continues to fail …yep, we still carry on doing it. If City cannot get joy playing the ball around in front of the Hull defence then why not go over the top and get someone to run on to it or try and cut the ball through the defence? Well anything other than pass it around in front of a competent and high quality defence.

Let us not forget Rotherham have played 8 games and suffered the ignominy of 5 defeats, scrapped two draws and beaten only one team – yes, us! Surely we should be able to score a few against them even if we are down a man? No disrespect to Rotherham but they are crap.

There seems to be a lack of ideas ahead up front for Cardiff.

Here come der Judge, here come der Judge ...

 

A good manager can change a match with a substitution or by tweaking the playing system. I am not seeing any signs of that. For sure Malky MacKay, the hero to many of us, didn’t vary his systems too much either. He played a defensive system which was turned into an attacking force if we went a goal down.

But Mackay’s systems worked.

Same with Dave Jones. He adjusted his tactics to the few players in his squad and varied them against other teams.

Right now we are as predictable as we were last season. 4-4-2, squashing into 4-4-1-1 at times.

This is all down to the coaching staff.

The final argument against Slade is that the Cardiff City team is pretty much the one he inherited with the addition of Peltier and the loan guy Ameobi. None of Slade’s signings have set the Cardiff City Stadium alight. Solskjaer might point to Pilkington, Fabio, Jones and a few others to balance out the hundreds of Norwegian disappointments he migrated to here. And please don't mention Mats Moller Daehli, I am close enough to tears as it is. How could we let him go *sob*

It is still early but Cardiff’s record this season of 3 draws, 3 wins and 2 losses is middle of the table stuff. Just a sobering thought: we are 8 points away from Brighton at the top but only 7 points away from Rotherham at the bottom. Yes, I know it’s scary.

We have the home game against Charlton followed by two away games, one of which is against in-form Brighton. I fear that by the end of October we could be stranded in the middle of the table.

There again I was one of the people who thought Solskjaer was going to be brilliant so don’t listen to me.

 

 

Will Cardiff City Fans ever learn to love the worst dressed manager in the football league?

Nothing makes sense when it comes to Cardiff City.

Cardiff City are second in the league. We are unbeaten. We have just won three on the trot, the first time since Malky. Yet we are struggling to smile, no one has a good word for Russell Slade and the ground is as deserted as car boot sale of Cardiff City red football shirts.

Slade modelling Armani

 

Don’t ask me to explain because I feel the same as the rest of the supporters.

For a start the football is at times second rate, yes but we are second and winning.

We seem to lack ambition and ideas …I know, yes but we are second.

We are locked into a 4-4-2 that is at least more fluid than last season … yes but we are getting results.

Slade with Hugo Boss jacket and Rober Cavalli Baseball cap

 

Slade wasn’t up to the job when he arrived and whether it is having Paul Trollop in his coaching squad or whether he has read a book on football management, he is getting results. Whatever is happening at the Cardiff City Stadium is working.

It can’t be that we are demanding quality performances. Cardiff City fans cheered Malky to the rafters, and let us be honest we weren’t exciting! Malky’s plan was to stifle the opposition and then grab a goal with a high pressure, high energy, 90 minute Blitz. Malky’s City matches will not be part of any ‘Exciting Football Match Compilations’ on you tube. Well ok yes, the Manchester City home win …ok and the Man Utd draw and yes there was … but you get my point.

Alexander McQueen ensemble

 

Yet not many of us go these days. The crowds have halved since last season – and we were in the middle of the table for chrisssake.

All very odd.

Will we never learn to love worst dressed football manager in the world? What’s not to like. He took over our club when we were flat on our back and gave us some belief. He has put us in the automatic play off places. He is grinding out results.

Pierre Cardin baseball cap with Dolce Jacket

 

Suppose we are still in the top six at Christmas. No, just suppose it, run with me here. Suppose we are flying high and still grinding out results without setting the world on fire. Will we take to Russell then? Will he be forgiven for not being the top flight manager we felt we deserved when Solskjaer moved on?

Right now I’d say he still won’t be loved and I am hard pressed to say why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uncle Slade and his big knockers, why City are like a hot young couple and Pullis needs to chuck in his missus and another fifteen million for Marshall

Forest 1 Cardiff 2

Another good performance, a couple more goals and we are suddenly 5^th.

It is early days and the stats are funnily enough not brilliant: we have won only two out of five games, but we drew the other three. Fortunately there have been a lot of draws from the teams around us in the championship which has played kindly for us.

There is a togetherness about this team. This is isn’t so much the man and wife married for 60 years, this is the rampaging sexual hunger of a pair of youngsters who have just met and cannot believe what fun it all is.

This isn't how Cardiff City are playing ...



...but this is!

 

Perhaps for the first time we are seeing Slade’s famous man management. It could also be that we are seeing why Trollope has been made assistant coach for the Wales team.

It doesn’t matter why. It is happening and like all good recipes no one should touch it. If we are still in the top 6, still chalking up the points and still scoring the goals come mid October then this must be the coaching staff that will see us through to the end of the season.

Tan and the board were right to have stuck with Slade despite the appalling soccer and dispiriting results at the Cardiff city stadium last season.

Who's the main man? Answer ...it doesn't damned matter. Leave 'em to it

Certainly the players are treating Slade like a big friendly uncle and when Fabio gets his after match cuddle he appears to think Slade is his dad. Long may Fabio get his after match cuddle! He is showing what happens when his amazing skill and athleticism are pointed in the right direction. It shouldn’t be forgotten that a few years ago he was in the Brazil squad and played in the Champion’s League, now he is giving his all against the likes of Nottingham Forest and Wolves in the Championship. We are lucky to have him.

Kudos also to Connolly, a talented guy, who has been bounced around every position on the field apart from assistant referee. He appears to be a natural leader, he was the guy who went over to Trollope to discuss some problem against Notts Forest, maybe the right sided defence? Like Fabio he comes with pedigree. A few years ago he was captain of the Arsenal reserve side, maybe he should be our regular captain.

Marshall showed yet again why Tony Pullis would need to offer 15 million plus his wife if he wants our keeper for West Brom. How many points is Marshall worth to us across a season? It could be the difference between being outside and inside the top six at the end of the season. He could even mean a top two placement.

Is he worth ..5 million? Twenty Million? How much is possible promotion worth 

 

Then there is that damned enigma Kenwynne. If he played to his best ability he would be strutting his stuff at a top side in Europe. This season we have seen a man with a point to prove. He is collecting goals because he is being brave, strong and determined. Some tv journalist described his goal against Wolves as a goalkeeping fault. Twat. Kenwynne had to battle two hulking championship defenders and then head the ball with pace at the goal from just inside the penalty area. To make life hell for him the keeper was hammering towards him with his gloved fist on a trajectory to bash the head of the amiable Kenwynne. No sir. No goal keeping error, nor fluke. That was a striker who wanted the goal above all else.

Really pleased to see Mason get a goal. I have been touting him for a while and in some ways he can disappoint. He appears light weight; championship defenders lug him too easily off the ball. Yet the kid bounces back up, time after time he is hunting the through ball, making himself available, causing a nuisance of himself in the area and turning and having a pop from any angle. Maybe Jones needs a terrier like Mason and Mason needs the clout Kenwynne offers.

And the Slade knockers? As I said in the previous blog, this is crazy. It is the same squad of players, give or take an Ameobi or two and the same coaching staff yet the performance attitudes and results are polar points apart from last season.

Explain that because I can’t.

An easier problem than working out the difference between City this season and last season. (BTW he has got his Derivations wrong near the M-squared). Still easier than why it works this season for City. 

 

 

Russell Russell Slade sells his soul to Dame Shirley Bassey to learn the secrets of Championship management

Cardiff 2 Wolves 0

A win. A clean sheet. Cardiff playing like a team and dominating the match ...again.

So what are to make of this?

It is the same bunch of players give or take an Ameobi, the same manager and the same team. Yes, I have checked, there is only one Russell Slade. It is the same crowd, though minus about 10,000 stop at homes.

Yet totally a different result.

Continue to play like that and you will be a Cardiff legend. Kenwyne reminds us of his amazing talents.

 

Fulham wasn’t a flash in the pan; these players do seem to have some idea, guts and hwyl. They play for 90 minutes just like they did for Malky, they keep on playing for each other as if they all get along like old muckers, and just to demonstrate the new team spirit picture this: when Fabio is dragged off because he can barely walk, he and Russell engage in a huge man-hug, like long lost father and son.

Even the hard to please city fans asked Russell to do the Ayatollah. This, for the uninitiated, is the equivalent to being invited to join the Masons. So before Russell rolls up his trouser leg let us analyse what has happened.

Ameobi scores a great goal, but more importantly makes an impact.

 

Hmmm. Same players. Same coach. Same team. Same 4-4-2 tactics yet different results.

Instead of despondently hoofing the ball up field and picking the ball out of the back of our net we are looking, dare I say it, lethal? Well ok, maybe not Barcelona lethal but we can at last threaten to score. Oh and keep a clean sheet. When was the last time Cardiff City looked like that?

Now I could be cynical, and being a Cardiff City Fan I am uniquely qualified to exhibit cynicism. I could point out that Russell could have played anyone but the ineffectual Revel from game one but I won’t be Mister Nitpicky from Abernitpicky. We have drawn three and won one. Not exactly promotion form for sure, but it is the attitude and direction of the team that is getting us excited.

Not only are we not in the middle of the table but we are a few more wins from being top of the table.

Just like the game against Fulham the crowd stayed to the end with a smile on our faces. Remember the dark old days when the stadium would start to empty at half time? When the Clark pie shop might as well have closed its grills before half time? When the full time whistle emptied around an empty graveyard of a ground. Even the police and officials had departed.

The man who has done a deal with ...

 

Clearly the only difference is that Russell Slade has learnt what to coach his players or else has sold his soul to the devil. Hmm which one? Perhaps it has taken him this long to learn about the championship. Maybe he discovered the book ‘Championship for dummies,’ in a used book shop in Barry Island.

Something has changed.

Ok, ok, there is this Paul Trollope guy who certainly is good enough to be appointed as coach to the Wales national squad. Whoa. Before anyone hoists Trollope onto their shoulders, claiming him to be the messiah, please bare this in mind …

A long time ago, when this country had its own indigenous car industry, when Trade Union barons ruled the country, when tele was in black and white, Man city were very successful. They were managed by the avuncular Joe Mercer and coached by the young tyrant Malcom Allison - that is when Allison had his trousers pulled up and wasn’t shagging everyone’s wife. So the fable became known throughout the land that Mercer was just the front guy, the stooge, holding back the mercurial talents of Allison. So one day Joe moved on and Malcom Allison became manager. And yes you’ve guessed it. Manchester City collapsed to the ground faster than an Italian striker when slightly touched on the back. Allison wasted a fortune on youngsters and Man City became a shadow of their former selves.

'Everybody thought I'd be down the road by now but we're in good shape,' declares Russ. A little early for gloating maybe, but if you are still here at Christmas then feel free to gloat. City fans will cheer you on as you do.

 

So the point of the story? Do not pick and choose between them. Russell and Trollop and Young and everyone else are part of a coaching team that is, right now, successful, so don’t spoil it. Let us see where we are by mid-September.

Robert Johnson after he sold his soul

 

Was she the soul dealer?

 

Tiger Bay as Satan moves through looking for his Clarke's pie

 

 

And my conclusion? Yes, Russell Slade sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in the old Tiger Bay, not to the screaming strains of twelve bar Robert Johnson but to a ballad belted out by Dame Shirley Bassey.

 

 

 

Slade goes from ugly 5th former to striking sixth former in the space of two matches

QPR 2 Cardiff 2

For a long time Cardiff City was the guy who gets the girl back to her place, knows all the moves, lots of ball control but doesn’t score.

A man who can score

 

QPR looking as clueless as, well, as clueless as last season’s Cardiff City, score from an unlikely corner and then an illegal goal from a hand ball. A hand ball which only the myopic ref and his blind assistant missed.

But then the officials missed the handball from keeper Robert Green which was well outside the area. Would have been neat free kick and a sending off.

Cardiff were the better team, 62% possession, and at one point in the second half it had been 75%. Good team work too, with swift passing – yes a Russell Slade side playing with slick, quick passing. Rub your eyes and look again.

Lots of smiling Russell's 'cos I have given him a hard time in the past.

 

We just can’t score. Revell and Mason work hard enough, both show promise but we need them to deliver. We need goals from the forwards.

So Slade is suddenly looking better. He is the girl who was butt ugly in the 5^th form but arrives in the sixth with a new haircut and a decent set of tits. From zero to a bit of all right in no time. Maybe he cannot be dismissed so lightly. You couldn’t fault city for effort, determination or getting the ball forward.

You could fault them for not capitalizing on the possession advantage.

 

There again who knows. If Fulham and QPR are in the mix at the end of the season then this will have been a prized pair of points. I fear though that QPR will have to step up four or five gears to be mid table based on what I have seen. Fulham were like a sealed envelope, impossible to know anything about their contents just yet.

Whitts does it for me but then I might be alone in that.

Smiling Russell could last a little longer than many of us thought

 

Connelly troubles me. I admire the guy. I have seen him have some cracking matches in the past but too often in these first two games he has given away the ball more cheaply than bottle of a Cote de Rhone at Lidl.

Not hundred percent sure of Peltier either. If anything he is the solid unsung hero yet he made mistakes here. Not least giving away an unnecessary unforced corner and thus their first goal.

If Malone scores a couple more like that, in circumstances like these, then he will be forgiven buckets of errors. He came close with a similar effort against Fulham, about the same point in the match too. So it isn’t a fluke.

Surely Fabio will get a call back sooner rather than later? And I have always rated Declan John.

But again a cracker of game from the tough, skilful and ball hungry Pilkington. Maybe he tired towards the end but he ticked all the boxes throughout the match.

Noone had a brief chance to remind us that he could be better on the pitch than on the bench.

Ralls gets better, Moore redeemed his error against Fulham with good saves and more bite in the box.

Morrison and Dikgacoi are clearly going to be important to us. Yet at the same time we have cover for the both of them so they can be rested or absorb some yellow cards and injuries.

 

Impossible to say well done Russell until we see more games and know more about the quality of the teams we have played. But it would be churlish not to point out that this is a side unrecognisable from the despairing teams of last season. Not just in skill but in attitude. They want to play and they want to win. Surely that is going to count for something over the coming months.

 

Stop press. City fans stay till the end and left with a smile on their faces

City 1 Fulham 1

The man who might be Cardiff manager at the end of the season?

Firstly the good news: we weren’t bad. So time to break open a cheap half bottle of plonk from Lidl and sigh with relief.

The second bit of good news is that Cardiff fans left with a smile on the face – they also stayed until the final whistle. I cannot think of a match last season where this happened – oh yeh, when we beat Fulham on our first day back in Blue.

This was because we were the right end of a draw, ie they scored first.

This was a Slade team with a different attitude. Far more ‘up for it’. Players wanted the ball and had an inkling of what to do with it when they got it. The inverse of the previous season.

Amazingly when Fulham scored the  City players strode back to the centre circle with chins up and a glare that said, ‘right, now you’ve asked for it.’ Again the inverse of the previous season when a  goal seemed to flatten our spirits even if we were 2 goals up.

This spirit, if maintained through the season , will mean more points.

More good news, Dikgacoi is every bit as good as folk have said. Unflappable, tough and a ball player. Gunnarsson  may have to bring his Icelandic magazine ‘Cool Babes in the Snow’ so he has something to look at on the bench whilst City are playing. But please stay with us Aron, it’s a long rigorous season of injuries, suspensions and form. You will be needed!

Sammy Ameobi promises a great deal: he is big, clearly talented to a degree you would describe as classy, pacey and, at least for a while, looked like he wanted to get involved. Need to see more.

Slade has never impressed me as a manager but I have often pointed out that his 4-4-2 worked well when he had a fit Pilkington opposite Noone. That view remains. I think of Ralls as a midfield ballplayer more than an out and out winger.

Pilkington played like a man who has been out of action with injuries for an eternity and needed to remind us how good he actually is. And he did. He is unplayable on his day, and today was certainly his day. He gave the Fulham fullbacks a torrid time. Pilkington  may be the best asset Solskjaer brought to the club.

A biased ref reckons Pilkington didn't score because he used his hand. Ref must be English.

 Noone scored the sort of goal that would be shown endlessly on tv if scored by a Manchester city or Chelsea player. He dribbled inside, with Fulham players finding it difficult to keep their feet and scored with a bending shot from 25 yards. By next week I will be describing it as having been scored from 35 yards. It was that sort of goal. One about which granddads will bore their grandkids .

Nooney, Nooney, Nooney.

 

It was a life saver, or as they refer to it at Cardiff City Stadium, a Slade saver.

Fulham and City were on a par, a draw would have been fair.

What did Cardiff city miss?

1.       Marshall’s bullying. In a match he is constantly yelling and tugging his defence around. Simon Moore is a little too quiet for my liking. Maybe Morrison or someone else has to pick up on that. As for Moore’s cock up, hmmm. Every keeper makes one or two but maybe 5 million for Marshall feels a little too cheap right now.

2.       Ali Yasmine. I can see that managers might drop a player because of ill considered reasons but to drop Ali was a catastrophic mistake. Whatever he has done wrong, writing poetry about Vincent Tan on the loo walls, shagging the wife of a director or asking for an increase in his salary to take him up to minimum wage, please Cardiff City board allow him to apologise and tell him to get his arse back up in that damned box. Pronto. Like right now. Let him ‘m a k e  S  O  M  E     N   O   I   S  E.’ As for the mortuary attendant who replaced Ali please let us say just say thank you and good night.

3.       The elusive final goal scoring touch. I am a big fan of Mason and he looks hungry to score but what does Ravell offer us right now? He doesn’t look big enough to be a target man and the Championship is not famous for hiring weedy dwarves as centre backs. On the plus side other players took a genuine pop at goal and on a kinder day may have seen us win by 3 or 4.

So this is a step up from the previous season. Obviously no one knows how good/bad/mediocre Fulham are but on the basis of what we saw we will not be relegated and, whisper it quietly, Russell Slade might be the manager of a top six championship side.

 

Squeaky bum time for city fans is at the start of the season

Aaargh.

Pre season and two draws so far. Against the easiest opposition you can imagine. Forest Green from the conference and Shrewsbury from league one. Remember this is a Cardiff side hoping to chase promotion to the Premier League. Surely those two teams should be fodder for us. An opportunity to try something a little different perhaps. A test of how many goals we can score. But no. In both games we stuck to the 4-4-2 and were fortunate to sneak away with a draw.

Russell as he usually looks watching his midfield get over run by teams with ideas

 

Last season saw a talented Cardiff city team settle in to mediocrity, too good for the bottom three and most certainly nowhere good enough to even tap on the door of the top six. At times we were dreadful, pitiful. Paul Trollop did seem to sort out the defence else we may well have been closer to the league one trapdoor. In fairness the midfield seemed be improve  in the last month or so. But that really is putting a gloss on a ramshackle season.

What drove away the fans in the end was not Malky’s sacking, nor the red shirts, it was simply dour unsuccessful football. In all honesty at times it appeared clueless.

Russell as we hope he looks at the end of next season having just emulated Malky but with exciting footie.

 

Worried?

You should be.

We will get a better picture of our Bluebirds side after the tour of Holland so maybe it is too early to weep tears into buckets or shake our fists. But it’s not looking very promising is it?

We have matches against Watford and Bournemouth to follow the Dutch matches and I fear the worst.

But that gives us a problem. I honestly see why Vince, and the board might want to be fair and principled in allowing Russell a chance to prove himself. The question is how long should this generosity last. I would say as far as a draw against a non-league team and a draw against aLeague One side. But hey! That is just me.

Let us say Russel does ok in the first month. Then we are nestled firmly in the middle of the table, the top 6 in sight but the bottom three, like a snarling dog, only a few steps behind us. By then we will have played 6 matches, including a league cup fixture. So we keep him on and suddenly September is gone, transfer window is closed, mediocrity or relegation beckon and time is the enemy. It is October and a new manager will have to build a team around someone else’s players … yet again.

I am willing Russell to succeed. It may not seem like it from these words but Cardiff is my team and with the buckets of cash on offer in the Premier league it will prove tougher and tougher for sides to achieve promotion against teams who habitually get promoted and then relegated. Each time they go up they get buckets of cash.

If we don’t make it next season then life will be tough. Next season is do or die.

I just wonder what the board will do if we the Dutch tour is as crap as the first two matches and our games against Bournemouth and Watford prove disastrous? Squeaky bum time for city fans is at the start of the season not as Alex Ferguson thought, at the end of the season.

As usual I will conclude with the line … ‘and Neil Lennon actually wanted the job here.’

Legal disclaimer: I also think Russell Slade is a nice guy and would shake his hand and thank him for entering the fires after Solskjaer departure. I think he was unlucky to lose Pilkington so early in his tenure. With Pilkington and Noon he had the wingers necessary to make 4-4-2 work. But great managers turn teams around with the resources at hand.

 

 

 

 

After beating Nottingham Forest: Give a man both hope and bread or just Warburton

Notts Forest 1 Cardiff 2

Give a man both hope and bread.

You had to rub your eyes. It was a dream from heaven. Here were the blue shirts of Cardiff City attacking with pace.  Attacking the Dougie Freeman’s Nottingham Forest With pace? No. Surely not. We know how Cardiff’s team play. Slow, slow, sideways, slow. Always wait until the opposition have plenty of time to compose their defence before doing anything so impolite as to actually launch an attack. Then try and catch them off-guard with a long aimless ball hoofed up to the opposition centre half so that they can attack us with their extra man in midfield.

Mason, in disguise with his new haircut, and Doyle reminding us what it is like to play with flair up field.

 

But, no. City players actually appeared to know who their team mates were and where they might be standing. They even passed the ball to each other in telling areas. Before you start up with the ‘argh if only we had been playing like this since Russell took over,’ let me remind you that this was against Notts Forest who are having a pitiful, gutless run. They were there for the taking. But in fairness City did a wonderful job in taking advantage of this.

But everything in perspective.

It was good to see Russell finish his time at Cardiff with a big smile and applause from the generous fans. We may not think highly of your tactical nous but we appreciate you are a good man dropped into a nightmare with no support. We can see the good traits shining out even when the world was against you. You were noble when the shit was thrown and restrained under fire. Hopefully these qualities will hold you in good stead for your next job.

Russell as I'd like to remember him. Good luck and happier times where ever you end up.

 

I know there may be some in the City boardroom who might just squeak ‘maybe loveable Russell isn’t so bad after all.’

Now hear this: we must have greater ambition. We need a manager who can move us forward.

The new bloke might be a young chappie who has actually watched continental teams playing and said, hey, even my Bournemouth can get results if we play possession football. Eddie Howe has developed a system of 4-4-2 that breaks into a high pressing 2-4-3-1 in attack. They have scored at least once in every game they have played.

http://outsideoftheboot.com/2015/01/14/bournemouth-tactical-analysis-of-the-cherries/

 Certainly they were the best championship team to come to Cardiff City stadium this season and it will be interesting to see how they do in the Premier League- with or without Kenwynne. Is there another Eddie Howe out there?

 

The new guy doesn’t have to be an old boy like Harry Rednap. Rather he could be someone with promise like Brentford’s Warburton. He seems to be getting the vote from many city fans and is definitely  a guy of interest. He is clever, he even worked as a city trader to keep his family going in a style to which his wife would like to remain accustomed. After ten years as a trainer he told his wife he was going on a tour of Europe to see all the different styles of play. (Yes Russell, there are systems other than 4-4-2). Along with this knowledge he developed a reputation as a tough guy, becoming known as a ‘marine’ to the players whose fitness and ability he bruisingly challenged. The result is for all to see. Brentford stormed into the championship and are now, in their first season, in the play offs. Just think what he would have done with that squad of players we had when Solskjaer moved on. I know, it makes me tearful too.


Warburton The Marine ...Cardiff is just over the Severn bridge, just turn right after Bristol. You will find us. We will line the route to the Cardiff Stadium with blue scarves to guide you.

Warburton has said he is leaving Brentford come what may at the end of this season. City fans must hope Brentford do not win promotion in the play offs else surely even he will change his mind.

 

In a nutshell beating Notts Forest 2-1 at their ground with a certain amount of panache brought a grim season to an end with a hefty dose of joy. We share Russell’s smile. But the future will be bleak if Vincent doesn’t raise his sights for a higher quality manager.

 

I will never forget this season’s despair. Not just the results, but the misery of seeing quality players appear inept and dull. Sometimes I left Cardiff City Stadium so full of despondency that I was unable to share my brain addled views on this blog. Mrs Scribe hid all sharp objects until mindless optimism returned on Monday morning. Better though than fans around me who would leave at half time with shaking heads, wondering why they bothered to come in the first place.

In truth, given what happened with Russell Slade, it might have been better to have stuck with Solskjaer and hoped he understood that a team has to defend first and foremost else a hundred attackers on the pitch won’t make a difference. A real shame it didn’t happen for him.

So Mister Tan, cheque book out and point Mehmet Dalman’s purposeful charm at Mister Warburton’s home address. Give us hope. A man needs both bread an hope to survive.

Mister Tan: The bread has paid for a wonderful ground, a reasonable squad and an excellent training ground. Thank you for that. Now give us hope with an exciting new manager.

 

Mister Tan's Meeting with Mister Slade at the end of the season

 

Vincent Tan settles back in freshly dyed Blue leather chair as he strokes his fur ball of a white cat.

Slade shivers before him. They are deep in the underground lair beneath the towering volcano off a secret island near Malaysia, (family holidays available). Far above them the relentless dark seas crash together.

The sharks glide darkly through the blue water around Tan’s throne until at last Tan glances up and speaks.

“Mister Slade, you disappoint me.”

 

Slade swallows, knowing that his every word could be his last. “Please mister Tan you didn’t give me enough time …”

“Dave Jones, he created a team from nothing in one season.”

“y-y-yes. Yes. But he … well I …. I didn’t have enough money. If I …”

A shark fin slices the surface not far from Slade’s mammoth feet quietening him.

“Dave Jones created a team out of nothing. Even with all the players injured and us getting in unwanted players on load. He still got us to the playoffs. And a cup final! Even the man whose name is not uttered in my presence got us to a cup final in his first season!”

“Yes, yes … but you see Mister Tan 4-4-2 is played by all the great teams in the world, like Real Madrid …”

“All the great teams play many other formations too Mister Slade. Even the average manager knows more than one formation.”

“Well yes, yes.” For a long while Slade’s mouth opens and closes searching for the sort of words that usually satisfy the Western Mail and South Wales Echo reporters. “But some managers succeed with just one formation.”

“Oh? Name one!”

Tan eyes the flabby track suited PE teacher before him noticing how his forehead shines with sweat and dread.

 “Well, even Cardiff were promoted playing 4 1 4 1 every week under Malky …”

“Silence!” Tans hand cracks down on the blue chair. “Do not mention his name in my presence.”

“Oh …. No .. no … I just cannot think of any other manager but me who only knows one formation.” Slade’s fingers tighten into sweaty fists. “You see Beckham plays the long ball …erm … Scoles and Bale play the long ball. I have seen Ronaldo play the long ball.”

“Hmmm.” Tan closes his eyes and thinks. “But they do it successfully. They certainly wouldn’t hump a ball up to forwards who are both only 5’9”, only a fool would do that!”
 

“We beat Blackpool.”

“There are teams of blind Eskimos who have never kicked a ball who can beat Blackpool.” Mister Tan’s face wrinkles in disgust. “And Blackpool managed to score twice against us!”

“Aye but Blackpool are dangerous Mister Tan. I did warn everybody.”

“Dangerous? Dangerous! They have only won 4 times all season and one of those was against us!”

“That was before I took over Mister Tan!” Slade nods towards the startled Gabbidon and Young standing trembling and silent as if seeking to make themselves invisible.

“Enough!”

The word echoes around the chamber until all is still save the hum and burble of the sea tank pumps. A fin cuts through the surface before diving out of sight with a gulp of spraying water.

“You task me Mister Slade but I have made a decision.”

Gabbidon and Young hug each other in knowing misery. Slade’s eyes grow Uncle Fester huge as if his head will explode.

“You may leave.”

Slade notices a sly smile on Mister Tan’s lips as the white cat leaps with a shriek from his lap.

Young nudges Slade, whispering under his breath. “Get out of here now. We might still get a job at Port Vale.”

The three men move as one onto the bridge leading to the sanctuary of the lift that can shoot them to the surface and safety. As they reach the hump of the bridge they hear a chuckle and the men freeze. They see Tan has grabbed a lever and tugs it down.

“I do not know failure Mister Slade. So Goodbye.”

The bridge falls open beneath their feet. Too shocked to scream the three men slip into the blue water as it churns red for a long satisfying while.

When at last the water becomes still and the red fades back to Mister Tan’s favourite colour, blue, he lifts the phone.

“Mister Choo! Get me Mister Dave Jones and a plate of the extra-large pies. I know the way forward.”

“Mister Dave Jones as manager again Mister Tan?”

“No Mister Choo. He will be my advisor and do as I say. I will make my mother the manager. We will get to the Premier league!”

"Very wise Mister Tan. Oh and Mister Tan? Should I ship the sharks out to the new tank beneath the Canton stand?"

Mister Tan chuckles. "Indeed Mister Choo. I am sure the supporters will be most respectful next season."