Has Gunnerson pulled a funny face at Solskjaer?

Despair. Misery. Gut wrenching. Visceral.

Hull 4 against a team who wasn't there.

Like the end of the world when you are stuck in Merthyr Tydfil on a wet Thursday and the internet is down and the chip shop has closed early. 

Hope has done a runner.

Despair by another Norwegian, not quite so famous as our Norwegian.

This is the end, my only friend, the end. Jim Morrison must have seen the future and watched Cardiff City play Hull. He then penned his nihilistic lyrics.

When we kicked off a bleak, hungry black cloud was hidden by mindless hope - until that fateful first goal.

It seemed inevitable - even before Huddleston shot. Cardiff were kings in possession, awesome in passing and dribbling, but miserable at actually putting the ball into the net. Hull attack once and score. Inevitable.

The bastard Gods writing fate in the blood of innocent Cardiff city supporters.

Has Gunnerson spat on the Norwegian flag? Has he shagged Solskjaer’s missus? Did he pull a face at the manager when he arrived? The one true ball winner we have for the center of the park. A box to box, gnashing, snarling up and at ‘em  midfield player sits on the bench checking his phone messages whilst a middle of the table team called Hull run riot.

When I say run riot I mean they stay calm in defence, watching us fire blanks before smashing through our midfield, score a goal and then stay calm in defence again. Repeat on loop four times.

Hull are not Barcelona. They are candidates for the drop, scratching enough points to keep the trap door at arm’s length. Nothing special.

Did the manager really believe the press reports about Whittingham? Our one true Premiership standard midfield player? A guy who makes things happen. Blessed with vision and ability, but not on the field.

Kenwynne Jones? Does he want to play? Has he other, more pressing matters on his mind? 

The reckless Fabio over the solid MacNaughton? Stolid Taylor over the enterprising boy Declan John? It doesn’t seem right in a million, multiple universes.

Zaha in the England management’s thoughts? Oh sure, yeh. Roy Hodgson to his colleagues: 'remind me not to choose that waster'. The kid has all the talents but the wrong studs. The first thing he has to do is not keep slipping over. Is that so hard? Then he has to get involved.

Juan Cala, Noone, Caulker, Marshall, Campbell turned up. But the last time I looked you need eleven players to make a football team.

In amongst all the pretty players Solskjaer bought in he needed some angry, testosterone fired animal, who wants to win. He played with Roy Keane which couldn’t have been pleasant, I get that. But what Cardiff would give for a captain who can bite the ankles of his team mates. Bellamy cannot do it from the stands.

We are not at death’s door yet, merely ringing the doorbell and making a polite inquiry. There is plenty of football, plenty of shocks before the Fat Lady even thinks about emerging from her dressing room. But in that time Solksjaer must understand the pretty players can only play prettily if there are players who win the ball and boss midfield.

As Morrison continued in The end:

The blue bus is callin' us
The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken' us

How Solskjaer can win. Don't stand like Chris Coleman. Learn the stance of successful managers.

At the outset, then at the close of this rant I will state that Solskjaer is the right manager for us and will prove successful. Ok. So here we go …. Solskjaer is the right manager for us and will prove successful.

Ok? Got that?

Now the rant.

Why must he look like a loser on the touchline? Has he had lessons from Chris Coleman?  The head bowed so much? The chin lost in the jacket? The sorrowful eyes? The hunched figure appearing lost and frightened? The man who wishes he were anywhere else, even in freezing Norway?

Forget emulating Chris Coleman, he is a lost cause. There are good reasons why he appears to be a man who expects to lose. Why fly against perceived wisdom?

So Ole, how about looking like your old boss Ferguson?

Fergie was of course never on the losing side. The opposition may score more than his overpaid stars but he was never losing during a match. The ref was against him. Opposition players were cheating, the pitch was too bumpy for his sensitive lads and in one memorable excuse his team wore the wrong colour shirts, thus they couldn’t pass to each other, (I kid ye not - Southampton 1996).

Hence the Fergie look of angry, disbelief that the fates are conspiring to make his team not quite win.

There is also the Mourinho ‘I cannot believe this’ look. That’s a good one. You need to throw your arms around a lot, and shake your head in incredulity.

Mind you for the look of angry disbelief you should study Arsene Wegner’s countenance, even while his team are shipping six goals.

So never except Cardiff are worse, are losing or will lose. All that is happening is that the universe is not behaving as it should.

I will end by fulfilling the promise I made at the start:  Solskjaer is the right manager for us and will prove successful.

He is turning a club from being an eleven man defence to attacking by passing and possession.

It is a bit like an articulated lorry doing a three point turn in a Tesco car park when driven by half blind menopausal woman who is talking on her mobile.

He will get us there .

My main anxiety is that if we are relegated we will lose Solskjaer … along with Caulker, Medel, Marshall  et al.

So chin up, never believe what you are seeing and the results will come.

Hopeless or Clueless, Aptitude or Attitude

Hopeless or clueless?

Ok I see the skills. Flashy play. Back heels, sharp bullet fast passes.

What I do not see is joined up playing. Obviously Solskjaer has rang the changes so the players are not used to playing together. But am I asking too much of professionals? Lads down the park sense each other’s abilities faster than this lot.

The defense. No point in comparing it with Malky’s defense. He cemented10 men behind the ball with constant twin lines of four players. Worked fine, except we couldn’t score. Now we seem to have disarray with no one at the back quite sure whether they should be in the first half.

How could McCann have space and time just outside the six yard box, especially when the cross into the box was so telegraphed? How can Watson have a clean strike on the ball from twenty yards with no  one even trying to close him down, particularity as it followed a free kick?

Because amongst the skills you need a bit of blood driven commitment. Look at Messi or Ronaldo. Blessed with the finest skills in the world but also one hundred percent driven throughout a match.

Aptitude with attitude. Where was our attitude. Who wanted to win out there?

Solskjaer is never going to put the fear of God into his players the way his old boss would, but he must find a way to energise their aggression. If he doesn’t it won’t be just championship teams who’ will score with ease against us.

A tick next to the boxes of Jaun Cala and the exciting Daehli, a 'must do better' remark next to the rest.

Oh for a Phil Dwyer, Robin Friday or Don Murray amongst the overpaid skill merchants.

Question for Gary Monk the current(!) Swansea manager.

Question for Gary Monk the current(!) Swansea manager.

 

Isn’t there already too much absurd hostility between the two sets of fans without wading in like a slightly upset three year old in a nursery?

He is now accusing KimBo of headbutting, punching and, for all I know, global genocide at a football match that took place last year.

This from a man whose players kick lumps out of the opposition behind the back of the ref. Worse,  when given the opportunity for Emerdale Farm quality play acting, will dive on the floor holding their faces if they can get a player sent off.

And what was Jonjo Shelvey doing when running at Cardiff supporters pretending to swim in the sea? Hardly an icon for world peace and the good of the game was he Gary?

So come on Gary, pick up your toys and go back to management. Note how real managers have digs at their fellow managers.

Should Solskjaer have signed a black cat?

 

With just an ounce of good fortune Cardiff would have won tonight. maybe half an ounce, maybe just a nano grain.Game all over in the first half.

Cardiff hit the woodwork twice. Chris Foy lacked the guts to give a clear penalty right before his eyes. Chances galore, but most important Cardiff looked rampant in attack. Noone the star maybe, but Mutch creating loads of opportunities with his driving runs.

So whisper it to yourself.

No luck. 

No fortune. 

Not at any time in the match. 

Loads of skill. Positive energy. A threat at all times. But no luck. We worked for everything we achieved. Nothing was given to us by the fates.

Without fortune you are nothing in sport. If the ball won’t spin your way it just won’t happen. Can’t happen, will not happen.

A kind word to man who has endured many unkind words: Ben Turner was outstanding. It is easy to forget that his last ditch tackling and no nonsense approach erarned us points last season and will do so this season. Good on you Ben from someone who has denigrated you as much as anyone.

Had we played like this against Swansea it would have been a different match.

But now we go into games expecting NOT to win. 

Solsjkaer needs a black cat, and he needs one quickly.