Wales beat someone further south than Italy, at last; LeFondre scores, at last; City win away, at last and the Slade knockers can keep quiet, at last.

Yeh? So you wanted Russell Slade’s team to excite a little more? Get the blood pressure up? Then you should have seen this. Please bring back boring the Cardiff City who clawed 4 points form leeds and Birmingham as my blood pressure can’t take it.



He scores at last, City win away at last, the doubters can rest their tongues, at last!


 

First half had City playing 4-4-2, well ok you probably guessed that didn’t you? Except this time we looked good value in an away match. The difference? Kenwynne Jones and LeFondre link up better than Macheda and LeFondre. The Jamaican was constantly flicking the ball into space for LeFondre. If this develops they are going to be lethal. Ok, famous last words, but it is promising.

Early on Kenwynne headed for goal, it hit the post but LeFondre wanders (and I kid ye not) wanders up to the ball as it sits near the goal line just seeming to be playing silly buggers until he finally strokes it home. Maybe he was waiting to see if it would go over on its own accord to give the goal to Kenwynne. Please don’t do that again Adam. Strikers are greedy. Just make sure it goes in.

So we then had 80 minutes of Watford demonstrating how not to score. They had over seventy percent of possession, and at times it must have been a great deal more. They had shots, headers, dribbling into the area but couldn’t equalise.

I have just read that they only had 22 shots, against Cardiff’s 11, well it didn’t seem like that!

A Watford goal surely had to come. Surely? Another brilliant Marshall save, oh, it hit the post, ye Gods how can he blast it so high over the bar from there?

80 minutes of heart attack inducing attacking football from the team in yellow.

But the blue shirt’s luck held – you see what I did there Mister Tan? I used the word ‘luck’ with ‘blue shirt.’ The lucky Blue Shirts.

And be sure of this, do not let anyone tell you otherwise but we needed good fortune to go with the Hornets profligacy.

Just as you think you can cancel the cardiac arrest team so the ref adds on 5 minutes injury time. Really ref? 5 minutes? Almost certainly punishment for the Cardiff time wasting but a little excessive.

But by then Watford had run out of ideas in fact City might have added a second. LeFondre and Kenwynne had opportunities late on as Watford stretched themselves.

So what goes with relief? Well the much demanded 3 away points, that’s what. 3 Away points to put us up to 8^th , just outside the doors that say ‘play off zone, Premier league football this way.’

Getting out the crystal ball I see a win against Rotherham at home, a tough away match at Bournemouth followed by a tight home one against Brentford. The next three games will be demanding but Russell Slade’s side look like they are realising their potential. Let the doubters apologise.

Tan got his selection of manager bang on and Slade got the tactics bang on.

 

 

Dear Mister Tan

Dear Mister Tan

I hope the family are well and that you are making lots of money to pour into Cardiff City.

Now on the subject of Malky, yes I know you hate him. Yes, I understand why. Yes, we all want to know where the money went. Indeed for ten million Malky should have found a goal scoring forward. I know, I know. With a goal scoring forward we could still be in the Premiership.

Indeed if you wish to spend the rest of your life hounding Malky, make it your life’s work to keep him out of football, then that is a matter for you. He certainly played the crowd against you when he was here and given what you did for the club that must have hurt. I feel your pain.

Happy Mister Tan. The Mister Tan we want to see in public

But somehow you need to do it more quietly. I don’t dispute your view of the Wigan owner’s remarks, they were unfortunate to say the least and downright offensive if we are honest.

Every time you go public with these statements you knock a lump out of Malky, your intended target, but also a lump out of the dignity of Cardiff City Football Club.

Focus is pulled away from the pitch and the players to focus elsewhere. Newspapers, and TV, live and breathe on this sort of stuff. 

Angry Mister Tan. The Mister Tan we do not want to see in public

But it isn’t good for the club. It adds to the weight your chosen one, Russell Slade, has to bear on his ample shoulders.

So by all means launch nuclear submarines and drones to hit your nemesis but please try to avoid public statements on the subject. You are hitting us as hard as you are hitting your chosen target. You could damage us for ever.

Best wishes and regards to the family.

PS Can I borrow the yacht for my birthday soon?

Scribblingscribe.

Cardiff 2, Reading 1, Slade is the new Malky but is the tedium worth the points?

First Half:

Poor old Solskjaer. He didn’t get much luck in his time as Cardiff manager. He didn’t have Noone towards the end of the Premiership nor at the start of his championship season. But knowing Ole he would have played him at centre half anyway.

Noone was the difference and Reading were unlucky.  They seemed to have more of the ball in the first half and more idea. Ball to feet. Ball to feet. Not ball thumped aimlessly up field. 

Robson Kanu is very deceptive. He looks like a ponderous, geriatric with the pace of a lame tortoise dragging a ton weight yet he beats players, gets his crosses in and his shots away. Always dangerous.

But luck was with City. Despite Reading’s possession we go in at half time one nil up. A Whitts corner bounces off Pearce for an own goal – despite Ben Turner issuing sworn affidavits to all his colleagues that he actually scored it. Nope Ben. An own goal, but good pressure from you.

The jury remains out on both Macheda and le Fondre. It would take a wiser man than me, or any other human being on this planet, to put their finger on why they don’t score more. Sure they aren’t exactly the fastest players but Macheda has more class than the Queen pouring tea at Balmoral and LeFondre has spent his entire career sticking the ball past opposition goalkeepers. But it doesn’t happen for them at City. Saying that, Macheda has scored four times and tonight LeFondre won us a penalty. 

He got into the penalty area, was brought down by Pearce -who doesn’t know Lefondre doesn’t score for Cardiff. Result: Pearce ends a nightmare match in his own dressing room after a red card and Whitts does what he wants. 2-0. I don’t think I have seen Whitts miss a penalty.

Oh here is a question. When Cardiff need a tall, fast, skilful goal scorer, who do you think is joint top goal scorer in the championship? Answer Rude Gestede. Big sighs all around.

Second half:

The second half was ninety percent dire and ten percent nervy. City were poor in first half, lacking ideas unless Whitts or Noone were on the ball. At 2-0 up they wanted to play out the last forty five minutes and hang onto the win like a mother hanging on to her child. Again, there was little inventiveness, we were hesitant to go forward and when we did we lacked invention.

Reading scored with ten minutes remaining and the finger nail biting began.

We can see what Slade’s team is about. There is no room for the Daehlis or Ravels in midfield. His team can grind out results. We are now eleventh and over the next month a few more points away from home with the home form continuing and we will be into the playoffs.

It ain’t pretty but it worked for Malky and it might, just might, work for Slade.

Birmingham 0 Cardiff 0. City are the Abba and Radio 2 of the football world.

Cardiff City are a middle of the table team sitting in the middle of the table playing middle of the table football.

 Right in the middle. Position 12 out of 24. 

We are the middle of the road team of the division. The Abba of Football. The Radio 2 of soccer. 

From two poor teams in the bottom four we have taken exactly one away point.

We were clearly the better side at Birmingham but then the brummies were so bloody awful. Not so much Peaky Blinders as Blindingly Poor.

They couldn’t hold the ball, barely pass and until the final twenty minutes were convinced that the long ball was the only means of attack.

Cardiff were better through the middle but we don’t have goal scorers. No we don’t! Stop pretending. 

Yes I know we seemed to have every striker in the championship when the season began. Solskjaer was like a wife with a lottery win purchasing all the forwards going. Where are they now?

Neither Macheda nor LeFondre look as if they can score. I don’t know what’s happening to them. Both had chances and both looked like they had legs of jelly.

Fabio was dropped because of a bad game and true he can be found terrifyingly out of position at times. But without him we seemed to lack anyone who could unlock their defence. 

Matts Daehli wants a game? Then put him between the striker and midfield. 4-4-1-1. It is nearly 4-4-2 so it shouldn’t upset Russell’s lunch too much. He can pretend it is his usual formation but with an extra man in midfield when things get tense.

We were getting the ball into their box against defenders who had the same lack of confidence as our forwards yet still we couldn’t score - apart from one which was just offside.

Fabio does offer us another dynamic in attack. It means we have to allow for a three man defence at times. But how else are we going to unlock their defence? If he was being punished for Bolton then fine but get him back for Reading.

I thought we would come away with 4 points from lowly Bolton and Birmingham and am now relived that we have a single point from the two games.

We need to average 2 points a game to get promotion and we are not doing that. And we don’t look like we are going to do that.

The forwards aren’t working, so where are all the others we bought? 

We need Kenwynne back double quick. Kenwynne and Matts up front. They couldn’t be any worse?

Even if we beat Reading on Friday we will only crawl up to 11^th place. Then it’s high flying Watford away. 

Need some senseless cheering up? Uhm … still a long way to go. Lots of matches. Bournemouth flew from bottom to top in what seemed like days. No one is running away with the Championship yet. 

But twelfth! 

Middle of the road football team.

City 3 Leeds 1, Arrogance Required

Ok firstly there were three Morrisons on the football pitch today. But you won’t be as confused as Leed’s Morrison was when he thumped a header over the bar in the first half when he ought to have scored. 

The classy Manga thanking a higher deity, the rest of us will thank him.

City had controlled the first half reasonably well but rarely had an impact on the Leeds goal. Steve Morrison’s miss came out of the blue but reminded us of the dangers of being the best team but not getting a goal.

Cardiff’s Sean Morrison, let’s call him Morrison number two, then headed across the Leeds area for Bruno Manga to cap a wonderful game by heading wide of the struggling Leeds keeper.

The goal was wonderful for three reasons, one it was sublimely taken; two it marked a reward for the classy work that man gets through in every game he plays and three it meant we all breathed a sigh of relief.

To dominate a game yet fail to grab a goal often leads to the most miserable of defeats and we were beginning to wonder if it was going to be one of those days.

Macheda scored the second but the jury is undecided on this guy. He is pumped full of Italian class, exhibited in sublime passes along with extraordinary control when dancing through the opposition. 

But he looks like he lacks confidence. He had other opportunities to score, but seemed hesitant. It is as if someone needs to get hold of him and slap him around shouting into his face: “yes you are as good as people say. Start believing it!” Maybe the fall from Manchester Utd wonderkind to unemployed footballer is as big a strike to the ego as being made unemployed in any other walk of life. 

Kiko needs an injection of arrogance. So many footballers have the arrogance without the skills to back it up, Macheda has the reverse, the skills without the belief. Kiko could play for Italy, he just needs to do more. Kiko could be the championship top goal scorer. Kiko could make himself wanted by Premiership Teams. Kiko read this and believe. City fans are on your side. 3 goals in 4 matches. Let’s see that tally mount up.

There is something of a lack of arrogance about Morrison number three too: Ravel Morrison. Considering his press resume you’d think he would be full of himself but actually he also looks as though he needs a run in the side to boost his confidence. No shortage of skill. A sublime dummy which let the ball run for a further twenty yards to Fabio exhibits breath taking understanding of the game. But full credit to the guy. He came on to hold the ball and did exactly that. I think he lost it once and then raced around until we got it back. We like what we see with Morrison three. We have always admired Morrison three, (Sean Morrison, please keep up).

On came Kenwynne Jones for the last quarter of an hour and the Leeds defence went crazy. They were like a bunch of Piranhas in a feeding frenzy. 

Discovering that they could foul him in the most obvious ways without the linesman or ref seeming to care they grabbed him, hugged him, held him, kicked him and finally actually took hold of his dreadlocks (the ref managed to see that one!). His reward for being kicked from pillar to post came with him cementing the victory with Cardiff’s third goal. Wonderful Kenwynne.

This was a brilliant team performance. From Marshall to the very last player. Everyone put in a shift, everyone can hold their head up high when they pick up their pay check on Friday. It wasn’t just what we did with the ball.  We worked hard when not in possession to shut Leeds down from their defence, through their midfield to their attack. No white shirted player could dwell for long without feeling a city player close him down.

Make no mistake Cardiff have now combined the considerable footballing skills we knew they possessed to the degree of hard work necessary to win. If this continues over the next month then we will be in the playoff area or even in the automatic promotion places.

Unlike the Morrisons, Slade’s name is a one off. There was no one else called Slade today and there are no other Slades I am aware of in the championship. Russell Slade: you are a one off. You are more than welcome to soak up the praise of the city fans on the final whistle, we give it with enthusiasm. We want to thank you. We love what we see.

There really is only on Russell Slade. Tan seems to have got this one right!

Driving home after the match – or rather being stuck in the Cardiff City car park for twenty minutes!- I heard Nathan Blake speak nonsense. He claimed we wanted to see our team playing good football. Don’t listen to him Russell. Get the points in the bloody bag. The classy players we have will give us the entertainment Blakey wants as they grow in confidence, erm, grow in arrogance.