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.