So far, so good!

Just over a month has gone since my last post, and a lot has happened since then. By the 5th November, we find ourselves in 4th place in the league, and in the last 8 of the Carling Cup. Not many of our fans would have predicted that at the start of the season, (although I would like to point out that I did at least predict the league form and said that we are capable of being a top 6 team - see blog post 06/08/2011).

The matches have come thick and fast, but the last 3 against teams who were previously above us in the table were particularly impressive and satisfying. A lot more people are starting to take notice of the Bluebirds now. If you were ever in doubt, then make no mistake - we ARE a good team!

There have been some question marks over whether we need to strengthen the squad, and I think most people appreciate that we need a fast wide player and another target man striker as an alternative to Kenny Miller. However, there is no need to be hasty. Malky Mackay has built a great team spirit with a great work ethic. The danger of bringing in a star player from outside the squad is that this balance gets upset.  A decent Championship player, or an up and coming player from a lower division may be better than an out of favour Premier League star. 

As far as strikers are concerned, then someone like Jutkiewicz from Coventry or Jordan Rhodes from Huddersfield would fit the bill, although I suspect Rhodes may head straight to the Premier League and Huddersfield would be very reluctant to let him go in their present form. Wide players are harder to spot, although possibly someone like Adam Hamill from Wolves might be what we’re looking for. In a perfect world, we need another Jay Bothroyd and Wayne Routledge, but given the history of those two with the Bluebirds, this seems pretty unlikely!

CARDIFF 2 IPSWICH 2 - 15th October 2011

There are some teams we always seem to lose to, no matter how good or bad we are or they are. Ipswich are one of those teams as far as I’m concerned, and I never expect anything from our games against them. I think this negative attitude stems from the last match at Ninian Park, when Ipswich obviously didn’t read the script and beat us 3-0.

On the face of it, a 2-2 draw is quite positive, but the score truly doesn’t tell the story here. An early Rudy Gestede goal from Gunnarsonn’s long throw seemed to give us a slight edge, but over the next hour we slowly let them get back into the game, and the ten minutes following Chopra’s (who else?) goal which gave Ipswich the lead after 51 minutes was some of the worst football we have played at home this year - they threatened to completely overrun us. However, we were then awarded a dreadful penalty - grossly unfair to Ipswich, in my opinion - which let us draw level, and following that we could easily have pinched it. Ultimately, the draw was a fair result.
 

Whittingham scores the equalising penalty - picture Jon Candy.

PETERBOROUGH 4 CARDIFF 3 - 18th October 2011

We should have known that this game would have lots of goals - the last timewe played at Peterborough 2 seasons ago was the famous game when we gave away a 4-0 half time lead to draw 4-4! Only one less goal this time!

We led twice in this game - an early strike from Don Cowie for a 1-0, then an Aron Gunnarson goal with 8 minutes left to lead 3-2. But Peterborough seem to have some form of magic formula which causes opposing teams to fall apart in the last few minutes. We are by no means the only team to concede late at London Road, and a dodgy penalty decision (against us this time) was followed by an injury time winner.

There was to be a big question asked of the team after this performance - could they bounce back from such a disappointment?
 

Ben Turner in action against Peterborough

CARDIFF 5 BARNSLEY 3 - October 22nd 2011

This was by far the easiest win we have had at home all season - Barnsley were the worst side at the Cardiff City Stadium this season (including Bristol City and Doncaster, who were also poor). They gifted us an early Kenny Miller goal, who was then replaced by Joe Mason following Miller’s accidental clash of heads with Ben Turner. Mason then scored his first league goal for the club after seizing on to a rebound from a Peter Whittingham free kick. 2 goals from Aron Gunnarson and one from Don Cowie completed the scoring for the Bluebirds.

The fact that Barnsley scored 3 flattered them, as their manager Keith Hill admitted after the game. 2 of their goals came from deflections and it could easily have finished 8-1 to Cardiff.
 

Cardiff attack against Barnsley - picture by Jon Candy

CARDIFF 1 BURNLEY 0 - 25th October 2011 - Carling Cup

Both sides put out virtually complete first teams for this fixture - something that doesn’t always happen in the Carling Cup. 

This match gave us an inkling of the improvement that had come about from the Bluebirds. The first clean sheet for a while confirmed that things were getting better defensively, and in the end it was quite a comfortable win. Burnley have had a number of changes from last season and weren’t quite as strong, but this was a well controlled performance by Cardiff. After Joe Mason’s well taken 40th minute goal, the result was rarely in doubt.

It was hoped that we might draw one of the really big Premier League Clubs in the next round, but instead we drew struggling Premier outfit Blackburn Rovers. At least this gives us a good chance of progressing, as well as giving the team some idea of the teams they would have to beat if we move up to the Premier League.

THE BIGGEST THREE GAMES OF THE SEASON SO FAR!

LEEDS UTD 1 CARDIFF 1 - 30th October 2011

DERBY COUNTY 0 CARDIFF 3 - 2nd November 2011

CARDIFF 2 CRYSTAL PALACE 0 - 5th November 2011

These 3 games took place within 7 days and finally showed people that we could be a top 6 team this year. We went to Leeds having beaten them 6 times straight in Championship matches, and given their form this year many of us feared that their time was due. However, an early Joe Mason goal from a mistake by Leeds gave us just the start we needed.

This was a high intensity game where a good performance from the Bluebirds in the first half was more than countered by Leeds in the second half. A Leeds equaliser inevitably came, but the team to continued to work hard (not that you would expect anything else!), and held on for a valuable away point.

Don Cowie against Leeds.

The trip to Derby 3 days later was also to be a test, as Derby have been the surprise team of the early part of the season, (despite being tipped by me as relegation fodder before the season started!). However, Derby were struggling with injuries, including having to start a 15 year old striker, and this Cardiff team now has too much power and enthusiasm for teams not to be at their best against us.

A quiet first quarter of an hour, before Phillip Kiss scored his first goal for the club with a good shot on the turn. There was very little pressure from then on, and an own goal from Kevin Kilbane after 15 minutes of the second half effectively ensured the Cardiff win. A late Peter Whittingham goal following a run sealed the win, but looked like it was offside to me (although I have only watched TV replays, to be fair).

Kenny Miller (headband!) celebrates Phillip Kiss’ first goal for the club.

The final match before the International break was at home to Crystal Palace, who were lying 4th in the table at kick off. Their manager Dougie Friedman has got the Palace youngsters playing well, and they had not conceded a goal for 5 matches coming in to this game.

For the first half an hour, I was struck by the similarity between the teams, as both were hard working with a tightly packed midfield. Chances were hard to come by for either team, but towards the end of the first half, Cardiff began to gain a little territorial advantage, even if there were no clear cut chances.

Kenny Miller celebrates the opening goal - picture by Jon Candy

Cardiff seemed to push forward a little more in the second half, and when a chance finally came, Kenny Miller put it too close to the goalkeeper. The people around me on the Bob Bank (Sorry, Ninian Stand!) all thought that the game was heading for a 0-0 stalemate, as this was the first real chance of the game. However, Cardiff continued to create chances, and a great Miller volley on 69 minutes gave the Bluebirds a well deserved lead. A trademark precision Peter Whittingham free-kick on 80 minutes sealed a well-deserved win.

ALL OF A SUDDEN....

We are looking good. This match against Palace was a good test against decent opposition. We were patient, hard working and solid at the back. Surprisingly, the 4-5-1 formation we have been almost forced to play due to a lack of fit strikers looks good and quite attacking - we are the third highest goalscoring team in the Championship!

Two away games after the international break, against Reading (don’t we always draw against them?) and a struggling Coventry side, then a home game against Forest before the Carling Cup quarter final against Blackburn. I can’t wait!

Bluebirds!

Nearly a quarter of the season gone......

.....and we're still only 4 points of the automatic promotion places! This is as much as a result of the overall equality of this division, as it is  for the quality of our play. I've said it before and I'll say it again - we are as good as any team in this division, and we have as much chance as anyone of making a top 6 place.

Cardiff 0 Leicester 0 - September 25th 2011

After the exertions of the midweek league cup tie, this was always going to be a more even event. Unfortunately, more of our team had to play in both games than Leicester players, and i'm sure this contributed to the outbreak of first half injuries which saw all of our substitutes used before the start of the second half!

We prepare to defend a corner.

To make things worse, Rudy Gestede was suffering from a hamstring pull for most of the second half, and so all-in-all a 0-0 draw was acceptable from a team with more resources than us. there was one heart stopping moment late in the game when Andy King directed the ball on to the top of the bar, but in general we were well worth our point.

Cardiff 2 Southampton 1 - September 28th 2011

This was probably our best home display of the season. Top of the table Southampton brought a good number of away supporters to make the atmosphere even better. Kenny Miller was forced to play up front in a 4-5-1 formation, mainly because he was the only fit striker left at the club!

I love to see teams wearing their traditional colours, rather than a dedicated away strip!

The tireless energy of Gunarsonn and Kiss in midfield kept the Saints under pressure for much of the game, and starved their dangerous front men of much possession. Then, a sudden long ball from Marshall down the centre of the field enabled Miller to nip  in between the centre back and the goalkeeper to loop a header into the empty net. It may have been route 1 football , but it was nothing more than we deserved. 8 minutes later, the harrassing work of Gunarsonn paid off when robbing the Saints midfield and slipping a pass to Miller who sidefooted the ball into the net for a 2-0 lead.

Southampton scored a late consolation goal, but this was a well deserved Cardiff victory which had us all once again thinking about the Premier League.

Hull City 2 Cardiff 1 - October 1st 2011

A long list of injured players meant that the international break could not come quickly enough for us. To make matters worse, Kenny Miller had to come off after 5 minutes. 17 year old Joe Ralls then had to come on to make his football league debut, only 4 days after signing his first full professional contract. Cardiff went one down just before half time to a Matty Fryatt goal. But early in the second half, Ralls had a dream debut goal - a fantastic strike from 20 yards out.

But, the exertions of the previous week proved to be too much, and a second half goal from veteran striker Nick Barmby (surely he's older than 37?) proved to be the winner for Hull.

And so, after 10 games we find ourselves in 10th place in the league, but only 4 points off an automatic promotion place. Lets keep the faith - onwards and upwards!

Positivity!

More positive news since my last post. 3 more games, and no further defeats. The Bluebirds have clearly become a very hard team to beat - a very useful attribute! The fitness and work rate of the team is particularly impressive, and the form of the second string players in the Carling Cup matches is also encouraging. I haven't seen anything to deflect me from the idea that we are a good team capable of a top 6 finish, and we are only 1 or 2 players away from being a very good team. Lets hope the club is able to bring in the final pieces of the jigsaw via the loan market.

Cardiff 2 Doncaster 0

Make no mistake - Doncaster were poor. But you can only beat the team put in front of you, and this no nonsense performance was a lot more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. We seemed to make hard work of it, but the patience eventually paid off in the 52nd minute when Anthony Gerrard headed in from a free kick. A defensive error from Doncaster let Peter Whittingham set up Earnie with 15 minutes left, and the game was over. Substitute appearances for Gunnarson, and Phillip Kiss, both coming back from injuries, was also encouraging.

Cardiff attack with a Hudson header against Doncaster(picture John Candy)

I was talking to a Doncaster fan on Sloper Road after the game. "We can't score goals and we can't defend - there's only one way we're going out of this division with that sort of form!". Sums it up nicely.

 

Blackpool 1 Cardiff 1.

Billed as the revenge match following our playoff defeat in 2010, reports were that we played a 4-5-1 formation with Kenny Miller as the lone striker. Although I don't get to away games, my friend Andy Williams reliably informs me that this was probably our best performance of the season, and we should have won. The press reports seem to back this up. Don Cowie's 52nd minute goal was equalised with an outstanding unstoppable strike from veteran Blackpool striker Kevin Phillips. Still, an away point is always welcome, and we have done well on our travels so far this season.

Cardiff 2 Leicester 2 (Cardiff win 7-6 on penalties after extra time)

The Carling Cup again provided a good work out for some of our squad players, although it was another late night at the Cardiff City Stadium. It was nice to see Stephen McPhail return for his first game of the season, although unfortunately he had to go off after 30 minutes with a groin injury. There were 7 changes from the team which started at Blackpool on Saturday (there would have been 8 but for a calf injury picked up by goalkeeper Tom Heaton).

 

The first half was pretty poor, and the half time score of 1-1 actually flattered both teams as 0-0 would have been a more accurate reflection of play! However, the game opened up a bit in the second half, and a first club goal for Rudy Gestede in the 82nd minute meant that for the third Carling Cup match running extra time was played.

Rudy Gestede celebrates his first goal for the club (picture Jon Candy)

Both sides were exhausted by extra time, and so the penalty shoot-out inevitably followed. Not as dramatic  as the last penalty shoot-out against Leicester! However, we did have the same result and we go through to the 4th round draw. Lets hope we get a good draw against a Premier League side in the next round.

 

And on Sunday (live on Sky 1.15) we get to play Leicester all over again in the Championship!  

Quietly confident

We are in the middle of one of the international "breaks" so that meaningful football is suspended for a fortnight. I'm not a big fan of international football - the money involved and the power of television means that the club game is now a much more dominant form of the game, and a much higher standard than most international football. International football between countries is dying - the club game moves from strength to strength.


Cardiff 3 Bristol City1.

A very satisfying performance against a weak Bristol City team. In fact, in the first half Bristol City were very poor, and only showed a little improvement in the second half when it was too late and they were already 3 goals down. On this performance they could be relegation candidates.
The Bluebirds showed great team spirit and a work ethic which wasn't always obvious last season. First half goals from Hudson, Conway and Earnshaw. Late consolation from Nicky Maynard, who seemed to be the only opposition player who was rally trying. Wish we could afford to buy him.

Bluebirds attack Bristol City (photo Jon Candy)

Cardiff 1 Brighton 3.

After the enthusiasm of the game against Bristol, this was a bit of a reality check. In my pre-season post I predicted that Brighton were a potential top 6 team, and I didn't see anything here to make me change my mind. Gus Poyet has put together a good footballing team who play with assurance and confidence. They are buoyed by the enthusiasm that a new stadium brings, and also seem to have investors to back their manager. Their acquisition of Craig Mackail-Smith certainly raised a few eyebrows. The only worry for Brighton fans must be the attention their manager is getting for himself - it must only be a matter of time before a Premier League team tries to acquire his services.

The match itself started brightly for the Bluebirds, with lots of hard work producing  sustained periods of pressure on the Brighton goal. However, 5 minutes before half time an uncharacteristic and unusual individual mistake by Kevin McNaughton gifted them the opener, and with the agile and speedy Mackail-Smith causing problems, they deservedly took a 3-0 lead before Peter Whittingham scored with a late penalty.

 Whitts scores a consolation penalty (photo Jon Candy)

As the season progresses, I think Brighton will prove to be a good team, and could well be going places.

Burnley 1 Cardiff 1

Turf Moor is always a difficult place to play, and gaining an away point after going 1 down in the first 5 minutes an away point is always acceptable. Robert Earnshaw's 200th career league goal.

Cardiff 5 Huddersfield 3 (after extra time)

I don't usually bother with the Carling Cup games, but with a shortage of impending league games  I decided to make an exception, and I'm glad I did! Although the side was made up mainly of second choice players, it proved to be a useful runout. The Bluebirds went 2-0 up after 18 minutes with goals from Gabor Gypes and Jon "the Beast" Parkin. We appeared well in control at half time.

Jon "THE BEAST" Parkin against Huddersfield (photo Jon Candy)

Things changed in the second half. Another individual mistake let Huddersfield back into the game, and it was a bit of a struggle. Lack of match fitness from so many back up players caused the team to look more and more tired, and so inevitably a Huddersfield equaliser was followed by an apparent winner in the 88th minute. But then, out of the blue, up popped Don Cowie with an equaliser deep into injury time.

 

Extra time followed, but the heart had been knocked out of Huddersfield by the late equaliser and an early deflected goal from Craig Conway and a second Don Cowie strike saw the Bluebirds through. A thoroughly entertaining evening.

 

Portsmouth 1 Cardiff 1

Another good away point, although a little disappointing to concede a late equaliser. Of course, the Portsmouth equaliser had to come from Nwanku Kanu adter his winning Cup Final goal in 2008!

After 5 league games, we have 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, leaving us in 7th place. Onwards and (I think) upwards!

 

Many thanks to Jon Candy for letting me use his pictures. You can find more on his Flickr site on :-

Jon Candy's Photostream

More of the same please!

Its been a very satisfying opening week of the season, with the hard fought (and possibly undeserved!) late winner against West Ham last Sunday, followed by an almost as satisfying Carling Cup at Oxford United on Wednesday.

West Ham United 0 Cardiff City 1

I sat down in front of the TV last Sunday with some trepidation - Would our new team work? Could we score goals? Could we defend well against probably the best team of the division and their Premier League stars? Well, the answer to those questions was yes, probably and yes again!

Only 2 of the starting eleven played in the final playoff game against Reading in May, (McNaughton and Whittingham), so it was very much my first chance to check on the team progress. Defensively, we looked sound - Marshall in goal seemed to work particularly well with the whole defence, and both Hudson and Gerrard in the centre of the defence made some crucial tackles. I'm not sure of the pace of those 2 against some nippier strikers, but there won't be many better combinations in the Championship this year. The midfield also seemed to work well, although lacking a little width and pace outside at times. Whittingham was outstanding, and continues to improve as a player.

Its in! Kenny Miller scores the winner in the 91st minute!

 

However, up front there are still some question marks for me. Although Earnshaw made a nuisance of himself and Kenny Miller scored an opportunist winner, the 2 of them are too similar players in my opinion to play together on a regular basis - I think we need a player with more of an aerial threat to play with one or the other of them, and then bring the other off the bench for the last 20-25 minutes with pace when defences start to tire.

 

But lets not be too pedantic - it was a good performance last Sunday. We probably only deserved a draw at best, but the signs were encouraging of the overall team performance and the win was a bonus. Over the course of a season these things have a habit of evening themselves out, and I've no doubt there will be other occasions when teams score late goals against us to deny us of points.

 

Oxford United 1 Cardiff 3 (after extra time)

 

I'm not a big fan of the Carling Cup - it's one cup competition too far in my opinion. However, for once this match came in useful as a way of giving the rest of the squad players the chance to see some competitive match action. With 8 squad players away on international duty, it was a chance for some of the youngsters and fringe players to shine - it was particularly good to see Alex Evans and Ibrahim Farrah start.

Whitts at Oxford

An encouraging performance from a half strength team who showed their superior fitness to win in extra time, with goals from Peter Whittingham and Nat Jarvis.

 

Another Sunday.

This afternoon we have the first home game of the season to our only local rivals, Bristol City (I don't mention the "S" word on here!). Its not until the middle of September that we have a home league game at the traditional time of 3.00pm a on a Saturday! We have had good wins over the Wurzles at Cardiff during the last few seasons, even last year when we were 2-0 down after 4 minutes! Lets hope it continues today!   

 

 

It's All to Play For!

Season's Greetings

Well, here it is - the first day of the new season. Well, OK, I know the first game took place last night (Blackpool won 1-0 at Hull), but today is the first full set of fixtures. Except for the Bluebirds and West Ham United, of course, who don't play until tomorrow due to the demands of TV (and the Metropolitan Police, I suspect). But anyway, it is the first day proper of  the season. Remember the old days when matches always kicked off at 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon?

All I know is that by 7.30 am on a Saturday morning at the end of a week's holiday I am wide awake - the football season is here today.

In Malky We Trust

A new season, a new manager, and quite a lot of new team. 9 new signings to add to the 12 players left by the old regime mean a lot of changes and a lot of getting used to. However, I'm quietly confident that  we can do at least as well as the last 2 seasons, and at least get a playoff place.

 

At the time of composing this entry, West Ham are obviously the strongest team on paper in the division. If no more of their Premier League stars such as Paul Parker get snapped up by the existing Premier League clubs, then they are clearly in a strong position to go up over the course of a season. Leicester City have been spending money to acquire large numbers of players and appear to be stronger than last year and on paper at least look like they will be challenging. However, I'm not so sure they will be a lot better than many of the teams in the Championship, a division with many teams close to each other in terms of ability.

 

In my opinion, we are no weaker than last year, when we finished 4th in the league. Apart from the 2 teams mentioned above, I don't think there are any teams who are obviously better than those teams left from last season. Of the teams coming up, I think Brighton will be challenging. Gus Poyet is an excellent manager, and the new stadium factor may well inspire them to do well, possibly all the way to the playoff. Poyet is the key to Brighton, and the main danger is if there is an early sacking of a Premier League manager, and that Poyet is looked for as a replacement.

Gus Poyet - going places.

 

My Predictions for the Championship Season

Top 6, in no particular order:-

West Ham United

Leicester City

Cardiff City

Brighton And Hove Albion

Reading

Middlesborough

Relegation:-

Doncaster

Derby

Peterborough

Who will be our stars?

 

We still have a nucleus of very good players, and I'm sure Malky will bring out the best in players such as Peter Whittingham, a proven matchwinner on his day. The new young players he has brought in look exciting, and I'm sure Kenny Miller will score goals again at this level.

Of course, if Craig Bellamy is able to extricate himself from Manchester City and return, who knows?

But no matter what, despite the good runs and the bad runs, the trials and tribulations of the football season are here again, and all true football fans are happy and excited.

West Ham Utd v Cardiff City

BBC Championship page

New Season beckons for this Bluebird!

This blog is an attempt to explain to my online American friends why I am a Bluebird, and to let them know that there is a lot more to football (soccer in USA!) in the UK than what they refer to as the "EPL".

I am a Cardiff City fan - the Bluebirds. I have always been a Cardiff City fan, and when I say always, I mean just that. Somewhere in my mother's memorabilia is a copy of my Cardiff City membership filled in on the day of my birth in 1958! I attended my first game in 1967 (a 1-1 draw against Coventry), and started regularly attending in season 1967-68. Over the years, despite discovering rugby, cricket, athletics and golf, despite discovering the pleasures of alcohol and women, despite moving to work in various parts of the UK, they remain the first thing on my mind when the scores come in at a quarter to five on a Saturday afternoon. OK, I know that the modern day TV demands mean that matches don't always kick off at 3.00pm on a Saturday afternoon but you know what I mean.

The Cardiff City Stadium.

Now I quite openly admit that I didn't go to many games between between 1980 and 2005 - some people would say that I couldn't have been a true supporter because of this, but for 10 years of that time I lived away from the area, then when I returned in 1988 a combination of shiftwork, marriage and playing sport on weekends whilst I was young enough to take part kept me away. But I still looked for their result first.

Then, on 10th August 2005, I returned fully to the fold. My wife Angela got fed up with me getting under her feet at home, and suggested I went to watch the football as I had told her I did when younger. I went to see Cardiff play Leeds United, Jason Koumas came on to make his debut in the second half and scored the winning goal, and that was it - my addiction to football and the Bluebirds was back. I have missed few games since and I am now just about to commence my third season as a season ticket holder.

And what a time to return to the fold! 3 trips to Wembley, including the FA Cup final, and the best league finishes since the early 1970s. All that is missing is promotion to the Premier League! After 2 seasons of losing out in the playoffs, perhaps this is our year? Can our new manager Malky Mackay succeed where our previous manager Dave Jones didn't?

Malky Mackay

Malky has put together a new team to replace the one put together by DJ, and at the time of writing this blog has made 9 new signings, including former Cardiff star Robert Earnshaw, returning to his home town club, and Scottish international Kenny Miller. The general standard of the Championship this year is probably a little higher than last year, but I'm quietly confident that we can challenge for the promised land of the Premier League (EPL to my American friends!) again.

"Earnie" - Robert Earnshaw

Now, lets bring on August 7th and our first game against West Ham - BLUEBIRDS!

HAPPY NEW (Football)YEAR!

As far as I'm concerned, we have just started the New Year of 2011-2012. Football fans in the UK and most countries in Europe work to a different calendar to the rest of the world!

This is not a new idea - I first came across it in the Nick Hornby book "Fever Pitch", a book which tells of the life of an Arsenal fan in the 1980s.(Recommended read, by the way, although not as good as some of Annis' books!)

The only difference these days is the length of the 'year'. When I was a young Bluebird in the late 60s early 70s, the season went from the middle of August until the FA Cup final at the end of the following April. Not any more - media attention means there is little meaningful break between seasons at all. The players went back this week for 'pre-season'. Did they have 'pre-season' in the 60s? Didn't they just turn up for training the day before the first game of the season?

Anyway, I have therefore decided that the 1st July should be declared the New Football Year Day!

A Happy New Year to all Bluebirds!

To commence July 1st 2011