HOME AND AWAY

Eight league matches since my last post, resulting in 5 wins, 2 losses and a draw. Not a bad set of results with a new manager in place, trying to sort out his team. 

However, the bare results do highlight a disturbing anomaly - 4 consecutive away games where we have failed to score, and only 1 point for our trouble. Over the course of the season, we have 6 wins and 2 defeats from 8 home games, and 0 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses from our 9 away games. 4 of our 6 defeats this season have been where we lost 1-0, and we failed to score in 5 of our 6 defeats. However, that run finally came to an end last Saturday with our first away win 1-0 at Watford.

As my American friends might say "Go Figure!"

New manager Russell Slade has brought in a new 4-4-2 formation, and used a remarkably small number of players since properly taking over at the Nottingham Forest game, and the team has looked comfortable in the 3 home victories that followed. We must remember that at the time of beating Forest, they were unbeaten this season, and when we beat Ipswich they were on an 8 match unbeaten run. But to counteract that, we have played and lost at Blackpool, who were without a win this season, and followed that with an away loss at Millwall who hadn't won for 8 games.

Surely at some point the win away from home will come? At least some encouragement can be taken from the Birmingham game where we claimed a point and kept a clean sheet.

Results since last post:-

CARDIFF 2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1
CARDIFF 3 IPSWICH 1
MILLWALL 1 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 3 LEEDS UNITED 1
BOLTON 3 CARDIFF 0
BIRMINGHAM 0 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 2 READING 1
WATFORD 0 CARDIFF 1

Federico Macheda in action against Forest.

CARDIFF 2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1

The first game of the new Slade era. It was hard to believe that this was the same team that we had seen only 2 weeks earlier. There seemed a greater urgency, and a new 4-4-2 formation with Federico Macheda and Adam Le Fondre up front. At this point, Forest were unbeaten and were expected to be a stern test, but the whole body language of the team was much more positive, and the 2-1 scoreline does not do justice to the Bluebirds performance. Even Peter Whittingham looked rejuvenated!

CARDIFF 3 IPSWICH TOWN 1

Well, we all went to this game 3 days later trying to work out whether we had witnessed a mirage on Saturday, or whether Slade had turned us into the real deal. I think we had our answer with a comfortable 3-1 win over an Ipswich Town side who were unbeaten in 8 games.

Adam Le Fondre celebrates his first Bluebirds goal against Ipswich. Unfortunately, it was later ruled as an own goal because of an outrageous deflection!

Despite going 1-0 down, the Bluebirds soon equalised through Peter Whittingham, and 2 early second half goals from Kiko Macheda and Adam Le Fondre sealed a comfortable win against one of the Championship's better sides.

MILLWALL 1 CARDIFF 0

Not a very good performance which I watched on TV. Adam Le Fondre has to take some of the blame here, missing a glorious first half chance. If that had gone in, it might have been so different, but another old foe of the Bluebirds, Danny Shittu headed the winner from a corner after 51 minutes, and we never really looked like getting back from there.

Danny Shittu scores for Millwall, with Bluebirds keeper Marshall controversially knocked to the floor.

CARDIFF 3 LEEDS UNITED 1

We love playing Leeds! In the last 15 meetings of these sides since 2002, Cardiff have won 11 and 4 games have been drawn. And this one was no exception! Leeds had reinstated manager Neil Redfearn that morning - the fourth managerial change this season - but were hopelessly disorganised for most of the game. A first goal for Cardiff for Bruno Ecuele Manga, followed by another from Kiko Macheda, and a tap in from Kenwynne Jones saw the Bluebirds win by a comfortable margin.

Bruno Ecuele Manga scores his first ever goal for Cardiff.

BOLTON 3 CARDIFF 0

A dreadful performance - lets not talk about it!

BIRMINGHAM 0 CARDIFF 0

Finally an away point! And a clean sheet! Unfortunately, we had many chances over a struggling Birmingham team who had recently been revitalised by their new manager Gary Rowett. Cardiff had more of the play, and probably should have won, but in the end had to settle for a 0-0 draw before the international break.

Close but no cigar against Birmingham.

CARDIFF 2 READING 1

To be completely honest, this was a dreadful game. The only good thing about the game was the result! An unforced error of an own goal gave Cardiff the lead, followed by a Peter Whittingham penalty. Reading were 2-0 down at half time and down to 10 men, but Cardiff couldn't capitalise on this in the second half and had a nervy last 10 minutes when Reading pulled the score back to 2-1.

Peter Whittingham puts away the penalty against Reading (pic by Jon Candy)

WATFORD 0 CARDIFF 1

Finally an away win! And this time a goal for Adam Le Fondre which was allowed to stand! Mind you, he could hardly miss when he only had to push it into the empty net from about a foot away!

"ALF" scores his first league goal for Cardiff!

Cardiff were under pressure for much of the game, but a stout defensive performance saw another clean sheet in consecutive away games, and a first away win since the 12th April! I have to rely on others for their opinion on the game, but it seems that for the last 20 minutes we held on quite comfortably.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS?

Well, we now find ourselves up to 8th in the table. One point from the playoff places, and only 6 points from the top of the table. Its definitely the time to push on. Russell Slade really seems to have steadied the ship, and upcoming matches away at Bournemouth and home to surprise package Brentford will provide a good yardstick about how the team are doing. I still think we have the best squad in this division, and I'm beginning to think that perhaps Russell Slade is the man to get that squad to perform. Let's hope so!

Slade Number 1 for Christmas?

SLADE NUMBER 1 BY CHRISTMAS?

It seems an awfully long way away at the moment. Quite an eventful few weeks since the last international break, including one manager departing, 2 caretaker managers taking over and a prolonged appointment of a new manager. In the middle of that, a series of up and down performances which saw the departure of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Things are never boring or quiet at Cardiff City!

RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST:

CARDIFF 2 NORWICH 4

CARDIFF 0 MIDDLESBOROUGH 1

DERBY 2 CARDIFF 2

CARDIFF 0 BOURNEMOUTH 3 (League Cup)

CARDIFF 2 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1

BRIGHTON 1 CARDIFF 1

BLACKPOOL 1 CARDIFF 0

IT STARTED SO WELL

The Norwich game started so well. The first half performance which saw us take a 2-0 lead looked so good. A good goal by Joe Ralls was followed by an excellent team goal finished off by Aron Gunnarsonn. norwich started to put on pressure before half time, but we seemed to be in control of anything that they could throw at us. But after half time, Norwich brought on former Cardiff star Cameron Jerome and the whole game just unfolded from there.

John Brayford in action against Norwich

We never looked like holding on from the moment Norwich scored after 51 minutes, and a capitulation to a 4-2 defeat was extremely disappointing after showing so much promise.

So 3 days later we had the chance to recover from the big defeat at home against Middlesborough. This was dire - as bad a performance as I have seen at the Cardiff City Stadium for a few years. Middlesborough took an easy lead after only 90 seconds, and we never ever looked like returning from that position. It wasn’t really lack of effort from the players - it was the totally disorganised way they went about things, as if nobody really knew what to do.

Goodbye Ole!

I thought following that performance that manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was under pressure, and in danger of losing his job. I thought he may have gotten another couple of games to prove himself, but it wasn’t to be and by Thursday morning he was gone.

His replacement as manager has come as a bit of a shock to some fans, as they were hoping for a big name like Tony Pulis to take over. However, Mr Tan has taken some advice from various sources and gone for the former Orient manager Russell Slade.

On the face of it, this is a bit of a gamble as he has never managed at this higher level, never mind big name players on big salaries. But he does have a reputation of going in to clubs and making the existing players play better.

Russell Slade - paint him green and he’d look like Shrek!

That could certainly be a useful skill at Cardiff at the moment. I still think we have a squad capable of promotion, as long as we can get the players to play together as a team.

A SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT AND ONE OR TWO GLITCHES.

An away game at high-flying Derby followed, with Caretaker Managers Scott Young and Danny Gabbidon in charge. Despite struggling for much of the first half, Cardiff were 2-0 up half way through the second half, but eventually were pulled back to 2-2. Not as poor as the 2 previous league games, some signs of ability and team spirit were trying to shine through.

A 0-3 home defeat to Bournemouth in the League Cup on the following Tuesday was yet again very disappointing. There were 9 changes from the Saturday game and it just didn’t work out, but ultimately I’d rather get the Cup games out of the way so that we can concentrate on the League.

Despite not having an official manager, we made a loan signing of the problem child known as Ravel Morrison on a 3 month deal.

Ravel Morrison makes his Cardiff debut as a sub against Sheffield Wednesday

Ravel is undoubtedly a talented player, but his off field activities have always been his downfall. He has a court case due in January where he could be in serious trouble, hence the 3 month loan. But he has undoubted talent which often shows in brilliant flashes during the game - lets hope we can get him playing well for us. I understand that if he avoids a custodial sentence in January we may be able to get him on a season long loan deal - lets hope he grows up a bit.

Finally, a bit of ability and performance was shown against Sheffield Wednesday. First goals for the club were scored by Sean Morrison and Andrew Pilkington against a Sheffield Wednesday team who had had a good start to the season.

Sean Morrison rises for his first Cardiff goal.

This match was followed by a 1-1 draw away at Brighton, with Kenwynne Jones jumping for a swift equaliser after Brighton took the lead in the 22nd minute. Another game which brought a valuable away point despite having a small percentage of possession.

3 days later on a Friday night, and live on SKY TV, was the away game at struggling Blackpool, who were the last Football League team looking for their first win of the season. This game was opposite to the previous ones, where we had nearly 70% of possession only to lose the game 1-0. Many fans over-reacted to this defeat, in my opinion, as on another night we would have won quite comfortably. But this game marked the final one of the caretaker management team of Young and Gabbidon, with new boss Russell Slade watching in an “advisory” role in the stands. He certainly realises the hard work in front of him!

THE INTERNATIONAL BREAK

This has probably come at the right time for the new manager to stamp his mark on the squad, and work out who he wants to keep. The squad of 31 is far too big to keep everyone fit and interested. Rumour has it that the 20 members of the squad left at home have been undertaking double training sessions with RS this week, in an effort to improve their general fitness levels. Lets hope he is able to get the players to buy into his philosophy.

Many fans were underwhelmed by the appointment of Slade, the same fans who were excited by the appointment of Solskjaer only 9 months ago. My personal feeling is that he deserves a chance, and is probably no more of a gamble than some of the managers who are out of work at present. He certainly seems to have a work ethic and has a record, albeit at lower levels of football, of improving teams by making the existing players play better. Lets wish him luck and hope that Slade can get us to number 1!

Good Start.

Good Start

All in all, its been a good start to the season. After 5 league matches, we have 2 wins, 2 draws and a loss. An away win would have been nice, but lets not be greedy. In addition to this, we have got to the 3rd Round of the League Cup after our back up side won through the first 2 rounds. These cup fixtures have been invaluable in giving our fringe players some meaningful football as well as bringing on some of the youngsters from the development squad.

Results since my last post:

Coventry 1 Cardiff 2 (League Cup)

Cardiff 3 Huddersfield 1

Cardiff 1 Wigan 0

Wolves 1 Cardiff 0

Port Vale 2 Cardiff 3 (League Cup)

Fulham 1 Cardiff 1

The Coventry game saw a side with many youngsters from the development squad, including the memorable name of  Jazzi Barnum-Bobb at right back. Young BB has subsequently played in the second round of the cup as well, and has played well in both games. Although clearly down the pecking order behind John Brayford and Matthew Connoly at right back, I don’t think I would worry if he had to play the odd first team game here and there.

Peter Whittingham celebrates his first goal of the season against Huddersfield

The Huddersfield game was a comfortable win, as they were still looking lost having sacked their manager after the first game of the season. 2 more goals for Kenwynne Jones showed how much of a handful he is likely to cause defences at Championship level (we hope).

The Wigan game was more of a challenge, but in my mind the 1-0 win was a little more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. This game saw the introduction of Sean Morrison at centre back, and the first (and only, so far,) clean sheet of the season.

An away trip to Wolverhampton is always tricky, particularly as they took up where they left off in League 1 last season with some good performances. Reports suggest that we were outplayed for much of this game, but looked like hanging on for a point until a bizarre own goal from Mark Hudson in stoppage time saw us slip to our first defeat of the season.

A midweek League Cup game at Port Vale once more gave the chance to give some meaningful game time to squad members who hadn’t yet played this season. As a result, it was a first team debut for Federico Macheda, who celebrated by scoring 2 goals. In general, I’m not a fan of this competition. However, with the size of the squad we have this season, tied in with giving youngsters experience, it is useful at the moment. A home 3rd round draw against bournemouth also gives us a chance of progressing further.

A rejuvenated Kenwynne Jones scores his fourth goal of the season to equalise at Fulham

Finally, a draw against one of the teams relegated with us from the Premier League last season at Fulham. Fulham had had a dreadful start to the season, but were much improved against us. According to reports, we were very poor in the first half, but were better in the second. sounds like it was a point gained rather than 2 points lost.

THE INS AND OUTS AT CENTRE BACK.

Mark Hudson - on his way to Huddersfield

The big transfer news just before the end of the transfer window was the departure of club captain Mark Hudson, and the signing of Gabon international Bruno Manga from L’Orient in France.

Mark Hudson has been a legend for the club. Skipper when we went to the Premier League, he will always be remembered for that amazing long distance goal against Derby! I would go as far as to say that his late season injury in 2009 cost us the chance of winning the play-off final, as he was by no means back to full fitness when he played in that match. Part of his reasoning for moving to Huddersfield was to help to develop the team up there, and i’m sure he will be very successful.

Bruno Ecuele Manga is welcomed to the club by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

The signing of Bruno Manga from L’Orient in France could be a very important deal. It seems the Ole sees him as a club captain, and also that the first choice centre back pairing will be Manga and Morrison. £5m is quite a lot to pay for a Championship player, and I hope this is seen very much as a signing which will also be usefulin the Premier League, should we make it back.

Next home game is against Norwich on 13th September, another major challenge.

New Season - New Start - New Hope

SEASON PREVIEW

Well, here we are again, back in the Championship after a disappointing season in the "Promised  Land" of the Premier League. Are we downhearted? Heck no!

Despite a difficult and traumatic season at times, I still enjoyed it immensely and will cherish some memories forever. Particularly the win over Manchester City and beating Swansea in the first ever South Wales derby to be played in the top division.

Steve Caulker, now departed to QPR, scores the winner against Swansea

Actually, this season preview is a little late as the season actually started last Friday, when I was still on my annual holiday to France. When I booked it back in January, I was hoping that we would stay in the Premier League, in which case I would be looking forward to the start of the new Premier League season next Saturday. However, the season started last Friday with an away draw at Blackburn Rovers. Not to be sniffed at, as an away point at a team I think will probably be challenging for promotion this year is always welcome.

Kenwynne Jones scores the first Cardiff goal of the new season in the 1-1 draw at Blackburn.

This Wednesday, we have a Capital One Cup match against Coventry City, where Ole will probably field a lot of players who didn't get a league game at the weekend.

THE BURDEN OF FAVOURITISM

Rather worryingly, the bookmakers make us favourites to get promoted back to the Premier League. Ole Gunar Solskjaer has certainly built his own team, with major players such as Steve Caulker, Gary Medel, Fraizer Campbell and Jordon Mutch leaving, but replacing them with a plethora of new mainly attacking talent. I suspect the list isn't even complete yet, but includes Adam Le Fondre, Federico Macheda, Guido Bergstaller, Javi Guerra, tom Adeyemi and today Anthony Pilkington from Norwich. (I'm pretty sure I missed some out here, but you get the idea).

It is difficult to predict any team winning the Championship, but I like to think with the resources we have we should at least make the top 6. So my top 6 prediction for this season, in no particular order :-

CARDIFF

NORWICH

DERBY

MIDDLESBOROUGH

WIGAN

BLACKBURN

Bottom 3:-

BLACKPOOL

HUDDERSFIELD

BRENTFORD

But who knows?

After much anticipation, the season starts for me on Saturday with a home game against Huddersfield Town, and is followed with another home game next Tuesday against Wigan. Win, lose or draw, I can't wait!