Half Way Point and leaving it late!

As we arrive at our final game of 2016 this evening away at Championship leaders Brighton, its time to try and assess the first half of the season, as 23 games have been completed. Its also a convenient time to compare the 2 managers we have had this season, and try to assess the record of the 2 men.

We reach the half way point of the season in 19th place, 2 places above the relegation zone, having previously been at rock bottom back in September.

Paul Trollope: Played 11 Win 2 Draw 2 lost 7 Goals for 8 against 19  (-11 gd)

Neil Warnock: Played 12 Win 4 Draw 4 lost 4 goals for 18 against 19 (-1 gd)

 Neil Warnock - made the team competitive again.

Paul Trollope - ironically now Assistant Manager at Brighton!

So, without setting the world alight, Warnock has clearly improved the team and the key improvement from my point of view is that the team is now capable of scoring goals, something that never looked likely before. Defence is still a concern, particularly as with Sol Bamba suspended for the last 3 games there have been 7 goals conceded. At the start of the season, most supporters would have thought that we had no problems with defence, but Warnock has already stated that this needs addressing and I think he will be looking at defensive options during the January transfer window, including a replacement goalkeeper for Ben Amos who has been struggling in recent weeks. Bizarrely, our only clean sheet in the Warnock era was a 0-0 home draw with top team Brighton!

RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST:

CARDIFF 0 WIGAN 1

NEWCASTLE 2 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 3 HUDDERSFIELD 2

ASTON VILLA 3 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 0 BRIGHTON 0

IPSWICH 1 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 2 WOLVES 1

CARDIFF 3 BARNSLEY 4

BRENTFORD 2 CARDIFF 2

The last 3 games sum up our defensive problems despite our own never -say-die attitude. In the Wolves game, we fought back from an early Ben Amos error to take  the lead in the 86th minute and a deserved win. Against Barnsley we found ourselves 3-1 down at half time, again following defensive frailties and errors by Amos. But we then scored 2 goals in the 80th and 88th minute to draw level, only to concede in the 4th minute of stoppage time! And finally, in our last game at Brentford we led until the 81st minute, took the lead again in the 89th minute and yet again conceded a stoppage time equaliser! You definitely shouldn't go home early from our games at the moment.

One positive note from our recent fixtures is the form of Kenneth Zohore, who came on at half time in the game against Wolves and played the best we have ever seen since he came to the club. He has kept this form into the next 2 games, capping it off with an excellently taken chance against Brentford on Boxing day. Neil Warnock has said all along that we needed a fast and mobile striker in the January transfer window, but the form of Zohore may yet make him feel that we have the answer within the club already.

Kenneth Zohore celebrates his 89th minute goal against Brentford

THE TRANSFER WINDOW OPENS!

Now this is where Neil Warnock can really make a name for himself. His experience around the game, coupled with respect from many players within football, should put us in a strong position to acquire the players we need to move away from the relegation zone. There are some financial restrictions at the club, and I suspect still that any player in the squad is available for sale at the right price, even those whose place in the side appears sacrosanct. But I think the fans have a great belief and support towards Warnock and trust him to do the right thing. Lets hope he can do it.

The Warnock Factor.

How else can you explain it? The arrival of new manager Neil Warnock at Cardiff City was universally accepted by fans as a good move, but few could have predicted the immediate impact he would have on the team. NW had used his contacts straight away, bringing in a number of free agent transfers which immediately strengthened the squad. There have been 4 of these in total, with perhaps the most surprising being the arrival of Ivorian central defender Sol Bamba. NW had managed Bamba before, but most Cardiff fans felt that central defence was one of the stronger areas of the team. But what a difference he makes - he leads by example, and his performance against Bristol City was amazing considering he hadn't played a competitive game for anybody since his release by Leeds at the end of August. He even capped off an excellent defensive effort with a goal of his own!

 Sol Bamba smashes home his first Bluebirds goal!

Warnock has also brought 3 other players to the squad, all with excellent pedigrees. Canadian international Junior Hoillet (another to have previously been managed by him at QPR), former Arsenal and Roma striker Marouane Chamakh and experienced Premier League defender/midfielder Kieron Richardson. The latter 2 have 2 months to prove their worth to the team on short term contracts, but Richardson in particular looks a very useful signing.

But perhaps the most important factor in what Warnock has achieved is how the existing club players are performing. Most notable of these is Aron Gunnarsson, who is now playing in his best role as the deep lying defensive midfielder in front of the back four - the role in which he was so successful for Iceland in last summer's European Championships. Also, Peter Whittingham and Craig Noone are playing so much better and having much more influence on the team than they have had for some time.

Aron Gunnarsson

Matches since my last post:-

CARDIFF 2 BRISTOL CITY 1

CARDIFF 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 CARDIFF 2


Cardiff 2 Bristol City 1

A Friday night game on TV against our second biggest rivals. The atmosphere was excellent from the start, and the performance of our players matched the occasion. As well as new players Bamba and Hoillet making excellent debuts, the performance of our regular players were also outstanding, especially the midfield trio of Gunnarsson, Ralls and Whittingham, and also Craig Noone out wide.

Craig Noone - back to his best.

A Peter Whittingham penalty and a Sol Bamba goal from a corner saw us home against top 6 team Bristol City.

Cardiff 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1

Five days later, some fans were a little worried that we might not be able to keep up the standards of the previous match. But we were not disappointed, as there was another good performance from the team against possibly the best opposing team we have seen at the Cardiff City Stadium this season. A good draw against a good side.

Nottingham Forest 1 Cardiff 2

This away game followed 3 days later, and yet again was shown live on TV. This was a far more comfortable win than the bare scoreline suggests. To be frank, Forest were awful at times during this game, especially defensively, and we probably should have scored 4 or 5. but the team ethic was clear to see, and a very enjoyable evening in front of the TV for me.

Joe Calls celebrates his goal at Forest.

Goals from Aron Gunnarsson and Joe Ralls clinched for Cardiff with Forest's only goal coming from a very late and slightly contentious penalty.

Today (Saturday 29th October 2016) is another home game against fellow strugglers Wigan Athletic. This could be harder than playing against high flying teams in the table, and lets hope for a further win today before next week's away trip to face table topping Newcastle United.

Big News from the Bluebirds!

Big news at Cardiff city during the last 24 hours. Following a continued run of poor form, Paul Trollope was finally sacked about 24 hours ago. However, the board immediately appointed well known manager Neil Warnock as his replacement.

Make no mistake, this is a big appointment for the club. Although now approaching his 68th birthday, Neil Warnock can be seen as a manager who knows how to get teams to perform and how to get results. During his career, which includes a number of Premier League clubs such as Sheffield United and Queens Park Rangers, he has achieved promotion 7 times and in more recent years has saved clubs from imminent relegation, most recently last season with Rotherham United.

The fans can be genuinely excited about this appointment. It is something of a coup for the club, as undoubtedly Warnock would soon have been in great demand from a number of other clubs. The recent form of the team, which has resulted in six defeats in the last seven matches, finally made Paul Trollope's position untenable. It was a brave experiment for the club to appoint him following his success as a coach with a Welsh international team, but he clearly seemed out of his depth managing a Championship side. Despite an away win at Rotherham(the only team below Cardiff in the table), a poor home performance against Derby County 3 days later suggested that the players had become confused with what they were expected to do and what tactics they were expected to employ. Last Saturday's 2-0 defeat to Burton Albion was too much for many of the die hard fans who follow Cardiff to away games, and there were calls for him to be sacked. Thankfully the board has reacted quickly to the situation.

We now look forward to the Neil Warnock era at Cardiff city. To make things really interesting, the first Game that Warnock will be in charge for is the Severnside derby against Bristol City on Friday, 14 October. Coincidentally, this game will be shown live on sky TV here in the UK. Let's hope for a bumper crowd and the atmosphere.

Interesting Times at Cardiff City!

RESULTS

ROTHERHAM 1 CARDIFF 2

CARDIFF 0 DERBY 2

BURTON ALBION 2 CARDIFF 0

The Only Way is Up

Worrying times at Cardiff City football club. For the first time in 12 years, we find ourselves at the very bottom of the Championship following four consecutive league defeats. Despite the acquisition of the experienced Rickie Lambert during the transfer window, Cardiff are still finding it difficult to score goals. To make things worse, there seems to be a general lack of confidence in the team. After Leeds United went ahead in the 60th minute last Saturday, you could see the body language of the players indicated that they felt that there was going to be no way back into the game for them. They badly need some form of confidence boost. Manager Paul Trollope is increasingly under pressure, and if results do not improve soon  he may find himself out of work.

Rickie Lambert.

In general, I like to take a positive attitude towards the team. Indeed, in some of the  home matches that I have witnessed this year there has been very little between the two sides playing. But Cardiff's inability to score goals, coupled with their increasing lack of confidence, has put them in a very difficult predicament. It is still a little early to talk about a relegation battle, but if results do not improve in the next three or four games then this is what we are facing for the rest of the season.

Matches since my last post:-

FULHAM 2 CARDIFF 2

CARDIFF 0 READING 1

NORWICH 3 CARDIFF 2

PRESTON 3 CARDIFF 0

CARDIFF 0 LEEDS 2

Despite conceding a late equaliser, the Fulham game was encouraging against a team who have made a good start to the season. The home defeat to Reading was not deserved, as Cardiff made plenty of chances but were unable to score, and Reading had one chance which they put away. A loss at Norwich, who I confidently expect to return to the Premier League this season is also no disgrace, especially at one of our most unlucky grounds. Reports suggest that the performance at Preston was very poor.

Last Saturday provided some encouragement for the first hour of the game. Cardiff probably should have been ahead just before half time when Aron Gunnarsson hit the post. But once Leeds went ahead in the 60th minute following an unfortunate penalty decision, Cardiff never looked like getting back into the game.

In general, Cardiff have played quite well at times in the 3 home games in which they have lost this season. But the capitulation after going 1-0 down on Saturday was worrying. Manager Paul Trollope badly needs to find a way to lift the confidence of the players, or its going to be a long season!

Paul Trollope - food for thought.

And So We're Back Again!

This years preseason predictions will take place after 4 games have already been played, as we didn't get back from our family holiday until after the start of the EFL season. It's been a bit of a mixed start for the Bluebirds, with one win, one draw, and one loss from the first  3 league games. Sandwiched in between those games was an extra time defeat in the EFL cup to Bristol Rovers.

The team is indeed using the 352 formation, as used successfully by Wales during the summers European Championships. It still seems to be a bit of a  “work in progress”,  but last night's first win of the season against Blackburn began to illustrate the benefits of the formation.

The new system has been slightly disrupted by a series of injuries to key players. New signing Jazz Richards was unavailable last night having picked up an injury last Saturday against QPR, and Stuart O'Keefe broke his arm in a freak accident at Bristol Rovers. There were some issues concerning the link play between the midfield and the strikers on Saturday, but this seems to have been addressed by last night. Encouragingly, the wingbacks seem to be getting forwards to provide width to the team, with Declan John in particular doing very well.

Wales international Emyr Huws

The main worry is the lack of goals in the team. It is difficult itself whether the team needs a new top quality striker, or whether a more creative midfielder may be required. It is hoped that the signing of Emyr Huws from Wigan may help in that respect. There has been some criticism from some fans about the abilities of Frederic Gounongbe, but he has not had a very much good quality service so far to fully pass judgement.

Results so far:

BIRMINGHAM 0 CARDIFF 0

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 CARDIFF 0 (after extra time)(EFL Cup)

CARDIFF 0 QPR 2

CARDIFF 2 BLACKBURN 1  

BIRMINGHAM 0 CARDIFF 0

I was unable to witness the first Game of the season due to my holidays. Accounts in the press suggest a good performance from Cardiff and they probably should have won the game. Freddie Gounongbe missed a very good chance.

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 CARDIFF 0

This game was moved to Thursday night to be shown live on Sky television. Approximately half of the team were rested, which resulted in a slightly disjointed performance. Although Cardiff dominated possession, they rarely looked like scoring. A fantastic 35 yard strike sealed the game for Bristol Rovers 5 minutes before the end of extra time.

CARDIFF 0 QPR 2

These two teams were clearly very evenly matched. Defences were well in control, and despite both teams having long periods of possession, neither side likely to score in open play. The first goal when it finally came was a header by former Cardiff player Steven Caulker following a free kick. The second goal came from a slightly dubious penalty. The main disappointment during this game came from Cardiff's inability to create chances for their strikers.

Declan John.

CARDIFF 2 BLACKBURN 1

Card's first win of the season came courtesy of Blackburn Rovers. Rather bizarrely, from  2 own goals from Blackburn centre half Shane Duffy. And to make matters worse for Duffy, he managed to get sent off for a second bookable offence in stoppage time at the end of the game! Therefore, after four games, no Cardiff player has scored a goal this season! The general performance was much better, although Blackburn were very poor side. Declan John in particular had a good game, as did Aaron Gunnarsson who was replacing O'Keefe in midfield.

Shane Duffy of Blackburn (22) heads his second own goal of the game!

PREDICTIONS:

This is the time when I usually try to predict the top six and the bottom three Championship teams for this season. A very difficult task as usual. 

The top six - Newcastle, Norwich and Aston Villa(last seasons three relegated Premier league teams) should all be up there. The other three places could go to any number of clubs - Derby, Brighton, Bristol City, Sheffield Wednesday and Brentford could all be involved. I'm not as convinced as in previous years that Cardiff can force their way into the top six, but the Championship is as wide open as ever and they have as much chance as a number of other teams. If I have to make a definite decision I would say that Derby, Brighton and Bristol City would be my choice after the first 3 mentioned.

Bottom 3 - Blackburn, Burton, and Rotherham may all struggle.

Midsummer update.

It seems hard to believe that it is only 11 days since Portugal beat France in the final of Euro 2016, especially when the new EFL season is now only 16 days away! Whatever happened to a break between seasons? Most of the league teams were back in pre-season training before the international season had even finished, and in the case of our own beloved Cardiff City this was actually more of a problem than we expected, due to the fantastic performance of the Wales team in reaching the semi-final of the Euros. Our own manager Paul Trollope was involved in the coaching team for Wales, and so was unable to take up his full time position with the club until 2 weeks ago. Thankfully, he has now  seen the impossibility of combining his coaching role with the Welsh squad and has now devoted himself completely to the Bluebirds.

Paul Trollope on duty with Wales

Comings and goings.

At this stage between seasons its difficult to finalise the complete list of ins and outs. The transfer window doesn't officially close until 31st August. This season, as an added complication, there is no "emergency" loan window for Football league clubs, so the players in your squad by the 31st August cannot be added to until the new window opens on the 1st January.

Two of our signings are already familiar to the club. Dutchman Lex Immers has now been signed to a permanent deal following his successful loan spell during the second half of last season. Also returning on a permanent deal is Danish under 21 international Kenneth Zohore who also showed good potential at the same time.

 Kenneth Zohore

Lex Immers

I'm particularly pleased about the return of Immers, as his inclusion really boosted the team after Christmas. In hindsight, it may well have been his injury during the last few games of  the season which prevented us from going on to get at least a playoff place.

A signing which had Bluebirds fans reaching for the Google search button was Frederic Gounongbe from relegated Belgian League 1 side Westerlo. He was a prolific scorer there in a struggling side - lets hope he can fill the need we have for a quality goalscorer.

Freddy signs!

Significant signing?

Perhaps the most significant signing of the closed season so far is of Welsh international Jazz Richards from Fulham. As a part of the deal, left back Scott Malone went in the other direction to Fulham. Jazz had been away with the Welsh squad at Euro 2016, and although he did not get any game time there he was under the coaching of Cardiff manager Paul Trollope. This seems to indicate a change of formation for the Bluebirds to the 3-5-2 system as employed by Wales (5-3-2 when defending). Considering the success the Wales had at the Euros with this formation, and Trollope being one of the coaches, this is an exciting development. Jazz has been playing as a wing-back successfully for Wales in the qualifiers, and at Cardiff we already have 2 natural wing-backs in Fabio and Declan John. If it works as well for Cardiff as it did for Wales we could yet have a very successful season. All we have to do now is sign Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey!

Jazz Richards on Wales duty.

Its a little difficult to say more at this time - there could be many changes before the season starts - but this is positive news and gives supporters a little hope. Hopefully we can keep hold of the players who ultimately did well for us last season and push on up the table. Now lets look forward to the opening game away at Birmingham city on the 6th August.

(Due to my annual holiday there is unlikely to be any more updates before the new season commences).

Good and Bad in parts.

Well - the season is over for the Bluebirds and a final finish of eighth is probably a fair enough position for our form this season. I hoped at the start of the season that we might have made it into the playoffs, and despite a great deal of pessimism from many of our so-called fans we were still in with a chance of doing that when we went into the 45th game of our 46 game season. Ultimately it was our away form that wasn't good enough, as only 2 home defeats all season compares favourably with almost every other team in the division.

Inconsistency was our biggest problem. In addition to that, the financial shackles placed on us by the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations in January also made it difficult to press on with one or two more key players to get us over the line. As I have said before in the blog this season, we were nearly a good team and overall I'd rate the season as about a B, with a B+ for home form.

Results since my last post :-

CARDIFF 2 DERBY 1

BURNLEY 0 CARDIFF 0

FULHAM 2 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 0 QPR 0

BRENTFORD 2 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 2 BOLTON 1

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 3 CARDIFF 0

CARDIFF 1 BIRMINGHAM 1

I'll not go into the disappointing details of those games. Most of us were quietly confident after the win against Derby, and the point away at eventual Champions Burnley, but the late defeat against Fulham, followed by a poor performance at home against QPR meant that the writing was on the wall. the defeat against Brentford should have sealed it, but Sheffield Wednesday wobbled for a couple of weeks themselves. We went to Sheffield where a win would have kept our hopes alive, but were never really in the game and were comfortably beaten to effectively end our season.Th

Nothing stays still in football.

On the eve of the final game of the season, the club announced that manager Russell Slade was being "kicked upstairs" and was relieved of his role as manager to become "Director of Football". (For my friends in the US, this is similar to the GM role at a baseball club!). As  I compose this a new first team coach has not been appointed, with countless rumours circulating about who that might be. A lot of fans want a big name manager from outside the club, but I'm not sure that this is the way Cardiff City does business these days, and an appointment from within, possibly Russell Slade's deputy Paul Trollope, is a distinct possibility - watch this space.

There is a lot of work to be done over the summer, but a number of our higher earners should be off the books or leaving. Exciting times, and the club has made the change at exactly the right time.

An Important Point

Following the last game of the season, it was quietly announced that the transfer embargo placed on the club by the FFP regulations had been lifted, meaning that the club could now get down to doing business over the summer. There has been much work going on behind the scenes at the club over the last 18 months to stabilise the club financially, and the work now seems to have paid off. The club is now more united between fans and management than it has been for some time, and it is to be hoped that this translates itself into bigger crowds next season.

The first new signing for the club has been Lex Immers who has been on loan to the club since January, but his deal has now been made permanent. He has been very influential since his arrival, and I'm not sure we would have got as close to the playoffs as we did without him. Also, he was injured and unavailable from the QPR game onwards, which may have has more of an effect on the team the many give credit for.

Lex Immers is a Bluebird!

The Fat Lady can wait awhile yet!

There is a bit more of the season yet. The playoffs start this week, and the Premier League finishes this Sunday. We now know that Norwich, Aston Villa and Newcastle will be joining us in the Championship next year following their relegation last night. Then there is still the FA Cup final and both European finals to be played. And following that the European Championships where Wales play in a big tournament for the first time since before I was born in 1958! The tournament finishes on the 10th July, and 4 weeks later the Championship season begins all over again. Bring it on!

ITS IN OUR OWN HANDS.

Just a brief update, mainly to keep my friends across the Atlantic up to date!

So, we reach a break in the season for international friendlies (yawn!). A useful time for the team to re-group and prepare for the vital month of April, with 7 games to play before the final match of the season on May 2nd (hopefully not the final match for us!).

If anything, we are in a slightly stronger position since my last post 4 games ago, and we continue to be in with a good chance of at least forcing our way into the playoffs. As I see it, there are 5 teams battling for the last 2 playoff places - ourselves, Birmingham, Ipswich, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday. The pundits suggest that if we can get to 75 points we should definitely make it into the playoffs, which means that we need to win 5 of our remaining 8 games, and perhaps get a draw elsewhere. It means that we really need to show some consistency. As an added ingredient to the situation, our last 2 matches of the season are away to Sheffield Wednesday and then at home for Birmingham. Oh ... and our next game is at home to Derby! Exciting times indeed!

Four matches since my last post:-

BRISTOL CITY 0 CARDIFF 2

CARDIFF 0 LEEDS 2

CARDIFF 1 IPSWICH 0

READING 1 CARDIFF 1

It was very important after the hard fought home win against Preston to keep up the momentum, and this is what we did with the short trip to Bristol City for the  "Severnside Derby". Another thoroughly professional win where we gave the opposition few chances and  took our chances well.


CARDIFF 0 LEEDS 2

Then came what could prove to be the pivotal moment of the season. And it was a home defeat by Leeds! This was a good Cardiff performance, but it just wasn't our night. Leeds scored a deflected goal on the break in the first half. Soon after half time, we were down to 10 men when Fabio was red carded for a second reckless tackle. But the team dug in deep, and put huge amounts of pressure on the Leeds goal. Unfortunately their keeper had a superb game, and we hit the woodwork on at least 3 occasions. But 2 minutes into stoppage time, Leeds broke through the Fabio shaped hole down the left hand side and scored the almost inevitable counter attack clincher.

Then, an amazing thing happened. The home crowd of Bluebirds fans stood up as one to applaud their team. A couple of months ago there would have been booing, but now there was an appreciation of how far the team has come, and how much effort the players had put in on the night. The whole mood of the crowd changed, the attitude towards Russell Slade has changed, even the attitude towards the ownership. Even if we don't make the playoffs or get promoted this season, there was a feeling that this could be the start of an upward climb.

CARDIFF 1 IPSWICH 0

After the defeat by Leeds, the home game against fellow playoff candidates Ipswich took on even greater significance. A Bruno Ecuele Manga goal after 20 minutes proved to be the only goal of the game. Although the final score was 1-0, this was quite a comfortable and professional win where Ipswich had few chances to equalise.

READING 1 CARDIFF 1

It would have been nice to win this game, but to come back from a goal behind and get an away point was more than acceptable

The biggest game of the season so far!

So, this Saturday we are home to Derby County, another of our playoff rivals. We really need a win here. The club has had a moment of inspiration here, and has arranged many thousands of free tickets to be distributed via season ticket holders. The new stand, which has been mothballed for the whole season, will be opened for the occasion, and there could even be a record Cardiff crowd for the Cardiff City Stadium. I must admit, I can't wait! We can do this!

Lex Immers has been nominated for Championship player of the month.

Nearly a Good Team

This has been the story of our season so far. We are nearly a very good team, and just when you think you can write off our chances of making the playoffs, we seem to discover a new vein of form and start to climb the table again. Following my last post just before Christmas, we went to Milton Keynes dons on Boxing Day and managed to lose to a last minute own goal. This was followed by a battling but uninspiring 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest, and a scratchy 1-0 win over a very poor Blackburn. The following week's defeat to lowly League 1 side Shrewsbury in the FA Cup was followed by a comfortable 2-0 defeat at table topping Hull City. So - that seemed to be that, and we were heading for a season of mid table mediocrity.

But something changed, and as I compose this report, we are 3 points and one place away from the the playoff places. A LOT has happened since the dark days of early January.

Results since my last post:

MILTON KEYNES DONS 2 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1

CARDIFF 1 BLACKBURN 0 
CARDIFF 0 SHREWSBURY 1 (FA CUP 3RD ROUND)

HULL CITY 2 CARDIFF 0

WOLVES 1 CARDIFF 3
CARDIFF 2 ROTHERHAM 2

HUDDERSFIELD 2 CARDIFF 3

CARDIFF 0 MILYON KEYNES DONS 0
CHARLTON 0 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 4 BRIGHTON 1
MIDDLESBOROUGH 3 CARDIFF 1
CARDIFF 2 PRESTON NORTH END 1


The January Transfer Window.

Most supporters were expecting a quiet time during the January Transfer window. The financial implications of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations meant that we were only expecting a couple of ins and outs with no major fees. However, about half way through the window we discovered that the club had actually breached the FFP rules and were not allowed to sign any players for a fee. This immediately ended the expected deal for Tony Watt from Charlton. Also, Kenwynne Jones was released by the club, to get his very high wages off the books. This meant an immediate change of tactics and playing style for the team, now fielding a 4-4-1-1 formation, as much as a result of the lack of target man strikers as anything else! 

This formation was first shown at Wolves, where we showed our best performance of the season to that point with Joe Mason playing as the main striker. However, an unexpected consequence of this was that Wolves were very impressed by Mason, and a little over a week later they bought him from us for £3m - a figure which should get us out of any further FFP problems at the end of the season. 

Lex Immers in his Feyenoord days.

We were able to bring in 3 players during the transfer window on loan. The first of these was Feyenoord midfield player Lex Immers. He has a good goalscoring record for a midfield player in the Erdivise, and our new formation has an immediate spot for him in front of the midfield 4. 

Kenneth Zohore - just a couple of late substitute appearances so far.

The second player who arrived was Kenneth Zohore, by a slightly more complicated route. As were were unable to sign players ourselves, our owner's Belgian club Kortrijk bought him and immediately loaned him to us! It looked a slightly questionable deal, but the Football League approved the transaction and the young Danish under 21 international was a Bluebird!

The third player signed was Welsh international Tom Lawrence  from Leicester City. Ironically, Tom had spent the first half of the season at Blackburn Rovers, which is where our previous loan player Tony Watt now finds himself! Lawrence is keen to play regularly in order to get himself into the Welsh International squad for the European Championships in the summer. He has been a useful acquisition playing out wide and is very quick.Already he has had a couple of Man-of-the Match performances.

So. How have we been playing?

In general terms, things have been going very well. Since our loss away at Hull city on 13th January, we have only lost one of our last eight games. This was away at Middlesbrough,who are challenging for an automatic promotion place themselves.

The first sign of a major improvement came at Wolves. A high tempo passing performance resulted in a comfortable three one win for the Bluebirds. Unfortunately, I don't attend away games, but reports suggest that this was easily our best performance of the season to that time. Therefore, there were high hopes a week later when struggling Rotherham came to visit the Cardiff City Stadium. But yet again we struggled against a lowly team. But we did manage a 2-2 draw with our new “makeshift” striker Anthony Pilkington scoring three times! This included a rather freak own goal early in the second-half. In many ways we were a little unlucky to only draw on this day as the run of the ball just didn't seem to go our way.

Joe Ralls, who has been outstanding this season, scored a top class goal against Wolves.

Following our disappointing draw with Rotherham, the team then went away to Huddersfield and  won 3-2 in a confident and competent manner. But a week later another struggling side Milton Keynes Dons also held us to a 0-0 draw at the Cardiff City Stadium. This was another day where we found it difficult to score against a very determined and solid defence. Subsequently, Milton Keynes have been on a good run of form and so perhaps this was not an entirely unreasonable result. We followed this with an away game at Charlton, where there was yet another 0-0 draw. We were well in control in this match and were extremely unlucky not to come away with three points against a team which now sits at the bottom of the Championship table.

So, after a couple of disappointing results against struggling teams, promotion chasing Brighton came to the Cardiff City Stadium. The weather was horrendous, with a strong wind and swirling rain soaking just about everybody at the game. But this turned out to be our best home performance for the last three years! Goals from Peter Whittingham, Anthony Pilkington and Lex Immers put us 3-0 up within the first half an hour of the game. Despite Brighton switching to a more attacking game in the second-half, an early goal from them did not cause too much panic in the Cardiff defence and a Peter Whittingham penalty to make the score 4-1 soon settled home supporters nerves.

Peter Whittinghams 2 goals against Brighton now put him above John Toshack on Cardiff's all time goalscorer list.

Three days later we made a long midweek trip to Middlesbrough, who had been having a disappointing run themselves having spent a lot of money chasing promotion to the Premier league. The fact that they had had 10 days of rest whereas Cardiff had played in the wind and rain three days previously was too much for the Bluebirds to overcome. Despite an exciting early goal from Fabio, the team ran out of energy and lost 3-1.

Anthony Pilkington wins the first penalty against Preston.

This brought us to our next home game against Preston North End. Preston had been on a run of four consecutive wins, mainly built on a strong defence. The constant movement of the Cardiff midfield players in their now familiar 451 formation managed to cause a number of problems for the Preston defence. Ultimately, it was 2 Anthony Pilkington penalties during the course of the game which resulted in a fairly comfortable 2-1 win. Anthony Pilkington was outstanding - it is hard to believe that he had been considered a wide midfield player until his recent promotion to striker! There were also notable performances from Lex Immers and Tom Lawrence, both of whom look to be very useful signings for the team.

Can we do it?

As I complete this post, we are three points away from a play-off place. My heart says we can make it into the play-offs, but there is just a slight doubt at the back of my mind and a feeling that we may just miss out this year. However, we have performed well at times this year, and the recent resolution of long term financial issues at the club by our owner Mr Tan gives us hope for further improvement next season. We CAN make the play-offs this year and our fate is in our own hands. But we need to show a little more consistency. It is hard to believe that we have not won two games in a row since last September. Now is the time to set that record straight.