Well that was a cracking game and we have started playing football! Kipre was immense and only took Pukki out of his pocket when he went off. Wintle was excellent in midfield and Collins looks the real deal at full back. Morison deserves praise for the team he had put together, his substitutions were spot on and for the first time in many years there is hope that we can build a new and exciting team that could end up knocking on the door of the premier league. Okay so it’s only one game but the attention to detail and commitment shown today bears very well for the future. I’ll leave BluefromBridgend to pass comment on the ref!!
Neither Ng or Hanley should have had a second yellow - Hanley though shouldn’t have been on the pitch by then. Another season of abysmal reffing to look forward to
I'm sure there will be plenty bumps in the road that is the championship season. However, it seems that a corner has been turned. A game plan, players that fit the gameplan, players putting the effort in, round pegs in round holes. Things sadly lacking in the past few seasons. We'll have cock ups, we'll lose games, but it looks as if there will be high expectation and there will be excitement. Well done to the board for supporting Morison and his team, to Morison and his team for the vision and recruitment and to the players for chosing Cardiff, buying into the vision and putting the effort in. 1 down, 45 to go.
Very rarely post on here in the evenings, so here's a morning after view. Back to our game. Great all round team effort - what a difference. All stood up to be counted. You could feel the buzz on the pitch and a totally different atmosphere in the stadium. Got to mark that refereeing performance down as one of the worst I've witnessed plummeting even lower than Stroud and Hooper levels. Anyway, game over and 3 points in the bin to start. Now for the problem facing Morison for the next game at Reading. Maybe a nice problem to have, but nonetheless a tricky decision. Assuming he wants to bring his captain Ralls back in midfield at Reading, who's the hell is he going to drop out of Wintle, Rhino and Sawyer? If he changes shape and plays all 4 of them in there, could Ojo or O'Dowda be sacrificed? What about keeping both of them in and starting without either (alleged) strikers Watters or Harris as a front man and play through from midfield?
As the old adage goes its better to have several options than none. However the problem clearly is the forward options as mentioned endlessly. ps Maybe this chat could be transferred to another thread - not sure which as they do sometimes get mixed up
Still early days. Id be hesitant to change shape so soon. Need to give it half a dozen or more games to let things bed in. Let players develop the partnerships, though O'Dowda and Collins seem to have hit it off already, work on the structure and style. With the type of game Morison wants to play, 4 or 5 subs will be used more games than not. I can see the midfield being rotated quite a bit either from game to game or with subs during the game. With the exception of NG, I'd go for the same starting line up against Reading, with wholesale changes for Portsmouth in the cup. Then maybe tweaks to personnel within the same structure for Brum. Then the Sat, Tue, Sat routine starts when we'll need changes to legs. With the cup game, 7 games in August. By then we'll also know if we've any new strikers or if we'll have to hang in there until January. Going back to you're thoughts on dropping the striker. Ojo as a false 9 might work. Personally wouldn't go there until 8 or10 games have gone. As an aside, is this debate on tge right thread.
I would stick with Wintle. He looked the better player yesterday, albeit Ralls didn’t start the game.
my bad - definitely posted on the wrong thread. I'll try to transfer all these posts onto the Norwich matchday thread.
Nice problem for Morison to have. Wintle is demanding to be first name on the team sheet. Sawyers seems a Morison favourite and looks to be the more creative of the midfield 3. That leaves 1 spot. I feel this season, more than most, will see how good a squad is, not just an 11.
Well that was brilliant. I haven’t enjoyed a season opening fixture as much since Leicester away 70/71. As we were going into unknown territory with 7 new starters it was quite a performance! There’s quite a bit of quality in the squad (at last) and things look very bright. As for the ref . . . Worst since Barry Knight! Onwards and upwards.
One thing that doesn't seem to have been mentioned. A clean sheet. Easy to overlook, but shouldnt be underestimated given 4 of the back 5 (including the keeper) are new signings. A few more of those in August wouldn't go amiss.
