New Year new beginnings perhaps? Game #26 sees our hardy Bluebirds faithful making the long trek up to Lancashire for a visit to Blackburn Rovers at grand old Ewood Park and another live Sky appearance. Rovers form in recent weeks has been patchy to say the least, with 2 wins and 4 defeats in their last 6, including 2 defeats on the bounce most recently, 1 of which was their home reverse to Middlesbrough just yesterday. However, despite this patchy form they still sit in 3rd spot but now with a whole host of clubs having closed the gap on them in recent weeks to add some pressure on manager Jon Dahl Tomasson. Blackburn's squad is littered with the kind of mix that us Bluebirds are striving for with a blend of experience (Daniel Ayala, Bradley Dack etc) and the exciting (Szmodics, Dolan and the ever dangerous International Star Brereton-Diaz with his 9 league goals so far this term). The home game v Blackburn in October saw the Bluebirds turn in a decent performance, picking up a deserved 1-0 win courtesy of a fine late Mark Harris strike and a last gasp penalty save from Ryan Allsop. Since that October clash Blackburn have managed to lift themselves a few places higher up the table but sadly for us, we have slid 6 spots after that encouraging win. The less said about the corresponding away fixture last time around the better, with a crushing 5-1 defeat befalling Mick McCarthy's Bluebirds side, a game in which saw Brereton-Diaz pick up a hatrick. We can only hope that this time around we once again manage to shackle Brereton, a bit like we did with Gyokeres yesterday. Early Bluebirds Team News Despite concerns around the fitness of several players after the backs to the wall point against Coventry, Mark Hudson is claiming that we should be traveling to Blackburn with a close to fully fit squad. City were without first-choice striker pairing Callum Robinson and Kion Etete for the trip to Coventry. However, Hudson has provided a positive prognosis on both players, who were carrying knocks into the game. "Robbo travelled and just missed out.," he said of Robinson. "We couldn't risk him really and it would have been a risk. He nearly made it through, but not quite. So that's not bad. "Kion has had a spike in his intensity in game-time. He was fatigued and I don't want to put players at risk, we need him. We have a squad that is capable of coming to a place like this and getting a clean sheet. "I'm looking to travel with a fully-fit squad come Blackburn." Prutton Predicts Once again the Sky man is behind the curve... I really should give him a call and tell him to pull his finger out now that I'm posting a couple of days in advance of games.... don't panic though, I'm sure my normal last minute service will resume post New Year! The bookies though are unsurprisingly favouring a home win; Home Win 13/10 Draw 23/10 Away Win 21/10 Fun Fact Blackburn of course were one of the founding football league clubs, however they have also won the FA Cup on six separate occasions and remain the only team alongside Bolton to have won the competition the most times in succession. Their glory days in that tournament came back when they were about to found the Football League, winning the trophy in 1884, 1885 and 1886. They remain the only team alongside their local rivals to win it three times on the spin and are the most recent team to have done so. Sharing The Love Hunting around to find players that didn't get a mention on home thread I was surprised that I'd overlooked a goalkeeper that played for the Bluebirds in an FA Cup Final plus another FA Cup related keeper (slightly more heroic than the one just mentioned) who pulled of a match winning save to allow the Bluebirds to earn a giant killing performance. So, can we silence the Ewood crowd so "All is quiet, on New Years day" in a Bono fide upset? Will our birds in blue (or grey, or pink) triumph on the pitch as other feathered birds have previously whilst playing some tikka taka football?? Can our unbeaten run continue and, heaven forbid, see us pick up maximum points??? Henning Berg back in his playing days... All I know is that Santa STILL owes me 3 points from Xmas!! Happy New Year all Bloooooooobirds....
Love your style Brizzle. Ending the year with another masterpiece. Thanks for this and all your previous work this year. Happy new year to you and yours too.
Quality as expected. ps Peter Whittingham shared the love briefly as did this vertically challenged full back
Yep, Whitts was on the home thread list. Sadly his time at Blackburn wasn't too much of a success for him. Trying to recall who the full back was.... Think you'll need to help me out.
James Patterson, John Grisham, Mark Bellingham etc lookout. If Brizzle starts writing crime and thriller novels he will be a best seller. Back to footie, Blackburn will be smarting after yesterday's Boro defeat and our defence must be cream crackered after keeping 2 clean sheets. BT tells me that O'Dowda limped off clutching his leg indicating a muscle problem. BT didn't know why Alfa went absent. We really need both back for Sunday with the defence looking a lot more solid with those 2 in place. Sang and Nkounkou don't give the same level of confidence. Hopefully Robo and Etete will return to give us more chance of keeping the ball upfront and maybe, yes maybe, making their keeper earn some of his wages. I can see us going 4 in midfield with perhaps Whyte or Colwill playing wide and also supporting our fullbacks. Whyte did this well with Peltier a couple of years ago. It's going to be a tough one and unlikely that we will have the 12th man of 2,500 supporting fans.
Bluey - from what I've seen I think it's a waste of time playing Colwill wide. He needs to operate in the middle behind the strikers (what are those ) to pick up the ball and play others in. He can also run at defenders through the middle going left and right, whereas he seems to be restrained out wide by having the touchline so close to him. I'd be inclined to use one or two of Wintle/Ralls/Rhino to hold and help the 2 CB's which would allow O'Dowda and Romeo to get forward to provide the width. It would then be two up top for me - Robbo and Etete if available, but they must stay up there and not have to come back for the ball . The way we're playing, dedicated wing players are a waste of time. Philogene should be consigned to the same bin that Sawyers appears to have been put in, and although Whyte gets stuck in, he makes far too many bad passing decisions for me - he nearly cost us a goal against Coventry.
OS why dont you apply for the managers job because at least you talk a lot of good tactics which cant be said of our recent manager,who will be gone in the near future.
I'll have a word with Vince when he next comes to Porthcawl but he's avoiding me cos it's his round on the cod and chips. Seriously though, I appreciate we're not privvy to player profiles, fitness stats (spike in his intensity? ) and even current attitudes amongst them, but tactically/selectionwise, Hudson needs to get his head out of his arse and pay attention to what most supporters watching this stuff think. I really like the bloke but he's a rookie and certainly hasn't earned the right as a manager yet to claim absolute conviction of his ability as one. He's no Guardiola nor Klopp who do what they want - he should be prepared to listen and learn. Forget Sawyers, Philogene and Ojo - they're luxury players we can't afford on the pitch. We should also forget the Jan transfer window as a means to alter things - I don't believe that will happen. Focus on what we've got and make the most of it with players who want to compete. I'm even starting to advocate Warnock tactics because if that's what it takes for the rest of the season to keep us up, then so be it. Send a competitive 11 out there tactically set up to win rather than glorying over the fact that we've not been beaten for 4 games. The sheer fact of the matter is that we were capable of winning at least 2 of those 4 games but failed and came away with a point from each. To my mind it's better to focus on the reality that that's actually 8 points dropped and not taking comfort from the 4 gained.
Our best format is 4-4-2. Colwill in the no 10 role with Robinson out wide is worth a shot. Rhinomota should also be in OS’ bin.
TEAM NEWS Cardiff City XI: Allsop; Sang, Ng, Kipre, Simpson, O'Dowda; Winte, Ralls; Whyte, Robinson, Harris. Subs: Luthra, Nelson, Rinomhota, Colwill, Ojo, Philogene, Davies.
Have to disagree there Nin. I think we get over run in CM I think the 4231 gives us the right balance, just need the players to best exploit that. A creative player alongside Ralls or Wintle, then the right 4 ahead of them. Etete seems to be settling in as the 9, ahead of Robinson. As you say, Colwill needs to play centrally if he plays, so either him or Robinson behind Etete. Robinson needs to start so either 10 or wide to accommodate Colwill. O'Dowda should play on the left, but that leaves us exposed at LB. Colwill at 10 means we need someone on the left, Robinson at 10 and we need someone left and right. What I'd ask is a run of games with a settled formation and side. Something we've yet to see this season.
A very defensive set up with a back 5. Looking to stop goals again rather than score them. Good that Robo is back but no sign of Etete so Harris gets another go.
