First off a mention for the Ref. It's his 3rd game with Argyle this season and he has issued 73 yellows and 2 Reds in 13 matches so far apparently. It could be he just likes writing reports though. So, having read some of the comments on the Bluebirds fans forum it seems they are about as confident as some of our fans when it comes to results. I take all that with a pinch of salt of course. We definately can win this one and with our super dooper new signings to rip up the park then have every confidence in the lads. Not an easy win but we can win. COYG
This will be the first home league game of the Foster Era and we’ve seen quite a significant change in personnel. So a little competition: let’s each name two players who will be in the starting eleven. I’ll go first. Connor Hazard Ryan Hardie Who’s next?
Ah no: once a player has been picked, you can’t pick him again. [Yes this was to make the point beyond Hazard, Hardie and Whittaker, I haven’t a clue who might be on the team sheet.]]
Argyle...3-1...Cardiff...F/T. Hardie...31 & 52mins..........Whittaker...81mins. Ng...10mins. Argyle needed that......up to 15th.....9pts above the relegation spot.
I expect you’d like an assessment of our new players and manager. Sorry. No can do. Ian Foster took the bold step of starting with an entirely new middle three, two of whom weren’t on the books at the beginning of the week. How long they’d been training with us I don’t know of course. He started Bali Mumba on the right and I would say that’s Mumba’s best game for a long while. He had however got back to the left by the end. I was planning a statement that there had been zero goal attempts in the first 10 minutes but Cardiff got a corner and scored at the first go. We certainly looked better organised but we didn’t see the exhilarating football we’re used to. Can’t have everything I suppose. We pulled one back before half time. A different Argyle came out in the second half consisting of the same players. Suddenly we were more enterprising and dominated most of the half, making chances when we had the ball and (mostly) impenetrable when Cardiff had it. So. I don’t know. In a word, work in progress.
Matty Sorinola by the way. Didn’t feature but looked as if he’d won the lottery after the game. Going over to kids at the pitch side barriers. Urging to crowd to wilder celebrations. What a character. He’s going to be a fans’ favourite.
Totally agree, i think the players will gel quickly. Mumba was good today or better than he has been in a while . i thought miller done well also Philips is a big unit .. 3 points on we go. leeds have two games this week then we paly them in the 3rd game hopefully they are tired ..
Yes Joe although I didn't think he got many of the cards wrong he was still a bit of a prick and some decisions, or lack of one, were baffling to say the least. I thought Argyle were pretty average in the first half. Whittaker was probably having the worst game since signing. Mumba was ok in patches but in other patches he was less than convincing. The newbies were sort of ok but not knowing them and what to expect made judgement difficult. We of course did our usual and went one down pretty early on. It seems to be a trend these days that we have to go one down before we start to play. Can't tell you much about the goal because it was sort of in the net before I focused on the play and with the strips being both dark ones I took a bit of time to adjust the eyes to pick out who was who. I was surprised that one of the teams didn't wear white shorts at least. Second half and as has been said a different Argyle came out to play. There was much more urgency about the play and the passing and taking on defenders improved no end. Mumba got better in the second half. Whittaker still didn't shine but then again ended up with one assist and one goal. If he can do that without shinning then we can't really complain. The newbies moved into space better and the old head Foreshaw moved back a bit and was much better in that roll. Hardie was head and shoulders the MOM. He absolutely ran himself into the ground and looked like he needed a hoist to get him off when subbed. Great performance from him and he should be in the Scotland squad without any quibble. Hazzard was at times a Hazzard but then again he also pulled off 3 saves in a row which kept us in the lead. Without that it could have all gone horribly wrong. Like others I'm not 100% sure what to make of today. Conditions were both cold and windy and we got the right result. Don't think Cardiff could think they were unlucky. 3 points greatly received and on to the next.
Agree about Hardie. Harried the keeper and defenders until they must have been sick of the sight of him and his second goal was a pearler. Lethal.
That’s not to say I disagree about the ref BTW just that it’s the same every week. In what world did we deserve four yellows to their two?
Thing about yellow cards is you can argue the toss whether they are justified or soft or whatever but it is the opinion of the Ref that matters above all. What narks most people is the inconsistency when awarding them. Also the blatant that isn't even given at all as a foul let alone a card. Mumba for example did shout at the Lino. Not considered cricket so per the book he got booked. However, he was right in that he was fouled. It was literally right in front of where I sit. They as in Cardiff players also argued decisions. Nothing given. A couple of tackles looked a bit on the juicy side and we got a card but so did several of their's and got nothing. Example of nothing given was Hardie running full tilt in on the Cardiff goal only to get tugged back by the shoulder. That was as clear a penalty as you could get but it not only didn't get the Cardiff player a Red card it didn't get Hardie a spot kick either. It should have been both. Again right in front of where I sit.
I got a reasonable close up view of their goal but I still can’t say what happened. As usual, there was a crowd scene in and around the 6 yard box. The corner was neither cleared nor directed onto goal but was knocked down into the melee, whether by one of theirs or ours I don’t know and then came pinging out of the crowd into the net, presumably from one of theirs! I expect the TV will show more. You could say it was poor defending not to clear it at the first attempt but you are never going to win them all. Obviously then it dropped to the wrong foot and that was that. You have to put it down to being one of those things I suppose and the good news is we fought back and scored 3 in reply. Like not having an away win, am I right in thinking we still haven’t scored direct from a corner? That’s another accolade we could do without! We’ve got some of the best players we’ve ever had but we don’t have Graham Carey style dead ball specialist. You can’t buy players just for one foot can you?
notdistant, the ball basically came into the mix, hit Phillips on the side and just dropped down into the mass. One of theirs reacted fastest and it was in the net. Don't think you can blame Phillips for it becuase he didn't intend to get in the way and it just hit him dropping into a crowd. Perhaps we should learn from it not by defending better but by doing the same with any corner we get. Normally nothing happens at our corners so drop the ball into a crowded 6 yard box and wait for a lucky bunce or touch.
Yeah I've seen it now. Came over a group of players, hit Phillips and dropped to two of theirs in fact, two yards out. One of those things. Did you know that prior to Saturday, Cardiff had scored 14 goals from set-pieces, highest in the Championship, and 41% of all their goals scored. We had scored 4 out of a total of 44! I didn't until I read it today! I did notice we used some good short corner routines on Saturday, although ultimately they came to nothing. Another sign of Ian Foster's influence perhaps? So far I'm beginning to like what I see I think, can't put it stronger than that yet. Stronger in defence with a three, Mumba on the right not the left, more direct including some good long passes as opposed to big hoofs and last but far from least, 4 points from 1 away and 1 at home.
We are basically pants at corners and dhave been for years so it is not just this set of players or manager. Whenever we get one I never expect anything to come from it and indeed think that we have conceeded more goals from our own corners than we have scored. Cardiff seem far more direct. Bank it into a crowd and see what happens. Clearly what happens is they score frequently or at least nearly 4 more times than we do.
