Match Day Thread Season 2023 - 2024 - Match #29 - Watford Away (Shortened Thread Warning Again!!)

Apologies all but work has dominated my day again today and Mrs Brizzle is just packing our bags ready to head off to Devon & Cornwall for a weekend away, so time is once again rather short for me to produce the thread for the weekend.

Tomorrow sees our much changed (ok, slightly changed) squad head off to Hertfordshire in an attempt to raid the Hornets nest for 3 very precious points after a rather disconcerting run of form that has seen us win just 2 of our last 6 games, with even those victories being a little less than convincing (do you know what, I've never noticed before but that word could be directed at our owner - we need new players, we must con Vince our owner into buying them!!).

Anyways I digress.... we are coming up against a Watford team that has more than had our measure in recent years, though in saying that, last seasons 3-1 win at Vicarage Road may offer us a little glimmer of optimism.
Watford's own recent form has been none too clever either with just 1 win (but conversely just 1 defeat too) in their last 6, a sure sign that they are a tough outfit to beat.

Bulut's Bulletin
The big question on everyone's lips is how many of the new boys will we see in action straight away? If I were a betting man then Diedhiou and Turnbull would be my likely guesses, but Erol will I'm sure have his own ideas.
The other big news is Rambo is back in the squad and in contention. Will it be a little too early for our mercurial playmaker? I reckon so but a place on the bench is not out of the question.

In his recent chat with me over a pint in the Pick & Shovel Erol said, "Aaron Ramsey will be with us against Watford. He trained well and hasn't had any problems up until now. It took a long time, we were expecting him back earlier, but with injuries, you never know. He's healthy and he will be with the team on Saturday.
"Of course, for an injured player, to train alone and make runnings, do fitness work, you have to train harder to come back and he did. You can see in his face how happy he is to be back with the team on the field.
"When we had Ramsey and Callum O'Dowda, our game was a bit different in the offensive shape. After that, when two main attacking players are out of the team, it is difficult to replace them. Right now, Ramsey is back and we have made some new signings, I hope we will be back in the positive shape that we were in before.
"O'Dowda is also doing work with the ball, but I think he will be out until the end of February."

Perry NG also popped in for a diet Coke and added "The Christmas period is really tough". "You get loads of little niggles and tiredness, so with a few days off it’s been nice. It will be like a new start, really.
“The manager has been emphasising that in training as well, and we’ve had a few new faces in which is good, and it does feel like a full reset.
“There are 18 games left, so it will be an important end to the season. I’m excited to see where we can get, hopefully we can get back to where we were earlier in the season with our performances and get a few wins under our belt.
"We’re six points off the Play-Off spots, and with new signings and a few days off to recover we’ll look to get three points on Saturday and see where we end up."
“As a team we need to get back to winning ways and good performances." "But we’re working hard towards that.
“It’s tough when you’re in a busy period and maybe we haven’t dealt with some of that pressure as well as we’d like to, but we are heading in the right direction.
“It’ll be a tough game, it’s always tough going to their place and in recent years they’ve had some really good individuals, and this year they’ve got a really strong team.
“We’ll work on them this week and hopefully go in organised and get the three points. It’s important that we get some momentum behind us going into this run of fixtures, beginning by looking to do that on Saturday... just tell Clingo to stick with me as scorer and we should be sound".

What are The Odds On That?
Perry is back after his little break away and downtime but isn't overly confident in a Bluebirds win here... could a draw be a good shout, especially with Watford's recent results?
Nahhhhh, gotta be an away win surely?? Keep the faith.



Sharing The Love - Guess Who
A handful of pics for you to have a pop at - To be fair, I don't think any of these guys are overly difficult to guess so no clues this time either.









So, can the new boys give us a bounce? Will Rambo ram home a winner?? Or will Turnbull turn match winner???

All I know is we can all start to get excited again now (at least for 90 ish minutes anyhow)!!

Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!!!

 

Well done Brizzle and thank you. Hope you have a good weekend.
Let's get all the new boys involved at some point tomorrow along with some minutes for Rambo. Not expecting miracles but let's get the inductions done at the sharp end.
Blooooooobirds

 

Good morning fellow Bluebirds and happy match day. I'm feeling very positive regardless of what might happen today. That said, I have a feeling that we're going to win it anyway.
I read on another thread that BT will be there today. So safe journey to him and all other travelling Blooooooobirds. Your dedication is to be admired.

 

Glen has made his possible team selection:

 

Looking forward to today's team selection.
Not expecting miracles on the pitch, and it might be a couple weeks before we see a settled side. But there will be indicators.
I would expect Turnbull to be nailed on, but who else?
Will Bullut play 3 at the back?
Will Wilson-Esbrand oust JC.

"These questions—and many others—will be answered in the next episode of... the Soap that is Blooooobirds."

 

I'm hoping that the return of Rambo and the arrival of Turnbull will reinvigorate Siopis to his former self. That could be quite a trio in midfield.

 

Thanks for that Remote, I now have the bloody theme tune in my head....
Used to love that programme (I was a very young viewer of course)....

 

TEAM NEWS
Cardiff City XI: Alnwick; Ng, Goutas, McGuinness, Collins; Siopis, Wintle; Bowler, Colwill, Grant; Etete.

Subs: Turner, Romeo, Ramsey, Phillips, Turnbull, Diedhiou, Meite, Wilson-Esbrand, Tanner.

 

Well that starting team is not what a lot of people had predicted or wanted.

 

Strong bench though.

 

Giving the "old boys" a last chance?

 

Could well be a batch of substitutions at half time

 

That's probably the threat that the starting 11 are well aware of - let's hope it works.

 

If you include the previously absent Ramsey, that's 6 new faces sitting on the bench waiting to come on.

 

Woo hoo!!!

1.0 to the Bluebirds. Josh Bowler with a cracker.

 

Great win.

Did the return of Ramsey and new signings put a bomb up the existing squad?

 

The Watford commentator bitterly said it was “a simple finish.”


Not easy on the eye for last 20 but for all their possession Watford created little and our defence stood up very well. Big shout out to Wintle Alnwick & McGuiness in particular

 

We were good value for the lead, but that last 20 minutes got to me and I cashed out in the 85th minute......

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Money in the pocket. well done for your prediction its not easy to get score and scorer