It was a decent first half but the second was poor as Stoke had almost total possession save the odd rare City breakaway which all came to nowt. Taking off Colwill took away any attacking intent and so we had 25+ minutes with our backs to the wall which by hook or crook they survived. As OS said we got away with it. Ipswich up next at home which will be like Leeds unless Bulut changes this dreadful style of (non) football.
The goals apart another pi$$ poor display. Thank God our back 4 and keeper were solid. Very little to shout home about with the rest of the team. Why of why do we persist in signing useless strikers? Diedhiou is stealing money from us. I saw nothing of any credibility from him today.
Ok, again, to echo Clingo, I wasn't there, but..... Are we at risk of being a little over critical? Given our home record recently it would be natural for the players to drop deeper, get defensive, even if that wasn't the instruction, just through sheer nervousness? The subs actually don't (on paper) look defensive to me, with the possible exception of when Grant went off. Colwill off, Collins on should allow Wilson-Esbrand to move higher up the pitch to provide width. Diedhiou & Meite like for like... Turnbull on to then add a little more control in the middle. Granted it may not have played out that way but tactically I can see the intent. (Maybe I'm just being overly gracious but if this was a game of Championship Manager I could see me doing similar).. Anyhow, good and welcome 3 points overall, hopefully that'll give a little boost to the boys for our next few games.
Vital 3 points thats it who cares.? Lets just get to 50 points while Joe Ralls is still fit. Without him we really struggle.
Points taken BB but I say it as I saw it and like Tuesday, with the exception of Collins, the subs added nothing. In fact Diedhiou added less than nothing. Stoke are well below us in the league but totally dominated the second half. The fact that they made few direct attempts on goal is down mainly to our back 4, Siopis and Ralls. Grant went off injured. Colwill got subbed as he was getting into a physical one to one and could have seen red if it continued. Etete was continually battered with little ref protection - again - and was knackered. Bowler always gets subbed after 60/65 minutes and I think young Josh who moved into midfield when Colwill went off also took a knock. Other than reinforcing the midfield line, 3 of the subs did little of note. Yes, great to win and take 3 points but overall poor. I dread to think what the Wurzels, Ipswich and even the Jacks will do to us in the weeks ahead. Thankfully we have a poor Huddersfield at home early March so a chance to add a few more points and stop us looking over our shoulders. I don't like being negative but we show little evidence that this squad can go to a higher level. The same goes for the manager. Ramsey and O'Dowda, if ever fit, plus McGuiness would improve things overall but that us a very tenuous link to hang on to.
Has it come to this: three quarters of a season gone & we’re satisfied with an ugly win against a team now in the bottom 3? Ok I’m pretty sure we’ll maintain our Championship status but what about the future? We’re going nowhere with this manager; his style of football is the antithesis of what the fans yearn for let alone what is required to take us to the next level. But it’s not just the manager who’s frustrating the fans; it’s the lack of direction (and common sense) from the owner. In short until he goes (and takes the damaging Dalman with him) or he at last sees the light and puts his total trust in a DOF this club will just stagnate.
Sorry Brizzo but don't agree. Hilts post just after your's obversely says it all in mentioning getting to 50 points. Saying 3 points so who cares? - well I'm sorry, me for one. I agree with Hilts' comment about Ralls though. He adds something else to that midfield that no one else up to now has been able to - Turnbull is the hopeful replacement - Wintle is just a Steady Eddie. If Ralls could distribute, he'd be another Harry Winks - how good was Laurent yesterday when he came on half time? That game again proved how poor we really are - we made a poor team look good. Bulut got lucky and we got lucky. The two early goals set the game up for us and we nearly blew it by allowing them the room to come at us especially in the second half. Seeing the season out mid table with the degree of comfort that was sorely missing last season doesn't do it for me.
Dont get me wrong in a ideal world it wouldn't be safety and get 3 points and who cares. The reality of the situation is unless there is a huge overhaul at the club then safety and avoiding relegation is the way it is. Anything else is a bonus. We badly need a change of ownership but I think Tan will be here for years as I dont see any seriously interested parties looking to buy us. We need a complete rebuild from top to bottom.
Just reading that Hodgson is looking for a consultancy role after leaving Palace. He'd fit the DoF role nicely.
The idea of a DOF is a good one. I think any such an appointment with Tan would just be a token one. Its something I don't think he wants anyway. We need a change from top to bottom.
I fear you are right on both counts. He seems content to let that football genius Dalman make the key football decisions. Until that changes we’ll be left with the choice of putting up with it or spend Saturday afternoons doing DIY or going shopping with the wife.
No need for apologies Sparks, it's always healthy to have constructive debate and folks talking through their views with each other Don't get me wrong, I know the football has been poor for months now, with only odd glimpses of positive play. However........ At the start of the season we were actually playing with pace and a little more precision, that was with the same manager and mostly the same team, so do we not think that we could get back to something similar?? We've had injuries to key players and are now still bedding new players in. We obviously missed out on our key forward target and had to settle for what's looking like a poor alternative. I'm trying to stay positive and just keep hoping that Erol is right and it mostly is a confidence thing that we can work through. Stoke are massively underachieving with the money they have spent again, so it doesn't surprise me that they were looking decent against us during the game. Top 3 or 4 aside it's a very even division.
The precision we had at the start of the season was largely due to Ramsey. His loss has never been replaced tactically by a manager who sets his team up not to lose - and then usually does. Don't agree that apart from the top 3 or 4 this is an even division. If you take out Leicester, Leeds Ipswich and Southampton as being top notch Champiopnship quality, that still leaves the next 4, West Brom, Hull, Norwich and Preston who are clearly better than average and have all shown us the door. Apart from Coventry who despite their last game stumble against a good Preston outfit, have really improved, I'd agree there's very little in it. My problem is when we fail at home to beat a poor lower table side Blackburn and just scrape a win against bottom 3 Stoke, we have a structural team problem that Bulut can't seem to solve. If as we probably will, finish the season mid table, it's only fair to say we are one of the better bottom half clubs - that's about it.
We've had the debate before. With 3 points for a win and one for a draw, points wise, you're better off trying to win rather than trying not to lose. As for progress, mid-table would be a step forward, but the progress doesn't seem to be structured or planned. There's no underlying positive approach that could be built on next year. With Bullut, this seems the end of the journey rather than the beginning. His earlier interview didn't instil confidence that he has a plan and can tell us how far into the plan we are. Teething troubles / getting player to adapt is one thing. Not having a plan / vision is something entirely different.
Somewhere over the rainbow a new owner, DoF and a supply of high quality players and suddenly we are playing like Man City, in theory this could work until you wake up and find out you were only dreaming. The reality is when we are winning Bulut will not let the same team finish the game and changes to defensive tactics, if we are losing badly he waits till 15 mins to go and changes to an attacking formation. A lot of people wanted to get rid of Ugbo and keep Meitie and now they are paying the price, players who score goals are like gold, if fans can make such a bad decision what makes them think any of their decisions will solve all our problems. There is now a chance Sheffield will finish above us like Huddersfield did last season after winning 3 games with goals by Ugbo, his goals can win games. I was very critical of Wintle but in the last 5 games he has played more like Ralls and yet now some are calling for him to go, Siopsis is my worst player.
I've watched Ugbo's brace yesterday and they were both well taken - a turn and left foot shot, and a glancing header for the second. Having said that, Bristol City were dire. It is interesting how players can thrive elsewhere in a different environment, but sometimes it just works out that way. The point is we've gone down the Ugbo road thanks - he's gone and forgotten except in your head on this forum. You have your opinions and you're entitled to them, but give us a break with the "told you so" posts and criticisms of other poster's points of view regarding him Wintle etc. Stop lecturing everyone on here. I don't care where Sheff Wed finish - we've played them twice this season and won both. I don't particularly like the club myself. Now that we've seen the last of them, both them and Ugbo are ongoing irrelevances to us at Cardiff City FC. The only place we need to hear about him should be on the ex-player thread.
