I think it’s fair to say that it’s hard going for us fans trying to get ‘up’ for this weekend’s clash? After a demoralising home defeat on Tuesday night to a quite frankly dreadful Luton side, followed by a series of results for our relegation rivals that pulls us further back into the mire, it’s no surprise if this game fills us all with dread rather than expectation. If our nerves are this on edge though then just how must our squad and manager be feeling? Whilst on paper a trip to Lancashire to face an inconsistent Blackburn Rovers shouldn’t hold a huge amount of fear, with our own inconsistent (and very recently poor) form, who knows what lays in store for this one? All I know is this has become a ‘must not lose’ game, if not a ‘must win’ as we try to turn our fortunes around once again for what feels like the umpteenth time this season…. Who Are You? Blackburn as mentioned on previous season’s threads are one of the grand old clubs in the league being one of the founding members. Now managed by Frenchman Valérien Ismaël who was appointed last month, the former Barnsley, West Brom and Watford boss picked up from the departed John Eustace who made the unusual move from a play-off chasing club to a relegation threatened one in Derby County. Since taking over at Rovers Ismaël has taken charge of three matches, drawing one and losing the other two giving him a 0% win rate so far. There are a couple of familiar faces within the Rovers staff, with Rudy Gestede as Head of Football Operations and Dean Whitehead as Assistant Head Coach. Rover’s top scorer so far this season is ex-Wurzel Andy Weimann with 7 from 30 starts, however, fortunately for us Bluebirds he has now been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a knee injury. Closely following the Austrian in the scoring stakes though is Senegalese forward Makhtar Geuve with 6 from 36 and Japanese Yuki Ohashi with 5 from 27. Also missing for Rovers will be regular full back Calluim Brittain with a calf injury. Other familiar names within the squad are Welsh youngster Owen Beck on loan from Liverpool, supposed one time Bluebird target (and such likeable character) Todd Cantwell, Scot defender Dom Hyam, the experienced Danny Batth and ex-Bluebird Loanee Dion Sanderson. Last Time Out & Form Last time out saw the Bluebirds succumb to a limp 3-1 defeat at the CCS back in November when Andy Weimann bagged a brace (he has scored more goals against us than any other club, so good job he’s missing for this one!) to give Rovers a 2-0 lead. Dave Turnbull pulled one back from a penalty rebound to provide a small glimmer of hope but that was extinguished by Rankin-Costello, who made it a good year (well, day) for the red rose of Lancashire with a 3rd to put the game to bed. It may just be me but I swear the linesman that gives the offside to disallow Cantwell’s goal has a wonky/turned eye??? Form wise Blackburn have hit the buffers a bit (hark who’s talking!) with no win in their last 3, including some poor defeats away at Stoke and Derby (just to help pull us into the smelly stuff, thanks Rovers ). They’ve also been hammered by Swansea of all clubs 3-0 recently but have also picked up a notable win away at West Brom, so it’ll be hard to know what to anticipate from them really. Blackburn currently have the 9th best home record in the division (10 wins, 3 draws, 5 losses), and overall they have the 14th best attack (41 goals from 37 games, 1 better than ourselves) whilst also having the 6th best defence (38 conceded). We actually need to go back 6 games ago to 2022 for the last time we beat Blackburn, that one finishing in a 1-0 win at the CCS for the Bluebirds. That is our only win in 13 against them however. In, Out Or No Sign Of Them About Well, after Tuesday night’s limp display all bets are off as to who starts this one. Very few could come away with any credit from the midweek loss, so will Riza give them another shot or will changes happen as per his post-match threats? Both Joe Ralls and Dave Turnbull come back into contention for this one, though you suspect that our of the two, Ralls is the more likely to feature given the talk of needing graft and fight from hereon. Ollie Tanner is still a way off returning to the squad though and we of course lost Rambo on Tuesday, so the squad still remains a little light on numbers given the other long term absentees. Predicted Starting 11 Horvath Rinomhota Fish Goutas Bagan Ralls Chambers Robinson Salech Davies Alves The Odds Home 1/1 Draw 12/5 Away 13/5 Match Day Melody OK, Welsh band, very apt lyrics – let’s hope tomorrow is OUR day…C'mon Omer, sort them out, get them scrapping for every inch of pitch and every 2nd ball - now more than ever the entire City needs a big performance. Blooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!!!
Thank goodness for small mercies: Weimann is injured This is now the time to get that unexpected away win. Plus some results going our way for once!
Thanks Brizzle. Don't know where you got the enthusiasm to write that excellent piece of work but I'm glad that you did. I expect us to do better than we did against The Hatters (not difficult) given that we're away. It could however be a very dour affair with Ewood not producing much of an atmosphere at the moment. Everything on Omer's shoulders for this one. Let's hope he can get his selection, tactics, game management right and can instill a bit of fighting spirit. Attack, attack, attack. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
Brilliant Matchday thread again Brizzo - keep 'em coming till the end of the season despite our precarious position. It's the perennial debate - do we want to grind out the points playing crap or do we want to see a stellar improvement in performance but come away empty handed? Once again it's become a question of what we need rather than what we want and today's game will be a benchmark for both Riza and the club. All 3 points are not out of the question but a decent performance and returning with a point would do. The implications of a defeat will be dependent upon it's manner. A right royal Leeds type 7-0 stuffing and Riza is toast and probably so are we as a club for this season. The balance is fine. I'd take a point on the back of a creditable showing - a win would probably see Riza praised for the effect of his rant yesterday and it's influence on where we play our football next season. In short we need to see some real progress tactically and in player performance - I'm pretty sure that's not beyond us even now.
I’ve no confidence in Riza getting both the team selection and tactics right. Yesterday he came up with this: If he understands “the game….and it tactically” then why have we won just 4 in the last 24 games? The players need to step up whatever team gets picked and regardless of his bizarre tactics just go all out and leave nothing out there on the pitch and strive from the first minute to get a win.
It's a concern of mine. Trying to be too clever. Keep it simple. Nothing sophisticated. Do the basics well. It's not just us he's confusing. The players must be confused as well. Never mind 'boxes '. Hold the width and get the ball in the box.
That was a huge frustration Tuesday. How poor was our delivery into the box? And that's if it got delivered at all!! Colwill kept hold of it too long and was trying to do too much. Even Alves seemed obsessed with getting right to the byline and trying to cross, but by then had a defender right on top of him to stop anything coming in ... He definitely had opportunities to get the ball in earlier. Even Rambo and O'Dowda struggled to get anything meaningful sent in. With Salech up top we have someone willing to put himself about and who'll work to get on the end of things... If Robbo can play off him and pick up any knockdowns or poor clearances then we may just stand a chance of scoring a little more freely. Then all we need to do is tighten up at the back of course Lord knows what to do with what we have available now as they all seem to be struggling....
Good morning my fellow sufferers. I think it's time to throw in the towel. Or LET'S GET GOING AT LAST. CMON. ITS TIME TO MAN UP. BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBIRDS
Brizzle's not throwing in the towel, clearly! Neither should we. Class review to be followed by a class and winning performance today. To quote clingo......... Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobiiiiiiiiirdssssssssssss
Cardiff City: Horvath, Rinomhota, Ng, Fish, Bagan, O'Dowda, Ralls, Chambers, Mannsverk, Robinson, Salech. Substitutes: Turner, Goutas, Turnbull, Colwill, Willock, Ashford, Alves, Méïté, Davies.
Where's the width and pace? Looks like everything has got to come through the middle with that lineup.
He just cannot help himself making wholesale changes every game. At last Goutas has been dropped. All our pace and creativity is on the bench. So what the heck is his plan? Keep it 0-0 until the hour then bring on a battery of subs?
With a midfield trio of Ralls, Chambers and Mannsverk, it looks like a case of "they shall not pass". I mean Blackburn getting through them, not our midfield's passing ability............
I despair. After all we've said about structure and consistency. Alves, Ashford AND Davies all on the bench. WTF!!!! At least Colwill isn't playing on the left of a 4231 creating a box, whatever that means. Pre-season is the time for tinkering, not when you're staring into the abyss and running out of games. Even if we win, I'll be banging the same drum.
