Why have a Squad?

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S

Stevoldinho

Well-Known Member
Jul 5, 2011
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Gutted!

We looked absolutely knackered tonight. Midfield were a mile off the pace, think back to the high energy pressing/passing game we used to play. It needs energy! Can't work out why none of Kiss, Conway, Ralls were used tonight to freshen things up from the start.

If Whits is gonna play the furthest back in the middle field he can't keep giving the ball away. 1st goal was obviously ridiculous and I didn't see anything wrong with the equalizer but the second was down to Whits losing the ball with no one behind him but the centre backs. Got to be better than that because when the best defence in the Championship turns up you can't give them a 2 goal start!

Hope and pray we mix things up with a few fresh legs for Burnley just don't see why MM is so against changing his starting 11.
 
it was like a disease that spread to every player on the park. everyone gave the ball away on multiple occasions. conway comes on and you think that he may go more direct and inject some life into the team, it didnt happen, he gave the ball away too. the midfield trio of gunnar whitts and lawrence were diabolical. second best in every department today. i usually defend us after a loss but i cant today sorry, i hope malky gives them a piece of his mind because if i was manager of that team i'd be ashamed of myself.
 
to be fair i did notice second half he put mason up front and lawrence wide right, but it was obvious that there was a big hole in the centre of the defence that hull exposed time and time again with long through balls through to mclean. sure we got unlucky with the post being hit, a goal disallowed and hulls lucky goals, but the bigger picture is that that was a mediocre performance. and well done to those who like i stayed to the bitter end <ok>
 
I hope and pray that the sqaud is used in the next game i have been banging this drum for the past 3 fixtures i would like to see for Burnley

--------------------------------------Heaton---------------------------------

---Mcnaughton------------ Blake -----------------Hudson-------------Taylor--

Lawrance-----------------------------Gunner-------------------------Conway

-----------------------------Whitts------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------Earnie--------------------------
------------------------------------Mason-----------------------------------

The front 3 changing all the time gunner back to hard tackles LL and Conway adding width and Blake to geta chance to show what he can do for Wales he can do for his club too!!

Worst case senario at least a few players get time to rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Can't play whits in a 2 man midfield and Gunnar looked a shell of his former self. His was very slow and looked like he needed a rest. Why won't he play cowie in the middle?
Positives............ I thought for about 10 minutes Lawrence looked better on the right than the very laboured display he made in centre mid first half.

It was back to last year watching midfielders charge at our cb's unopposed time and time again. I don't blame the CB's although the idea of farcy adding a bit of pace may have helped, but without midfield cover any defence will struggle.
 
ccfcrt0p said:
I hope and pray that the sqaud is used in the next game i have been banging this drum for the past 3 fixtures i would like to see for Burnley

--------------------------------------Heaton---------------------------------

---Mcnaughton------------ Blake -----------------Hudson-------------Taylor--

Lawrance-----------------------------Gunner-------------------------Conway

-----------------------------Whitts------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------Earnie--------------------------
------------------------------------Mason-----------------------------------

The front 3 changing all the time gunner back to hard tackles LL and Conway adding width and Blake to geta chance to show what he can do for Wales he can do for his club too!!

Worst case senario at least a few players get time to rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I'd written the reply about whits before you posted but if you give Gunnar the shielding role and him the forward role perhaps it'll work.
Totally agree about worst thing that happens is a few players finally get some rest!
 
I agree with a few of the changes already outlined, its always been Heaton for me, for the simple reason his distribution is ten times better than Marshall's, i have never been a fan of drunk darcy, however it is perhaps time to give him a run in the team, Earnie should also start, and Gerrard, i would also be giving chances to Quinn and Naylor. Our squad is no smaller than most in this division it just seems that Mackay will not use them. Last year we had several cliques this year we have a clique with 13 the rest of the squad are obviously just not being considered. In my view, which doesnt count for a lot, we would get more joy having Parkin upfront providing knock downs for Miller/Earnie, Southampton have thrived from having a big lump up front (Lambert) and i think it takes a certain mindset to get out of this league, which starts with the manager. We were truely awful last night against Hull and i thought some of our players namely Whitts was playing out of position, Lawrence was also ineffective in the position he was set. Hull were miles better than us and good luck to them, they were tactically good, we were so poor it reminded me of times when we were struggling in the fourth division, our current form is relegation material, thankfully we have enough points to stay up, and i will not listen to all this bollox about building for the future, i am now 50 years of age, we are the longest serving second division club bar none and i want to see 1 season of top league football, if our cousins down the road can achieve it twice in the last 30 years, lord knows why we cant. I feel so disappointed as to the way this season is turning out, we do not play good football, we do not have a player like Burke who can actually beat a man on the wing and we are being served up a load of old Turgid crap at the moment, and the blame for that has to me with the man in charge.
 
Hull were tactically good but we were a very easy team to play against last night. Far too predictable, same system, same players. It's no wonder they are tired and tactically been found out.
 
Didn't go last night due to last minute family committments - first home Champ game I've missed this season - and from what I've read on here, I'm glad I didn't.

Couldn't listen to it and never even knew the result until this morning. Stunned by the scoreline - didn't expect that. Were we that bad?

Depth of squad (lack of) is something we've bemoaned in the past with some justification, but apart from up front, I can't see it's a huge problem now for us to rotate a few.

Like I said, I wish I could comment on the game myself, but would appreciate as many thoughts as possible from those who were there.
 
this is what i put in the match thread before it was swamped by non football crap..


that was without a shadow of a doubt the worst performance of the season. i hope malky doesnt try and blame players fitness becaues it was an all round crap performance. no positives can be taken out of the match.

credit to hull, they came and put in a shift, but make no mistake this was a game that was gifted to them, no player in a blue jersey merited anything above 5/10, apart from maybe earnshaw when he came on. the only real part of the match when we put hull under any decent pressure attacking wise was either side of half time and towards the end. i havent a clue why the goal was disallowed but we scarcely deserved it. a bright start to the second half was quickly put to bed by a breakaway goal. hull exposed turner and hudsons complete lack of pace, the boy mclean caused us problems at the back, it was so obvious i would have considered putting blake in there at half time. the amount of times passes went astray was alarming to say the least.

in fact, i'd say the only positive to take out of the match was the way the fans got behind the team, the ones that stayed anyway. despite the dross served up by our players on the pitch, it was the loudest i had heard the grange end so far in the league this season.
 
Sparks

Hull got lucky with McNuggs OG although we started slowly anyway. However, once 1 up they played 4 5 1 with their middle 5 backpeddling so our midfield and back line could do nothing but pass the ball back and fore amongst each other. They knew we had no pace and just sat back until we made mistakes.

I don't know why there is a clamour on here to drop Marshall, he did little wrong and had no chance with any of their goals - even blocking the first shot for their third. He made 3 or 4 last ditch saves otherwise they could have run up a cricket score. In fact his distribution was much better as he was able to pass the ball out much more as they sat back.

McNuggs had a dreadful game and this has been coming. He is not the same player since he got injured. I have never seen him dither so much defensively and it was only the last 20 minutes he got forward to try to find a way around them but, as ever, his crossing is so poor. He needs a rest and I would have Darcy in for him on Sunday.

Hudson was okay, just, but again played too many long balls. Our defence was like the Alamo at times with Hull's attack having equal numbers to our defence so no wonder they got their 3rd.

I have not seen Turner beaten so often in the air. However, he is 6 ft 4 and the guy beating him was McLean - about 5 ft 9. Okay he is a little pocket battleship with loads of upper body strength but to lose so often with a 7 inch height advantage - I don't get it. Haven't seen a reply of his disallowed goal so don't know what happened. Maybe Gunnar was doing a bit of shirt pulling on the line but how the lino could see that through a ruck of players I don't know?

Taylor did okay although again went to sleep for their second when their centre back (wtf was he doing there?) by passed him.

Mid field was totally over run. Whitts and Gunnar have never been tackled so often, lost the ball and misplaced passes and been pushed back. Cowie covered the whole pitch as usual but he is so one paced. He got the ball out wide many times but always stopped and turned inside. He was subbed but then we had no one making the space to pass to so ended up lumping it to our pint sized forwards. If only he was a yard quicker.

Lawrence had the same problems as Whitts and Gunnar. He has a habit of getting the ball, checking and turning. Hull got onto that quickly and frequently dispossessed him. He went right when Cowie went off and got some space but again lacks the pace to take anyone on. We have too many similar players in midfield - they can all pass, tackle a bit and move into space but not a hsred of pace between them apart from Gunnar who had a real off day.

Mason tried hard but they worked out his moves and he had few opportunities. He now looks tired. He had not played much for Argyle but has been a regular for us. Could probably use a short break.

Millar - much maligned but still provided any link play we managed up front. Should have made a better job when nearly clean through first half but had a good volley hit the inside of the post and run across the line when we were 2 down. Suffering a loss of confidence but will come back.

Earnie did well when he came on, had 3 shots, 2 good ones on target but relatively easily saved. he was keen and very much up for it. may well get a starting chance on Sunday.

Conway got a chance at last, had a few runs but not on long enough to have any effect. At least he tried to get the ball down and run at them but we were totally shot (perhaps an i should go in there) by then.

Other than Darcy for McNuggs, Earnie for Millar and maybe Conway for Lawrence I can't see Malky making too many changes for Sunday. There is no pojnt in ripping the whole side apart. However, why not give the youngster Harris a run? He has pace and can beat people. It would give us another option, if only to come off the bench.

Such a disappointing night - haven't felt this low since.............Blackpool at Wembley.

Time for Malky to show just how good a manager he is. It's fine when all is going well but when the soft and smellies hit the Expelair then that is when truly good managers come to the fore.

A final poiint, last night's ref did our Middlesboro home game last season - score 0 - 3 to Boro. Something of a pattern there?
 
Oldsparkey said:
Didn't go last night due to last minute family committments - first home Champ game I've missed this season - and from what I've read on here, I'm glad I didn't.

Couldn't listen to it and never even knew the result until this morning. Stunned by the scoreline - didn't expect that. Were we that bad?

Depth of squad (lack of) is something we've bemoaned in the past with some justification, but apart from up front, I can't see it's a huge problem now for us to rotate a few.

Like I said, I wish I could comment on the game myself, but would appreciate as many thoughts as possible from those who were there.
Click to expand...

Don't listen to MM blaming the officials, we were WORSE than the scoreline suggest. 1-5 would have been fair. Watching fresh midfielders warm up on the touch line whilst Whits, Gunnar and Lawrence looked to be running through 6" mud was very frustrating.
I blamed Kev for the West Ham goals, his own goal was a joke under no pressure. TBF after that he got forward a bit more and got back to make a couple of very important last ditch tackles after that.
On that 'performance' there is absolutely no risk in making major changes for Burnley. Not a single player could complain if MM dropped them for the weekend.

The defence did look to try to play out from the back but our midfield were hiding. I lost count of the number of times Taylor showed for it, Marsh rolled it out to him, he looks up and our 3 centre mids are stood still being marked or running in the opposite direction to him offfering nothing.

On reflection it is harsh to balme the strikers (not that it stopped a good number around me slating Miller), the midfield didn't give Miller or Mason much chance at all. Miller was unlucky with a 18yd half volley that hit the inside of the post and bounced across the face of goal. He did like most of the others look tired again though.
 
Fantastic post BFB <applause>

i thought turner had his worst game in ages, he looked slow and cumbersome. when isolated in a 1 on 1 with a hull player he was either outpaced, indecisive or beaten. mcnaughton had his worst game in ages, he is usually reliable and tough to get the better of but i remember him making mistakes. obviously the midfield trio all had shockers but apart from that i thought perhaps taylor did slightly better than the rest of his peers, always offering the overlap to cowie and then conway, ok his delivery into the box was slow and the keeper was untroubled but at least he didnt hide.

as you said bfb, hull let the keeper and defence have the ball but when it came to midfield they closed down and harried, though it was 3 on 3 you wouldnt have guessed it as they intercepted weak passes time and time again.

i was stood behind mcnaughton and he often had the chance to pass to feet but for some reason known only to himself he punts the ball down the line or to miller who was given scant service, and so can be exempt from alot of criticism, though i do remember one chance he hooked about 20m above the goal in the first half maybe.

i'm surprised MM didnt notice how easy it was to penetrate our defence and put someone with more pace (blake) on. if we did we would have had a route back into the game as we wouldnt have conceded the 2nd, as that was the goal which ended the match for us.

at least when earnshaw came on he looked lively, unlike the rest who were going through the motions by the end <ok>
 
Missed the game last night due to uni sports comitment but what i have seen it was pretty awful ,

Third goal looked def offside ,terrible OG for their first and the second a scramble in the box.

Could not coment on the midefield play as only seen the so called highlights ,we look a tired team and need a injection of at least 2 freash players ........why aint Conway involved any more?

A good target man and a player in the mold of a attacking wide midefield player with pace would suit.
 
I think BfB gave a fair report there, only thing I would add is the linesman had a 'mare.

I will have to see the reply on our "goal" and their 3rd looked a yard off side from where I was sat.

Having said that Hull were the better team.
 
The goal was disallowed because Miller was causing a foul. Haven't seen a replay but that what it said on the live text on bbc website.

I was disappointed at the chanting to get Miller off last night. I agree that something needed to be changed but for me even if Earnie was on, something needed changing in midfield. We kept playing the long ball over the top which is no good for Earnie or Miller.

We had no shape, kept giving the ball away and no width. Hopefully just a bad day but i think something needs to be changed for the weekend and will be disappointed if the same 11 start again.
 
What I will say for Earnie is that he showed enough to prove there have been times this season when he could have made a difference off the bench. His/our best chance from 14 yards that was easily saved was tame, but his attitude and movement definately added something to what was an already well beaten team. TBF to Earnie adding anything positive by the time he came on was no mean feat.
 
Totally agree, Earnie has to start against Burnley, the one asset Earnie has always had, he hits the ball so hard, Miller isnt firing so its time for Earnie to step in, however i will say Miller is feeding off scraps, the formation we play and continue to play doesnt make for easy watching, just a whole lot of frustration, aka Hull, West Ham, Brighton etc etc etc, we are begining to look bad, it doesnt help with the poor distribution. Marshall is poor with distribution and last night it was Hudson having to try and make the telling pass, i could see it why couldnt Mackay. Sorry people but the Jury is out with me for Mackay with me, and as a long standing season ticket holder i am now in 2 minds whether to renew our season tickets, i love my football and i love Cardiff City however this brand of football is doing my head in.
 
Well, I felt at the start of the year we were a top 10 side. We have been overachieving, and once we got to the transfer window we needed to do something. Each club almost knows what our starting XI will be and how we will play. No pace, means we have no variety. I do not see this squad making the playoffs. Too many other teams have just that bit more than us.
 
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