Summer recruit Federico Macheda is set to make his Cardiff City debut in the League Cup match against Port Vale . The former Manchester United striker was one of eight summer signings but is yet to make his Bluebirds bow. But the 23-year-old Italian looks set to feature against the League One side on Tuesday. Boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: "There will be a chance now Kiko [Macheda] will get a game, Javi Guerra will get a game, we'll get Kim Bo [Kyung] a game." Cardiff travel to Port Vale off the back of their first defeat of the season, after a last minute Mark Hudson own goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat at Wolves on Saturday. Former Manchester United striker Solskjaer says the League Cup is a good chance to blood new players, including youngsters such as Jazzi Barnum-Bobb who started in the 2-1 first round win against Coventry. "But for the game against Coventry, nobody would have heard of him," Solskjaer said. "But Jazzi is a good player and when you've got good players in the rank, young players, you want to give them a chance so they'll be players tomorrow hoping to make a start for the rest of their careers. "I want a philosophy in the club to bring young players through, give them a chance. "I love giving young players a chance and you hope they grab the chance and grab the opportunity because that's the future of the club, you can't just rely on buying players every year, you need to develop your own." Hmmm many people about today on this forum, but I will post this if anyone wants to comment, please do.
Port Vale 01 Neal 02 Yates 03 Dickinson 17 Brown 04 Robertson 05 McGivern 15 O'Connor 18 Jennings 11 Pope 08 Dodds 14 Daniel Substitutes 06 Duffy 09 Williamson 10 Lines 12 Johnson 19 Moore 20 Marshall 21 Veseli Cardiff City 33 Moore 55 Barnum-Bobb 12 John 21 Ralls 41 Oshilaja 04 Torres Ruiz 15 Wolff Eikrem 13 Kim Bo-kyung 22 Javi Guerra 14 Macheda 08 Dikgacoi Substitutes 30 Burgstaller 35 Velikonja 40 Harris 42 Wilson 44 James 45 O'Sullivan 53 Owen Ref: David Webb.
All a bit glass half full there whoops? The only other late goal conceded this season I can think of was Huds slice into his own net on Saturday. We're bound to concede some more - that's life, but if we keep going until the final whistle, we've got the firepower to score plenty ourselves as the clock ticks down.
You maybe right Sparkey. But I have memories of last season when conceding late goals appeared to be our speciality. Then we seemed to fall apart at the end of games conceding possession and tended to hang on. This season we have played six games and conceded two late goals. Even though not technically late - depending on the definition of "late" - we also conceded a goal against Coventry in the 83rd minute. A third (or maybe half) is statistically significant in my book but as you have probably gathered I tend to be pessimistic about all things to do with Cardiff City.
No problem with being a pessimist whoops - it tends to avoid the heartache often felt by optimists. I think our problems historically with conceding late goals has been our inclination to try to hang on to what we've got rather than pushing on. The classic case of that for me was the Sunderland game last year when we were 2-0 up and cruising. I think it was Kerslake who was running the show after Malky was sacked, but he adopted the same policy - funnel back and defend. I think he took two attacking players off and stuck on two more defensive minded guys - can't remember who right now. Absolute shambles - we conceded and then lost 2 points in injury time when the equalised. Maybe it's a case of attitude toward the best way of winning a game that needs to change. Go for the win by killing the opposition off rather than sitting back on a lead and letting them come on to us.
The odd thing is Sparkey that Manchester United were famed for scoring late goals so OGS needs to do exactly what you say. Kill off the opposition rather than standing off. Something needs to be done to change the mindset.
