Sorry, but the fact that it was an "obvious foul" isn't the point Masky. It deserved the red card in the spirit of the sport, but when did that ever come into the laws of the game? The question is whether the straight red and instant dismissal was appropriate for the offence, or should Dean have awarded a caution and a yellow for a cynical but not necessarily a dangerous challenge. The laws are clear but are always open to interpretation by referees, particularly when a "bunch of thugs" are playing away to a top 6 club. In all honesty, Ralls probably deserved the red for the clumsy cynical challenge that stopped the game and prevented a reasonable attacking opportunity, but the "dangerous/last man/excessive violence aspect was not there. I doubt that argument will hold much water with the appeal commitee though - he'll be extremely lucky to get anything else than the 3 match ban.
As expected, Rall's appeal rejected............... https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/cardiff-city-appeal-rejected-fa-15260730
Too much expected of Ralls this season based on last year's campaign. Nothing like the player he was at this level, but he can and probably will improve. Not sure where you should play Reid and in what sort of system but he deserves a chance of a run.
I'd play him as the more advanced of the 3, possibly as a 10 with Murphy and hoilett / AN Other giving the width. Ward up top if fit. Would provide plenty of pace and some fluidity. Arter will give you some energy and bite with camarasa being the playmaker to exploit the pace ahead of him. Ward (though in the back of my mind think he might be injured - will check when I have time), Murphy, Reid and Hoilett will give camarasa plenty to aim at, and hopefully defences plenty to think about. Out of them all, I think Murphy could shine in the right environment.
Damour must be in with a shout to replace Ralls. Gunnarsson will probably play for Iceland this week and come back with a knock.
If Ralls not up to it at this level then Damour certainly isn't. Can't fault his effort but just not good enough. Struggled against Norwich. Like up front we have no depth of quality at this level.
Exract from an article I read this morning................ "Cardiff then lie in an awkward position – winless at the foot of the Premier League table, and led by a man who would probably prefer a job back in the Championship. It may or may not be unfair to say that about Warnock, after all he’s managing a club in the most prestigious domestic league in the world. Nevertheless, Cardiff precarious position in the table is result of a short-term solution manager in Warnock, who has little to no Premier League credentials, and of insufficient backing by the board. The question for Tan is does he stay loyal to the man who got him back into the top flight, or does he try to divert to safety what looks like an ever-sinking ship." As Masky titled this thread "Warnock" and is supposed to be about him, is this a fair appraisal?
I mentioned him as he’s the one of the few options. If Arter gets booked v Fulham then he’ll have to play as both him & Ralls would be suspended!
I still think Colin believes he has unfinished business at this level. Been sacked and failed to stay up on the last day of the season due to 'inelligible players' and weakened sides. No question, he prefers the lower leagues but he still wants to prove his doubters wrong. If he lasts to the end of the season and keeps us up, he'll walk away with a grin on his face. Both looking increasingly unlikely though.
Playing devil's advocate here Dai, but should Warnock have been regarded as a short term solution to sort the club out? Has he, Blackwell and Jepson surpassed the limit of their ability now we're in the Prem? Maybe not, so then has Tan his crippled their and the club's chances of staying up by restricting the spend expecting them to do miracles with basically Championship level players? That particularly applies in relation to a wage structure policy that's more akin to a Championship outfit. Apparently Camarasa came very cheap (I've seen less than 10K/week reported) but Arter was very hard to get over the line at his required 40K a week and was a last ditch throw by Warnock.
Ahhh Sparkey. You keep suggesting that spending more would have made a noticeable difference. We would have had more depth perhaps, but not that much more quality. I would have loved a striker, a central defender, a winger, and a couple full backs. How much to get prem standard players wanted by higher clubs? Too much.
Well it would definitely have been no cert Temple, but by not spending we haven't helped the cause, that's for sure. On the other side of things, there was no way on this Earth that Warnock & Co shouldn't have been allowed to start this season in the Prem, but at what point do you call the shots? Assuming we carry on in the same vein regarding results, does Tan react early to the situation, or just open the warchest in January in the hope that Neil can deliver with it............. or is it going to take someone and something else to pull us through? On the other hand of course, we could be mid table and flying by then.....
I'm still hopeful of flying at least a little higher at some stage this season. Fulham, Leicester and Brighton all at home in our next 4 games. Obviously no easy games in this league but now would be a good time to start if we are ever going to get going! I'm feeling a sense of pride in our fans attitude towards the team and the manager. So far everybody supporting and not on their cases too much. That said I'm not sure I trust the current manager with a warchest. He seems better at getting the rough diamonds and freebies playing than picking the right man to spend the big money on. I am happy to let the current regime see if they can figure out a way to start winning but I also have this nagging doubt that we have a promotion specialist in charge when we now need a survival specialist. Do you think they are different jobs that need different ways of thinking?
Wasn’t NW brought in to stop our relegation to League 1? He did that and then he got us promoted to the premier league a season later. I believe he should be given this season, at the very least.
@Sparky, who is the best person to keep us up? I would suggest it is NW for a number of reasons. VT would be adverse to paying off NW and then have to pay any incoming manager more than NW currently gets unless he was 100% sure of premiership survival. Wouldn’t any incoming manager be a similar style of manager to NW? The January transfer window won’t help NW or any incoming manager unless the purse strings are loosened to the nth degree. Will VT do that for NW or a new manager? I think not. I do believe NW can keep us up, if the players keep the faith. We have consistently over-achieved under NW, why shouldn’t that continue? There is a gulf in class to the top teams, but we should be able to compete with those around us in the mini-league. Some players have yet to produce their best, others will under-achieve and some are reaching their sell by date. We have had an awful start to our season and the only way is up, unless we run out of games...
