I think Irvine always looks as though he never has any time on the ball. Maybe it's positioning, or an opposition tactic to get in his face, either way it impacts on his distribution more often than not.
Irvine is usually very adept at linking up play, but today he rushed everything, like he had a point to prove. Four times he played the exact same pass inside the defender for Grosicki, when it was obvious Grosicki wanted it on the outside and it failed each time. He also seems to run very obviously, if that makes sense. He ran towards Kamil today with the ball, but he ran in a way that it was obvious where he was going to pass the ball and the defender cut it out easily. He seemed to lack the ability to out think his opponent today. I really rate him as a player though, he just had an off day today.
Cardiff did play a very good pressing game today. They didn’t allow us time on the ball in our half and therefore the passing was always rushed.
Think he's looked poor when he's come on previously, but agree, today he looked a player. Skillful, prepared to taken on a defender, and beat them, quick & strong. Good to see as we might well need him to step up come January. Thought Magennis did better than Eaves has done so far, but neither look good enough yet. MH should be playing.
I really enjoyed the game and to be honest a draw was the fair result. No stand out teams in the league this season so far. Shame we couldn't afford Campbell as we would be much further up tbe league. Time to bring Henriksen in for Irvine and hope Balogh is the find of the season because the other two we have wont score 10 goals between them.
Long, de Wijs, Stewart, Fleming, Bowen and Grosicki the pick of the players for me. Magennis was really poor, Eaves will be back in for the next one. Congratulations to Irvine, for beating Lichaj to the ‘most passes to the opposition’ award. Though a draw was probably a fair result, that was a really poor goal to concede, we completely switched off.
Eh, McCann thinks that was a good game? must have been watching a different game to me. Apart from the last 5 mins of first half and last 10 of 2nd half, rest was awful, poor game. I think he’s flattering Cardiff, they were as expected, a physical side, pressed us, kept possession better than us, but we should be winning these games at home. First half we didn’t always seem up to the physical battle, some ducking out of challenges, but grew into it. I thought we were lucky not to be behind at half time. Irvine, definitely had an off day, worst I’ve seen him play, couldn’t make passes stick. I felt sorry for Magennis, didn't think he got much service. Linesman SW side, abysmal, where do they get these officials from? No, McCann doesn't inspire me on the pitch, or in interviews, stubborn/arrogant L1 Manager, giving us L1 footie. Criminal that Henriksen not even in squad, more quality than some of his current first choices.
I thought that Burke did a great job of bringing the ball out, especially in the 2nd half, when he was the catalyst for a lot of the play down the right-hand side.
They weren’t quite as physical as I expected, but they didn’t need to be for the first 30 - 40 minutes as we were dreadful and looked to be avoiding contact anyway. I’m no fan of Henriksen but he should be in the squad. They were a better team than us I thought.
Good comment, and good to see Burke doing that. Now where have we seen that before Hopefully he does more of that, and with more confidence as he gets used to doing it. Think there's a fair bit of rose tinted glasses going on re. Fleming. He's a prospect for sure, but not really ready / good enough just yet. Sorry, but it shows. Not a dig at him at all. He's having to play more out of circumstance than choice at the moment. LB continues to be problematic for us.
I agree, despite the poor results in the last 3 home games I probably enjoyed them more because some of the football we played . I thought yesterday lacked quality from both teams , if it wasn’t for a moment of Grosicki magic in the first half it would have been a complete bore