Bellamy's picked as strong a team he can from who’s available. Time for Johnson in particular to step up. The bench is all lower league.
Watched the last 30 mins. Great performance. Lawlor looking every inch the seasoned international. Kpakio adding some directness at the end and Zak with an assist. Thats to take nothing away from other players who played slick football to put us in command. The 5th goal was sublime.
Wow, just wow.... Got tickets for the game very late on (ended up in the corner right next to the Macedonia fans - big shout out to them for supporting their team throughout). Ended up getting into the ground 5 mins after kick off due to a combo of bad traffic on the way over and then a farcical queue at the turnstiles (15 minutes to get into the ground), so was worried that I'd missed the anthem and that it could be a sign of disappointment to come, but blimey, what a game and performance. Very little you could criticise in that! Provided a nice insight into how our own Bluebirds will look in another 6 - 12 months time!! Lawlor was superb at the back, as was Williams and Da Silva - Rodon damn strong too and I'll also make mention of Cullen who had a very good game. Johnson had his best game in a Welsh shirt I reckon, Brooks was brilliant and of course, it goes without saying that Harry Wilson was just immense. OK, I know 2 of his goals were penalties but his all round game was fantastic. Potentially some tricky opponents to come in March again now and then, all being well, another tough game after that. After the disappointment of the Poland play off loss (which we thoroughly deserved to win having been the much better side) hopefully the footballing gods are smiling on us this time around
Thats a fair shout. The likes of Lawlor, Kpakio, Fish, J Colwill will all gain great experience this year. Even Zac, Rubin C and Salech will benefit from a year together. Then hopefully the converyor belt will continue to feed the machine. Earnshaw was saying lunch time yesterday that this Wales squad has been 15 years in the making. Dont want to wait that long, but its a point well made. We just need to keep getting managers and coaching staff that build an identity in the club. Whover comes after BBM, whenever that may be, needs to keep things aligned feom 7s to first team.
Wakes v Republic of Ireland please. Although the draw is tomorrow we have to wait until March for the play off fixtures to take place.
Did Wales play last night? According to the Jockcentric BBC it was only Scotland and that's both TV and radio. Great they won and qualified, with 3 very good goals, but FFS, we scored 7 against a side that hasn't lost in ages and rarely concedes. Okay we have to win a couple more to qualify but a bit more recognition other than the miserly 10 seconds on BBC Breakfast would be appreciated. Anyway a great win. Top performances across the park. Clearly Bellars rested our best guys in Liechenstein to keep the likes of Brooks and Johnson fully fit for last night. Brooks' best ever game for Wales. He makes such a difference and helps the likes of Harry and Dan James go up a level.
'Watching' on BBC yesterday and seeing Bellamy talking today, am I correct in thinking we and Wales seem to have a similar approach, which means the two sides complement each other and the teams can develop alongside each other?
Bellamy and BBM have seperately discussed the similarities in approach while recognising the differences. Bellamy said BBMs appointment has been great for him and Wales, stating the cardiff players hit the ground running with little need to adapt. Win, win.
Toilet paper rolls around the goal mouth, you don't see that anymore, but was quite a common sight during the 70's.
Last 2 games v B & H were a gritty 0.0 home draw and a 2.0 away defeat in the Euro Qualifiers in 2014 and 2015. Both games on 10/10 each year.
