From being in the box seat at the turn of the year sitting comfortably in 3rd with an eye on an auto spot and a playoff position under control, we now need others to slip up for a top 6 finish. Malky's arrival with the club playing staff virtually on it's arse after the summer exodus, was always going to be a huge challenge for all concerned, but he pulled it all together. Being encamped in top 6 for half a season should have been a springboard for the second half effort to go all the way. The biggest dissappointment to me was our lack of progression from that point. Sometimes a new manager and his staff bring such a sea change to a club that an immediate improvement in attitude and performances is obvious - Malky certainly achieved that. Maybe the gloss wore off a bit and we actually over achieved given the smallish squad we were operating, but isn't it the job of management and the board to recognise that and act? Surely all clubs should progress thoughout a season campaign, so why haven't we? Management, Owners, Players, or a combo? I'm not moaning. Having supported Cardiff for 40 years man and boy, I'll take where we are right now. If we can avoid the wums and have a sensible discussion. I'll just ask for opinions as to where it went wrong. Little we can do now we're into April and lying in 8th other than to hope others around us bottle it instead of us.
I think the size of the squad is an over used excuse. Clubs have been promoted before with a small squad. Early in the season we seemed to stumble on a 4-5-1 system at Blackpool which proved succesful for a while. We then stuck with the system while others worked out how to play against us particularly those that cut down the space for Whitts to operate in. We have no pace in our squad so have been unable to play with atleast one pacy winger to take the pressure off Whitts and give us another attacking dimension. We have also persevered with Miller on his own upfront who in the second half of the season has been unable to hit a cows arse with a banjo. Loan signings have been down to our usual poor quality and have not helped the situation. Lawrence and Vukic are no better than we got in previous years. Loans are not the answer. We need another summer of building and have a go next season. I agree with you I am fairly happy with where we are and have been a bluebird for all those years, and a few more and have got used to the annual roller coaster ride. Let's try and stay positive to the end of the season and if we don't make it we will all start again next year for yet another interesting ride.
To be honest Sparkey we have been relying on others for some time now and vice versa. For all the nice football we played yesterday one thing is missing and has been for some time. A decent forward to put the ball in the net. Miller is so short on confidence and looked quite forlorn at times yesterday. I think it's time we started without him by pushing Mason up front or bringing Gestede back in a a centre forward. Even Earnie, who by his own standards hasn't been playing well this season, brought a spark of life to the game yesterday. At the start of the season I thought we would end up about 10th in the league and then we went on that great run which pushed us up to second at one stage. Like everyone else I thought we were then a cert for the play-offs but since the cup final we have struggled. I know we tried to to bring players in but it was not to be and we have to go with the squad we have. Conway looked pretty good when he came on and added that extra width and I thought that Lawrence played well although I would have liked to have seen him out wider as well. Having said that it's no good pumping balls into the box if there's no-one to convert them. Also like you I've been watching the Bluebirds for a long time (only the 33 years!) and I've seen all the bad and good times. I honestly think we have the right man in Malky to kick on next year and with hopefully some decent financial backing I fancy we will be in our best position in ALL those years to make it to the Premier League. However the season isn't over yet......
I have been a little disappointed with Malky. Not to the point of saying he should leave or anything like that. I just thought he would more adventurous than he has been. I assumed he would be tactically dynamic and willing to rotate players.. As I have mentioned elsewhere, Watford are right behind us. Seem to be doing fine without Malky. Still, the defence for Malky is that he took over a threadbare squad. So the reality is that for us to be right in the playoff hunt is actually an excellent return. Whether we make the playoffs or not Malky needs a summer to build the squad exactly as he wants and another season to see what happens.
Siam, can't agree with you on the "threadbare squad" bit. How many managers like the idea of building their own team? Malky has brought in the players he wanted and has failed to bring in a winger or a quality striker. He's not using Earnie or Gestede effectively when it's clear Miller is not doing the business. I don't think Malky is going to get us up this season and needs to have a good rethink over the close season if we are to avoid failure next season.
Irish - I agree that unless you get a near perfect 100% record, you are always going to have to rely on other sides slipping up. What I'm saying is that we had the opportunity to mitigate the effect of having to "rely on others" in the New Year window, and the loan window since then. Big noises were made at the start of the season that if we found ourselves there or thereabouts at the half way mark, we would push for it all the way. A big noise was also made about the last minute failure to secure Sordell in an alleged £3m deal from Watford, but if that sort of money was being made available, I can't see the reason for not using elsewhere. We had plenty of time since. We had the perfect launch platform after the New Year's day win against Reading when we went 3rd. The truth of the matter (as far as we can see being "merely" supporters) is that we failed to capitalise on it. We are 8th in the table now as a result and are realistically in the hands of other clubs failing in these last half dozen games.
We lack pace. Thats all. How many we bring in during the summer will depend on how many we can get off the books. Whitts will probably be sold. He deserves another crack at the PL. That will mean a goalscoring , creative midfielder needed as well.
We've all repeated that mantra for months now - even our only winger Conway lacks it. Do you think we should have bought some then, rather than get to where we are now without it?
I agree with most points made above. I know some contrast but I can definitely see where people are coming from. The main problem I think has been alluded to at the start. A failure to capitalise on a good first half of the season by freshening things up a bit and addressing the obvious lack of pace in the side. Saints & West Ham spent on proven goal scorers at this level and Reading have done similar by bringing in Jason Roberts who seems to have done a great job for them. I think Miller just needed someone to help him bear the burden of main goal threat. Mason has been terrific for us but is not the out and out striker we could have done with. Gestede doesnt seem to know where the net is. Earnie is not getting enough time to show if he could still do it. Yesterday I was dissappointed time and again by crosses going into the box with virtually nobody to aim for.
I agree with you. I guess a lot of managers would have loved to have the freedom to build their squad that MM had. I guess we then have to ask was he given the resources and did he try to get the players we are saying he should have got, but could not compete in the market.
From the outside looking in...........and not having seen you play much this season...............I would say the following............. I would strongly agree with irishbluebird, the lack of a regular goal scorer (or two) is probably going to cost Cardiff a play off place this time round. League goals only.. Peter Whittingham -11, Kenny Miller - 9, Joe Mason -6, Aron Gunnarsson - 5 kind of tells it's own story really. So my question is - is it the strikers or the midfield that is the "problem"?
Several points being made about what we needed to add to the squad long before we got to this stage - too late now. We all seem to know what we need, that wasn't the question. So getting back to the point - this pacey winger, out and out striker, target man, etc etc that supporters watching every week reckon we need - why didn't we get them? Lack of the right players available? Lack of funds available to buy/loan them? Lack of ambition to actually go for it this season? Lack of awareness/acceptance by Malky that he actually needed them? For the pacey winger we got young Harris from Wycombe. One for the future but was never going to do anything to help this season. Vuckic and Lawrence were the offerings to support the midfield efforts - one wasn't ready for Championship football and the other has probably seen too much of it. As for this additional striker to fire up the front line and cause problems for opposition defences....................
Chops would have been a bit of a gamble and Burkie's just a home loving boy - lots of Scots in Brum are there?
Fantastic thread sparkey, and one that's asking the same questions that I'd like answered. Not sure that'll ever happen though. When MM came in, I was ready for a season of rebuilding and probably a mid-table position. However, we made a far better start than expected and gave ourselves a wonderful (even if unexpected) chance to really challenge for the autos. Like you sparkey, I want to know why we didn't strengthen when the autos were a real possibility. The four alternatives you put forward are pretty much what's been going through my mind. Can't help feeling we missed a real opportunity this season.
Hello Clingo - so nice to be able to keep a thread on track and discuss our club seriously without interruption (so far ) In the words of the song, there are probably more questions than answers, but that doesn't mean we should stop asking them. Apart from the CC final, bitterley dissappointed this past 2 months with the performances and lack of action to remedy them. Still, after so long supporting this club like you, I've come to expect the unexpected - anything can still happen in the next half hour (or more likely the next 6 weeks) - would be nice to get an insight into the inner thoughts and workings going on at OUR club.
I don't think we should rely on others to get us to where we want to be. I think we should model ourselves on our westerly neighbours and stand on our own two feet. Even Harry thinks its the way to go. I think we should get whitts back from Forrests, pass the ball backwards more often and get a ball of our and take it home if the opposition won't play nicely. That's better, taken the medication and normal service has been resumed. We're now in a mini league, performances go out the window and only the result matters. Simplify the game plan, players in their known position and bust a gut for 6 games. All we can do is put as many points as we can on the board and let the position we finish in fall out of that. Building for next season, TWO FURKINS OF WIDE MEN!!!!!
Spark! It's funny now reading that last sentence.Last year we were drip fed all sorts of tit bits about the inner workings of CCS by insiders and although many denigraded those who would release often sensitive information,I personally felt at least we were often given a feasible reason or maybe ignis fatuus. Silence isn't always golden or so it seems.
Yes, a little bit of information regarding the short, medium and long term plans and ambitions may help us manage expectation.
