Yes sparky, I think we'll win but it will be a tight game. That's my heart talking though, head says draw, which wouldn't be so bad for us I suppose
I think it's crucial for our season that we hit 30pts in the next couple of games. That's a big deal psychologically. We've been loitering on mid/low 20's for a long while now and we need to kick start our season again.
Cardiff fan here, Ole just said in the press conference that Gary Medel is our only player out for the match, so Jordon Mutch is fit. Huge boost for us. Quality player.
Just looked back in guys and glad we're talking about the game. Having Mutch available will be a big boost despite the absence of Medel which is a bummer. Bellamy out with the last of his 3 match ban is something we could have done without, but there you go. If Mutch is 100%, he must start along with Zaha, Noone out wide and probably Don Cowie slotting in for Medel in front of the back 4. If we only play with the one up top, it could be Kenwyne Jones to start with Campbell to come on later. That just leaves the "one in the hole" spot behind the front runner, and that should go to young 18 year old Mats Daehli - Whitts, Kimbo and Eikrem on the bench to ring the changes.
I'd really like a 0-0 here. Think we need to build up some clean sheets. Cant see anything but a 2-0 though I'm afraid. This is Hull CITY, a win would almost put Cardiff realistically too far behind to catch us. We dont do things that easy.
I don't think it's unreasonable to say, that given our piss poor away record in the Prem, if Cardiff lose this one, they may as well plan wholeheartedly for the championship, which is a shame because there's a few other clubs I'd prefer to go down rather than Cardiff. I'd love a win, but would take a draw. We do need to be picking up points though, we're still in the battle to stay up and will take a few more hits before the seasons out.
I would tend to agree with that - 8 points behind you at this stage of the season would mean we'd have to hope others fail. Tha'ts why we just have to win this one. A draw seems the most likely outcome to me, but I'll take the importance of a win for us to overcome the fear factor we seem to have at the moment.
Just noticed your post Hatman. I think going down was a possibility that Tan didn't want to consider 6 months ago, but now he sees it as a reality check. Getting to the Prem is one thing, staying there a completely different thing as you've already found out. As for being in the poo poo, it all depends on Vince wanting to walk away from in excees of £100M at least - in a gone concern situation, he wont realise anything like his total investment. If they don't want to play Championship football, selling off players like Caulker and Medel will obviously bring him in a few bob to cut his losses, but he's got no need to - they are both on long contracts and he doesn't exactly need the money to go to Tesco. I think the more likely scenario would be for Vince to take the parachute dosh and go for bouncing straight back up. I can't see him pulling the plug - he's too heavily into this.
No chance. 90% of twitter is just twits. Now and again you find something of interest though. Yes. A close game with a Hull City win. No Medel - Bellamy - Mutch ?? and now Mark Hudson out for the season. I hope that Mutch starts as he could well break down. Why rish him for just one game ? It could end him for much longer. I expect us to have Aluko - Boyd and Fryatt ready to come off the bench something after the hour mark. Agreed. If we can win and get onto 30pts by 5pm tomorrow that would be massive as i can see most of the bottom half teams getting beat. WBA V. Fulham ideally will end as a draw. He could be trying a fast one. Maybe a bench spot for Mutch. It could end in tears for the lad if he is rushed back. To be fair Dutch our away form is not that bad when looking beyond the results. Poor Officials have cost us points @ Everton - Spurs - Swansea and Palace. Well 3 draws and win would have us now on 33 points. They have 3 maybe 4 missing tomorrow.
No chance. 90% of twitter is just twits. Now and again you find something of interest though. Yes. A close game with a Hull City win. No Medel - Bellamy - Mutch ?? and now Mark Hudson out for the season. I hope that Mutch starts as he could well break down. Why rish him for just one game ? It could end him for much longer. I expect us to have Aluko - Boyd and Fryatt ready to come off the bench something after the hour mark. Agreed. If we can win and get onto 30pts by 5pm tomorrow that would be massive as i can see most of the bottom half teams getting beat. WBA V. Fulham ideally will end as a draw. He could be trying a fast one. Maybe a bench spot for Mutch. It could end in tears for the lad if he is rushed back. To be fair Dutch our away form is not that bad when looking beyond the results. Poor Officials have cost us points @ Everton - Spurs - Swansea and Palace. Well 3 draws and win would have us now on 33 points. They have 3 maybe 4 missing tomorrow.
TICKLER - Hudson hasn't had a Prem game all season so we won't miss him at all. Caulker/Turner partnership at CB has been the norm, but we have just signed (and played) Ruis Cala from Seville in that position alongside Caulker, so we have options. Agree about not rushing Mutch back - hamstring problems are notorious for their tendancies to recur if pushed. Other than the Medel injury and Bellamy's suspension who are both big losses to the side, I can't think of anyone else out of contention. The most significant factor will be the approach to the game adopted by OGS. The actual 11 he starts with will tell us an awful lot about that. If he starts both Zaha and Noone who offer very little defensively, they'll need to stretch you wide, otherwise you could have route one access down the middle of the park. Medel wont be there to mop up so Cowie will try to do his job, and to be fair, he played very well there when he came on for Medel against Wigan. The other option is for OGS to play it more cagey and leave either Zaha or Noone out to start and play someone like Gunnarsson to bolster the midfield. If that's the case, I'm not expecting a classic, though either scenario could secure the points - just a different method. Don't really mind which as long as the result is right - God, we need these points!
Good question and don't really know how to answer it. Quite a few think this is beyond him. The players he's brought in since he arrived have not hit the ground running. Three of them are fellow Norwegians - Eikrem, Berget and Daehli who were all with him at Molde. The other connection is his time spent at Man U as a player and coach. Apart from Eikrem and Daehli who were with him there, he has brought in Fabio and Zaha from them as well. Now on paper, you would think it stacks up, but the Norwegian League is no Prem lookalike and Fabio has been nothing short of a disaster in many's opinion. Zaha is full of tricks but no end product, whilst Kenwyne Jones swapped from Stoke for Odemwingie is not convincing many. To be fair, he didn't get a lot of dosh from Tan this window (about £6M) because of the overspend by the previous regime. May take some time to pull it together and that's something we don't have. You're right, he doesn't appear to have got the results yet, but the seeds are there. If he keeps us up this year, he will have done very well indeed. It ain't over yet though and wins against you and Fulham next up at the CCS could put a different perspective on it.
I'd take a draw now with it been an away game and the points difference would remain the same. like some have said though getting to 30 pts as quickly as possible would be great because then you are on the final straight to safety. No one knows how many points are needed but the nearer to the 40 pt mark you get the better. I think a lot depends on our full backs today and how they cope with there wide men but hopefully we will do well and take at least a point. I wonder how quick there defence is against Long ?
