Alright lads. Just here to give you a bit of an insight into our team. First off, I'll start with our back 5. Our keeper Marshall has been our player of the season so far. I and others rate him as our best ever goalkeeper. His reactions are phenomenally good. Now on to our defenders. Caulker is our captain and our best defender by a mile. Does the basics so well. Our other CB, Ben Turner has a tendency to hoof the ball when under pressure, or even when not, very annoying. Our RB, Kevin Theopille-Catherine, is very rarely at fault, and loves to get forward, but that can sometimes be his downfall. Our LB, Andy Taylor, is more of an old-fashioned full back, but his distinct lack of pace lets him down. Sterling tore him a new one in the first half last weekend v Liverpool. I'm going to go with what I think will be our starting 11. So on the left of midfield, would be Peter Whittingham, who personally, I hate seeing on the wing. He just hasn't got the pace. He should be in the centre of midfield in my opinion. His biggest asset is his set pieces, he has a perfect delivery. Our holding midfielder, Gary Medel, is our most talented player. Bags of quality and it shows. Without him, we'd have lost a lot more games this season. He just clams everything down. Our attacking midfielder, Jordon Mutch, well he's my favourite City player to watch. When he runs at defences he causes them so many problems, he has a hell of a range of passing, and also he doesn't half love a tackle. He's very composed infront of goal too. On the right, Craig Noone. By far our most skilful player. Very very quick, love sense of gravity, so he turns and wriggles away from challenges very quickly, has a good left foot on him too, brilliant crosser of the ball, and has only just started to be picked by Malky. Up front, we do not usually play with two up top, as our £8m striker Andreas Cornelius has been out injured for 3 months, and is only now back to fitness. From what I've seen of him coming off the bench, he's not just your typical 6ft 4" target man, he's more. Very technically good, quick, good in the air, strong, can finish too (as I've seen from videos), he also has a trick or two. Personally I think he will be a big player for us this season, and has all the attributes of a Lukaku type player, so is perfect for the Prem. He's been saying that he's dying for a start, and I think he will get it on Thursday. His probable partner up front will be Fraizer Campbell. He is a very good finisher, lightning quick, deceptively strong and a good header of the ball, his pace usually causes defences all sorts of problems. He also loves to play off the shoulder of the last man, which is why I think that he and Cornelius will do so well together. Our probable team:- ---------Marshall KTC--Caulker--Turner--Taylor ----------Medel Noone----Mutch----Whittingham ---Cornelius---Campbell Hope you've had a good Christmas lads, see you tomorrow
Hi Bluebird, seasons greetings and all that stuff. Think it will be a fairly even game tomorrow, our long list of injuries means we are a bit patched up in all area's, the weakest area being between the sticks. The season has dropped of a bit for us over the last month or so due I think to a difficult run of fixtures and injuries, our man to watch is undoubtedly Lallana who makes the side tick, bags of skill and vision, plus an eye for goal. Could go either way, but I'd settle for 1-1 [prefer 1-2]
Lallana reminds me of Suarez in some ways when I've seen him, in the way that when he runs at people, I see him go through them, rather than around them, i.e put it through their legs, and put fear into them etc. very very difficult to be able to do continuously, and you can't teach it, it's a gift really. Top quality player you've got on your hands IMO.
Good news for the Bluebirds, our best Centre Back is unwell, Yosh and Fonte are good but bound to be match rusty.
Just on the way back and, apart from a spell at he beginning of the game, Saints had it in the bag. The Cardiff players certainly tried hard,but there is a definite lack of cohesion and ability in their side. Our best player amongst many has to be Gazza in goal. After the horrendous time he has recently had, he was immense in the area saving shots and cutting off crosses, Gazza appeared to have a belief in himself and it showed. The rest of the team were also very good against an opposition that tried to make up for their lack of quality with effort and battling. It was a shame to see so many home supporters leaving before half time when they conceded the third goal, and they just look very odd playing in red with their stadium being so blue! I imagine they're all feeling blue this evening.
Gazza, are you kidding? His indecision is frightening. He comes halfway and then stops. Agreed he made a couple of good reaction saves. But Gazza, our best player…....No. Even the Cardiff fans seemed to recognise that he was a definite weak link.
It was his best game for us, without doubt. With his record, obviously the opposition fans are going to work on his confidence, but he made very few errors today, and pulled off some saves which in previous games he would have missed. He also started coming out for crosses and getting them, which again is an improvement. He is by no means good enough yet, but he is better than he was, for which I am very grateful.
Confidence building game for Gazzaniga. As I've said before, I don't want to see another Bialkowski situation. That is, the wrecking of a perfectly good goalkeeper of the future, who has to leave to develop because he has become too scared to play for Saints anymore.
Gazza is the GK we have...I'm pleased to see any improvement. You can see from his face that he is confident...better than seeing a scared rabbit. I hope Boruc is back soon, but this experience will be good for Gazza...especially with another clean sheet on Sunday.
