Sometimes Masky’s old friend Billy Bonds pops down to see me. We usually pop into Cardiff market for a bite to eat...he seems to like the sausage and mash for some reason! He often times it, so he can pick up bargain fruit because they sell it off cheap. Canny bugger is Billy....Billy is wise...be more Billy! BFB will believe it! OS too! Clingon might!
What are you on Masky? It must be some of Aber's good stuff. Whatever it is you bring a smile to my chubby little cheeks (facial I mean to avoid any confusion) most days. I would have thought the aforementioned Billy was more a pie or jellied eels and mash man. Washed down with a pint or two of London Pride and a quick chorus of Knees up Mother Brown. A strange place to keep your knees but you never know with these Cockney types.
Since we beat them here we’ve been stuffed every time. Think we have to go back 15 years to our last home win over them (15 years- seems like yesterday Kav and O’Neill ran them ragged!) https://www.skysports.com/football/cardiff-vs-west-ham/54948
A must win game at home and Cardiff must put more effort in than what they have been doing, Warnock has to do more on the management side also with his coaches and install belief into the players. West ham are no better than anyone in the bottom half even though they think they are....2 - 0 home win..
They should have a field day at CCS given their propensity to play counter attacking football with a couple of seriously good players. The last 2 home opponents have ripped City apart going forward. I expected Bournemouth to do the same but City managed to thwart them so it’s a case of replicating that performance but NW has to pick the correct team to be able to counter at pace.
That is what i'm saying ninion. The belief is not there and warnock and the coaches must change that, in fact he owes it to the fans to install belief and not go down with a whimper, Cardiff are better than that.....The football was great last season and better than a lot of the bottom clubs in the premiership.. I cant understand why Warnock and the players are not putting the same effort in as they did last season....
Dai - They are putting the effort in but in the main they are up against better, fitter players and effort doesn't equate to success at this level. There is little point in flying in to players of the quality of the top 6 and probably the next 6 clubs or so as well. If the tackle isn't made at best the player is beyond you and at worst you are looking at a red card and ban. You should know from Swansea's time in the Prem it is all about movement, cover, team shape and picking your moment to make the right tackle. You had some good success in this for 4 or 5 years. In addition you had a higher proportion of players with the skills needed for the Prem than we have. It is no secret our approach is much simpler and more physical. The way the top sides beat us was noted by the next group of clubs hence the last few bad results. In saying this we seem to have adopted a more defensive approach in recent weeks after the successes against Leicester, Bournemouth and Southampton. In my view we need to adopt a pressing strategy with the whole team going up and back as a unit. The risk here is the back for need to play a higher line and there is always the possibility we will get done on the break. However nothing ventured, nothing gained and we have to play much better than of late to get a result tomorrow.
Cardiff central defender Sol Bamba will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. Bruno Ecuele Manga is expected to start in his place, with Harry Arter and Josh Murphy both hoping to win recalls. West Ham are boosted by the return of Aaron Cresswell and Fabian Balbuena, while Manuel Lanzini has shown no ill-effects after his comeback last week. Billy Bonds is available, unless the bananas are on offer. Jack Wilshere, Winston Reid, Carlos Sanchez and Andriy Yarmolenko are long-term absentees. Warnock denies player rift at Cardiff @SimonBrotherton: Wins over Bournemouth and Southampton had taken Cardiff out of the relegation zone but three defeats in a row with an aggregate score of 10-1 has sucked the optimism out of South Wales and leaves them back in the bottom three. Sol Bamba's season-ending injury is a further blow and the importance of this weekend's game can't be overstated. Cardiff will have to wait three weeks for their next match and face Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool in three of their next four fixtures. West Ham have won two of their last three games but their away form hasn't been great, losing four of the last five on the road without scoring. Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock: "I don't think it's a must-win game. I think it's a very important game in the circumstances, but there'll be other games that are must win later in the season. "The lads have been a bit flat this week, which is understandable because it's the worst week we've had in the Premier League. In management, it's all about trying to lift them when they're down. "We've got some good players who are playing below par. It's about getting the match winners into the team and how they can lift the confidence." West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini: "Cardiff are playing at home and will try to add points as they want to try to avoid relegation and they are not many points behind the other teams, so we need to be fast, play with a high tempo and be aggressive. "I remember my first defeat with Manchester City was at Cardiff when they scored from two corners. Of course I want to change that statistic. "Now we need to play 95 minutes and concentrate on every ball." Cardiff's situation does not look too clever, but I am reluctant to write off their survival chances because of their manager. Just when you think they are down and out, Neil Warnock does seem to have a knack of getting them going again - although I do think West Ham will come out on top on Saturday. Prediction: 0-2 Lawro's full predictions v chef Tom Kerridge and 'The Beast', aka Wycombe striker Adebayo Akinfenwa Head-to-head West Ham have won the last seven meetings in league and cup and scored at least twice in each game. Cardiff's only victory in nine versus the Hammers was 1-0 away in the Championship in August 2011. The Bluebirds' solitary home win in the past 11 attempts against West Ham came in the Championship at Ninian Park in November 2004. Cardiff City Cardiff have suffered three successive Premier League defeats by an aggregate score of 10-1, conceding eight goals in their last two home matches. Neil Warnock's side have failed to score in three of their past five home fixtures. Cardiff have led at half-time in just one of their 29 league games and scored a league-low seven first-half goals. They have let in a joint league-high 12 goals in the last 10 minutes of matches. Only Huddersfield have scored fewer goals than Cardiff, while Fulham are the only side to have conceded more. Callum Paterson, Cardiff's four-goal top scorer, has failed to score in his last 12 league appearances. West Ham United West Ham have won twice in three league matches, having previously recorded one victory in seven fixtures. The Hammers have lost four of their last five away league matches, failing to score in each defeat. They have won only one of their last eight away league games against sides that began the day in the bottom three. Marko Arnautovic has been involved in 10 goals in his last 11 league matches against newly-promoted sides, with five goals and five assists. Manuel Pellegrini's first Premier League defeat was away at Cardiff City in August 2013 when at Manchester City - although he has won his subsequent two fixtures against the Bluebirds.
Lovely that, Clingo (legend that he is) gave my post a like....how cool is that.....first time too? Reminds me of the first time I made love....it was dark, raining even...I was alone! Ah, tales of the Winky Wannky Bird again!
Fantastic win today! The effort put in was top drawer. Gunnarsson and Arter stood out for me breaking play up with Camarasa a class above. The defence was excellent and deserved a clean sheet. The gloss though taken off by the BHA and Saints wins
Gunnar and Arter chased everything. They disrupted the West Ham midfield in their own half - didn't wait for them to bring it over the halfway line like we've done in the past. We pushed them back to the point that they were too far from our goal to create anything. Camarasa was the difference going forward and Niasse chased everything but has got the finishing ability of Warren Feeney. Hoilett and Murphy both did their job - full marks for tracking back when necessary. Defence was efficient to the extent that Etheridge had very little to do. Having said that, West Ham were very poor up front, but then again we didn't give them the chances we've offered to other sides.
