Have to say *****phile at RB had a good game for them. Brady was well shackled and when he did have an opportunity he made the wrong choice. Poor game for Robbie for once. Place may be in jeopardy with Quinny doing well when he came on.
I thought quite a few of the players looked a bit out of sorts today, particularly Elmo, Brady, Huddlestone, Livermore and even to a lesser degree Figueroa. If it does turn out to be Elmo at fault for not tracking back for the goal, I wonder if SB will start to consider whether to put Rosie in at right back, as that will have cost us points in consecutive games and if he doesn't learn, it will continue to. Pass of the day - Huddlestone to Quinn in the box late in the game, which Quinn did equally well to pull back but unfortunately it got cut out by a defender. Thought Cardiff kept the ball well in their own half but on the ocassions that we closed them down quickly, they panicked and often gifted possession back. Aside from the goal and a couple of hairy moments in the early stages of the first half I thought we limited their threat pretty well. Despite having a number of players a bit off the pace today, I thought we still did enough to have won the game, if only we could start putting away a higher percentage of the chances we create. Hopefully, they'll all be back on song next week and we can get something at Newcastle!
We offered nothing going forwards. I don't think a centre-back scoring seconds after a corner really counts as getting a goal from open-play, so that's now four games and counting. Also, Elmohamady isn't a full-back. FAO Chazz - If it makes you happy, I didn't really go.
Overall, I thought it was a great performance though our weaknesses are becoming glaringly obvious. We are solid and work well as a team, everything is coming together and we have a great bunch of players. Chester, Davies and Figueroa are brilliant but unfortunately, Elmohamady is not a full-back and has been responsible for a couple of goals conceded this Season already. We need Rosenior to play in the full back role with Elmohamady back up on the wing. Graham worked hard and is looking promising. He's getting into the right positions which is a good thing and I feel as though when he gets that first goal, he'll be fine. He should have bagged at least one of his chances today (especially the header at the end). Livermore, Huddlestone, Aluko and Brady look to have the quality and flair needed to create chances, it's just having that man (men) up top to put some chances away. As soon as Aluko gets back into the swing of things, I think we'll be great going forwards. The goal conceded today was a poor one and as Bruce said, it was defenders 'ball-watching' that lead to it, and let's be honest, it was Cardiff's only real chance of the game. I don't think Cardiff were any better than us at all despite their vast expenditure and I'm disappointed that we didn't get all 3 points but if we were offered 4 points from the first 4 games, we'd have taken it without thinking twice. Cardiff came here and obviously played for the draw, absorbing our pressure. We just couldn't make our pressure pay off unfortunately. Let's remember one thing, "For chicken chow-mein, for chicken chow-mein, they sold their bluebirds for chicken chow-mein!"
The irony of our fans mocking Cardiff's colour-change, as our owner prepares to change our NAME to HULL TIGERS, shows what a braindead bunch some of our supporters really are. It was funny in May*. It isn't now. *Though I always preferred my version - "You're crispy duck, you're crispy duck, you used to be Bluebirds, now you're crispy duck"
Slight difference though as our owners PREPARE to change our name, Cardiff have already had their colour change done and dusted. Badge changed, everything. Ours is still yet to be fully pushed through.
The ref took Campbell off the pitch, booking him for not touching Chester then warning him for not touching Davis! He was unable to use any physicality after that and had to be subbed. You guys did a great job of hounding the ref into those decisions but they were both bollocks and a PL ref shouldn't be reacting to a crowd to that extent. Gestede didn't trouble you because he's rubbish and no where near the standard needed in the PL, we can only hope our 7mill man will be better if he manages to stay off the treatment table.
The one on Chester looked to me like he was going for him out of anger from the previous challenge where Chester took it from him and ref's always frown upon that. I thought the reaction was bit over the top but a yellow was right for that. The one on Davies he had every right to go for but it was an unnecessary stamping motion down onto his leg like that McManaman challenge. Not sure if he ended up touching him or not on that one. A harsh ref might have given him a second yellow because it looked dangerous to me. I don't suppose the challenges will get on MOTD being unimportant in the end but it'd be interesting to see them again to see which of us is right. I always find it funny seeing fans of other clubs telling us how **** their 3rd or 4th choice strikers are. There was an Everton fan saying it about Jelavic the other day. I'd take Gestede in a heartbeat because ours are so poor.
To be fair Campbell did flick out at Chester off the ball but I didn't see an incident with Davies. He was mouthing off at the officials in the 1st half though so he could have easily talked himself into a 2nd yellow.
The two goals came from two bits of decent play. Both crosses were perfectly sent into the danger areas inbetween the keeper and the defenders, and actually attacked well. Elmo let him go at the back post. He's ok going forward, but isn't a defender. Unfortunately, for City we didn't do enough with the ball after they equalised. We created some good chances, which i'm pleased about, but Graham is frustrating me.
I'd already watched them both back on Sky match choice before I posted that. No contact in either challenge. The ref was the wrong side to see the Chester one and the crowd got him booked (which is a home crowds job!). To compare the Davis one to that Macmanaman challenge shows just how much you guys hate him! Gestede makes Graham look like Alan Shearer.
I actually don't mind Campbell at all. I wish he played for us. I wasn't comparing it to Mcmanaman's tackle just using that to describe the motion he seemed to use. McGregor was gesturing to the ref that he'd done that and he just warned him but didn't give a booking or anything so I'd say that's fair enough.
OK game. I won't join in any bashing of Graham, but he should've put that one away - mind you the offside flag went up anyway. The header at the end was worse in my opinion because he didn't need to do anything with it. He came in at the perfect angle to just put his head on it and send back where it came from - basic technique that. Anyway he held the ball up at times and put himself about a bit, but in reality Caulker had him sewn up most of the match in terms of pace and strength. Really not seen enough of Sagbo to say he would be the difference and I think Gedo may be an impact sub - noticed the bench was mainly defenders and midfield again. A few other under par performances - Huddlestone was a bit sloppy at times and Elmo needs to be played as a winger or not at all. He needs to get a bit further up the pitch and take a man on instead of receiving the ball, stopping and swinging balls in from deep. Maybe he and a few others were suffering from international trips. Cardiff were decent at times and the goal was well executed - one touch stuff kills defences. Their right-back was very good and had a trick or two. It's always easier to say we were crap, when in fact Cardiff were tricky and pressed us in the right areas of the pitch to limit our passing, though they didn't offer too much until Maynard came on. Mackay is no mug and will know more about us than any other manager in this league. Thought Chester was our MOTM.
Was talking to my mate who sits near Burnsy and they saw a replay from a couple of angles and thought it was offside. I also noticed a linesman flag it on MOTD this morning. EDIT - wrong goal!! You mean Aluko's - yeah about half a yard offside.
Wasn't close - Aluko was a good metre offside when the ball was played. Pity for him because he deserved a goal, but also glad he didn't get it (obviously).
