We tried to pass the ball and play. Kennedy looked a proper footballer and added real class. Malone is obviously a much better player going forward than defending and had his best game by far. Noone worked his socks off sadly his final ball was terrible. It was still his best game for ages though. We'll almost certainly stay up if we play with that much effort from now till May. Blackburn allowed Whitts (who played well) far too much space we know from experience he's a lot easier to mark out of the game. I should give him credit for his determination to get on the ball and always offer himself for the pass though.
No more doom and gloom please guys - this point must mean the playoffs are realistic again. DJ - I'll take all the positives I can from last night. It was by far and away the best sustained overall performance of the season I've watched at the CCS. Only the first 30 minutes of the Norwich game and the last 30 minutes of the Leeds game have we played any better. The whole setup seemed far more positive and I have to look for the differences last night from what's gone before recently. Firstly the debut of Kennedy seemed to galvanise the others on the pitch like no other new player has done so far this season. The introduction of Revell, Malone, O'Keefe, Peltier, McAleny and Doyle has had nothing like the same effect on the rest. At the back Morrison had his best game for me and even Malone showed far more promise than before. Up front I'm still not sure about Doyle, and for me despite him having a go last night, Noone is not the player he was before his injury. He can turn a game, but has never looked like doing so this season. Secondly is the Trollope effect. Some might agrue it's far too early for him to have had that sort of influence, but I'm not so sure about that. He seemed far more involved in front of me last night than Slade was. Although Slade patrolled his technical area, it was Trollope that seemd to be the action man. I've got a feeling that he's being given a bit of a free rein to stamp some organisation on the pitch rather than just talking about it like Slade. If this is down to Trollope, then his presence alone will be sufficient to ensure survival - the point is where does that leave Slade?
I think that we were set up under a different set of orders, the players were going to Trollope rather than Slade and the performance was down to Trollope, a total breath of fresh air last night, the only downside was letting Blackburn come at us after we had scored as they didnt look like they would have scored in a month of sundays until then, oh and ridicule me if you like, but Marshall's distribution was absolutely dire once again.
According to BBC ........ 50/50 POSSESSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not doom and gloom, just a realist. Yes, a better performance but Blackburn set up 4 4 2, same us us so the midfield was not under so much pressure and Whitts benefited from that with his best game since......?. Also, some of them looked like they had celebrated their cup win a little too much. Kennedy and Morrison were excellent, Malone much better going forward. Gunnar ran himself into the ground, subtlety not his strong point but full marks for effort and it is no surprise they scored after he went off. He would have been better placed to get a tackle in on the run that led to the goal. I know it's hard to enter the fray 10 minutes from the end but Adeyemi looked right off the pace despite warming up since Gunnar's first half injury. Agreed, Marshall's distribution was poor and Manga disappointed second half after playing well in the first 45. Peltier was steady as usual and seems to have developed a good understanding with Kennedy already. For me Noone was a big let down again. He just hasn't done it this season. Can't fault his effort but he doesn't seem to be able to beat his man as he used to. Has he lost some pace since his injury at the end of last season? Credit to him for getting back to defend but he had 2 efforts at clearing the ball that resulted in Rudy scoring and made a hash of both of them. Doyle is a keen and willing runner but seems to have a first division touch. Deserved a goal in the first half, If he had miss hit it, it could well have gone in. Lots of effort and running but not end product yet. We need to get the ball to him early, in the channels and on the ground for him to succeed. Not much different to ALF in that respect. Pretty useless in the air as well. Interestingly, Chesterfield have lost their last 3 games since he left. KWJ should have scored with the header from Kennedy's brilliant cross in the second half and made the usual nuisance of himself but what is it with him and passing the ball. On at least 3 occasions he had the ball at his feet with us going forward, he tried to pass to either Noone or Kennedy but only managed a soft ball straight to a defender when it was easier to reach his own player. Huddersfield set up 3 5 2 in the draw at Bournemouth last Saturday so if they do that against us, we will need to rethink in midfield and up front. While they got the draw, they were very lucky as Bournemouth battered them but didn't have their scoring boots on. Our next 2 games will be huge in measuring where we will finish this season. 4 points from the games would be a massive success, 3 wouldn't be a failure and 2 would see us unbeaten in 5 games which can only be good for moral. One or no points will be an unmitigated disaster and once more raise Slade's vulnerability.
Were the club expecting (hoping?) for a loss last night? http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/nigel-adkins-cardiff-city-sitting-8668519
Pretty much how I saw it. Blackburn missed a trick by not playing 3 in central midfield like most other teams who have starved us of possession recently. If they had Whittm would never have had that much time on the ball. Not one ball I can recall he played through the middle on the deck for Doyle. Worrying though that in 2 successive home games, never made their keeper work hard enough; no shot of any note on target again. City look like they'll inch their way, point by solitary point, to survival.
I've only just realised that Kennedy is our one whilst McAleny is on loan, I thought it was the other way around! I'm well happy about that
