It was like a friendly with nothing at stake to get players match fit rather than a last 16 FA Cup game. We had no idea how to win that game. The inability to drive forward through lack of confidence was obvious. I lost count of the number of times we played it backwards towards Marshall from good positions well inside the Wigan half. The "Mutch" influence running at the opposition was missing - Noone coming on was a breath of fresh air in that department. Don't know what it is, but for all his skill, Zaha is not doing it for me. He has some lightning reflexes and can leave his man dead, but his final ball is very poor. Daehli is tricky and cool, but he needs some movement around him to get the best out of his vision. He can open up defences, but he'll need a lot more help. Eikrem - the jury is still out and it's not fair to judge Berget on that game - everyone struggled to be honest. I liked the look of Cala though, and I thought Cowie did very well replacing Medel. If we needed any pointers toward the Hull game next week, they are thin on the ground. We clearly haven't got the confidence levels running through the side to go out and win. You can't buy confidence, it's something you have to build. We haven't got the best players in the Prem by a long chalk, but individually they are good enough to stay up. Collectively, it's up to Ole to get the best out of what we've got - big big task with just 12 games to go.
Sparkey. The one thing i cannot get through my head is this, how on earth does that useless lump of a full back get picked ahead of Mcnaughton, as far as i am concerned he can bugger off back to France tomorrow. We were woeful, devoid of any ideas, we didnt create anything worthwhile until Noone appeared. It does not bode well.
Even if we find some confidence and form from somewhere, I can't see where we will get the six wins we will probably need to stay up.
Hampshire - agree it's difficult to see where the wins are going to come from, but sometimes the most unlikeliest results pop up. I also don't think we'll want 6 more wins this season - 40 points would definitely keep us up this year. Home games against those four teams around us should make up around nine or ten of what we need -that would take us into the low thirties. If we could blag a few points on the road at places like West Brom, Sunderland and Newcastle (a win at any one of those might be enough) we could get over the line. It looks like 35/36 points may take 17th spot. The extent of our negative goal difference does worry me though - it could come down to that. I still think we can get to 38 with a shock win over someone against whom we are supposed to have no chance. Southampton down there or even Liverpool at the CCS.
It's because of our goal difference that I think we will need six wins. Five wins and a couple of draws might be enough. The problem is to get any wins we will need goals. Where will they come from? Campbell doesn't score as many as he should. Kenwynne Jones reminds me of Leo Fortune West...................at his worst. Zaha is too busy doing stepovers to score goals. Noone could get three or four more by the end of the season. We seemed to have stopped scoring at set pieces. To get five or six wins we will probably need to score atleast fifteen goals. Where will they come from?
Dunno mate. A couple of penalties would help - I hope that's not the best we can hope for from Zaha. If Mutch is fit and plays, he can score. I also think the best chance from elsewhere is Noone. Campbell will get goals, but he misses too many chances for me.
Agree with all of the above - problem is, if you drop Whitts (as fans were screaming for Ole to do) we are far less likely to score form set pieces, and this was our main scoring strategy.
I think this is our best stats this season. If we can get close to these the goals & wins will come. Possession 64% Cardiff 36 Wigan Shots 20 Cardiff 7 Wigan On target 7 Cardiff 4 Wigan Corners 8 Cardiff 2 Wigan Fouls 11Each
I think this is why we need to worry about the other end more. We won't score 15 goals in 6 games therefore like all of our wins except the freak result against Man City we will need to keep the opposition to 0 or 1 to have any chance of winning the game. In that scenario 8-10 goals could win 5 or 6 games. Bellers return and set piece delivery will offset the need to play Wittingham. If you are going to play him he needs 2 other centre mids to do his tackling and work therefore we're back to 4-5-1 which wouldn't be a bad thing as we're less likely to concede in that set up.
If we play a conventional 4-5-1 we'll go down. We might go down anyway, but trying to defend all game needs ALL the right players to do it, and we haven't got them. Going down is something most have accepted as a distinct probability, some seem to think it's already a certainty. I can't quite understand that. Handing the initiative to bottom half teams is not the answer, especially at home. A more offensive approach may or may not make the difference, but playing a 1 + 1 up and the likes of Daehli to release them would give us a chance of 3 point games rather than trying to keep the point we start with - that will send us down for sure. Time to be positive and that starts with Hull.
There is a difference between 4-5-1 and parking the bus though. I wouldn't have Witts in the team, I was just pointing out imo his inclusion or recall demands us to play one formation. If we play him as part of a midfield 2 then we are down. Against Hull I'd play, Marshal Fabio Turner Caulker John Gunnar Cowie Noone Daehli Zaha KWJ
Agree about Whitts - he needs to sit a few games out - particularly this one although he did score a wonderful goal against Hull up there.. With Bellamy out with suspension adding to Mutch and Medel both out through injury for Saturday, you have to pick your midifeld from what's left. Cowie must start in Medel's place, but what combo in front of him is going to give us a chance of beating Hull, not just containing them? I'll go for broke and say we chould put Daehli, Noone, Zaha and probably Gunnar (though Kim would be more ambitious) out there, with either of Jones or Campbell up top with the other on the bench. I'd like to have been able to play Bellers behind Jones and sacrifice that last choice, but that's out of the window for this game.
I was split between Gunnar or Kim. I know what you mean about not picking a team to contain Hull, but the attitude and commitment of the players to get forward is as important as individuals selected. My selection is based on letting our fb's join the attack whilst giving our cb's the cover of Cowie and Gunnar playing quite a disciplined role in front. Having Campbell and Kim on the bench will give us the opportunity to change the game in a positive way should we need to, or at least retain an attacking threat if we do manage to take the lead.
Stevo - in your lineup, I'd be inclined to play Fabio in front of Gunnar. For me his lack of defensive nous makes Fabio a poor fullback in the strict sense of the word and Gunnar would do a better job. Wingback maybe a better description for him, but that needs Gunnar to step in behind him when he goes forward - dragging Caulker out wide across there too often could be fatal.
Mutch definitely out then? If fit then I'd put Daehli to the left but with a floating role and put the Lollipop Man Zaha on the bench. Talk about flattering to deceive - himself. Someone must tell him he's not Ronaldo or Bale and never will be. And also tell him to stick to the player he has to mark and not go walkabout when their first move breaks down. He was directly responsible for failing to mark their goalscorer as Tayls was tight to the guy he was marking. Also, shoot me down in flames if you like but I would persevere with KTC at right back and it must be close between Turner and Cala (who looked assured on Saturday and was not responsible for either goal) at cb. Cala looked very comfortable and quick when needed.
I'm assuming a hamstring is more than a couple of weeks for Mutch. If he's back put him straight in. Agreed Cala looked an asset but Turner was absolutely outstanding against Villa, not least in the heart and commitment to defend he showed. Cala is obviously a far superior footballer though. Sparks, If Gunnar and Cowie play in front of the back 4 then covering the fb's wont be an issue imo. If we do get the ball forward quickly to KWJ then Zaha, Noone and Daehli can all be high up the pitch with him knowing they have the security of the 2 cm's. If they draw players inside to deal with what on paper is a threatening 3 then there should be space for Fabio and John to move forward into. It's way to early to write Fabio off imo. KTC had an absolute nightmare against Wigan. First goal was his fault, he looked nervous and was very sloppy in possession. Whilst presenting absolutely zero attacking threat.
Sorry Steve while KTC may have given away the free kick on our right if Zaha had done the marking job he was told to do on McCann then there would have been no goal. Taylor called him back to stick to McCann. He trotted back and was with him, then as the move developed he went to sleep, lost him and gave McCann all the time and space he needed to score. Taylor "reminded Zaha of his responsibilities" with some "industrial language" as they went back to kick off. Fabio looks totally lost at right back and has similar marking skills and player awareness to Zaha. Fabio is a bit more subtle than KTC going forward but KTC is better defending and also good up the line and has put in some good crosses. He has a clumsy running style but I still favour him over Fabio and, was we know, McNaughton's strength is tackling not getting forward and creating chances.
I've only watched live but didn't KTC get beaten in a powder puff challenge with Mcmanaman before the cross that Mcann scored off?
We have the players, but we don't have the team. You can stick who you like where you like, if these boys don't start playing as a team we are going to need a lot of luck, in our games going for us and other teams around us losing. Good teams have players who shore up weaknesses and play to strengths, we have seen glimpses of us doing this, but nowhere near enough. It will take an almighty turnaround to get this lot working together for 90 mimutes, but if by some miracle that should happen, we might just scrape through this mess.
