Maybe the Nice game yesterday was just an other run out for the squad, but we should take some notes from it. 1. Tomlin is no impact sub he needs to start a game and grow into it. He's a genuine No.10 and when he came on for the last half hour, he tried to make up for lost time and put himself about instead of controlling the game. It may seem hard on Reid and I really like him, but if you can't play both to start, their places in the lineup should have been swapped. Tomlin starting from the kick off with Reid coming on later would have been a far better option. 2. Fairly obvious, but we don't have a striker worth his place in a Championship contending team. Madine, Ward and Bogle all have something about them, but not enough. We need to think outside the box - literally. Midfield and wide players must chip in, and to do that we need to be able to play a different style. 3. The City defence is as good as it needs to be on yesterday's evidence. Peltier/Morrison/Flint/Bennett will do nicely - they all played well and will get better when Flint has a couple of games under his belt - that was his first in City colours and he will be a real asset. The subs that came on showed that we have depth there - as well as Bamba to come back. 4. Midfield looks defensively sound but lacks that flair factor. Ralls and Bacuna were on the money. Though Vaulks had little time to influence matter, he looked composed. Bobby Reid did himself no favours though. Full of effort but first touch was a nightmare against a very talented Nice setup. 5. Out wide we had opposite fortunes. Mendez was up for it and put himself on the line but Murphy was far too delicate and self aware. He lost the ball countless times. He can be a match winner, but not yesterday. Hoilett didn't inspire when he came on either. If we're not prepared to spend top money for someone up front who is "no better than what we've already got" (Warnock's words), then we need to play team football in the middle of the park instead of counter attacking kick and rush. We haven't got the defensive players to play it out from the back - that's why Etheridge lumps it all the time. That puts a huge respnsibility on the midfield and wide men to get up there to play it through and past opposition defenders. The likes of Ralls and Vaulks will have to collect the ball and move it onto Tomlin or Reid to create. We can do it but it'll take some radical changes in style - just hope we can adapt to another season without a genuine front man.
I do think we will have another 2/3 signings however I think they will be loans which naturally tend to happen towards the end of the window. Thankfully the deadline is earlier this year, at least we will know in a fortnight what we have as opposed to speculating for another month.
I just hope we dont end up with loan players who contractually "have to play". Weve got the core of a squad which will be competative and hard to beat. Whether we can take that a step further and become a team that is hard to stop winning I'm not so sure. Whoever else we sign, they need to be team players. No glory boys or prima donas thank you. If they can fill the onion sack, so much the better. And in the mean time, MOVE SOME PLAYERS ON.
Changed the thread title to give it more relevance. No more friendlies - this is the real thing from now on.
18k season tickets sold so far is good news. Hopefully, with the real stuff about to kick off, we'll see a few more posters return as well. Not long now.
For me the only negatives are 1. As OS says the central midfield lacks flair. 2. Lack of a striker who you know will win a game There’s enough there to see us comfortably top 8-10 but maybe some cameos from Tomlin and if we land a goal scorer then we should be top 3-4.
On Tomlin reading between the lines in this article maybe Tomlin’s not in Warnock’s plans? https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport...s/cardiff-citys-frank-neil-etheridge-16658235
