Game #11 sees our weary warriors back home at the fortress that is the CCS having to re-group and hopefully bounce back against this weekends visitors, the erratic and out of form Watford. The Hornets of Hertfordshire travel to South Wales having suffered 3 defeats in a row and having not tasted victory since a 2-0 home win over Birmingham City, with that being only their 2nd win of the season, their only other victory having come on the opening day of the season in a 4-0 thrashing of QPR. Indeed, they even suffered the humiliation of a cup exit at the hands of Stevenage following a penalty shoot-out, oh how misleading must that opening day stroll in the park be feeling for their fans? It was a summer of upheaval for Watford, with striker João Pedro taking the step to the Premier League with Brighton and Hove Albion, while winger Ismaïla Sarr moved to French side Marseille while centre-back Christian Kabasele signed for Udinese. Having lost a number of key players, the club recruited six new signings in the off season. The most notable arrival was striker Mileta Rajovic, who joined from Swedish side Kalmar FF, for whom he netted seven goals in 20 league appearances. Championship experience has also been added with the signings of winger Tom Ince, son of bitter and twisted Paul, evergreen midfielder Jake Livermore and left-back Jamal Lewis, while the Hornets also signed former Bluebird Rhys Healey from Toulouse for whom he's netted 40 goals in 77 appearances. In a move that seems very un-Watford like, head coach Valerian Ismael has recently signed a contract extension at the club despite their struggles. For a club that have seen 21 managerial changes at Vicarage Road (including caretaker spells) since the Pozzo family took over in 2012 this really does seem to be completely at odds, but their managerial travails can be no concern of ours as we have troubles of our own heading into this fixture. our recent record against the Hornets (especially at home) is pretty woeful with no home victory since 2012 and having suffered a dreadful 1-5 hammering in the Premier League in 2019. Last time out saw the Bluebirds triumph 3-1 at Vicarage Road with goals from Kion Etete, Cedric Kipre and Sory Kaba in a game that helped move us towards safety, however, earlier last season we saw our visitors run out 2-1 winners at the CCS, despite the Bluebirds taking the lead through Kipre, so we'll be keen to avoid a similar sting in the tail this weekend. Bulut's Bulletin The aforementioned troubles for our beloved Bluebirds comes in the shape of our patched up and injury ravaged squad. The Bluebirds gaffer has confirmed that Rambo is likely to be out for at least 8-10 weeks, a huge loss for club and country. Joining him on the long term injury list is Callum O'Dowda who will be missing for a further 10-12 weeks having had surgery on his tendon injury. Yakou Meite is also still suffering the ill effects of his hamstring issues and will be out for a month together with Kion Etete with a similar prognosis. With the squad starting to look a bit thin, better news comes in the shape of Jamilu Collins, who should be fit for this one having been rested in mid-week plus Josh Bowler is also now back in full training, however it remains to be seen if he is fit enough for this weekend. My guess is he will likely be on the bench with Ollie Tanner retaining his place in the side. Having suffered a reverse for the 1st time in 5 games in mid-week it will be interesting to see if Erol goes for a more attacking approach against an out of form and potentially confidence lacking Watford side by selecting a more attack minded "10" in the shape of either Colwill or Robinson or whether he will persevere with the dependable but less dynamic Wintle in that role. With Mano Siopis also looking a little shaky in his last 2 matches, maybe it's time to shuffle the pack a little? Only time will tell. What Are The Odds On That? With VT off for a week's break to his caravan in Porthcawl (it's rumoured he's after some tips on setting his odds in future from someone down that way), it's been left to Erol to decide how fancied we are, and it's fair to say he likes our chances in this one, despite our set-back on Tuesday night. Well I Never Did you know that Watford Colosseum is well-known for its acoustic qualities and has been regarded as one of the best in Europe. It has also been used to record the soundtracks of The Lord of the Rings, The Sound of Music and Star Wars! Just hope we get the sound of silence from their fans this weekend. In the video for Elton John’s Step into Christmas, he holds up his Watford AFC supporter’s club membership card. I'm assuming that he got it from a Christmas Cracker - they usually have some form of novelty or joke in them after all! The road from Bushey Heath to Stanmore was a notorious haunt of highwaymen in the 1860s. Now they leave the daylight robbery to greedy Premier League clubs instead! Sharing The Love Bit of an eclectic bunch this week. A potential contract rebel from the 50's (even then players could get uppity!!), a winger/midfielder who surely would have gone on to star much for the club had it not been for financial issues and our top scorer in our first promotion season to the Premier League. David (Dai) Ward Ward began his career at his hometown side Barry Town and his eight goals in five appearances during the 1951–52 Southern and Welsh League seasons led a number of teams to take an interest in him. He eventually signed for Bristol Rovers but it was a number of years before he managed to hold down a regular place in the side due to the presence of one of the club's all-time greats in Geoff Bradford. Eventually handed a chance in the side he responded by scoring nine times in his first eight games. His most prolific season for the club was in 1958–59 when he finished the season with 27 goals in 38 matches. That form resulted in him earning his first cap for Wales in a 2–2 draw with England on 26 November 1958 in the 1959 British Home Championship. Ward's spell at the club turned sour when he fell out with manager Bert Tann and began a bitter battle to leave the club, even at one time threatening to quit football entirely unless he was allowed to leave. He left the club in February 1961 to return to his home country to sign for Cardiff City. In his first full season at the club he finished as the top scorer with 17 goals and was handed his second Wales cap in a 1–1 draw with England on 14 October 1961. However his efforts could not stop the club being relegated from Division One and the following season he fell out of favour and was allowed to join Watford, where he spent one year before finishing his professional career at Brentford. Dai went on to play for Worcester City, Bath City, Cambridge United and Cambridge City. He also was assistant manager at Histon in 1983 where his son, also a David, was a member of the squad. Neal Ardley Having come through the ranks at Wimbledon and broken into the first team, Neal Ardley caught the attention of Watford, who signed the winger in 2002. Ardley’s time with the Hornets included two impressive cup runs, reaching the FA Cup semi-final in 2003, as well as the League Cup semi-final in 2005. Going on to make over 100 league appearances for the Club, Ardley joined the Bluebirds in March 2005. He spent one season in the Welsh capital, finding the net against Leicester City away in April 2005 (a goal that went some way to helping the Bluebirds ease away from the drop zone that season). Having retired from playing in 2007, Ardley was named manager of the Bluebirds’ Academy, spending five years in the role, with the likes of Joe Ralls breaking into the City First Team. Ardley is currently the manager of National League outfit York City, having left Solihull Moors in June. Heidar Helguson On 2 August 2012, Heiðar signed for Cardiff City on a one-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for Cardiff in a pre-season friendly against Bournemouth and his second came from the spot against Northampton Town in the League Cup on 14 August. He scored his first league goal in a Cardiff shirt in the Severnside derby on 25 August in a 4–2 loss. He then went on to score a brace against Ipswich Town, which kept Cardiff top of the table. He collected further goals for City at both Nottingham Forest and Charlton Athletic and at home against Hull City, helping the Bluebirds secure promotion to the Premier League and finishing the season as the club’s top scorer. Despite this Helguson left the club when his contract expired at the end of that season. In May 2015 he signed with Skautafélag Reykjavíkur. He appeared in two games for SR, netting one goal. Jobi McAnuff Born in Edmonton, London, McAnuff made his professional debut in the 2001–02 season with First Division side Wimbledon. In the January 2004 transfer window, with Wimbledon in administration, West Ham manager Alan Pardew signed McAnuff for West Ham United joining fellow former Wimbledon players, Nigel Reo-Coker, and Adam Nowland. He played only 14 games for the club, scoring 1 goal against Crewe. To generate funds for future transfers Pardew was forced to sell McAnuff and on 12 August 2004 he joined Cardiff City for a fee of £250,000 and was a virtual ever-present in his first year at the club. He made his debut against Ipswich Town, scoring his first goal against his former side West Ham United during a 4–1 win. He played 48 games and scored 3 goals, picking up several player of the month awards. With Cardiff in financial difficulty, McAnuff left the club at the end of the 2004–05 season to join Crystal Palace for a fee of around £600,000. McAnuff later moved to Watford in June 2007 in a deal worth an initial £1.75 million. He is now a regular pundit on Championship matches. So, can the Bluebirds bounce back in style and swat aside the Hornets? Will we swarm over our opponents from the off and avoid any sting at the rear?? Or will we have to be patient and maybe Nikita t the death??? All I know is we're still standing and I'm hoping the Bluebirds don't go breaking my heart again with another defeat, but no other recent City manager can hold a candle to our current gaffer so I'm sure the CCS will be rocking come 5pm on Saturday!!! C'mon the City.... Bloooooobirds!!!
Ng at LB again this afternoon. Panzo on the bench. Thought he might have got a start today. Mind you our defeat at Boro has been put into perspective after what they did ro Sunderland today. C'mon City. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
That was abysmal. I don’t think City had an effort on goal in the second half bar a 50 yard effort from McGuiness. Ugbo was pitifully woeful- Glen has to give him nil points. He can’t control the ball, is so slow and no goal threat. The midfield of Ralls Wintle & Siopsis plainly doesn’t work. Colwill must be wondering if he’ll ever get a start. What was the point of bringing Bowler on if nobody passes to him? The January window can’t come quick enough.
Injuries are taking their toll. Its a squad game. If we finish around 16th that will be a big achievement from where we were. Expectations should be kept in check. We had a squad who but for a points deduction would have been in L1. An embargo so we cant buy players or pay loan fees. Somehow we are 8th. Survival this season is a success. Something like 16th would be huge success.
Erol not inspiring me with his persistent selection anomalies. What served us well during our 4 game winning streak seems to have been abandoned. Need to play with an out and out 10. Colwill or Robinson.
It was a hard watch today. First 20 we looked like ourselves (ie, the new look, more dynamic Bluebirds) but after that it became a real slog. For me, the only players to come out with any real credit were McGuinness, Goutas and Siopis. Ugbo was on a hiding to nothing with a lack of service but his efforts without the ball were dreadful... absolutely no intensity in his closing down. Ng was sadly off the boil again. Tanner looked knackered from about 30 minutes onwards. Grant was hit and miss. Some good work out in but really wasteful at times. Wintle and Ralls just couldn't stamp any authority on the game. Collins was ok but seemed on a different wavelength at times. Alnwick cost us with his blunder but also rescued us a few times after some woeful backpasses and kamikaze play in/around the box. Bowler looked tidy enough when he came on. I thought he should have replaced Tanner at HT to be honest. Robbo didn't get up to much when he came on either. Personally I didn't think it was right kind of game to bring Colwill into as they were bullying us all over the pitch and he's not strong enough to stand up to that kind of thing yet A point is actually a decent return from that showing. Thank goodness Bulut has a couple of weeks to get them back into some kind of shape but we really need some bodies back.
All good points guys. The only one I would comment on is that Colwill isn't strong enough yet. Sorry Brizzle. Colwill is 21. He's at least 6ft 2ins tall and has bulked up in the last year. That being the case when will he be considered strong enough? Its about time the cotton wool was removed and with Rambo out give him a run of games at no. 10 to see if he can hack it. He will have to move around the park more quickly and accept some defensive duties. However if Bulut doesn't think he's up to it then look at another plan which doesn't involve him. It's no use benching him and not using him or even giving him 10 minute end of game cameo roles. Let him start a few games and see if he is the talent we thought we had 2 or 3 years ago.
