At today's press conference the Gaffer confirmed that everybody is fighting fit. Reckon only two positions are in competition. At LB does he remain with young Sessegnon, who had a stormer against Leeds, or give Malone a chance against his old club? Probably the latter. And save Ryan for the League cup on Wednesday. Secondly who plays beside McDonald - the fresh faced Parker or journeyman Tunnicliffe or nippy LVC? Arguably Jozabed could be among the candidates but bringing him on in place of Ayite last Tuesday sugggests that Slavi sees him more as cover for the attacking midfielders. And that's where he'll stay for this one - on the bench. Of the others, again while focused on this game Slavi will have an eye on the 'Boro match and, going out on a bit of a wing (sic!) here, my money is on LVC. So, the starting line-up: .....................Button.................. ..Odoi.....Kalas.....Madl.....Malone... ............McDonald...LVC.. ....Cairney...Aluko...Ayite... ..............Smith....
I would keep Sessegnon in for this one, I know we can't play him I every game but with Two games in four days I fully expect Malone to play one and Sess to play one, if that is going to be the case which is likely then Sess should okay the league game as he is the better player.
I think we should play Sessegnon, because I'm coming to today's game and I'm keen to see him play for myself. I suspect that reasoning won't be high in Jokanovic's thinking though. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new-look Fulham though - my first game this season. Next week we're visiting Mrs Captain's family in Lancashire, so I'm taking the boys to the Blackburn away game as well. Bring it on!
The man in the middle today is Jeremy Simpson The good omen is that Mr Simpson has ref'd us once, last season in April, and we beat Cardiff 2-1 at the Cottage. He booked Ryan Fredericks that day. Which leads into the bad omen. Mr Simpson has ref'd two games this season and already handed out 10 yellows. Last season he took charge in 35 games and managed 115 yellows and 5 reds.
Hope Ayite isn't badly injured, from what I read its his hamstring but fingers crossed for him What an impact from the man/boy who replaced him, brilliant for Sessegnon to get a goal. Are we playing him in a more forward role? His goal today will only enhance his growing reputation but should also add a few more million onto the pricetag!
Was a real shame for Ayite and it certainly looked like a hamstring - he pulled up with nobody near him. Could be quite a few weeks out. Was surprised when the Gaffer brought on Sessegnon to replace him and even more so to then play him at wing half. Frankly it didn't work. Not that he had a bad game and all congratualtions to him getting into the record book with his goal. But we became stereotyped; instead of interchanging across the front players. For me the better substitution, and more natural one, would have been to bring on LVC to play on the right and get Cairney more central. That said, we dominated the first half; leading Cardiff in shots 6-0, dribbles 8-1, duels won 21-8, aerial duels 6-1, attacking passes 173-87 and had 67% possession. However ... there are two other telling stats; the Cardiff goalkeeper was not required to make even 1 save, and our passing accuracy was 95%. - this one illustrating how conservative we were. There was no urgency in our play and virtually no key forward passes. Cardiff must have had a rocket up them at half time whereas we had a camomile cuppa. We didn't turn up till the last 10 minutes by which time we were 2-1 down (and I honestly thought it was 3-1 from a free kick of theirs that bounced between the crossbar and Button but somehow stayed out). By this time the Boss had brought on Smith for the hapless Woodrow and LVC, making that Cairney switch. Full marks in that last ten to captain Scotty for giving his all and really driving us forward. For that alone I'm giving him MOTM. In the end we got a deserved draw and kept our unbeaten record. But there was an element of same old, same old, albeit a much improved version, about us today. And boy do we need that elusive striker - Marshall had only one save to make all game!
Seems like the last couple of games have really shown up our need for a proven striker. So much possession and chances created but we're just not converting them. I said on here a couple of weeks ago that I liked both Smith and Woodrow and that both would have a part to play but neither of them are the men to take us to where we want to be this season. Fair play to both of them though, they have chipped in with goals so far this season but we really are crying out for a classy striker to replace McCormack.
We all know what is wanted at the Cottage included the very vocal Slavi, but while we have the Svengali type Rigg at the club our progress will always be limited
Initial thoughts: - Sessegnon in front of Malone did not work, those two should not play together. Sessegnon did not play well (goal aside) until later in the match when he reverted to left back. - The team picked up when LVC came on. Why on earth did we wait so long? Anyway I maintain that we look better with Cairney in the middle (LVC seemed to go on the right and Aluko out on the left). - Cardiff manhandled Matt Smith. If Mike Dean was the ref (as for Man City-Stoke), we'd have had a boatload of penalties/free kicks. - In fact, Cardiff skated very close to the edge with some of their tackles. The referee was very lenient until even he gave up in the second half and started issuing cards. - Cauley as a lone striker is not going to get us the goals we need. - What on earth happened at halftime? We were woeful after the break, our team looked lost and backed off far too far as we watched Cardiff ping in two long range efforts. Button was not at fault for either goal. - I hope Ayite is okay. It's refreshing to have a number of players who run at defenders and make things happen (Ayite, Aluko, Odoi, LVC) - As I am sure everyone will agree - we need to sign a striker. Smith & Woodlow are good squad players, but we need more goals in this team. Ultimately we should have won that game, but after the 'effort' from 45-75 minutes we certainly can['t claim to have deserved 3 points. A draw is an okay result and we're still unbeaten.
Not the best of games, real chances were few and far between, and it was frustrating to see us not put in the effort in the second half until 10 minutes from time. Had we put Cardiff under that pressure in the first ten minutes we could have gone on to win, because they became nervous and sat back on their lead. With their height and the long throws our lack of height gave them their best opportunities. Think our midfield was lacking second half, even though the Parker McDonald partnership was good, McDonald being the DM allowing Parker to roam, but Cairney had a quiet game and you could see with the Ayite injury, bringing on Sessegnon what Jokanovic was trying to do, but he didn't gel with Malone and we were a bit disjointed down the left side, until Malone went off and Sessegnon took his place at the back. I didn't understand picking Woodrow in front of Smith with the big Cardiff center backs, Woodrow is not physical enough yet. When Smith was up front he occupied both of them and they had to foul him to control him, but the Ref kept waving away protests even when one was literally choking him. Frustrating game.
A mixed day I thought, but a lot of positives. We were by far the better team in the first half, although I don't recall a lot of stand-out goalscoring opportunities. Like everyone else I'm not sure what changed in the second half, but until they scored their goals it was like a different match. I agree that we could do with a better striker than Smith and Woodrow (both of whom definitely have a part to play, even if we sign someone else), but that lack of chances created is an issue for the players behind them. Having a better striker yesterday wouldn't necessarily have changed that. This was my first chance to see a lot of players, and by and large I liked what I saw. Odoi, Kalas and Madl all look like they're just what we've been looking for. I thought Malone looked all right, despite the less than flattering reviews he's been getting on these pages. McDonald impressed me a lot: even before his goal I thought he was a contender for Man of the Match. I liked Aluko as well (my other MOM contender). Ayite didn't grab me in the same way, although the fact that he went off injured meant that he had less time to make an impression. He certainly didn't do anything desperately wrong. Similarly, Button did all that was asked of him without doing anything dramatically impressive. I don't think we can blame him for either of the goals. Sessegnon wasn't perfect, with a couple of errors of judgement in the timing/direction of runs and the like, but I think we can excuse a 16 year old for that. I actually thought Sessegnon looked better wide in midfield than he did when he went to left back. I agree that Malone and Ayite were a better combination, but Sessegnon seemed happier on the attack than with defending. Either way, I think he's got massive potential and I'd like to see him get more gametime. Of the established players, I was disappointed with Cairney, but on the few occasions I've seen him, I've never really been impressed when he's out on the right. I think he does better in the centre, and when Christiansen moved into that position in the second half it improved the right hand side as well as the middle. What next? I'm still hoping for a new partner for McDonald who might be the last piece of the jigsaw in bringing creativity to our midfield, and the elusive star striker that we've been waiting for all summer. Plenty of good things though, as well as plenty of room for improvement.
I would say that Malone looked fine with Ayite in front of him, as I thought Sessegnon looked fine with Aluko in front of him. Neither Malone or Sessegnon are great defenders and I think having a good partnership down the left is key to making the most of both of them (caveat: Sessegnon should get better anyway, he's so young). Cairney is wasted out wide, I think we are better placed to put Aluko out there instead.
