Why have a Squad?

Firstly I think it's clear to all I have been banging the Earnie drum for ages and fair play he showed the old hunger for goal we were once accustomed to,but truth be told it's one thing to play a bit part in a long lost game and another to keep it up the full 90.

Why was Earnie finally utilised with just 11 games left? Simple,Malky was feeling the pressure from the faithful. I actually felt for Miller as he left the field because he was the sacrificial lamb for failure to strengthen,for whatever reason,be it financial or the right targets being unavailable.We cannot play the way Miller likes to play without a target man taking the knocks and heading it down for him to run on to.

Last night we showed glimmers of brilliance but were outplayed by a team who were excellent on the counter.Hull should be nicknamed the Cheetahs because they tracked and run down every ball with phenominal pace.This is a club with a rock solid defensive record who,with some dodgy reffereeing decisions and a lot of luck tore a burnt out Cardiff to shreds.

Malky selected the same spine of players yet again eventhough for many key players their legs have gone,so my impression is,as the article title implies,why have a squad?

 

Agreed Isaw and ITI

Other clubs have looked at how we play and if they stifle us in midfield we have no alternative. They have also identified our weaknesses at the back, Hudson's lack of pace and Taylor's nodding off when balls go over his head - now compounded by McNaughton's loss of form and confidence.

With no pace and Rudy out we have no alternatives. We have been saying this on here for months.

If Earnie plays Sunday (he deserves his chance) there is even less point in lumping balls in the air towards him as he is absolutely ineffective in the air. I actually thought Millar was doing okay against their shorter centre back in the first half but anything positive caved in when they got their second.

Earnie did enough to be given a start Sunday but he can't play on his own in a 4 5 1 - not good at holding the ball up and playing in others so will he be started alongside Millar or Mason?

Another thought from last night. We were useless in the air in open play but a threat from set pieces. Darcy could have come on at cb, Lawrence off and Turner could have stayed up front so at least the pointless crosses we put in would then have had a good target in open play.

A bit radical maybe but if we can see it why can't Malky?

Time for Malky to earn his crust and sort this out.

I recall Watford fans saying Malky's sides faded 2nd half of the season and thought it was just sour grapes.....maybe they were right?

 

Cheers for all that info guys (and Nat ) - BfB that was as comprehensive at it gets mate.

Not very pretty reading though, and as I said, somehow glad I couldn't make it last night.

Would I be right in assuming that what seems to be the common concensus is, dare I say it, that Malky seems to have run out of ideas?

There was a time when we used to run out of players, but that can't be the case right now. This is a new twist - never thought Malky would be questioned after what he's achieved so far, but recent performances on the pitch tell a story.

Time for the big guy to step up.

 

Could have had Fergie, Capello, Wenger and Mourinho managing that last night and there'd be questions asked. No one is immune from a display like that, BUT, it's only 3pts there's another 3 to play for Sunday, lets hope MM sorts it and we get back on track.

 

Missed the game last night due to uni sports commitment but what i have seen it was pretty awful ,

You never go anyway john we all know that..

Take a step back lads/lasses, at the end of last season you lost players and a good manager, so a new manager had to be appointed and he has had to assess the situation he was handed, he would not have taken the job if he thought he could not do it but like he said at the time he needs time to do the job as it dont happen over night. cardiff are still building for the future and anyone who thinks MM is not doing a good job so far dont know anything about football. promotion or even the playoffs was not MY priority for this season anyway, His priority was to steady the club and build for the future and try to get to the premiership in a couple of seasons or so by building a squad of players who are good enough for the job and what i can see is that is exactly what he is doing, some cardiff fans are expecting to much after last season and that is not likely to happen, what you should be doing is trusting the manager while he builds a team and get behind the players whoever MM chooses to play as MM plays these players for a reason while he assesses who he wants as he builds his team for the future......

 

Did you honestly think that you would make the Circus last year........NO.....Was Brendan building Swansea for the future.....ERM....Yes. Patience is one thing, Mackay has been lucky to get most of the players he wanted, therefore it is his team, like i said earlier there seems to be the favoured 13 and the rest can swivvle on the face of it. Dont come on here giving it the big one about people not understanding football, ive been going week in week out for over 40 years, what concerns me above all is, if we start next season on the same ilk as the way we are playing now then we will be relegated and wont be able to play you lot the season after next.

 

come on we had class players already there and we only needed a couple more that is totally different to what cardiff lost, we were not to bad in our situation the nucleus of the squad was still there and we got lucky to appoint a manager who believed in the swansea way of playing. MM had a far different much harder job to do with the players he was left with and virtually had to start from scratch which imo he is doing a good job..(DJ would be better imo) but thats history now and cardiff fans should not expect miracles in is first season as he is like i said building.

 

More jacks on the Cardiff board than at the dole centre and soup kitchens .......................still obsessed with Cardiff City i see ......

 

its called deabating john, you should try it sometimes instead of the drivel you post, jeez i know more about cardiff than you do, the problem MM has is keeping some fans happy, rome was not built in a day as we found out when we were 20 minutes from going out of the league, it took time to rebuild a good squad and that is what MM is doing. it will take more than one season especially the way cardiff were ripped apart last season....give MM a chance and he will get there with some set backs on the way. we did it and so can cardiff......KTF

 

im happy in the lower divisions myself.....much more fun

 

Dai

I said something similar last week about managing expectations and Malky's 2 to 3 year project. However that does not detract from last night's abject performance and the apparent lack of action from Malky to change things (not that there was much he could change) until it was too late.

This will be a test for his management skills which, it could be argued, one way or another, have not been hugely tested until now.

Maybe we should forget about the big prize for this season and now shuffle the squad and give fringe players game time to see if they are up to it and worth keeping for next season. We have had a good run until recently and enjoyed another trip to Wembley from which we gained great credit so have some very positive things to look back on.

If his project is on line then we can expect to see up to 8 or 9 players moved out this summer and if so we need in 12 or so new guys a number of whom must be better quality than the average players in the current squad to ensure a bigger player pool to select from, overall improvement within the club and give us a much better chance next season.

It hurts to see the Swans do so well but all credit to Buck and his boys for what they have achieved. If we can't renew acquaintances next season then Malky must ensure we are better equipped to progress next year. The Malaysians have said they will back him so lets hope they are true to their word.

 

I don't think anyone is saying getting MM out or doubting what he is here to do. We've had a great season and i think if most Cardiff fans are honest none of us expected to do aswell as we have this season.

It's just disappointing when a group of players who have played so well together all season play like they did last night. It'll will be interesting to see if they can pick themselves back up and do the job on Sunday. There's still a chance we can make the playoffs but what ever happens we've had a great season and will get behind MM and the boys whatever division we are in next season. KTF

 

i understand what you are saying blue and the frustration it causes, we got hammered by norwich 4-0 earlier in the season and some of our fans were questioning rodgers ability......these results happen its part and parcel of the game and im sure both you an us will lose games in a similar fashion again at some point.....put your self in MM and Rodgers shoes when we lose games like that, they must feel worse as they are the ones who picks the team and im sure they dont pick a team to go out there and lose. if it happens every week then yes the fans have a point, but it doesn't and when you consider its his first season in charge of players he did not know and had to work quickly to bring players in then i think he has done a good job, .....its not helping blaming MM and some players as it was just one of the games that did not go to plan and was a bad day at the office so to speak......we all get them even Man utd and sir alex and we will all get them again from time to time...KTF

 

dai, you make a good argument but if you look at the recent run of form it doesnt read well...since palace we've played 9 games and got 8 points, two of those wins were against poor teams, bristol and peterborough.

miller hasnt scored in over 1000 minutes of football, and we havent really got anyone to replace him. i'm not blaming miller himself, the service given to him in recent games has been poor.

and though we lost 3-0, the performance was arguably worse than the result suggests.

however, i believe MM can get us out of this sticky patch

 

Very true Dai.

However I think Malky should have been a bit more honest in his post match interview where he blamed the officials for disallowing Turner's goal and he thought their 3rd was offside. In reality Hull had prepared well, identified our tactics and set themselves up to deal with them, as Blackpool, West Ham and Boro have done recently at CCS. They played well and we played poorly with no obvious Plan B.

I appreciate Malky will have been not in the best frame of mind straight after the game but a little more straight talking and honesty rather than excuses would have been more acceptable, perhaps with a vow to get it right going forward.

Its not the end of the world but a huge reality check. I'm sure we will get over it.

 

I am glad you think that of MM, however its the tactics that i question, how did he ever think that he could get away without having pace in the side, Hull's forwards ran rings round our defence last night, and i think this is more than a sticky patch, as for rebuilding, what does that mean ? Its a bit like Wenger rebuilding Arsenal to win the league, you could have built a Pyramid the time he has taken, so how long do you give someone to build a team, given the fact that the average time at a club for a manager is little more than a nano second. Instant success is acheivable if you have the right man in the job and the right mindset.

 

you gave liverpool a cracking game so the pace is there, its just a blip that you are going through and once that is over then who knows, OK auto is very unlikely but the playoffs are there for the taking. if you look at back over the last few seasons then cardiff nearly always have this blip at the end of the season and it ruins your season but this season it has come earlier which could be a good thing as long as you can come out of it in the next couple of games, I'm sure it will as you dont become a bad side with a few bad results. its a blip and the playoffs just like us is the best way to go up.....Ill be rooting for you with my best mate a ST holder and even though it will be tough as you do need a couple of decent players its not impossible, but whatever happens i think MM has done a good job in his first season....

 

Hull Fan in peace. Nick Barmby was looking forward to last nights game. Post match on Saturday he commented that the Cardiff pitch was good. odd thing to say from a manager.
The line up was totally new. Maclean starting up front with Koren behind him. king, Stewart, supported by Dawson and Rosinior coming down the wings as well.
Unfortunately for Cardiff everything was right for us.
Don't take it to heart, sometimes things just work on the day for one team and not the other. we had the right type of pitch and players just starting to come together.

 

Mel!
It seems we played into your hands.We pushed high up the pitch desperate to counter the own goal as quickly as possible but allowed you to use the obvious pace of your lads up front against a tired back four.The second goal within two minutes of the restart was the nail in the coffin for a tired set up.
( the body language was more than evident)

All we could do was chase the game to get back something again we were punished as our back line were slow to react to McLeans pace.It's not an excuse but our core players are burnt out due to under use of peripheral players in a small squad.

 

This I do agree with. With over thirty minutes to go, what possible reason could there be for not changing things? Did MM think everything was going swimmingly, and that our team formation was fantastic and we were just unlucky? Really? We'll never know, as all reason has been lost in blaming the officials.