Tactical analysis: Will Cardiff City play the Chelsea way to combat Swansea City passing game? 6 Feb 2014 18:11 As derby day edges closer, we have sought the view of a Uefa Pro Licence coach, who has a foot in either camp, for a tactical lowdown of Saturday's Liberty Stadium clash Swansea City v Cardiff City, 5.30pm Saturday How will Saturday's South Wales derby play out? With new faces in charge at Swansea City and Cardiff City, it seems likely that this match will be unlike any derby-day we've seen before. We have asked one of Wales' highest qualified coaches how he sees the game playing out. *Take our South Wales derby quiz TRADING PLACES: Itâs ironic that in a derby of such hostility, the two likely starting XIs are so similar in their match-ups. Swansea could be Cardiff and Cardiff could be Swansea. With Michel Vorm missing, and Gerard Tremmel filling in, the Bluebirds clearly have the better goalkeeper in David Marshall. The right backs, Rangel and Fabio, are each better going forward than defending. The left backs, Ben Davies and Declan John, are accomplished players in offence and defence. Steven Caulker is similar to Ashley Williams, Ben Turner a bigger, albeit more cumbersome than Chico Flores. There should be three in either midfield, Leon Britton, Jon de Guzman and Jonjo Shelvey, if fit, matching up against Gary Medel, Jordon Mutch and Craig Bellamy. Even the wide players are strikingly similar. Wayne Routledge and Wilfried Zaha offer the extra flair, Nathan Dyer and Craig Noone are whippets on the other flank. Wilfried Bony and Kenwyne Jones will be the lone strikers, tasked with holding up the ball, linking play and scoring what would be a priceless derby winner which would put either man into folklore. In general terms, Cardiff have more stardust, the Swans will be more of a team because of the Garry Monk effect. The one individual match-up where there is a significant difference in style is the holding midfield battle between Britton and Medel. Britton is more of a passer whose responsibility it is to get the Swans ticking, Medel more of a tackler and old-fashioned destroyer. Britton, if given licence, could be more influential on the ball. COPYING JOSE: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has earned plaudits across the world for his tactical masterplan which snuffed out free-scoring Manchester City. Does Ole Gunnar Solskjaer mirror Mourinho and go for it at the Liberty, or does he adopt a more cautious Malky Mackay-type approach with 10-men behind the ball and hope to grab a winner from a set piece? In a way, itâs daft to compare Cardiffâs players to Chelseaâs, but nonetheless an analogy can be made from events at the Etihad on Monday night. When Chelsea had the ball, Mourinho gave a licence to his more offensive players to rampage forward and go where they wanted in Manchester Cityâs half of the field. Cardiff have the type of players to perform similar functions in this derby. Noone can be Ramires for 90 minutes, Bellamy can be Willian, Zaha their version of Hazard, Mutch like Matic and Jones tasked with linking it together like Etoâo up top. They can use their pace and movement to drag Swanseaâs midfield and back four out of position and create scoring opportunities from open play... secure in the knowledge Medel and the back four will rarely venture beyond halfway away from home. Everyone expected Mourinho to be defensive. He wasnât. Solskjaer can follow that lead at the Liberty. THE MONK EFFECT: Swansea have gone back to basics with the appointment of Garry Monk, someone brought up on the Swans way of doing things. He was, of course, skipper under Roberto Martinez and Brendan Rodgers. The decision to get rid of Michael Laudrup was a seismic one, particularly just days before a clash with arch-rivals Cardiff. Whether Monk is the right man to replace him is clearly open to question. A WalesOnline poll amongst Swans fans asking if they wanted Monk as new manager showed more than 70 per cent were against. But under him the one guarantee we will have is that Swansea will go back to keep ball, possession being nine-tenths of the Liberty law. They will believe out-passing Cardiff is the way to outfox them and win the game,. If Zaha and Noone line up on the Cardiff flanks, as expected, will Monk be bold enough to tell his full-backs Rangel and Davies to bomb on and support Dyer and Routledge and leave space which could be exploited? It will be real cat and mouse. Routledge and Davies could really expose Fabio and Noone down Cardiffâs right, but equally Fabio and Noone could expose Routledge and Davies. BRITTON v BELLAMY: Britton never stands out as a high-profile Swan in the manner of Michu, Bony, Shelvey, Dyer or even Chico. But astute observers of the game argue that when he is on top of his game, so are Swansea. He is the glue holding together the rest of the team and, given the way Cardiff set up, will find himself on the ball a lot and able to probe on Saturday. Bellamy was handed a new role by Solskjaer against Norwich, playing as the most advanced central midfielder. His days of flying down the flank or performing as an out and out striker are clearly over and if he is picked in midfield again, he will come directly into conflict with Britton. Bellamy had mixed success in his new role against the Canaries, anonymous for much of the first-half but scoring the goal which dragged Cardiff back into the game after the interval. He will be the most high-profile player on the Liberty pitch, but may have to forgo his natural offensive instincts to do a job on playmaker Britton by denying him space. Bellamyâs too big for that, you might think, but heâs never been averse to getting his hands dirty with hard work. Whether Britton can handle Bellamyâs offensive threat, however, is another matter. He has never been a tackler and the outcome of this duel could decide the result. Bellamy is a big game player and hit the winning goal last time these teams met at the Liberty three years ago This one is even bigger. THE MANAGERS: This is Monkâs first game in charge... what an introduction to management! Solskjaer, right, is also still learning the job in the Premier League, so we have two rookie bosses here who could hold sway on which team emerged triumphant from such a high-profile match. With Michu and Vorm missing from the Swansea line-up, Cardiff seem to possess the extra quality. But Swansea have a traditional style of football and thus will find the team ethic easier. Solskjaer won last Saturdayâs game against Norwich from the bench, with his bold early introduction of Wilfried Zaha as substitute for Peter Whittingham. Zaha will surely start this time. But whichever X1 Solskjaer picks, he will probably have the stronger bench this time out, Fraizer Campbell, Kim Bo-Kyung and Whittingham being three of his options. His use of substitutions could be key again.
Do you think this is a fair analysis or utter crap??!!! a few statements made me laugh: "Cardiff seem to possess the extra quality" "Mourinho gave a licence to his more offensive players to rampage forward and go where they wanted in Manchester City’s half of the field. Cardiff have the type of players to perform similar functions in this derby. Noone can be Ramires for 90 minutes, Bellamy can be Willian, Zaha their version of Hazard, Mutch like Matic and Jones tasked with linking it together like Eto’o up top.They can use their pace and movement to drag Swansea’s midfield and back four out of position and create scoring opportunities from open play... secure in the knowledge Medel and the back four will rarely venture beyond halfway away from home. Everyone expected Mourinho to be defensive. He wasn’t. Solskjaer can follow that lead at the Liberty." "Cardiff have more stardust, the Swans will be more of a team because of the Garry Monk effect."
Who wrote that ****e ,it's too funny for words cardiff have stardust , zaha a championship player who got lucky , medal who has the turning circle of the titanic ,lets see Canas wind that chimp up and see him perform ,Chaukler was Ash's apprentice and hasn't exactly set the league alight this season . Cardiff have the type of players to perform similar functions in this derby. Noone can be Ramires for 90 minutes, Bellamy can be Willian, Zaha their version of Hazard, Mutch like Matic and Jones tasked with linking it together like Eto’o up top. the only comparison to Chelsea is that they play in blue , oh I forgot
Im trying to figure out if its a joke or serious?! the worst thing Cardiff could do is come at us because we exploit any team that are open! the best way for Cardiff to play us would be to sit back create a 10 man defence, let us think that we're comfortable in possession wait for a defender or CDM to commit forward without cover, wait for the right opportunity then, hoof a ball to a pacey winger (Noone, Zaha) or to Jones to hold the ball until reinforcements arrive and hit us. or go for a set piece by drawing in fouls! they do not have the quality on the ball like swansea, they are not proven at this level at all!, they were lucky to have beaten to Norwich! Cardiff are the most overrated team this season and are going only one way BACK DOWN!
Ill tell you how its going to pan out...It will pan out like it always does with derby matches whoever the manager is and whoever the players are.....It will be a close match and it will come down to who wants it the most and will probably be a draw. If the ref is not at his best then it can spoil the game and the winners will get a dodgy decision going for them....Looking forward to the game....
