Written Off

[Oldsparkey]

Looking around the Prem boards, it seems we're viewed as already relegated by practically every club poster who ventures an opinion.

It appears we're not going to make it and the more established clubs like Stoke, West Brom and Swansea etc will pull clear. Norwich seem to be the only other "established" club in the frame along with us and Fulham, mainly due to their last 4 stellar fixtures. For some reason (the Pulis factor?), Palace seems to be ignored and they'll not figure in the scrap - that could be a tad optomistic. If Hull get beat by Man City tomorrow, they could well be back in it.

Don't want to go down to sliderule mathematics to determine when something becomes definite, but to write Cardiff off at this stage maybe a bit previous.

I don't think many of us are realisticlly expecting to increase our 25 points by more than a point, if at any at all, over the next two games, but the other club's fixtures could shake up the table over the same period.

There're some crucial bottom half confrontations that will shape it, starting this weekend with Swansea/West Brom and Sunderland/Palace. It's dog eat dog at the bottom over the next 8 weeks, and our 5 games starting at Brom are the points gatherers if any. Our performances in four of them - Brom, Palace, Stoke and Sunderland - will either put us safe or down.

Finishing with Newcastle away followed by Chelsea at home for the finale is not the time to need the points. Can we still do it?

 

[Jay-Rede]

Can we still do it?

Of course we can

We're Cardiff City.. We never do things the easy way

With the "easier" games we have coming up, we should nab a few points from them..

I've noticed most teams have written us off also, but I'm not bothered, I prefer being the underdogs.. Lets prove em wrong

 

[taffthefish]

You can see their point to be fair. Under MM we were not getting the results from those around us, his defensive work with the team is laudable but we were not scoring. MM is nit a premiership manager neither is Ole and his record to date is nothing to shout about. Still it's too soon to write anyone off, I mean we haven't had our purple patch yet, have we?

 

[ninian opinion]

OS,

I sadly am resigned to watching us play Charlton, Bournemouth & Wolves etc next season so anything different would be just a bonus.

Palace & WBA to join us in the parachute club.

 

[Oldsparkey]

Nin - so Fulham will be OK?

 

[ninian opinion]

I'm not with it today old son.............of course Fulham with City & Palace.

Thanks for being so gentle on me for my lazy post

 

[SpursDisciple]

I don't think so. Fulham are running out of time, but I would say Norwich and West Brom look the poorest other teams down there. Steven Caulker to save you on the last day!

 

[SBFF]

Last season we were going to choke and get caught according to may clubs in the championship.
This season it may be an easier decision for them to make, no different from any of the pundits really who never stick their neck out too far, it looks the safe option to put us for the drop in all fairnes.
But it's far from over, providing we start scoring in the coming games, if we find our shooting boots then the others may be calling a different tune in a few fixtures time.

 

[Oldsparkey]

Nin and Disciple - Fulham, Brom and one from Norwich or Palace for me.

I've still got a sneaky feeling that Hughes might blow it at Stoke - there's still plenty of time for that.

 

[BluefromBridgend]

Spurs Disciple

It would be great for Caulker to get the winner v Chelski and keep us up.

Watched the Spurs game last night - pretty awful with only one other shot on target and Adebayor missing completely second half. Benfica could easily have got another couple. Spurs look in a very sorry state and could get caned by Arsenal on Sunday, even with all of Arsenal's injury problems.

I have to say that it looks like 80% of the £100 million received from Bale's sale has been wasted. I hope they can recoup at least 50/60% of that by selling off some of the failures with whatever they get to be spent more wisely. Other than hoofing the ball up to Adebayor or giving it to Eriksen I couldn't see what their game plan was. Lennon only got 2 effective runs all night.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Spurs hater, far from it as I have watched and supported Spurs for longer than Cardiff, my home club.

All things considered I am having a pi$$ poor season and not enjoying my football at present.

 

[SpursDisciple]

Spurs Disciple

It would be great for Caulker to get the winner v Chelski and keep us up.

Watched the Spurs game last night - pretty awful with only one other shot on target and Adebayor missing completely second half. Benfica could easily have got another couple. Spurs look in a very sorry state and could get caned by Arsenal on Sunday, even with all of Arsenal's injury problems.

I have to say that it looks like 80% of the £100 million received from Bale's sale has been wasted. I hope they can recoup at least 50/60% of that by selling off some of the failures with whatever they get to be spent more wisely. Other than hoofing the ball up to Adebayor or giving it to Eriksen I couldn't see what their game plan was. Lennon only got 2 effective runs all night.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Spurs hater, far from it as I have watched and supported Spurs for longer than Cardiff, my home club.

All things considered I am having a pi$$ poor season and not enjoying my football at present.

I hear you brother! The only hope I hold is that many of them will be better in their second season. On paper Lamela and Soldado looked top quality and Soldado looks good on the ball. Now if he can pop it into the net now and again we'd have a player.

A lot of us are still smarting over letting Caulker go. We have 4 centre halves and one of them has been injured since January and the other has a long term knee problem that can only get worse. And we let a top prospect go.

 

[BluefromBridgend]

True and Vertonghen is suspended for the second Benfica game. Looks like some youngster with a Serb/Croatian name will get a start with Dawson, Capoue and Chirches all injured.

Happy days.

Caulker is one of our bright sparks this season at Cardiff along with Marshall, Medel and Noone. Not a very long list I'm afraid although our young left back Declan John is very promising.

 

[Oldsparkey]

Disciple - I think your use of the word "prospect" regarding Caulker is spot on, and consequently therein lies the reason for him coming to us and you letting him go.

Spurs preferred to go for instant success rather than a prospect, and believed buying it in was the answer. Caulker didn't want to wait - Cardiff came along with the reported £8M dosh, Levey said yes and the rest is history.

Still can't understand you letting him go when you were suffering with potential long term CB injury problems, but there you go.

Looking at your scoring record though, and apart from the Chelsea, Man City and Liverpool drubbings (sorry about that ) it looks as though your "zero" goal difference has as much to do with the other end of the pitch, not just your defence.

 

[swans-cartoonhead]

Still think you guys will be OK; loads of 6 pointers in the run in involving clubs in the relegation mix. IMO Fulham are already gone, and Norwich have a nightmare last four games. Think the teams in the relegation spots will change on an almost weekly basis from now until the end of the season. Its is that tight and should be an exciting end to the season, unfortunately for the wrong reasons!

If we lose tomorrow at the Liberty we will be right in the middle of it and can't see us picking up much from the following two games. But both Swansea and Cardiff have their future in their own hands, put a little run together and it's so close that we can both start climbing out of trouble - the reverse side of that coin is that any slip ups will be very costly. Will be rooting for you as well as us; let's hope we have another couple of Prem derbies to look forward to next season!!!

 

[Hilts24]

We are going down. Just not good enough.

An experienced manager would probably have got us organised and seen us safe.

Dont think Ole can do it.

However long term he could be the right appointment.

 

[mustyfrog]

far to early to say that Hilts

 

[Oldsparkey]

We are going down. Just not good enough.

An experienced manager would probably have got us organised and seen us safe.

Dont think Ole can do it.

However long term he could be the right appointment.

Being "not good enough" is relative - not good enough compared to what?

Agreed we're way below the standard we need to be to compete effectively in this division, but there are half a dozen teams that are no better. We just need to do better than 3 of them.

Going down may well be our fate, and Ole's sometimes bizarre looking starting lineups don't seem to have helped but they have the air of someone trying to do something about it rather than sitting on his hands and just waiting for the Championship fixture list to be published.

You can't have it all ways and maybe Ole is inexperienced, but Poyet is in much the same category at this level, and he's had a bit more time up than Ole down here. Magath for all his "never been relegated" credentials isn't exactly setting the world alight at Fulham.

A few clubs will undoubtedly pull clear of the battle this next few weeks, but I can see this going down to the wire between half a dozen. Yes, we're well and truly in that half dozen, but it's still all to play for.

 

[taffthefish]

As far as I can see Ole has nothing to lose. He's on a rolling contract and VT is his boss. He can play the tinkerman to his hearts content because he will have come here and tried. He will receive accolades irrespective of our status come the end of the season because VT is the pantomine with for the press.
Tinker as much as you like Ole, it may confuse opposing manager just enough to keep us up!

 

[clingo]

I've been trying to remember a time when I agreed with Hilts, and yet here I am after a long break, to find myself in agreement.

Sparkey makes valid points, but as I see it, when your goalie is one of your best players but you are still conceding at a horrendous rate, coupled with the fact that we can't seem to find the net consistently at the other end, we have a problem that runs considerably deeper than 18 of the other 19 clubs.

That said, it's good to see Ole mixing it up and not throwing in the towel. Let's hope for a bit of good fortune.

 

[Oldsparkey]

Hi Clingo - all about opinions pal - great to see you posting again.

I can guarantee if that 93rd minute diabolical "shanker" from Coleman hadn't happened and we'd come away from Goodison with the point we deserved, there's be a different atmosphere on this board.

I'm not making light of our defensive frailities through the season, but the disastrous Hull game apart, I just don't see we are leaking goals lately to the extent that it's our problem. It's the other end of the pitch that'll be our nemesis, and our inability to finish the limited chances that have fallen our way has done us good and proper.

The last three games have shown a different character in the squad - Cala's presence seems to have brought a far more positive attitude and it's showing. At Spurs our defensive game was worth a point, against Fulham we got what we deserved in all three, and at Everton we were desperately unlucky not to come back with at least one.

Not sugar-coating our plight, and I did say in the OP that I doubted we'd move off 25 points until after these two scouse games, but I do see some positives this past 3 weeks - the problem is turning these positives into tangible points.

The five games starting with Brom are the time to get them, and they need to be 3 pointers not draws. To do that, we need goals, and that's where the real problem lies. Given we're behind in the table playing catch up, 0-0 and 1-1 draws will be no good, and our poor goal difference (as much to do with not scoring as letting them in) will do us no favours in a tight finish.

This last 8 games will be all about which sides will improve during them as opposed to those that will slip up on bad runs. I still see half a dozen clubs playing no better than us.