New Year. New Manager. New Players?
I usually try to keep club politics out of this blog, but in view of recent events there is no way I could ignore what has been happening at the Cardiff City Stadium. Following a woeful performance on Boxing Day against Southampton, manager Malky Mackay was relieved of his duties. By the 2nd of January, the club had announced that his successor would be former Manchester United player Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who most recently has been manager of Molde in the Norwegian League.
Malky Mackay was clearly a popular manager, following his 2 years of building a new team which delivered top flight football to Cardiff for the first time in 51 years. However, there were some unhappy comments from the more moderate areas of the fanbase, about his negative tactics and also the quality of some of his signings. Also, of course, there was a great deal of press speculation considering his relationship with owner Vincent Tan, resulting in the now famous e-mail which is alleged to have said “resign or be sacked” to Malky. There was obviously a major breakdown in the relationship between these 2, and the press jumped on the story very quickly and made it very big news.
There have been all sorts of allegations and speculations (Is that a word?) going around about what actually happened. My own opinion, for what its worth, is that Vincent Tan is not as much of a villain in this episode as the press make out, and Malky Mackay is not as much of a saint as the press and certain die hard fans would like to believe.
No matter what, it is now time for the fans to get behind the new manager. We have been in quite an unusual position compared to most teams in that we have only had 2 managers in the last 8 and a half years, with 2 and a half years of Malky Mackay following 6 years of Dave Jones. The majority of football clubs have had more than 2 managers in that space of time (some of them many more!). Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to have really hit the ground running, as he was in place as manager less than a week after the departure of Mackay. In addition to that, he already has his backroom staff installed at the training ground and at the time of composing this blog is in the process of signing 2 new Norwegian players for the club - Magnus Wolff Eikrem and Mats Moller Daehli. Ole has worked and developed these players over the last couple of years whilst with his previous club Molde and with the Manchester United reserves. He certainly hasn’t wasted any time, so lets hope these guys are up to Premier League standard with such an important game coming up against West Ham United on Saturday.
Mats Moller Daehli and new Cardiff City Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in their previous days at Molde.
Magnus Wolf Eikrem - Solskjaer’s first signing from Norway, via Heerenveen in Holland.
ON THE FIELD
There have been 5 fixtures since my last blog post, 4 Premier League matches and one FA Cup tie :-
LIVERPOOL 3 CARDIFF 1
CARDIFF 0 SOUTHAMPTON 3
CARDIFF 2 SUNDERLAND 2
ARSENAL 2 CARDIFF 0
NEWCASTLE 1 CARDIFF 2 (FA Cup)
LIVERPOOL 3 CARDIFF 1
At half time in this game, I feared the worst. We were 3-0 down to a top form Liverpool side with 2 goals and an assist from the outstanding Luis Suarez, probably the best player in world football at the moment. I was really worried that we would go on to lose by a huge score, not so much because the team was playing badly, but just that Liverpool were so much better! However, the team seemed to pick things up in the second half, and actually pinched a goal as well. There was no disgrace in this defeat, although it showed the vast gulf in class within the Premier League, never mind outside it.
Bluebirds captain Steve Caulker tries to keep Luis Suarez under control.
CARDIFF 0 SOUTHAMPTON 3
For the second match running, we were 3-0 down at half time. However, although Southampton are a good team, they are no Liverpool, and this has to go down as one of the worst displays seen at the Cardiff City stadium since it opened. Maybe this was the game where the off-field activities at the club finally got through to the players. It was a woeful performance, and turned out to be the last game in charge for Malky Mackay.
Jay Rodriguez (out of picture) scores Southampton’s second goal (pic by Jon Candy)
CARDIFF 2 SUNDERLAND 2
Assistant manager Dave Kerslake was temporarily in charge for this game following the departure Of Malky Mackay. The team seemed more relaxed and played well, particularly compared to the dreadful display 2 days previously. An early Jordan Mutch goal settled any early nerves, and when Frazier Campbell added a second midway through the second half it looked like we could be heading for all 3 points. However, 2 goals in the last 8 minutes, including a deflected effort more than 5 minutes into added time, meant that we had to settle for a point against the team favourites still for relegation.
Goalmouth action against Sunderland (pic by Jon Candy)
ARSENAL 2 CARDIFF 0
By the time that this New Years Day fixture came around, Arsenal were now top of the league. New manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer watched on from the stands before officially taking over. He saw the team put up a strong rearguard performance, but unfortunately resistance was finally broken in the 88th minute when Niklas Bendtner finally broke through for Arsenal. To be fair, this was no more than they deserved, but the team showed some admirable spirit in front of their new manager.
Kim Byo-Kyung tangles with Theo Walcott at the Emirates Stadium.
NEWCASTLE 1 CARDIFF 2
And so to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game in charge. The FA Cup has become less intense in recent years because of the amount of money now at stake in the Premier League. however, Ole put out a fairly strong team with only a couple of regular players given the chance to recover from one or two knocks over the Christmas period. A first start was also given to Danish striker Andreas Cornelious, who has been having injury problems since we signed him in the summer.
Newcastle also had a slightly weakened team, but also had a number of top class players such as Hatem Ben Arfa in the side. When Newcastle took the lead after 60 minutes it looked as if the game was up, but a fantastic 25 yard strike from Craig Noone less than a minute after coming on as substitute and a late Frazier Campbell goal following poor marking at a corner allowed the Bluebirds to gain their first win in Newcastle in more than 50 years.
The league is clearly more important than the FA Cup, but whilst Ole is getting a look at his players, the 4th round match at Bolton will give him a further chance to look at what he has got.
BOTTOM OF THE TABLE “6 POINTER”.
The next game to come up will be at home next Saturday to West Ham United, another team fighting to avoid relegation. Let’s hope we can be ruthless here, unlike the Sunderland game.
West Ham have been on a dreadful run, and I suspect a defeat on Saturday could put their manager Sam Allardyce’s job in danger. They have a number of injuries and suspensions, as well as the distraction of a League Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester City this week. West Ham put out a definitely weakened team at Nottingham Forest in the FA cup and got beaten 5-0. apart from on one occasion, they seem to have beaten us regularly in recent years. now is the time to end that run.
Thank you Malky for what you did for the club. now its Ole’s turn!
Fraizer Campbell and Aron Gunnarsson celebrate the only goal of the game against Bolton.
Mark Hudson and goalkeeper David Marshall fail to stop Robin van Persie opening the score at Old Trafford.
