Some positives at home and some negatives away during the last month. At the time of composing this post, we find ourselves out of the bottom 3 in the table.
However, the table is beginning to split into 3 distinct 'mini-leagues':-
However, the table is beginning to split into 3 distinct 'mini-leagues':-
- A top 5 of Man City, Liverpool , Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea (with a "sub group" of Man City and Liverpool at the top).
- A middle 8, of Bournemouth, Everton, ManUtd, Leicester, Brighton, Watford , West Ham and Wolves
- A bottom 7 of Fulham, Huddersfield, Burnley, Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Southampton and of course Cardiff.
I can't see these 3 'mini' leagues changing much before the end of the season. It is possible that Wolves may end up down in the bottom group, and that maybe Newcastle will make it into the middle group, particularly as there is the possibility of a new owner soon who may have the resources to move them up the table. But apart from that, I think the tables have been set.
This makes our results against the other teams in our mini league particularly important, continuing this weekend with a vital home game against Southampton. Including this Saturday, we only have 2 more home games against our rivals in the bottom 7, so a win is essential. So far we have taken 5 points off our closest rivals so an improvement is needed. On our last trip to the Premier League we finished bottom and were relegated with 30 points. With the current form being shown by the teams at the bottom, it is quite possible that a team could stay up with 30 points this year! One of the main reasons behind this is the dominance of Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the table - if their current form continues they are both on course to achieve over 100 points this season, thus reducing the number of points available for everyone else!
This makes our results against the other teams in our mini league particularly important, continuing this weekend with a vital home game against Southampton. Including this Saturday, we only have 2 more home games against our rivals in the bottom 7, so a win is essential. So far we have taken 5 points off our closest rivals so an improvement is needed. On our last trip to the Premier League we finished bottom and were relegated with 30 points. With the current form being shown by the teams at the bottom, it is quite possible that a team could stay up with 30 points this year! One of the main reasons behind this is the dominance of Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the table - if their current form continues they are both on course to achieve over 100 points this season, thus reducing the number of points available for everyone else!
RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST:
CARDIFF 0 LEICESTER 1
CARDIFF 2 BRIGHTON 1
EVERTON 1 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 2 WOLVES 1
WEST HAM 3 CARDIFF 1
This run of matches began with a home game against Leicester City. The occasion was made extra emotional as it was Leicester's first game following the sudden death of their owner in a helicopter crash near the Kingpower Stadium a week previously.
This run of matches began with a home game against Leicester City. The occasion was made extra emotional as it was Leicester's first game following the sudden death of their owner in a helicopter crash near the Kingpower Stadium a week previously.
The teams pay their respects before the game.
Cardiff gave a good account of themselves during this game, but continued to lack the creativity to put the Leicester defence under any sustained pressure. A second half Demarai Gray goal decided the game.
A week later it was a Saturday lunchtime kick off against mid table Brighton. As usual, we gave away the first goal after only 8 minutes. But perhaps the main turning point in the game came after 37 minutes when Dale Stephens got sent off for a reckless challenge. Cardiff had already equalised Lewis Dunk's early goal when Calum Paterson finished off an excellent Cardiff move. In the second half, Brighton made the mistake of trying to defend deeply, and their luck finally ran out in the 90th minute when Sol Bamba crashed the ball into the roof of the net for a late winner. He even managed to avoid a yellow card for excessive celebration as the referee didn't notice him taking his shirt off!
Sol Bamba celebrates the late winner against Brighton - he doesn't take his shirt off!
A week later came the trip to Goodison Park to play Everton. Cardiff haven't beaten Everton for more than 60 years - and the run continues. A second half Gylfi Siggurdsonn goal ensured that another creditable performance went unrewarded.
Former Swansea hero Gylfi Siggurdssonn scores the Everton winner.
Once again our game was chosen by SKY TV for coverage, and so the game against Wolves was moved to a Friday evening. This brought back some nightmares, following 2 missed stoppage time penalties against our promotion rivals last April! But this time the game went our way! Once again, we gave away the first goal following some poor marking at a corner (we have only scored first in 1 of our 14 games!). But the endeavour shown by the players brought rewards in the second half, where persistent Cardiff pressure and a determination to win the 'second ball' finally paid off with an equaliser from Aron Gunnarsson !
Aron Gunnarsson gets the equaliser !
Continued Cardiff pressure brought an extravagant and instinctive shot from Junior Hoillet - his first goal of the season (subsequently awarded the "Goal of the Month" title on BBC Match of the Day). A very encouraging performance against a team thought to be 'better' than us - a victory for endeavour over skill!
I had to put this picture in - Calum Paterson celebrates Junior Hoillet's goblin his own way!!!
Then came a rather unusual thing for the Premier League - a midweek game! This was away at the London Stadium to West Ham. This match turned after a missed penalty by Joe Ralls after 35 minutes when the scores were still level at 0-0. Cardiff started poorly in the second half and gave away 3 goals in the first 15 minutes, therefore ending the game as a contest. It wasn't one of our better games and probably best forgotten with the vital game against Southampton coming up this Saturday.
As we enter December, with 5 games to come (3 away), lets hope we can do better than last season when we had our worst run of the season losing 4 consecutive games! Then the January transfer window opens! Lets hope we can get ourselves into a fairly strong position before that happens!
12 noon. 6th December 2018.
