Now the season REALLY starts!

The BIG One (and other stories).

6 games since my last blog entry, with one win, two draws and three defeats. We find ourselves in 17th place in the league, a position I would like to see us in at the end of the season. There is no disgrace in a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea, the 0-0 draw at Norwich was probably very important as an away point against one of our lower half of the table rivals. The win against Swansea was outstanding, of course, and only the defeat at Aston villa was really disappointing. As I have posted before, any points against the “top 7” clubs are a bonus, and a point against a poor Manchester United was still a bonus. 

Samuel Et’oo scores the opener for Chelsea.

An away point at Norwich was particularly important, not so much for the point gained by us, but the two points dropped by Norwich in a match that they would have pencilled in at the start of the season as one where they would have expected to take all 3 points. Their subsequent 7-0 hammering to Manchester City also did us a big favour as far as goal difference is concerned.

Fraizer Campbell gets on the end of one against Norwich.

Then came the big one - against our closest rivals Swansea. A lot of the readers of my blog are in the USA, and it must be hard for them to understand the full intensity of his fixture. The 2 cities are approximately 40 miles apart. However, away supporters are not allowed to travel independently to this fixture, even in the BPL, because of the risk of violence and other public order offences! There may be many fixtures nowadays which encapture a good family atmosphere, but this defintely isn't one of those!

The game itself was the main feature on Sky that weekend, and was therefore featured all around the world. It probably wasn't much of a game for the neutral, but for those of us who are extremely partisan the 1-0 win from a Steve Caulker goal was outstanding. The bragging rights are ours until the return fixture in February!

Steve Caulker heads the winning goal against Swansea.

The following week involved an away trip to Aston Villa. Despite an early season win over Arsenal, Villa have been struggling for much of the season. The match seemed to be heading for a draw until a stunning free kick in the 75th minute, and a second breakaway goal a few minutes later gave Villa a 2-0 win.

Peter Whittingham and Ben Turner in action at Villa Park.

Then game 2 more big home games against 2 of the biggest club sides in world football - Manchester United and Arsenal.

Manchester United are still a good team, although not quite as fearsome as they were under Sir Alex Ferguson. However, they lack strength in depth these days, and with the exception of Wayne Rooney they are a good, but ordinary, team (in my opinion). We were well worth our point from the 2-2 draw, and yet another fantastic moment of the season was the stoppage time header from Kim Bo-Kyung!

Kim Bo-Kyung heads a late equaliser against Manchester United (pic by Jon Candy)

And  so to last Saturday's game against Arsenal - a 0-3 defeat. We have played 5 of the top 7 teams at the Cardiff City stadium this season, and Arsenal were clearly the best of those 5 teams They have an amazing array of talented midfield players, including former Bluebird Aaron Ramsey who has arguably been the best player in the Premier League this season. After not celebrating against his old club when scoring the opening goal, the applause from the home fans was heartwarming and quite a rarity in this day and age.

The Bluebirds played well, but Arsenal were outstanding and a truly great team.

Cardiff vArsenal - (pic by Jon Candy).

The Real Season starts here!

Having played most of the top teams at home already, the season proper starts now. 10 of our next 12 home fixtures are against our rivals in the lower half of the table battles, and we have to take plenty of points from our remaining home games to make sure we stay up.

The next 2 away games are pretty imprtant too, against 2 teams threatened with relegation, in the form of Stoke and Crystal Palace. A win and a draw from those 2 matches would be welcome, but avoiding defeat in both games will probably be acceptable too!

Onwards and (hopefully) upwards!

Top 7 Theory.

The Top 7 Clubs and the rest of the Premier League.

By the top 7 clubs, I mean the big money established Premier League clubs - Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton. I know that Southampton are in the top 7 at the moment, but they are the only team to challenge the "establishment".

So, I have tried to work out how important games really are for the other 13 teams aginst the top 7. Even at this early stage of the season, its amazing how little the rest of the league gets - it is almost as if there are 2 divisions within the Premier League.

So far this season, there have been 45 fixtures between the top 7 and the rest. The record for "the rest" is :-

Played 45 Won 6 Drawn 8 Lost 31

No wonder we see any points against the big teams as a bonus! I didn't expect this level of domination. Perhaps when we have another wet Sunday afternoon I'll go through the stats for a whole season!

When you break things down club by club, our 1 win, one draw and 2 defeats is pretty good. Hull have lost all 4 of theirs, Sunderland all 3 of theirs, and Fulham both of theirs. Southampton are the only team to be unbeaten, but they have only played 2 games against the top 7 - this could also explain why they found themselves in 3rd place! Villa must have really upset the fixture list gods as they have had 6 of their first 9 matches against the top 7. 2 wins and 4 losses seems pretty fair in the circumstances for them.

So, Villa have take 6 points from 18, West Brom 5 from 12, us 4 from 12 and Southampton 4 from 6. Not too bad, really. So the other 9 teams have a worse record than us. Avoiding relegation will be achieved against "the rest". So lets not panic at the end of November when we have consecutive home games against Man Utd and Arsenal!

So Far So Good.

So Far So Good.

Was it really little more than 2 months ago that I was writing the season preview? And here we are now, an established Premier League club! Well, perhaps not as established as all that, but the team has shown enough ability and won enough points so far to give the fans a little confidence. I don’t think anyone is taking anything for granted, but 8 points from our first 7 games, and a solid 14th place in the league is encouraging at the very least. As an added bonus, at the moment we are even a point ahead of our greatest rivals from 30 miles down the road!

The difficult fixtures come thick and fast, with an away trip to Chelsea coming up on Saturday, followed by an away trip to Norwich. Any points away from home are vital, but realistically Chelsea have got to be serious favourites, and we never seem to do that well in the far flung reaches of East Anglia.

HULL CITY 1 CARDIFF 1 - 14/09/2013

As Hull were promoted with us last year, this would have been one of the away games we would have hoped to get something from. They were certainly considered to be one of the favoured teams for relegation with us before the season started. Reports suggest that it wasn’t much of a game, with an excellent Peter Whittingham volley in the second half cancelling out Curtis Davies’ first half opener.

Peter Whittingham celebrates a classy equaliser with Fraizer Campbell.

I think I should emphasise the importance of this point. You can be sure that Hull would have had this marked as a winnable game where they were hoping for 3 points. In the long run, it was probably just as important to deprive Hull of 3 points as it was for us to gain our first away point.

CARDIFF 0 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 - 22/09/2013

Now this really was Premier League football! Spurs were excellent - their running, passing and constant pressure had us on the back foot from the start of the game.Spurs had 29 attempts at goal, but we managed to stop them from scoring until 2 minutes into injury time at the end of the game. A combination of luck, dogged defending and an outstanding display by David Marshall in goal kept the game level for so long.

A Man of the Match display from David Marshall against Spurs. (Pic by Jon Candy)

Strangely enough, nobody really had a bad game for us. It was a good team effort where we nearly “stole” a point, but nobody could begrudge an excellent Spurs team their win. If they can get some consistency (which they never seem to manage), then they could challenge at the top of the league this year.

FULHAM 1 CARDIFF 2 - 28/09/2013

A first away win, with nearly 4,000 Bluebirds fans making the trip to West London! Reports suggest that by half time we should have been well ahead, but an outstanding goal by Fulham’s Brian Ruiz just before half time cancelled out Steve Caulker’s debut goal for the club after 12 minutes.

However, the best was yet to come. Jordan Mutch was brought on to replace Kim Byo-kung in the second half, and 2 minutes into injury time scored with an outstanding left foot shot. Nearly 4,000 delirious travelling Bluebirds erupted!

Jordan Mutch celebrates “Goal of the Season”!

A stunning left foot shot, voted goal of the month on BBC Match of the Day. Described as an early contender for goal of the season, there won’t be many better than that!

CARDIFF 1 NEWCASTLE 2 - 5/10/2013

Just for once, the first half performance from the Bluebirds was poor. None of the players seemed capable of passing to one of their own. Even the ever reliable Gary Medel seemed to lose his bearings. At this level, you can’t afford to play like that, and Newcastle punished us with 2 clinical strikes from French international Loic Remy.

Peter Odemwinge scored his first Bluebirds goal against Newcastle (pic by Jon Candy)

For a while just before half time, I thought the team was going to cave in completely. But Malky managed to get them re-organised in the second half, and a first goal for the club by Peter Odemwinge gave them some hope. Indeed, we would have been worthy of a draw had we managed another goal. However, it is to be hoped that the team learned from this, particularly to realise that the class of players against you in the Premier League means that you always need to be at the top of your game.

ANOTHER EXCITING 6 GAMES COMING UP!

To be fair, they are all exciting at the moment! Our next 3 home games are Swansea, Manchester United and Arsenal, with away games at Chelsea, Norwich and Aston Villa. I really hope we can scrape at least 6 points from those games, but its a big ask!

I’ve been impressed with Peter Odemwinge since his arrival. I think the time has come for Malky to rethink his strategy - you can only get away with strong defensive formations for so long. I think that the recent performances of Jordan Mutch would justify a start for him against Chelsea. Also, if we are going to play a 4-5-1, then I think that Odemwinge is a better option for the central striking role than Frazier Campbell. Presumably Andreas Cornelius would be an option there when fit.

Lets all get behind the team and the players!

A Fine Start

A FINE START!

When I wrote my pre-season blog entry, I was worried that when we reached the international break after 3 games we might not have any points in the league. But, we have 4 points from 1 win, 1 loss and 1 draw. 10% of the points needed for Premier League survival! If we carry on at this rate, then we won’t have any problems at all. Malky now has 2 weeks to re-group (and hope our multi-national players don’t get injured whilst on international duty) and plan for the next stage of the season. For a while, at least, there is not too much pressure on Malky or the team.

In addition to the fine start, we have also made a couple more new signings. I am starting to write this piece just over 24 hours before the transfer window closes, so there may yet be more news. We seem to be specialising in players with long names! First to sign was Maximiliano Amondarain, a Uruguayan under 20 international who plays centre half.He has signed a 4 year contract, and at this point looks like a player for the development squad, at least initially.

Maxi in action for Uruguay under 20s.

Then, last evening, just after the conclusion of the Everton game, the signing of Rennes fullback Kevin Theophile-Catherine was announced. You can see by his picture below that he doesn’t expect the full hyphenated surname to go on the back of his shirt.

Kevin Theophile-Catherine pictured with Malky.

Theophile is a French international who plays at right back or centre half. With the signing of Brayford as well as Amandorain, it will be interesting to see what happens to some of our other defenders and whether they will move on on loan somewhere.

The general feeling amongst fans is that we need a fast wide attacking player, and today rumours abound that we may be signing Peter Odemwinge from West Bromwich Albion. But who knows really the workings of Malky’s recruitment team?

THE PREMIER LEAGUE START.

West Ham 2 Cardiff 0

Cardiff 3 Manchester City 2

Cardiff 0 Everton 0.

WEST HAM 2 CARDIFF 0.

Our first game at the top level for 51 years was a bit of a damp squib. West Ham went ahead after 15 minutes from a classy Joe Cole goal, and reports suggest that we were never really in the game after that. The star of the team was new signing Gary Medel (“Pitbull”), who despite only having one training session for the team looked a good player. Despite having more possession, we didn’t really perform or threaten to score on the day.

“Pitbull” v Joe Cole at West Ham.

CARDIFF 3 MANCHESTER CITY 2

If the first game was a damp squib, this was a fine fireworks display with November 5th, July 4th and New Years Eve all combined!

The atmosphere was fantastic from the time I got into the ground an hour before kick-off. A packed house of over 27,000 seemed to be looking forward to the occasion, no matter what the result.

After about 20 minutes, the team ethic and hard work shown by the team made us realise that we do have a good team that can compete at Premier League level. The defensive work was fantastic, and the 0-0 score at half time gave us hope that we might hold on for a draw. When Edin Dzecko scored for Man City early in the second half we were still thinking about a creditable defeat against a top class side. Then, the miracle started to happen.

A mazy run by Kim Byo-kyung down the right resulted in a cross to Frazier Campbell whose shot was blocked by keeper Joe Hart, but Aron Gunnarsson was first to the rebound and blasted the ball into the net.

Gunnarsson nets the equaliser!

I have never heard so much noise at the Cardiff City Stadium! It was absolutely fantastic! But more was to come. Man City still had most of the possession and territory without really threatening, but after Cardiff won a corner on a breakaway upfield, lax defending and dodgy goalkeeping left Frazier Campbell to bundle the ball in off his shoulder. 2-1 with 12 minutes left! And then, unbelievably, it was 3-1 with 2 minutes left. We were pinching ourselves to see if it was true.

Frazier Campbell - the crowd goes wild!

The fourth official managed to find 6 added minutes, and when Negredo scored his first goal 2 minutes into that time, there was some nervousness, but ultimately Cardiff held on for a fantastic win. In recent years, we have had some great moments with this club. Even if the rest of this season turns into a disaster, every fan will remember this momentous day!

CARDIFF 0 EVERTON 0

There was always a danger that this match would be a bit of an anti-climax after the Man City game. However, once again the hard work and determination of the Bluebirds team showed itself, and we came away with a creditable draw against the team who finished 6th in the Premier League last year. We aren’t going to win them all, but as I said in my last post, points against the top 7 clubs are a bonus, and we now have one more point than I hoped we might have after the first three games, and all 4 points have come from top 7 teams. Even the luck went our way, as Everton seemed to be denied a cast iron penalty in the first half when Gary Medel mistimed a tackle on Leighton Baines in the penalty area. I couldn’t get to the game this week for family reasons, but I am told that we well deserved our point.

Kim Byo-Kyung fights for the ball against Everton.

2 WEEKS PAUSE

Just as we were getting into the swing of this Premier League, they take it off us because of international matches! Roll on 2 weeks time and our next game at Hull. I’m still quietly confident we can stay up in the league this year - roll on 2 weeks time.

1st September 2013

 

Season Preview and the new signings.

Back at the Top Table after 51 years.

It’s been a long time coming, but the new season is nearly upon us - at last! The fact that if we had still been in the lower division we would have started playing 2 Saturdays ago means that the appetite is well and truly whetted for the new season.

But perhaps the biggest reason for excitement are the two big signings since my last post. On the 31st July, the signing of 20 year old Steve Caulker was completed from Spurs. I’ve always been impressed by Caulker - I remember him playing for Bristol City against us at the age of 18 and thinking how mature he looked. He then had a season of Premier League football on loan with Swansea (but we won’t hold that against him!) and looked ready to step up. He had a number of appearances for Spurs last year and I thought he could do a good job for them as well as further his England career. But it seems that he was only likely to be 4th choice Centre Back at Spurs this season, and in a year when he needs to play regular first team football in order to get a place in the England World Cup squad. Malky impressed him, and the deal was done very quickly for around £9million.

Steve Caulker signs  

This signing was a good statement of intent, as the thought of a player of Caulker’s ability and potential coming to the Bluebirds was beyond the scope of most fans. It certainly made me realise that we meant business in the transfer market.

However, this was not as big a surprise as the club’s next big signing. Late Friday evening the news began to break that Malky had gone to Manchester on a mission - and came back with a new player! This player turned out to be Chilean international Gary Medel, who has been playing in La Liga for Sevilla for the last 2 years. Before that he had been playing in the Argentinian League for Boca Juniors. He also has over 50 caps for Chile - not bad for a 25 year old!

I have to confess at this point that I had never heard of this man before the news broke. However, subsequent information suggests that this guy is a really classy defensive midfield player. He is known in Spain as the only man who could keep Lionel Messi under control - not a bad recommendation! And his nickname is “El Pitbull”! The only negative thing about him is that he had 7 red cards in 90 matches for Sevilla, but Malky was looking for a solid no-nonsense midfield player (see previous bids for Wanyama and Epoue) and this man certainly seems to fit the bill!

Assuming that Malky will mainly be havinga form of 4-5-1 formation, the central “spine” of the formation is now Marshall - Cauker - Medel - Cornelius. This certainly looks good enough for the Premier League, although time will tell!

Gary “El Pitbull” Medel

PREMIER LEAGUE SURVIVAL?

It’s difficult to be objective when you have been waiting 51 years for a crack at the top league again. If the team manages to finish 17th and avoid relegation back to the Championship, then that will be considered a really successful season. I’d like to think we can finish safely mid-table, but that might be a bit too ambitious this time around.

The recent signings have definitely strengthened the squad, and the rumour is that there will be another 2 signings before the transfer window closes on September 2nd. Crystal Palace and Hull,  the teams promoted with us, both now look weaker on paper (although both have managers with Premier League experience). In recent years, there has always been one or 2 teams who unexpectedly perform below the standards expected. Last season this was particularly Sunderland, as well as Aston Villa and Stoke. Swansea also had a poor finish to the season, and Norwich also had a bad run but made it in the end. If I have to make a prediction, then I would say that one of those 5 will join our promoted colleagues back in the Championship.

If we are to survive then we have to take points against the teams outside the top 7. Any points we get from the games against Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool can be considered as a bonus. We have 3 of those in our first 3 home games, so lets hope the early season pressures on those teams causes them to play below par and the euphoria for the Bluebirds helps us to perform above expectations.

Whatever happens, its going to be one hell of a ride!

11th August 2013

The Silly Season and Football Withdrawal Symptoms

FWS - Football Withdrawal Syndrome!

It's that time of year again - the  last football season has disappeared and next season is still distant speck on the horizon. Although, as I compose this blog the first game in the  Premier League is 3 weeks away. Our former rivals in the Championship will start 2 weeks earlier!

To keep us occupied in the summer, we indulge in endless transfer speculation about who will be joining us at the Cardiff City Stadium.  The definite good news is that we have signed 20 year old Andreas Cornelius from FC Copenhagen. I know his name makes him sound like a Roman gladiator, but he is actually a Danish footballer! It seems that a number of Premier League clubs were interested but Malky got in there first. It remains to be seen whether his 18 goals in 34 games in the Danish Premier League can be transferred into the EPL, but he is young and improving - a typical Malky Mackay signing.

Andreas Cornelious.

But further signings have been a long time coming. Firstly there was talk about Victor Wanyama coming from Celtic, and more recently Tom Ince rom Blackpool. Sadly, neither player is  now coming, but you can be sure that Malky has some alternatives to look at.

Finally, on Friday (26th July) we signed a player to strengthen an obvious weakness, when right back John Brayford joined us from Derby County.

John Brayford

We have been linked with Brayford before, and Malky has been patient and got his man eventually. He has been rated as one of the best defenders in the championship for many years, and so now it is time for him to prove it at the higher level. I was quite concerned about our fullbacks, but now we seem to have an alternative at right back at least. I also understand that Brayford can also play at centre back if required. I’m quite pleased about this signing.

DO WE NEED NEW PLAYERS?

My answer to this would be "Yes", but I don't think there is any real need to panic - yet. I think that Malky has bought wisely over the last 2 years, and I think that he had the Premier League in mind when he signed most of his young players. If he hadn't signed them already, then he would be looking to sign players like Jordan Mutch and Aron Gunnarsson, as they are ready to move up to that next level anyway. Joe Mason and Ben Turner may also fall into that category, as well as some of the players in last year's development squad. Andreas Cornelius and John Brayford are also players ready to improve and move up a level.

Here is my brief analysis of the existing squad players, and my thoughts about whether they may be able to do a job for the club in the Premier League.

GOALKEEPERS: David Marshall is clearly Premier class. I'm not sure whether Joe Lewis is a suitable back up, but its difficult to attract a top class back up to be a clear number 2. Simon Moore has now been signed from Brentford - another improving youngster with some league experience. I’m pretty sure that most Premier League teams have 3 goalkeepers named in the 25 man squads - its not clear at this point whether Moore will be classes as number 2 or number 3. Should keep Joe Lewis on his toes though.

FULLBACKS: Although not universally popular, Andrew Taylor is probably good enough at left back, but there doesn't seem to be a back up plan to him. I know Simon Lappin is still on the books, and the ever reliable Kevin McNaughton can play at left back in the Championship, but I'm not sure they are the answer for the Premier League.

At right back, I was not certain that Matt Connolly was good enough for the Premier League, and that situation has been dealt with by the signing of Brayford. Connolly is more of a centre back in my opinion, but is now able to provide cover at right back. Brayford, McNaughton and Connolly as back up gives us a reasonable set of right backs.

CENTRE BACKS: Club captain Mark Hudson is clearly first choice here and I’m pretty sure is good enough for the Premier League. I like Ben Turner, and Matthew Connolly when they play alongside Hudson, but I’m not sure that the two together would be a good combination for any length of time. As I compose this blog, we are being linked with a bid for Mexican international Hector Moreno from Espanyol. This would be a class signing and he would almost certainly start alongside Hudson. Young Ben Nugent, who Malky says is likely to be a future club captain, may also benefit from a loan spell here or there (rather than a season long loan).

MIDFIELD: Some players are clearly ready for the step up - Kim Bo-kyung, Jordan Mutch, Aron Gunnarsson are definitely ready, whilst Peter Whittingham has some experience in the Premier League in the past, albeit 7 years ago! He has been patient and waited a long time for this - lets hope he can take his chance. I’m not sure about the wide players such as Craig Conway and Craig Noone. Like many wide players, they blow a bit hot and cold. I’m pretty sure Craig Bellamy (why do we have so many ‘Craigs’ in the team) will probably play out wide quite a lot, but I wouldn’t mind a classy winger to join the team.

I’m generally happy with the midfield players we have available, but I can’t see many opportunities for Tommy Smith or Joe Ralls to get many games. Smith may have to move on, and perhaps young Ralls might benefit from a season long loan somewhere. However, after having been linked with an attempt to sign Victor Wanyama, we are now being linked with French international Etien Capoue, who is another defensive midfield player who plays in front of the back four. I’ve not seen him play, but reports suggest that he could be a useful acquisition if we can pull it off.

STRIKERS: Well, up front, we appear to have a good set of players. Because of his injury, we forget about Nicky Maynard, but he still has a lot to prove at Premier League level. Fraizer Campbell has that experience at the top level, and it is to be hoped that we have unearthed a gem in Andreas Cornelius from Denmark. In the background we still have Joe Mason and Rudy Gestede. Unlike some supporters, I rate Rudy quite highly, certainly as an impact player. However, if the new Danish signing is anything like as good as we hope I can only see limited opportunities for him. I don’t think Malky will let him go until he sees how Cornelius works out. Joe Mason continues to improve, and although I don’t see him starting very often, I see a regular role for him from the bench. And don’t forget the option of Craig Bellamy, whose best position is probably up front alongside a target man type of striker (like Cornelius?).

DON’T FORGET THE 12th MAN!

We only have to finish above 3 teams to stay up. And don’t forget our “12th man” - the added team spirit that Malky drives into the players. Our promotion last year was based on a team effort, and not individual brilliance. I think he has chosen players specifically not to upset the spirit of the team. I think he is right not to pay inflated amounts for soccer mercenaries, as this can come spectacularly unstuck, as it did for QPR last year. This team works hard for each other, and I think this spirit is what will keep us in the Premier League next year.

28th July 2013.