The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me/Say

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The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me/Say

Postby Forever Blue » Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:14 am

Cardiff City’s performance against Derby was disappointing and, let’s be honest, pretty inept all round

23 NOV 2015

BY NATHAN BLAKE

Nathan Blake has his say on the 2-0 defeat to the Rams and says Joe Ralls must start in central midfield


Joe Ralls has to be in the centre of Cardiff's midfield, says Nathan Blake


Manager Russell Slade was singing the praises of the Rams afterwards, saying what a good team they were, but I think Derby in many ways were there for the taking.

The home crowd at Pride Park were on edge, nervous, for much of it. They were critical of their side, right up to the opening goal and then after it a little too.

With a better performance the Bluebirds could have done something there, but right now we are just not getting the performances players of that quality should be turning in.


It's hard to be positive about Cardiff City when Bluebirds give off such negative vibes

What worried me at Derby was that, in my opinion, the Bluebirds arrived with a dreadful lack of ambition.

They seemed just to want to contain Derby, to hang on in there and see what good fortune might come their way.

It’s hard to say, but the Bluebirds are currently travelling to sides like the Rams and almost believing they are beaten before they start and that is rather worrying indeed.


With high-flying Burnley up next in the Welsh capital you feel the Bluebirds need a result just to keep hanging on in the play-off hunt, but what they need even more is some more self-belief and above all that a performance which shows some real conviction.

Once more against the Rams, Cardiff were second-best right across the pitch.

We have spoken about the lack of pace in the side before, but here it was cruelly exposed for all to see.

It does not just hurt them breaking forward, the lack of urgency means there is still not enough pressing of the opposition, not enough hunting down of the ball.

Derby were simply given too easy a ride.



Again the starting position of Cardiff is too deep, they need to start five or 10 yards further forward, higher up, that is the only way to compensate for the lack of pace they have.

They did not put enough pressure on Derby, they did not have a 10 or 15 minute period of sustained pressure when, even if you don’t score, it brings relief to your defenders and defensive midfielders.

When Derby scored on the other hand you just knew it was only a matter of time before they got another and so it proved.


The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me.

I know there were injuries, but Joe Ralls just has to come into the middle again where he is more comfortable and where he can have more of an impact.

For me, I would change the formation to a 4-3-3 straight off with Kagisho Dikgacoi my destroyer in front of the back line and Ralls and Aron Gunnarsson just ahead.

You have Craig Noone and Anthony Pilkington as your wingers and Kenwyne Jones up top.

David Marshall did his best to keep Cardiff City in it at Derby

Cardiff need some urgency in midfield.

I don’t think once at Pride Park I saw a Bluebirds’ midfielder bombing forward to get in behind the Derby by defence. It just did not happen.

But you can analyse the problems and discuss them only up to a point.

For me, something that really needs addressing is why so many Cardiff players are under-performing right now.

What is that problem?

Right now, in the Cardiff side only goalkeeper Davis Marshall is performing at the level we know he is capable of.

Jones and Ralls too are near there, but as for the rest?

Joe Ralls has to be in the centre of Cardiff's midfield, says Nathan Blake


Let’s talk about Noone as an example, not that he was particularly bad against Derby, but his is quite a strong case in point.

We know what the guy is capable of, even in the Premier League at times he was unplayable. Right now I struggle to think of a good game he has had this season.

This is where the management step in for me to discover the problem, you try to get in the player’s head. You analyse, discover and then get out there and put it right.

Looking at the visit of Burnley, I am not expecting miracles. I want a good result and believe the Bluebirds are capable of getting one, but it's one step at a time.

Burnley are a strong, well-organised side with good players. What I want from the Bluebirds on Saturday is a performance.

A step forward, a performance that shows some zip and imagination.

I think what everyone is wanting to see from Cardiff right now under Slade is a bit of progress.

I just don’t think we are seeing that right now.
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The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me/Say

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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby Wolfpac » Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:22 am

Spot on by Blakey.

Thing is I reckon Slade says to the lads when they play teams in top 6, we can't match them so lets try to contain and counter thus setting us up to lose, however if he plays Ralls in CM and plays more attacking, at least we'd give it a go and maybe steal a win, if we lose, we tried.

Come on Slade, isn't rocket science, give the lads the freedom to play proper football you inept managerial dinosaur.
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby City Slicker » Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:23 am

Well done Blakey spot on, and thanks for coming off the fence for a change.
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby Rydogsccfc » Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:56 pm

Agree with Blakey its painfully obvious that Gunnarson and Ralls should be in CM.
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby Mike Strinati » Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:56 pm

The one good game Noone has had was against Reading. Bombing forward at every opportunity but we need that every game for the whole season.
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby Lawnmower » Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:04 pm

He's right about the midfield.
You can't have a 4 man midfield when 2 are so light weight.
Too much left for KD and Ralls to do, with even then Ralls shunted out wide and often left with 2 men on him ,

Let's hope he learns from this and with other players available for Sat we see some change
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby City Slicker » Mon Nov 23, 2015 7:50 pm

Lawnmower wrote:He's right about the midfield.
You can't have a 4 man midfield when 2 are so light weight.
Too much left for KD and Ralls to do, with even then Ralls shunted out wide and often left with 2 men on him ,

Let's hope he learns from this and with other players available for Sat we see some change


For me, if everyone's fit, on Saturday he simply has to go with a midfield of:-

Digkacoi
Gunnar
Ralls
Pilkington
Kennedy
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby llan bluebird » Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:54 pm

I would love to see how Joe and Gunnar get on against Barton & Billy Jones in the middle.

Massive Whitts fan who believes he can't play in a 442 as a CM so don't want to see him in the battle on Saturday. Huge test for Joe...
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby llan bluebird » Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:57 pm

Does Blake actually bother to go to away games or does his ghost writer just look at the views on here.....

Come to think of it, is Carl his ghost writer ?


I am not saying i disagree with "blakey" or whoever writes it, but its almost a snapshot of this forum.....


just wondering :?
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby Tony Blue Williams » Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:21 am

llan bluebird wrote:Does Blake actually bother to go to away games or does his ghost writer just look at the views on here.....

Come to think of it, is Carl his ghost writer ?


I am not saying i disagree with "blakey" or whoever writes it, but its almost a snapshot of this forum.....


just wondering :?


I'm always impressed by Blakey when I here him on the radio. He seems a very knowledgeable man and someone who would-not need a ghost writer.

For the record he says a lot which I agree with. Slade does set up his side not to lose and therefore the performances are at times dire. The recent goal drought was painful and he seems not to trust a side which is not his preferred starting XI.

May be with the boost of 2 extra strikers (one returning from injury and one coming in on loan) he might be more bolder in trying to win matches.
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby OriginalGrangeEndBlue » Tue Nov 24, 2015 7:44 am

City Slicker wrote:
Lawnmower wrote:He's right about the midfield.
You can't have a 4 man midfield when 2 are so light weight.
Too much left for KD and Ralls to do, with even then Ralls shunted out wide and often left with 2 men on him ,

Let's hope he learns from this and with other players available for Sat we see some change


For me, if everyone's fit, on Saturday he simply has to go with a midfield of:-

Digkacoi
Gunnar
Ralls
Pilkington
Kennedy


But that's 5 midfielders?
:shock:
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby castleblue » Tue Nov 24, 2015 8:26 am

Another game goes by and virtually everyone is saying the same thing "The midfield is the problem" but few are asking the question "Is the problem actually how the midfield are asked to play?".

I understand the clamour for Joe Ralls to start in CM because the lad is having a good season and is currently looking to be our best player in that role. He had a really good game against Reading and we got a good result, more thanks to David Marshall than any midfield player on the day in my opinion, without Marshall we would have lost that game and lost it badly. The reality is that we set ourselves up to play in exactly the same way against Derby as we did against Reading as we do against everyone.

Every game we set ourselves up to contain the opposition, whoever they are, and at the very core of the mentality of the team is to concede ground and say to the opposition "You come to us" and we hope to break up play and counter attack. The "Massive" problem with this set up is we are devoid of pace to counter attack and all to often players, like Whittingham, have to slow play down because of a lack of options ahead of them and the end up passing the ball sideways or backwards waiting for support.

I agree with Blakey that we need to move our midfield further up field and for god sake lets start pressing the opposition before they reach our penalty area. That will need a change of personnel in the CM area, players with greater mobility and tenacity than Whittingham, but there MUST still be a place for Whittingham as , in my opinion, he remains our most gifted midfield player but we are not seeing that because in CM role in a 4-4-2 he is a square peg in a round hole.

But more important than anything is that Slade stops "Parking the bus" in every game other wise we will continue to serve up boring football and continue to struggle against the Rotherham Utd of this division, we will continue to get poor results even with Joe Ralls in CM.

:sladeout: :sladeout:
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby City Slicker » Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:02 am

OriginalGrangeEndBlue wrote:
City Slicker wrote:
Lawnmower wrote:He's right about the midfield.
You can't have a 4 man midfield when 2 are so light weight.
Too much left for KD and Ralls to do, with even then Ralls shunted out wide and often left with 2 men on him ,

Let's hope he learns from this and with other players available for Sat we see some change


For me, if everyone's fit, on Saturday he simply has to go with a midfield of:-

Digkacoi
Gunnar
Ralls
Pilkington
Kennedy


But that's 5 midfielders?
:shock:


Well spotted! Success in numbers :thumbup:
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby City Slicker » Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:15 am

I think some on this forum are either being disingenuous or seeing just what they want to see! Yes David Marshall played brilliantly, as usual, during the Reading game and made several fantastic saves. But how many would disagree that the football was better, more incisive, pacier and more dynamic without Whittingham. Ralls, Gunnar and Pilkington are very good players at this level and possess plenty of creativity and tenacity, attributes essential for an effective midfield. Surely only the blind couldn't see that our best midfield set up was on display that day. And I do wonder if Slade impersonates Stevie Wonder too often!
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby OriginalGrangeEndBlue » Tue Nov 24, 2015 12:57 pm

City Slicker wrote:
OriginalGrangeEndBlue wrote:
City Slicker wrote:
Lawnmower wrote:He's right about the midfield.
You can't have a 4 man midfield when 2 are so light weight.
Too much left for KD and Ralls to do, with even then Ralls shunted out wide and often left with 2 men on him ,

Let's hope he learns from this and with other players available for Sat we see some change


For me, if everyone's fit, on Saturday he simply has to go with a midfield of:-

Digkacoi
Gunnar
Ralls
Pilkington
Kennedy


But that's 5 midfielders?
:shock:


Well spotted! Success in numbers :thumbup:


Ur yeah but we're talking about Slade here aren't we. He won't change to 5 in the midfield mate.
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Re: The Bluebirds’ midfield again was massive problem for me

Postby City Slicker » Tue Nov 24, 2015 1:04 pm

OriginalGrangeEndBlue wrote:
City Slicker wrote:
OriginalGrangeEndBlue wrote:
City Slicker wrote:
Lawnmower wrote:He's right about the midfield.
You can't have a 4 man midfield when 2 are so light weight.
Too much left for KD and Ralls to do, with even then Ralls shunted out wide and often left with 2 men on him ,

Let's hope he learns from this and with other players available for Sat we see some change


For me, if everyone's fit, on Saturday he simply has to go with a midfield of:-

Digkacoi
Gunnar
Ralls
Pilkington
Kennedy


But that's 5 midfielders?
:shock:


Well spotted! Success in numbers :thumbup:


Ur yeah but we're talking about Slade here aren't we. He won't change to 5 in the midfield mate.


Totally agree OGB I'm afraid its just wishful thinking on my part!
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