Nathan Blake: Cardiff City showing they could dominate
Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:04 am
Cardiff City want to be in the Premier League and against Blackburn Rovers on Friday night they put in a performance worthy of the top flight.
I’ll be honest, I’m not one to dole out praise where it is not deserved, but it has been a very long time since I have seen the Bluebirds put in a showing with that much power, strength and skill.
Cardiff really were like a well-oiled machine at Ewood Park, each component working at its peak to compliment the others.
They were simply superb and Rovers, one of my old teams, could not live with the Bluebirds.
As I say, the standard from Malky Mackay’s men was Premier League class from the pressing they did right across the pitch to the way they controlled possession.
It is what I would call a complete team performance and, as such, you don’t really want to single out individual performances.
Cardiff were excellent from the back right through to the front.
David Marshall put in an excellent save when required, Dickson Etuhu’s second-half shot taking a wicked deflection.
How Marshall managed to adjust to beat it away so quickly was just terrific.
It was needed because Cardiff did have a period where they came under pressure after Blackburn equalised, and they had a bit of luck too.
How Mauro Formica did not bury the chance he had in the second half when he blasted over the bar after Marshall had made the Etuhu save, well, I’ll never know.
But if Cardiff rode their luck there then they deserved that luck too.
Defensively, the Bluebirds were as good as they have been all season, particularly on the road.
A lot has been said and written about the problems they had away from home earlier in the campaign, but they seem to have overcome those and are in quite sparkling form.
Both full-backs were excellent, Mark Hudson and Ben Turner were colossal at centre-half with skipper Hudson, in particular, absolutely immense.
In midfield, Peter Whittingham ran the game and Craig Noone was a threat out on the right.
I was really impressed by Craig Conway, too, who has been excellent in the last two games.
On about 80 minutes Conway got the ball in his own box and ran at the opposition, still willing still able to go into the breach once more. Fabulous stuff.
Craig Bellamy was simply magnificent and Heidar Helguson was immense alongside him.
The guy is a warrior, the guy is a gladiator. So it was a wonderful team performance right the way through with even the substitutes impressing.
Joe Mason and Kim Bo-Kyung came on and made the type of impact their manager would have wanted.
You have to give the manager plenty of praise as well. Mackay finally seems to have a Cardiff side all working for each other and pushing in the same direction.
It’s remarkable really what he has achieved in what is, let’s be honest, not too long here.
I remember what he had to deal with when he arrived at Cardiff in the summer of 2011.
I remember we were saying that he wasn’t going to have enough players to start the season with.
Well, just look what he has assembled now. Yes, he’s had some financial backing from the club’s Malaysian owners, but you still need the instinct, the understanding and the sheer talent to assemble and motivate a squad however much money you have behind you.
Mackay will now be busy reminding his players that nothing is won in December or for a long time yet in a long, hard Championship season.
The Bluebirds will be told to keep their heads down, to keep looking at the next game in front of them.
I guarantee you that Mackay will be urging them to go out there and try to secure their next three points. Nothing more. He will be saying don’t look at the Premier League, don’t think about the Premier League.
Just look at how many points you can put between you and the people who want the same as you want.
We are, after all, not even halfway through the campaign yet, but Cardiff are in a wonderful position and in such blistering form that is hard not to be excited about the whole season right now.
I believe Cardiff are capable of going on and pulling away from the chasing pack now because, if I’m honest, I’ve not seen another team in the division that you would be worried about.
No-one who you would say ‘my goodness, this team are going to give us one hell of a game.’
So as we enter the festive programme I firmly believe that the Bluebirds are ready to open up that decisive gap – six or seven points ahead of the rest.
And if the rest of the promotion-chasing bunch continue to slip up that could even stretch by 12 or 13 points into the new year.
The way they are playing I believe the Bluebirds could end up with 95 or 100 points this season.
Now it’s about the belief of seeing the job through and making it a magical and historic season in the Welsh capital.
Read more: Wales Online http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballna ... z2EdcUkjff
I’ll be honest, I’m not one to dole out praise where it is not deserved, but it has been a very long time since I have seen the Bluebirds put in a showing with that much power, strength and skill.
Cardiff really were like a well-oiled machine at Ewood Park, each component working at its peak to compliment the others.
They were simply superb and Rovers, one of my old teams, could not live with the Bluebirds.
As I say, the standard from Malky Mackay’s men was Premier League class from the pressing they did right across the pitch to the way they controlled possession.
It is what I would call a complete team performance and, as such, you don’t really want to single out individual performances.
Cardiff were excellent from the back right through to the front.
David Marshall put in an excellent save when required, Dickson Etuhu’s second-half shot taking a wicked deflection.
How Marshall managed to adjust to beat it away so quickly was just terrific.
It was needed because Cardiff did have a period where they came under pressure after Blackburn equalised, and they had a bit of luck too.
How Mauro Formica did not bury the chance he had in the second half when he blasted over the bar after Marshall had made the Etuhu save, well, I’ll never know.
But if Cardiff rode their luck there then they deserved that luck too.
Defensively, the Bluebirds were as good as they have been all season, particularly on the road.
A lot has been said and written about the problems they had away from home earlier in the campaign, but they seem to have overcome those and are in quite sparkling form.
Both full-backs were excellent, Mark Hudson and Ben Turner were colossal at centre-half with skipper Hudson, in particular, absolutely immense.
In midfield, Peter Whittingham ran the game and Craig Noone was a threat out on the right.
I was really impressed by Craig Conway, too, who has been excellent in the last two games.
On about 80 minutes Conway got the ball in his own box and ran at the opposition, still willing still able to go into the breach once more. Fabulous stuff.
Craig Bellamy was simply magnificent and Heidar Helguson was immense alongside him.
The guy is a warrior, the guy is a gladiator. So it was a wonderful team performance right the way through with even the substitutes impressing.
Joe Mason and Kim Bo-Kyung came on and made the type of impact their manager would have wanted.
You have to give the manager plenty of praise as well. Mackay finally seems to have a Cardiff side all working for each other and pushing in the same direction.
It’s remarkable really what he has achieved in what is, let’s be honest, not too long here.
I remember what he had to deal with when he arrived at Cardiff in the summer of 2011.
I remember we were saying that he wasn’t going to have enough players to start the season with.
Well, just look what he has assembled now. Yes, he’s had some financial backing from the club’s Malaysian owners, but you still need the instinct, the understanding and the sheer talent to assemble and motivate a squad however much money you have behind you.
Mackay will now be busy reminding his players that nothing is won in December or for a long time yet in a long, hard Championship season.
The Bluebirds will be told to keep their heads down, to keep looking at the next game in front of them.
I guarantee you that Mackay will be urging them to go out there and try to secure their next three points. Nothing more. He will be saying don’t look at the Premier League, don’t think about the Premier League.
Just look at how many points you can put between you and the people who want the same as you want.
We are, after all, not even halfway through the campaign yet, but Cardiff are in a wonderful position and in such blistering form that is hard not to be excited about the whole season right now.
I believe Cardiff are capable of going on and pulling away from the chasing pack now because, if I’m honest, I’ve not seen another team in the division that you would be worried about.
No-one who you would say ‘my goodness, this team are going to give us one hell of a game.’
So as we enter the festive programme I firmly believe that the Bluebirds are ready to open up that decisive gap – six or seven points ahead of the rest.
And if the rest of the promotion-chasing bunch continue to slip up that could even stretch by 12 or 13 points into the new year.
The way they are playing I believe the Bluebirds could end up with 95 or 100 points this season.
Now it’s about the belief of seeing the job through and making it a magical and historic season in the Welsh capital.
Read more: Wales Online http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballna ... z2EdcUkjff
Re: Nathan Blake: Cardiff City showing they could dominate
Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:40 am
Can't help getting a tad excited reading that, lets hope we can do it come May 
Re: Nathan Blake: Cardiff City showing they could dominate
Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:56 am
Always believed what Blake has said but i'm struggling with the 100 point comment.
Re: Nathan Blake: Cardiff City showing they could dominate
Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:05 am
hes getting a bit carried away i think.
who knows, we might end up with over 95 points, we might be a dozen points clear, but no point thinking about it yet, have a very testing month coming up.
who knows, we might end up with over 95 points, we might be a dozen points clear, but no point thinking about it yet, have a very testing month coming up.
Re: Nathan Blake: Cardiff City showing they could dominate
Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:49 am
This weekend could be very important, IF and a big IF, we can beat the Posh, and Palace, Leicester, Boro and Hull , who have not got easy games ( I know there are no easy games) don't take maximum points, we could have a 5 point gap to the team in second and as much as 8 points in front of the team in third.
Now that would make good reading.
Now that would make good reading.