Bluebirds have the experience within their ranks to make it
Mon Jan 14, 2013 7:45 am
CARDIFF CITY midfielder Aron Gunnarsson believes the Bluebirds have the experience within their ranks to finally secure Premier League promotion.
Malky Mackay's men could only manage a 0-0 draw in the Welsh capital against Ipswich, but with other results going their way their lead at the top of the table stretched to eight points.
After near misses in recent seasons, Gunnarsson believes it could well be the older, wiser heads in the side who will help see the Bluebirds over the finishing line.
"We've got experienced players here. We've got players here who have gone up with other teams from this league. People like Heidar Helguson, Matt Connolly, Tommy Smith," said the Icelandic international.
"The manager has obviously brought them here to bring in their experience and consistency to the team.
"I think it has helped us. It keeps us on our toes. The mood in the camp is very good. Having experienced players like that is massively important to us.
"Bringing back Craig Bellamy too. These are players who know what they are doing and it does help us. We are talking about players who have experience in the top division too."
Cardiff's Craig Noone struggled to make an impact
Gunnarsson said the point gained against Ipswich had been tough to acquire and with 19 games of the season left, starting at Blackpool on Saturday, the midfielder said he and his teammates were taking nothing for granted despite a now 10 point cushion in the automatic promotion places.
"It was a tough match. We know teams are going to come here and will want to beat us because we are top of the league," added Gunnarsson.
"That's how it is, that's normal. It was very hard to create chances, but it is a point and we are lucky that teams around us have been losing. Things have been going our way. We need to keep going now and concentrate on the next game away at Blackpool now.
"If people are disappointed with the draw then that only goes to show how well we have been playing this season. Last year we were fourth at this point in the year and now we are top.
"For us now it is a matter of keeping things going, about kicking on again, working hard for each other and trying to keep winning. We've still got 19 games left so we are not going to get carried away. We know there is a long way to go. We know there are teams who are going to go on a run. WE have to be on our toes. It is not finished yet.
Malky Mackay's men could only manage a 0-0 draw in the Welsh capital against Ipswich, but with other results going their way their lead at the top of the table stretched to eight points.
After near misses in recent seasons, Gunnarsson believes it could well be the older, wiser heads in the side who will help see the Bluebirds over the finishing line.
"We've got experienced players here. We've got players here who have gone up with other teams from this league. People like Heidar Helguson, Matt Connolly, Tommy Smith," said the Icelandic international.
"The manager has obviously brought them here to bring in their experience and consistency to the team.
"I think it has helped us. It keeps us on our toes. The mood in the camp is very good. Having experienced players like that is massively important to us.
"Bringing back Craig Bellamy too. These are players who know what they are doing and it does help us. We are talking about players who have experience in the top division too."
Cardiff's Craig Noone struggled to make an impact
Gunnarsson said the point gained against Ipswich had been tough to acquire and with 19 games of the season left, starting at Blackpool on Saturday, the midfielder said he and his teammates were taking nothing for granted despite a now 10 point cushion in the automatic promotion places.
"It was a tough match. We know teams are going to come here and will want to beat us because we are top of the league," added Gunnarsson.
"That's how it is, that's normal. It was very hard to create chances, but it is a point and we are lucky that teams around us have been losing. Things have been going our way. We need to keep going now and concentrate on the next game away at Blackpool now.
"If people are disappointed with the draw then that only goes to show how well we have been playing this season. Last year we were fourth at this point in the year and now we are top.
"For us now it is a matter of keeping things going, about kicking on again, working hard for each other and trying to keep winning. We've still got 19 games left so we are not going to get carried away. We know there is a long way to go. We know there are teams who are going to go on a run. WE have to be on our toes. It is not finished yet.
Re: Bluebirds have the experience within their ranks to make
Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:44 am
Every time we get an indifferent result they all seem to queue up on here proclaiming that the wheels are falling off our promotion wagon but I'll bet on the forums of all our competitors they'll be bemoaning the fact that not for the first time their teams have failed to capitalise on our slip up.
Re: Bluebirds have the experience within their ranks to make
Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:02 am
Glad to read the players are not suffering from the same affliction as some of the fans... We're not good enough to go up syndrome
Re: Bluebirds have the experience within their ranks to make
Mon Jan 14, 2013 12:46 pm
We're certainly good enough to go up and the point about experience this year is a good one. But it goes further than that as we've had experience before, but it's the team ethic and work rate that will get us there this season aswell. Many have premier league experience and the likes of Bellamy, Tommy Smith and Hudson will be crucial. Tommy looked sharp when he came on against Ipswich and I was very pleased to see him back. He has a similar work rate to Bellamy and that's what we'll need to pick up the crucial points in the remainder of the season. 
Re: Bluebirds have the experience within their ranks to make
Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:33 pm
We may have players who will go through a brick wall Annis, but we do not have except Bellermy, the quality to take teams on of equal standing, we are not the only ones with good team ethic, from experience where Cardiff City is concerned an 8 point lead can't be guaranteed to get us automatic promotion. Anything else will be failure.