" MALKY'S TEAMS WORK ETHIC IS SECOND TO NONE "

" MALKY'S TEAMS WORK ETHIC IS SECOND TO NONE "
Thats my opinion and thats what will keep us up this season



Chris Wathan: Cardiff City earn their luck as work ethic earns point after penalty escape
1st Sep 2013.

Chris Wathan watched the Bluebirds prove the Manchester City performance was no one off as the Bluebirds drew with Everton.

They say you earn your luck in football.

Cardiff City got theirs as they showed the Premier League the kind of attitude and application that shocked Manchester City is not going to be a one-off.

When the otherwise excellent Gary Medel dived in and brought down the flying Leighton Baines it was close to beyond comprehension that referee Anthony Taylor did not point to the spot.

Theories can abound as to why he didn’t – slight lack of control of the ball, a dive, a touch on the ball – but none really stood up to reality.

Certainly not Malky Mackay’s claim of it being “incredibly soft” anyway.

Yet if fortune is indeed earned by effort and organisation, then Cardiff were more than worthy of the 41st minute decision – or lack of it – to make it four points from three games.

Because, as Roberto Martinez rightly admitted after the game, Everton didn’t break through the Bluebirds to start bemoaning their bad luck.

Mainly because they couldn’t, such was the stubbornness of shape and confidence in each other’s roles in the side set out from Mackay.

And on the one real occasion they got close, David Marshall produced the kind of save that won promotion last term as a deflected Nikica Jelavic header failed to beat him even when wrong-footed.

The reward? A first clean sheet of the club’s Premier League era.

Cardiff City 0 -0 Everton

How many more he collects over the next nine months could tell a story of the season.

If Marshall was the last line, the determination to defend from the front was as important as Cardiff chased and kept up energy levels that tested the patience of Everton possession.

But it was Medel who shone, displaying a tactical intelligence that undermines all the ‘El Pitbull’ headlines and the YouTube analysis.

Other sides may eventually break down such an approach, but not Everton here – even with Ross Barkley showing all the guile and gliding play to warrant the recent hype about the 19-year-old England call-up.

And with such foundations there may even have been a winner in it for the hosts.

Indeed, had Craig Bellamy not taken a horribly heavy touch on the classy Kim Bo-Kyung’s through ball just after the hour mark, he may have sparked a second three-point party at Cardiff City Stadium in less than a week.

In all honesty, victory for Cardiff would have stretched the luck they had earned and the impressive Sylvain Distin was in no mood to offer the kind of chances Manchester City did less than a week ago.

That said, there was one point when Tim Howard looked like he fell for the same trick as Joe Hart did a week ago when the American goalkeeper appeared more concerned with Aron Gunnarsson’s presence than the corner delivery from Peter Whittingham.

As the 15th minute set-piece swung in, Howard had to scramble.

That small period of pressure amidst the Everton possession had all stemmed from Medel, refusing to let much pass his circle of influence and able to turn defence quickly into attack with a well-timed interception.

It was his ball over the top that set Fraizer Campbell scampering away on 24 minutes in a very similar manner as he did against Manchester City.

The difference here was that Distin ate up the ground to win the foot-race.

And Everton seemed that they had a player in Barkley that could prove the difference between the sides overall, so key in creativity as Cardiff’s defence creaked.

Had Kevin Mirallas made more of two free headers, this could have been a different afternoon.

His presence was crucial in the interchanges that are a hallmark of Martinez teams, heavily involved before Baines broke through for the crunch moment, swerving around Gunnarsson then tumbling as Medel recklessly slid in.

The referee who gave Aston Villa two penalties at the Emirates was not giving one here.

Reaction: Malky Mackay rubbishes Everton penalty claim after hard-earned draw

There was one more go from Everton before the break as Barkley dazzled and they camped outside the body-packed Bluebirds box, Seamus Coleman crossing, Jelavic’s header and the deflection off Ben Turner wrong-footing Marshall only for him to react and stretch a palm.

The Croatian had a further opportunity seven minutes after the restart, Barkley passing into his path only for him to awkwardly try with the outside of the boot than trusting a left-footed shot.

If Martinez refused to blame referee Taylor, he could do worse than blame his striker.

Having been faultless himself, Barkley then faded as Everton frustration grew, Martinez citing the 90 minutes in midweek as a factor, but it’s no doubt that Cardiff’s relentless opposition was equally as important.

Such frustration was evident when Manchester United target Marouane Fellaini brought down Campbell on the counter and then leant in with his forearm while the striker was on the floor.

Campbell reacted angrily but he should have known it meant Everton were sensing the worst.

Had Bellamy not pushed the pass from Kim way wide past Howard as he burst past Baines, it may well have been.

But as the game became tenser and Everton’s attacks became increasingly hopeful against a solid Cardiff back-line, a solitary point was on the cards.

And cheered at the final whistle all the same, supporters thankfully wise that it is another one in the tally along the way to 40 and beyond.

Everton may not have the same aura as Manchester City, the scoreline as eye-catching.

But the result could be just as significant – and just as hard-earned.

Can't argue with that.

The work ethic is spot on. Just look at the amount of tracking back Campbell does, he's end to end all match!

Agree 100% with the OP, we'll make our luck when we need it.

With an attacking winger coming in, that means our counter attack play in these type of games will become more successful and lead us to nicking all 3 on more occasions than not.

When I saw the highlights on MOTD it reminded me just how many decent chances we had - actually more decent chances than Everton to score despite having less shots on goal. We are looking really solid and well organised but need to be able to turn a few 0-0's in 1-0's to ensure we get the points we need...

You need more to your game than"work ethic"....you also need a cutting edge......do City have that?..you tell me

You need more to your game than"work ethic"....you also need a cutting edge......do City have that?..you tell me

If I have a concern about all this and that is we could quite easily burn ourselves out if we don't keep more ball possession.

It is proven that ball possession reserves energy levels. We might have a high work rate but our tanks will soon empty if we are continually chasing. We can't afford to give the ball away too easily like we have been doing come the middle of the season. Hopefully we will improve on this .

If I have a concern about all this and that is we could quite easily burn ourselves out if we don't keep more ball possession.

It is proven that ball possession reserves energy levels. We might have a high work rate but our tanks will soon empty if we are continually chasing. We can't afford to give the ball away too easily like we have been doing come the middle of the season. Hopefully we will improve on this .

4 points against two of the best sides in the country. Agreed that we wouldn't be able to keep the exceptional levels of fitness up over 38 games, but thankfully there aren't many sides of the same standard of tempo and passing quality as the two we've faced in the last week

Some Jacks on Twitter suggesting we can't keep up this intensity for the duration of the seasons ...

Barry Horns Tweeted;
@thebarryhorns: A Swansea fan has described Cardiff's tactics as "completely unsustainable over the course of a season" as the players will get knackered.

I responded with;
@Shinobipony: @thebarryhorns same style over 46 championship match gave us top spot and the title. Don't expect title this season though!!!

@thebarryhorns: @Shinobipony good point shinobi

Spot on annis I have made numerous posts between end of season and start of this season stating what I believed would keep us in this division come next season and that was simply work ethic and work rate, every player giving 100% every game closing down opponents and hitting on the counter, this was clearly how we won the championship last year and I said all along I didn't see malky changes his style this year, and so far he hasn't, and why should he beeping hard to beat will give you more chance of staying in this league than free flowing football like Wigan who may score 3 but concede 4, the stoke/ Norwich mould has worked well for teams in recent years, if Mackay gets in a decent winger we may see 4-4-2 at home against lesser teams as I don't think mackays feels that noone and smith or Conway are high enough standard for this league but I see the christams tree formation in every game this year, and we have the ability to hurt teams and use the ball even in this formation as we showed glimpses against man city of good technical play and we have a good dead ball taker in whittingham, I'm hoping for a good season d

You need more to your game than"work ethic"....you also need a cutting edge......do City have that?..you tell me

If I have a concern about all this and that is we could quite easily burn ourselves out if we don't keep more ball possession.

It is proven that ball possession reserves energy levels. We might have a high work rate but our tanks will soon empty if we are continually chasing. We can't afford to give the ball away too easily like we have been doing come the middle of the season. Hopefully we will improve on this .

4 points against two of the best sides in the country. Agreed that we wouldn't be able to keep the exceptional levels of fitness up over 38 games, but thankfully there aren't many sides of the same standard of tempo and passing quality as the two we've faced in the last week

Yes agree. Hopefully we will not be up against that every week. Think we will be required to do it again against Spurs but hopefully a break from it against Hull and Fulham.

I seen a clip on sky I think it was, before our game Everton had kept more possession than anyone in the prem including the mighty Swansea who keep the ball in defence for 89mins lol.
So everyone possession yesterday was no surprise but they didn't really hurt us with it.

" MALKY'S TEAMS WORK ETHIC IS SECOND TO NONE "
Thats my opinion and thats what will keep us up this season



Chris Wathan: Cardiff City earn their luck as work ethic earns point after penalty escape
1st Sep 2013.

Chris Wathan watched the Bluebirds prove the Manchester City performance was no one off as the Bluebirds drew with Everton.

They say you earn your luck in football.

Cardiff City got theirs as they showed the Premier League the kind of attitude and application that shocked Manchester City is not going to be a one-off.

When the otherwise excellent Gary Medel dived in and brought down the flying Leighton Baines it was close to beyond comprehension that referee Anthony Taylor did not point to the spot.

Theories can abound as to why he didn’t – slight lack of control of the ball, a dive, a touch on the ball – but none really stood up to reality.

Certainly not Malky Mackay’s claim of it being “incredibly soft” anyway.

Yet if fortune is indeed earned by effort and organisation, then Cardiff were more than worthy of the 41st minute decision – or lack of it – to make it four points from three games.

Because, as Roberto Martinez rightly admitted after the game, Everton didn’t break through the Bluebirds to start bemoaning their bad luck.

Mainly because they couldn’t, such was the stubbornness of shape and confidence in each other’s roles in the side set out from Mackay.

And on the one real occasion they got close, David Marshall produced the kind of save that won promotion last term as a deflected Nikica Jelavic header failed to beat him even when wrong-footed.

The reward? A first clean sheet of the club’s Premier League era.

Cardiff City 0 -0 Everton

How many more he collects over the next nine months could tell a story of the season.

If Marshall was the last line, the determination to defend from the front was as important as Cardiff chased and kept up energy levels that tested the patience of Everton possession.

But it was Medel who shone, displaying a tactical intelligence that undermines all the ‘El Pitbull’ headlines and the YouTube analysis.

Other sides may eventually break down such an approach, but not Everton here – even with Ross Barkley showing all the guile and gliding play to warrant the recent hype about the 19-year-old England call-up.

And with such foundations there may even have been a winner in it for the hosts.

Indeed, had Craig Bellamy not taken a horribly heavy touch on the classy Kim Bo-Kyung’s through ball just after the hour mark, he may have sparked a second three-point party at Cardiff City Stadium in less than a week.

In all honesty, victory for Cardiff would have stretched the luck they had earned and the impressive Sylvain Distin was in no mood to offer the kind of chances Manchester City did less than a week ago.

That said, there was one point when Tim Howard looked like he fell for the same trick as Joe Hart did a week ago when the American goalkeeper appeared more concerned with Aron Gunnarsson’s presence than the corner delivery from Peter Whittingham.

As the 15th minute set-piece swung in, Howard had to scramble.

That small period of pressure amidst the Everton possession had all stemmed from Medel, refusing to let much pass his circle of influence and able to turn defence quickly into attack with a well-timed interception.

It was his ball over the top that set Fraizer Campbell scampering away on 24 minutes in a very similar manner as he did against Manchester City.

The difference here was that Distin ate up the ground to win the foot-race.

And Everton seemed that they had a player in Barkley that could prove the difference between the sides overall, so key in creativity as Cardiff’s defence creaked.

Had Kevin Mirallas made more of two free headers, this could have been a different afternoon.

His presence was crucial in the interchanges that are a hallmark of Martinez teams, heavily involved before Baines broke through for the crunch moment, swerving around Gunnarsson then tumbling as Medel recklessly slid in.

The referee who gave Aston Villa two penalties at the Emirates was not giving one here.

Reaction: Malky Mackay rubbishes Everton penalty claim after hard-earned draw

There was one more go from Everton before the break as Barkley dazzled and they camped outside the body-packed Bluebirds box, Seamus Coleman crossing, Jelavic’s header and the deflection off Ben Turner wrong-footing Marshall only for him to react and stretch a palm.

The Croatian had a further opportunity seven minutes after the restart, Barkley passing into his path only for him to awkwardly try with the outside of the boot than trusting a left-footed shot.

If Martinez refused to blame referee Taylor, he could do worse than blame his striker.

Having been faultless himself, Barkley then faded as Everton frustration grew, Martinez citing the 90 minutes in midweek as a factor, but it’s no doubt that Cardiff’s relentless opposition was equally as important.

Such frustration was evident when Manchester United target Marouane Fellaini brought down Campbell on the counter and then leant in with his forearm while the striker was on the floor.

Campbell reacted angrily but he should have known it meant Everton were sensing the worst.

Had Bellamy not pushed the pass from Kim way wide past Howard as he burst past Baines, it may well have been.

But as the game became tenser and Everton’s attacks became increasingly hopeful against a solid Cardiff back-line, a solitary point was on the cards.

And cheered at the final whistle all the same, supporters thankfully wise that it is another one in the tally along the way to 40 and beyond.

Everton may not have the same aura as Manchester City, the scoreline as eye-catching.

But the result could be just as significant – and just as hard-earned.

An excellent description. Defensively, that is as comprehensive as I have ever seen a Cardiff back 4. They will get the goals needed over the course of the season to ensure top-flight action next term