Leighton James column: Swansea City V Cardiff City

Leighton James column: Swansea City v Cardiff City lacked passion
South Wales Evening Post
Nov 7th, 2013

Leighton James says the South Wales derby last weekend was one of the quietest affairs he had ever witnessed between the two sides.

WAS that the most passionless South Wales derby of all time? I think so.

I couldn't believe how flat last Sunday's game between the two old rivals felt.

The fans sounded quieter than normal, while the players seemed lacking in spirit.

Cardiff's side were fractionally more up for it than Swansea — and that's why they won.

All the Swansea players will say they understood what the derby was about, they knew what it meant to the fans and how high the stakes were.

But I'm not convinced they got it.

Whatever the reason, I didn't see an awful lot of fire in that performance. There wasn't a card shown until the 87th minute, which I find staggering in a game between two supposedly bitter foes.

I tend to think if you have two teams fighting for the cause, a few players are going to see yellow.

I wouldn't normally criticise Michael Laudrup's substitutions, but I felt he got it wrong last weekend.

Leon Britton was probably Swansea's best midfielder, yet it was he that made way for Alejandro Pozuelo as Swansea chased the game.

Then, when Michu had to come off, first Alvaro Vazquez and then Wilfried Bony stood up.

It all seemed a bit disorganised.

1-0 to your capital Leighton.

Your Capital seemed to understand what was at stake.

1-0 to your capital Leighton.

Your Capital seemed to understand what was at stake.

He is just another a sad jack Bas**rd who thought they were going to hammer us

1-0 to your capital Leighton.

Your Capital seemed to understand what was at stake.

He is just another a sad jack Bas**rd who thought they were going to hammer us

Regardless of him being a Jack anyone who played football in the Welsh leagues when he was playing at that level know what a complete prick and nasty piece of work he was - even the way he treated the younger players in his own team... ask anyone who was playing at that time and they have zero respect for him as a person. Brilliant, brilliant winger, absolute cock of bloke. I am surprised why the media give him any time at all.

Leighton, I'll sum it up for you......Cardiff outplayed Swansea, outfought Swansea, outthought Swansea and outsung Swansea. Most importantly though, Cardiff outscored Swansea by 1 goal to NIL! Meaning the better team won the game and went above the other team in the League, and in doing so confirmed that they are the number 1 team in Wales. The truth is Cardiff treated it like a derby but Swansea didn't and you only have to beat what's in front of you. We didn't need to pick up yellow cards to beat a poor, toothless and clueless Swansea.

Wish someone would catch hold of him and throw him in sea

Massive chip on shoulder

Leighton, I'll sum it up for you......Cardiff outplayed Swansea, outfought Swansea, outthought Swansea and outsung Swansea. Most importantly though, Cardiff outscored Swansea by 1 goal to NIL! Meaning the better team won the game and went above the other team in the League, and in doing so confirmed that they are the number 1 team in Wales. The truth is Cardiff treated it like a derby but Swansea didn't and you only have to beat what's in front of you. We didn't need to pick up yellow cards to beat a poor, toothless and clueless Swansea.

My thoughts exactly

Leighton, I'll sum it up for you......Cardiff outplayed Swansea, outfought Swansea, outthought Swansea and outsung Swansea. Most importantly though, Cardiff outscored Swansea by 1 goal to NIL! Meaning the better team won the game and went above the other team in the League, and in doing so confirmed that they are the number 1 team in Wales. The truth is Cardiff treated it like a derby but Swansea didn't and you only have to beat what's in front of you. We didn't need to pick up yellow cards to beat a poor, toothless and clueless Swansea.

Very good post and 100% true, this guy is a cock of the highest order and sums up bitterness in a nutshell, he is an embarrassment to some decent jacks out there and the sooner he learns to keep his mouth shut the better. The most biased idiot in football prize goes to ........ Anyone care to fill in the gap.

C'mon guy's if Tucker had of wrote this piece instead of James I don't think any of you would have responded in the same way.What he says is essentially right.Bellamy/Rangel aside I didn't see that much going on all game and can't remember,if ever,only one person was booked in the history of our derby and that was big bad whits And the criticism is about swansea not cardiff.

C'mon guy's if Tucker had of wrote this piece instead of James I don't think any of you would have responded in the same way.What he says is essentially right.Bellamy/Rangel aside I didn't see that much going on all game and can't remember,if ever,only one person was booked in the history of our derby and that was big bad whits And the criticism is about swansea not cardiff.

Although finding your pro Tan stance distasteful. I will agree with you on this one.

C'mon guy's if Tucker had of wrote this piece instead of James I don't think any of you would have responded in the same way.What he says is essentially right.Bellamy/Rangel aside I didn't see that much going on all game and can't remember,if ever,only one person was booked in the history of our derby and that was big bad whits And the criticism is about swansea not cardiff.

Absolutely wrong! Leighton James only talks about what went wrong for Swansea, no mention of Cardiff doing anything right to win the game. Swansea couldn't break us down.....is that just because of them, or was it because of us? They couldn't score, was that because of them or because of us? We did score, was that because of them or because of us? We WON the game, but all Leighton James can see is that Swansea lost it! The criticism is of Swansea, you're right, but the man should have the balls to say that the better team won on the day, not that the team who was 'up for it' slightly less than the other lost it. Can't quite do it though can he....

C'mon guy's if Tucker had of wrote this piece instead of James I don't think any of you would have responded in the same way.What he says is essentially right.Bellamy/Rangel aside I didn't see that much going on all game and can't remember,if ever,only one person was booked in the history of our derby and that was big bad whits And the criticism is about swansea not cardiff.

Absolutely wrong! Leighton James only talks about what went wrong for Swansea, no mention of Cardiff doing anything right to win the game. Swansea couldn't break us down.....is that just because of them, or was it because of us? They couldn't score, was that because of them or because of us? We did score, was that because of them or because of us? We WON the game, but all Leighton James can see is that Swansea lost it! The criticism is of Swansea, you're right, but the man should have the balls to say that the better team won on the day, not that the team who was 'up for it' slightly less than the other lost it. Can't quite do it though can he....

I am not a James fan myself but there is little wrong with the article. The atmosphere was crap and I even remarked on this myself prior to us scoring. You must realise that the articke was about Swansea and how they did not play well. It would have been nice if James admitted that the reason the Jacks did not play well was due to us hounding them and putting them off their game but we all know he is too biased to give us any credit..

The bloke is a tw*t.Ignore him....we do.

C'mon guy's if Tucker had of wrote this piece instead of James I don't think any of you would have responded in the same way.What he says is essentially right.Bellamy/Rangel aside I didn't see that much going on all game and can't remember,if ever,only one person was booked in the history of our derby and that was big bad whits And the criticism is about swansea not cardiff.

Although finding your pro Tan stance distasteful. I will agree with you on this one.

I ain't got a pro-Tan stance-thats supposition on your part though,I guess you must know that now.

We took the sting out of the game and won it our way. So let's not give James any credit for suggesting it was all down to Swansea not turning up. They turned up, we just didn't let them play.

So much for "No Cardiff player would get into the Swansea Squad"... Perhaps we wants Swansea to be shite?

The bloke is a tw*t.Ignore him....we do.

Can't fault you there

The bloke is a tw*t.Ignore him....we do.

Can't fault you there

Enough said.

Loved how Malky totally dismissed James's pathetic attempt at getting under his skin earlier in the week.

This guy really needs to get help for his alcohol problem then lose that massive chip on his shoulder,lifes too short

The bloke is a tw*t.Ignore him....we do.

Shame those in power in the media don't ignore him.

Cannot understand why he is given airtime on radio. There must be a better jack out there to speak to about goings on at the liberty.

Of course the Jacks will think it was a shit derby. We beat them and outplayed them.

Loved how Malky totally dismissed James's pathetic attempt at getting under his skin earlier in the week.

This guy really needs to get help for his alcohol problem then lose that massive chip on his shoulder,lifes too short

Agreed the chip on his shoulder is bigger than his head, which is Biggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

We took the sting out of the game and won it our way. So let's not give James any credit for suggesting it was all down to Swansea not turning up. They turned up, we just didn't let them play.

If it had been the other way round the drunken tramp would have been hailing a Laudrup tactical master class

What an absolute tool, well thats an insult to tools at least they have a use

1-0 to your capital Leighton.

Your Capital seemed to understand what was at stake.

He is just another a sad jack Bas**rd who thought they were going to hammer us

Regardless of him being a Jack anyone who played football in the Welsh leagues when he was playing at that level know what a complete prick and nasty piece of work he was - even the way he treated the younger players in his own team... ask anyone who was playing at that time and they have zero respect for him as a person. Brilliant, brilliant winger, absolute cock of bloke. I am surprised why the media give him any time at all.

"Whatever the reason, I didn't see an awful lot of fire in that performance. There wasn't a card shown until the 87th minute, which I find staggering in a game between two supposedly bitter foes.

I tend to think if you have two teams fighting for the cause, a few players are going to see yellow."

So if you want to win a game against your rivals you should be breaking the rules otherwise that means you're not up for it. What a tool.

Of course the Jacks will think it was a shit derby. We beat them and outplayed them.

Exactly! Had the jacks triumphed on Sunday, that article would have been much more upbeat. But they lost, meaning that what they're saying is essentially 'oh, it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be'.

C'mon guy's if Tucker had of wrote this piece instead of James I don't think any of you would have responded in the same way.What he says is essentially right.Bellamy/Rangel aside I didn't see that much going on all game and can't remember,if ever,only one person was booked in the history of our derby and that was big bad whits And the criticism is about swansea not cardiff.

That could have been a red card in all honesty. It was essentially a scissor tackle from behind!

I said in the build up to it on here to some Swansea fan that the players who were at Swansea wouldn't fully grasp it and they didn't. Despite a few poor performances by the Swans I thought they would of been rared up for it but it was just another game in the league for them.

Michu, Flores were 2 players who played like it was another game noticeably.