" POOR START BUT BELIEF IS GROWING "

A massive win, nothing else other than a win would have been good enough today as far as I was concerned.

Ole went with an attacking midfield which he pledged his style of play would be but the first 30 mins of the first half we were very ordinary and at times defensively truly awful, you could see the pressure was getting to some of the players and there was a lack of composure and two players in particular were particularly poor, Turner and Whiitingham.

Misguided passes and not picking up runners was the biggest concern I had about the pair of them. Make no bones about it Whittingham's free kick was shocking, I was surprised that Ole made the decision to sub Whitts so early in the game but it shows to every player if you are not on your game, the manager will make the change whenever he feels is right, he doesn't hang about with his decisions he is ruthless with his choices.

It is an embarrassment for any player to be hauled off before half time and i have read comments on here by fans and Bellamy but I didn't hear any booing of Whitts when he was subbed, I genuinely thought that the cheering was for Zaha who was coming on.

It is sad to read though that fans behaved in this manner towards any City player, I agree he had to be taken off but shouldn't be getting abuse as well.

The substitution itself though was the catalyst for the comeback, moving Bellamy inside and having the flair of Zaha and Noone out wide was, in spells, brilliant to watch. I thought that Bellamy would be sacrificed for Eikrem as the game wore on but Ole stuck with his decision and proved to have got it spot on.

I was delighted that Kenwyne Jones got a debut goal and he showed his worth to the side up front and at defending, Fabio had an excellent debut too and his tenacity is going to serve us well.

On the break City looked a real threat with Zaha's pace and trickery providing us with a natural outlet.

We had leaders come to the fore as the game wore on, Turner turned his game around and was immense with some of his challenges in the second half, Caulker put his body and head on the line countless times for the cause and Bellamy's worth shone throughout.

David Marshall's top class saves again made him my man of the match, I was surprised that there was no apparent interest in him during the transfer window.

Declan John got more valuable game time under his belt with another good display from the young full back.

It was a nervy last 15 mins with Norwich penning us back in our own box but the players stood up to the challenge and Dane through it.

There is going to be many games this season where we will be right up against it but the result and certainly second half performance today gives me belief that there is a fight among the players to have go.

Medel was back to what we saw at the beginning of the season and that was another pleasing factor.

Now we have to build on today and get a mini run of results going, the Swansea game will be nervous, frantic occasion but I do believe we can go to the Liberty and come away with a point at the very least.

Dig in guys it is going to be one hell of a scrap between now and May.

We must get out of this habit of starting slowly which seems to have been a feature of most of Ole's games so far and has cost us some early goals.

Good comeback though but I do wish for the sake of my heart that we didn't seem to spend the last 20 minutes camped in our own 18 yard box!

Witts shouldn't of started IMO, he offers nothing, when Zaha came on we had another demention, stacks of pace down the wing, trickery and killer passes. I wish witts would also stop taking the set pieces as we have not had a sniff at goal from one of his free kicks. I am not getting at witts, its just he is not good enough for this level and is a liability to the team, he offers nothing going forward we looked a different team when he was off. My only other worry is turner who is very unsettling at back, fabio looked good to me for his first game, abit rusty but can become a city star

I'm so glad he did'nt take Bellamy off, he was driving our players on towards the end of the game Carl. He was the leader on the pitch when we needed a leader. He's a true Cardiff City man through and through. Kenwynne looked great for us along with Fabio ,Fabio has a lovely touch with pace and power .. And Zaha is going to be great for us .. We are in a scrap but i think we can come through it !! In the last 6 weeks we have played Liverpool Arsenal Man City and Man utd all away .. How many teams in this league would have come through those games with any points ?
We can stay up

Agree

Carl, I think we can go to the council-owned Library Stadium with a certain confidence and belief after today, knowing the 'pressure' will be on a stuttering Swansea side that are more than looking over their shoulders on current form

A great battling display today (plus Lady Luck was with us for once ) and everyone gave their all for the cause, including an unfairly maligned Peter Whittingham, who IMHO was rightly defended by Craig Bellamy

Good debuts for Fabio, Zaha and Kenwyne Jones and if anyone other than David Marshall is awarded Man of the Match, I will be astounded. Some of those saves (looking forward to MOTD later) were world class!

My only real concerns were (as usual) far too much ball given away cheaply in the middle of the park, the 'promsing' Declan John's lack of end product when upfield (looks too long for options from initially good position) and the scary moments that followed after KTC came on!

Overall though, a great battling display on a day we simply HAD to win; and that bodes well for certain games to come, starting with the game down the road next weekend

Only good Managers realise their selection mistakes and rectify it asap, Ole did just that. Zahar made a big difference when he came on. Medal had a lot more room in midfield and that helped his game and it showed. Jones what a difference to have a target man who wins the ball and flicks it on pleased he scored after all his hard work and what defending at the end of the game.

We mustn't sit back and play so deep we're inviting trouble, Marshy was phenomenal and earned us those 3 point.

A great springboard for next week, it time for a long winning run.

Keep up the hard work boys.

I am in 122 (family) and we had clowns waving bye to him, fcukwitts

Ole changed the system as Mutch & Bellamy were only having a slightly better game than Whitts.

Bringing on an England international forward will alway make us better for f**k sake. The revised system worked a lot better. Mutch played much better in the revised system and had to sit and manage his runs. Bellamy is a 10 nowadays but not the force of old.

Gunnarson coming on sent the white flag up the pole and Norwich who are really poor (4 points off them proves that) looked like brazil in the last 10 mins. It was Sunderland again but with a bit of luck.

Why are we crap in the last 10 mins, the fans, we are the biggest bottle jobs out there......

A massive win, nothing else other than a win would have been good enough today as far as I was concerned.

Ole went with an attacking midfield which he pledged his style of play would be but the first 30 mins of the first half we were very ordinary and at times defensively truly awful, you could see the pressure was getting to some of the players and there was a lack of composure and two players in particular were particularly poor, Turner and Whiitingham.

Misguided passes and not picking up runners was the biggest concern I had about the pair of them. Make no bones about it Whittingham's free kick was shocking, I was surprised that Ole made the decision to sub Whitts so early in the game but it shows to every player if you are not on your game, the manager will make the change whenever he feels is right, he doesn't hang about with his decisions he is ruthless with his choices.

It is an embarrassment for any player to be hauled off before half time and i have read comments on here by fans and Bellamy but I didn't hear any booing of Whitts when he was subbed, I genuinely thought that the cheering was for Zaha who was coming on.

It is sad to read though that fans behaved in this manner towards any City player, I agree he had to be taken off but shouldn't be getting abuse as well.

The substitution itself though was the catalyst for the comeback, moving Bellamy inside and having the flair of Zaha and Noone out wide was, in spells, brilliant to watch. I thought that Bellamy would be sacrificed for Eikrem as the game wore on but Ole stuck with his decision and proved to have got it spot on.

I was delighted that Kenwyne Jones got a debut goal and he showed his worth to the side up front and at defending, Fabio had an excellent debut too and his tenacity is going to serve us well.

On the break City looked a real threat with Zaha's pace and trickery providing us with a natural outlet.

We had leaders come to the fore as the game wore on, Turner turned his game around and was immense with some of his challenges in the second half, Caulker put his body and head on the line countless times for the cause and Bellamy's worth shone throughout.

David Marshall's top class saves again made him my man of the match, I was surprised that there was no apparent interest in him during the transfer window.

Declan John got more valuable game time under his belt with another good display from the young full back.

It was a nervy last 15 mins with Norwich penning us back in our own box but the players stood up to the challenge and Dane through it.

There is going to be many games this season where we will be right up against it but the result and certainly second half performance today gives me belief that there is a fight among the players to have go.

Medel was back to what we saw at the beginning of the season and that was another pleasing factor.

Now we have to build on today and get a mini run of results going, the Swansea game will be nervous, frantic occasion but I do believe we can go to the Liberty and come away with a point at the very least.

Dig in guys it is going to be one hell of a scrap between now and May.

I think we couldn't have expected anything else for that last section of the game. Norwich made 3 attacking substitutions as they knew how much this game meant. I just hope the manner and style of the defeat and victory drags them more into the battle and spurs us on to greater things.

End of the day, we've won 3 of 5 in all competitions and the ones we lost in the premiership were against a beastly city and Manchester United, and we even put up a fight in those matches. Definitely feeling more confident but like you said if we can get more goals in the first half then I'll feel even better. Come on Ole, come on bluebirds, let's smash Swansea too

Absolutely disgusted that 'supporters' would boo Witts or clap when he is subbed off. All the boo boys need to stay at home and boo at their TV. We don't need you in our stadium unless you want to get fully behind our team. Whittingham has been a hero for us for many seasons and regardless of his performance, deserves nothing but respect from the crowd. Leave the dressing down to the manager and the away fans. Ultimately, if he's not good enough, Ole has shown that he's ruthless enough to make the difficult decisions with his early sub.

If you want to boo, stay at home. All we need for the rest of the season is 100% support for the team and we have a chance of staying up. Anything else, we'll get what we deserve.

I agree with llan Bluebird. Putting Gunnarson on just invited a poor team to attack us.

Hopefully this win will give us enough confidence to avoid playing so deep at the end of the game.

I'm not a big fan of Mendel but he was magnificent.

It was great to see Jones playing with a smile on his face too. He's brilliant at defending corners.

I agree with llan Bluebird. Putting Gunnarson on just invited a poor team to attack us.

Hopefully this win will give us enough confidence to avoid playing so deep at the end of the game.

I'm not a big fan of Mendel but he was magnificent.

It was great to see Jones playing with a smile on his face too. He's brilliant at defending corners.

Cannot understand how any one cannot be a fan of Medal!
Up until a few games ago he was magnificent in every game we played. Yes he's been off recently but today he was back to his best or close to it.

I disagree.

I agree with all of that Carl although I am unconvinced by Turner. His distribution constantly puts us under pressure and his marking is poor.... tackling wise he's great but no where near good enough.

Was nice seeing medel a little more mobile and further forward at times than he has been.

All about confidence and belief now as I believe we have the quality to survive. A win Saturday would really kick-start a survival push... although I would be happy with a draw.

Great summary, great endorsement from Pikey.

Massive February. Seriously need to leave the emotion to one side. Waited 50 odd years for this and we need set aside our differences and keep us where we belong. Starting next week against the Fack Juckers.