WHY CITY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY BETTER OFF UNDER MALKY

WHY CITY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY BETTER OFF UNDER MALKY... ; THE THINKING FAN'S CARDIFF CITY COLUMN
03/06/2014

I can guarantee you this, if Malky Mackay had been kept in charge Cardiff City wouldn't be in the mess they are.

So declared Mark Lawrenson, in quite unequivocal style, on Match of the Day shortly after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Bluebirds had been narrowly defeated by Spurs.

Quite how any BBC pundit could possibly 'guarantee' such a thing is beyond my comprehension, to be honest. Nonetheless, Malky versus Ole has become something of talking point amongst those looking in from the outside, as well as a section of Bluebirds fans viewing their club's plight closer up.

"We were never in the bottom three under Malky," is the common assertion.

Which, factually, is indeed the case, if you dismiss the table on the opening day of the season, of course.

"He wouldn't have had us down there at this stage either," is the other claim.

I'm not quite so sure about that one.

Unlike Lawrenson, I'm not going to make brash guarantees in public that I can't possibly back up.

We will never know. What I can offer is an opinion. And mine is that were Mackay to have carried on at the helm, Cardiff City would be pretty much in the same position as they are today under Solskjaer.

In the bottom three, 10 games to go... a right old relegation scrap on their hands. That's certainly not meant as a criticism of Mackay, more an observation that the Bluebirds were always destined to be involved in a battle to avoid the drop which would go right to the wire.

While Mackay was still in situ, I argued in these pages that the Bluebirds could find themselves down at the bottom of the Premier League table by the end of January.

Why? Because they were facing daunting away matches in the new year at Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, fixtures which were almost certainly going to result in nil points for the Bluebirds.

And that would have been the case whether Mackay, Solskjaer or a managerial mix of Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Alex Ferguson was in charge of the team.

Once in the bottom three, the psychological effect meant it was going to be one heck of an ask to get back out of there.

The key to not being put in that position, I argued, was to ensure Christmas period home matches against Southampton and Sunderland were won, taking six crucial points.

Under Mackay, the Bluebirds crashed 3-0 at home to Southampton. The result took them down to 16th in the table, just one point clear of the relegation spots.

Two days on, Mackay's old No.2 David Kerslake having taken temporary charge, City drew with Sunderland.

Given the horror away day schedule to come, we knew what was about to happen. And it has.

Mackay performed a splendid job in making his Bluebirds competitive. No-one will forget the history-making victories achieved under his watch against Manchester City (first Premier League match in the Welsh capital) and Swansea (first Premier League Welsh derby).

His record read: Played 18 Won 4, Drew 5 Lost 9, Goals scored 13, Goals against 28. That was a pretty decent effort, given the task for the Bluebirds in their first season in the top flight was to stabilise themselves.

Cardiff 's problem under Mackay - as it is now under Solskjaer - was that they struggled to score goals and that was going to take its toll as the season wore on.

In an effort to make his side as difficult as possible to beat, Mackay packed men behind the ball... which in turn meant little creativity going forward. Cardiff, were most likely to threaten from a set piece, rather than from open play.

In his last 10 matches at the helm, Mackay's Bluebirds scored just five goals and were involved in some drab encounters at Norwich, Stoke, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and home to Southampton.

One of Cardiff 's great strengths under their previous boss was their energy, work-rate and defensive resilience. Those qualities were always going to be at their highest at the beginning of a campaign, before fatigue and injuries began to bite. Once the inevitable defeats started to come, there was a danger the energy levels would dip because confi-dence would be affected.

The Bluebirds' hierarchy, rightly or wrongly, deemed a change was required ahead of that January sequence of fixtures and believed Solskjaer was the man.

Solskjaer came here with a big reputation, a young manager reportedly wanted by a glut of other clubs at home and abroad.

Thus far he hasn't justified that hype, as a record of played eight in the Premier, lost six, would indicate, but he's got to be better than we've seen thus far.

Solskjaer would be the first to acknowledge he has made errors. In team selection and in tactics.

I also believe the intensity of a Swansea versus Cardiff game came as a shock to a superstar who, given his halcyon days at the top with Manchester United, may not have fully grasped the magnitude of a little old Welsh derby occasion.

The trouble is Solskjaer has taken over a team pitched right into the middle of a relegation battle. He has no time to learn about his players on the job, as such, but he is having to.

Constant changes to the team, and tactics, not only mean a lack of consistency, it has also led to complete confusion.

Mackay's battle-hardened approach may have made been better suited for the relegation dogfight ahead of the Bluebirds. However, in defeat to Spurs on Sunday, Solskjaer appeared much closer to getting it right, his side looking better organised and not as if they were going to leak goals every time the opposition went forward.

Further tinkering is required for this weekend's must-win showdown with Fulham, but it's minor. Ben Turner has to make way for Jordon Mutch. No need for three centre-backs at home. Personally, I would also give Wilfried Zaha another go at the expense of Kim Bo- kyung.

Zaha has looked a luxury player, even lazy. But there is no point in having a footballer of his mercurial talents on your books if he isn't going to be utilised when victories are so desperately required.

The Bluebirds charged with duty at the Lane will form the nucleus of the team trying to rescue the Premier dream in the final 10 matches of the season.

Solskjaer needs to provide the managerial magic to get them out of trouble.

Can he? There are no guarantees in football... whatever Mark Lawrenson may think.

http://www.4-traders.com/news/WHY-CITY- ... -18055117/

Malky's team tried to defend, Ole's don't bother with that part of the game.

We may have got better results against Sunderland, West Ham and Hull with Malky in charge. I wouldn't guarantee we would be out of bottom three but it is extremely likely considering we only need 3 or 4 points and Ole's tactics are completely inept.

Malky's team tried to defend, Ole's don't bother with that part of the game.

We may have got better results against Sunderland, West Ham and Hull with Malky in charge. I wouldn't guarantee we would be out of bottom three but it is extremely likely considering we only need 3 or 4 points and Ole's tactics are completely inept.

If you call conceding 2/3 goals a game an attempt to defend then I'm speechless.

Malkys tactics were still in place for the sunderland game, and guess what we were 2~0 up and cowie and gunnar were brought on, classic malky subs sit back and defend.malky style, stunk of malky that game, just shows what a downward spiral we were on.

Malky's team tried to defend, Ole's don't bother with that part of the game.

We may have got better results against Sunderland, West Ham and Hull with Malky in charge. I wouldn't guarantee we would be out of bottom three but it is extremely likely considering we only need 3 or 4 points and Ole's tactics are completely inept.

If you call conceding 2/3 goals a game an attempt to defend then I'm speechless.

It was an attempt......just not a very good one

Opinions, opinion, opinion.

My opinion is the OP is wrong

Malky wasnt manager for the sunderland game

Im not going to buy any rubbish about Malkys 'Tactics' in place - He was no longer at Cardiff and that result cannot be attributed to him

I would like to say it was always inevitable that we would end up in this position under Tan - he has created the whole sorry situation with the manager, he has turned fans against each other and he is responsible for sucking the soul out of the football club

Under Malky, Solskjaer or any other manager it was always likely that we would be in the relegation battle - we are Cardiff City and we have no right to expect middle table finishes in our first season in the premier league.

At the start of the season none of our Fans (and apparently Tans administration) expected any more than surviving relegation - why after the first game everyone lost their grip on reality and started expecting a champions league spot I dont know

Malky wasnt manager for the sunderland game

Im not going to buy any rubbish about Malkys 'Tactics' in place - He was no longer at Cardiff and that result cannot be attributed to him

I would like to say it was always inevitable that we would end up in this position under Tan - he has created the whole sorry situation with the manager, he has turned fans against each other and he is responsible for sucking the soul out of the football club

Under Malky, Solskjaer or any other manager it was always likely that we would be in the relegation battle - we are Cardiff City and we have no right to expect middle table finishes in our first season in the premier league.

At the start of the season none of our Fans (and apparently Tans administration) expected any more than surviving relegation - why after the first game everyone lost their grip on reality and started expecting a champions league spot I dont know

If you believe 17th was a good season after spending £50m then Im afraid you are the deluded one.

You blame Tan for the shit this season and thats why we are bottom. Last season we had more shit and we finished Top so im afraid, it doesnt effect the players like you're alluding to.

A combination of very poor signings and tactics have got us to where we are. Hopefully Ole, long term, is the right appointment. Time will tell.

Whet a ridiculous article, the opening line suggests you cannot say, with any conviction, what would happen had Malky remained, then spent the rest of the article trying to do so.



As for anyone saying Malky had anything to do with the Sunderland game, they are massively incorrect.

Malky wasnt manager for the sunderland game

Im not going to buy any rubbish about Malkys 'Tactics' in place - He was no longer at Cardiff and that result cannot be attributed to him

I would like to say it was always inevitable that we would end up in this position under Tan - he has created the whole sorry situation with the manager, he has turned fans against each other and he is responsible for sucking the soul out of the football club

Under Malky, Solskjaer or any other manager it was always likely that we would be in the relegation battle - we are Cardiff City and we have no right to expect middle table finishes in our first season in the premier league.

At the start of the season none of our Fans (and apparently Tans administration) expected any more than surviving relegation - why after the first game everyone lost their grip on reality and started expecting a champions league spot I dont know

If you believe 17th was a good season after spending £50m then Im afraid you are the deluded one.

You blame Tan for the shit this season and thats why we are bottom. Last season we had more shit and we finished Top so im afraid, it doesnt effect the players like you're alluding to.

A combination of very poor signings and tactics have got us to where we are. Hopefully Ole, long term, is the right appointment. Time will tell.

We wern't 17th under Malky...

It's all hypothetical and the sooner we get on with things the better.liked malky for his rapport with the fans and what he done for us. That will never be taken away from him but the football could be very dull on times. Ole has got to start getting results but a lot seem to forget he inherited most of this team at a time of one of our most difficult section of games. His tactics and selections have at times baffled some but hopefully he can turn it around starting on saturday.

Malky wasnt manager for the sunderland game

Im not going to buy any rubbish about Malkys 'Tactics' in place - He was no longer at Cardiff and that result cannot be attributed to him

I would like to say it was always inevitable that we would end up in this position under Tan - he has created the whole sorry situation with the manager, he has turned fans against each other and he is responsible for sucking the soul out of the football club

Under Malky, Solskjaer or any other manager it was always likely that we would be in the relegation battle - we are Cardiff City and we have no right to expect middle table finishes in our first season in the premier league.

At the start of the season none of our Fans (and apparently Tans administration) expected any more than surviving relegation - why after the first game everyone lost their grip on reality and started expecting a champions league spot I dont know

If you believe 17th was a good season after spending £50m then Im afraid you are the deluded one.

You blame Tan for the shit this season and thats why we are bottom. Last season we had more shit and we finished Top so im afraid, it doesnt effect the players like you're alluding to.

A combination of very poor signings and tactics have got us to where we are. Hopefully Ole, long term, is the right appointment. Time will tell.

We wern't 17th under Malky...

Please read before making a counter comment.

Opinions, opinion, opinion.

My opinion is the OP is wrong

It is worth pointing out that I only found the Article and posted it with link.
I have not suggested it is my article or opinion.

The only fact you can attribute to the argument is that the stats show that malkys teams tend to start well but run out of steam towards the end of the season.
It happened to him at Watford and last season we won only three of the last thirteen games drawing the last four.
I remember Gary Neville passing a comment on his Monday night show that with the amount of effort our players were putting in over 90 minutes he thought we would burn ourselves out quite quickly.
Personally I just think our squad has remained mainly a championship side through two transfer windows and I think if most people were honest with themselves when the fixtures came out we expected to be bottom three come the end of January.
We can argue all day if Malky would have kept us etc but in my opinion the slide had started and the quality of the squad was just not good enough

The only fact you can attribute to the argument is that the stats show that malkys teams tend to start well but run out of steam towards the end of the season.
It happened to him at Watford and last season we won only three of the last thirteen games drawing the last four.
I remember Gary Neville passing a comment on his Monday night show that with the amount of effort our players were putting in over 90 minutes he thought we would burn ourselves out quite quickly.
Personally I just think our squad has remained mainly a championship side through two transfer windows and I think if most people were honest with themselves when the fixtures came out we expected to be bottom three come the end of January.
We can argue all day if Malky would have kept us etc but in my opinion the slide had started and the quality of the squad was just not good enough

Spot on Steve.

The only fact you can attribute to the argument is that the stats show that malkys teams tend to start well but run out of steam towards the end of the season.
It happened to him at Watford and last season we won only three of the last thirteen games drawing the last four.
I remember Gary Neville passing a comment on his Monday night show that with the amount of effort our players were putting in over 90 minutes he thought we would burn ourselves out quite quickly.
Personally I just think our squad has remained mainly a championship side through two transfer windows and I think if most people were honest with themselves when the fixtures came out we expected to be bottom three come the end of January.
We can argue all day if Malky would have kept us etc but in my opinion the slide had started and the quality of the squad was just not good enough

Apart from last season where Malky for the first time had a squad big enough to keep it going all season. Also only 38 games this season instead of 46. I think saying that we would have run out of steam is just a guess and doesn't give Ole enough credit for his awful tactics which would only work if we had one of the top squads in the league.

The only fact you can attribute to the argument is that the stats show that malkys teams tend to start well but run out of steam towards the end of the season.
It happened to him at Watford and last season we won only three of the last thirteen games drawing the last four.
I remember Gary Neville passing a comment on his Monday night show that with the amount of effort our players were putting in over 90 minutes he thought we would burn ourselves out quite quickly.
Personally I just think our squad has remained mainly a championship side through two transfer windows and I think if most people were honest with themselves when the fixtures came out we expected to be bottom three come the end of January.
We can argue all day if Malky would have kept us etc but in my opinion the slide had started and the quality of the squad was just not good enough

Apart from last season where Malky for the first time had a squad big enough to keep it going all season. Also only 38 games this season instead of 46. I think saying that we would have run out of steam is just a guess and doesn't give Ole enough credit for his awful tactics which would only work if we had one of the top squads in the league.

We had run out of steam by the Southampton game

I thought the OP was as good an opinion as I've seen on this board this season.Unfortunately if your not frothing at the mouth with Tan hatred and your not the type to get a hard on every time Malky does a fist pump then there's little in there to cheer you.You get the feeling that if the OP had ended by saying it was all Tans fault then it wouldn't have got some of the one-eyed shit in reply.

Malky wasnt manager for the sunderland game

Im not going to buy any rubbish about Malkys 'Tactics' in place - He was no longer at Cardiff and that result cannot be attributed to him

I would like to say it was always inevitable that we would end up in this position under Tan - he has created the whole sorry situation with the manager, he has turned fans against each other and he is responsible for sucking the soul out of the football club

Under Malky, Solskjaer or any other manager it was always likely that we would be in the relegation battle - we are Cardiff City and we have no right to expect middle table finishes in our first season in the premier league.

At the start of the season none of our Fans (and apparently Tans administration) expected any more than surviving relegation - why after the first game everyone lost their grip on reality and started expecting a champions league spot I dont know

If you believe 17th was a good season after spending £50m then Im afraid you are the deluded one.

You blame Tan for the shit this season and thats why we are bottom. Last season we had more shit and we finished Top so im afraid, it doesnt effect the players like you're alluding to.

A combination of very poor signings and tactics have got us to where we are. Hopefully Ole, long term, is the right appointment. Time will tell.

We wern't 17th under Malky...

Ole took a step down joining Cardiff, Molde is higher on the rankings... Numbers are so fun..

Malky wasnt manager for the sunderland game

Im not going to buy any rubbish about Malkys 'Tactics' in place - He was no longer at Cardiff and that result cannot be attributed to him

I would like to say it was always inevitable that we would end up in this position under Tan - he has created the whole sorry situation with the manager, he has turned fans against each other and he is responsible for sucking the soul out of the football club

Under Malky, Solskjaer or any other manager it was always likely that we would be in the relegation battle - we are Cardiff City and we have no right to expect middle table finishes in our first season in the premier league.

At the start of the season none of our Fans (and apparently Tans administration) expected any more than surviving relegation - why after the first game everyone lost their grip on reality and started expecting a champions league spot I dont know

Sunday was the first time I didn't see a bit of Malky still in the team, they still had the mentality instilled in them a while after as that was the way they were drilled to play. It was the go to response even at 2 up against Sunderland even with Malky not in charge and it's obviously taken time to train the players to play differently. Not gonna slag Malky off as it's pathetic but it was never going to change instantly.

A sticky finally ,well done mods !

Malkys tactics were still in place for the sunderland game, and guess what we were 2~0 up and cowie and gunnar were brought on, classic malky subs sit back and defend.malky style, stunk of malky that game, just shows what a downward spiral we were on.

We would have won that if theo had,nt past the ball to a Sunderland player instead of putting it into touch with thirty seconds to play. Hardly Malky's mistake.Answers on a postcard.

Malkys tactics were still in place for the sunderland game, and guess what we were 2~0 up and cowie and gunnar were brought on, classic malky subs sit back and defend.malky style, stunk of malky that game, just shows what a downward spiral we were on.

We would have won that if theo had,nt past the ball to a Sunderland player instead of putting it into touch with thirty seconds to play. Hardly Malky's mistake.Answers on a postcard.

Malky signed KTC so yes it was Malkys fault