' Cardiff City at present and the rest of the season '
Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:05 am
The Championship precedent Cardiff City must reach to make sure faith in safety is well-placed
Updated League Table viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145418
Wednesday 3rd February 2015
By Steve Tucker
The Bluebirds are 13th in the Championship table but will have to reverse a woeful run of form in the coming weeks
Russell Slade does not believe Cardiff City are being dragged into a Championship relegation battle which makes the Bluebirds’ boss something of a rarity in the Welsh capital.
Another disappointing defeat, this time at the hands of high-flying Derby on the weekend, saw Cardiff start to hover just seven points above the bottom three with the season approaching the ‘business end’ as they say.
The Rams’ reverse was a fourth defeat on the bounce for the Bluebirds, a sad statistic last matched way back in March and April of 2007. Recent results have set alarm bells ringing for anyone with a regard for the club, but, as we say, not for their manager.
Poor run
Cardiff right now perhaps could be forgiven a sense of false security when it comes to their situation.
They are, after all, still 13th in the Championship table. That means there are 11 other clubs currently in a worse predicament than Slade and his men. An awful lot would surely have to go wrong for the Bluebirds to trouble the trap door places?
The problem is that at Cardiff an awful lot is actually going wrong right now.
Under Slade, despite a good start particularly at home, results it would be fair to say have well and truly dried up. Cardiff have just the one win now in their last nine Championship outings, a 1-0 home victory over Fulham last month.
Cardiff City's last nine Championship games
To throw that forward, in stark terms that are perhaps not all together fair, there are now 18 Championship games left, at the current rate of success for Cardiff that would mean just two more wins for the Bluebirds. Relegation form in anybody’s book.
Records show that an average of around 50 points (49.7 to be exact) are usually required to beat the drop in the second-tier. That is the average of the past ten seasons the Championship has been operating.
Of course things vary, last season Birmingham survived on the lowest points tally ever, with the Blues safe with just 44, but the year before Barnsley needed an amazing 11 points more, 55 in total, to avoid dropping to League One.
Slight improvement
Cardiff are currently on 34 points meaning Slade and his men need to find another 14 points from the 18 games left between now and the end of the campaign.
That would not seem too tall an order, of course, until you factor in another element and that is just how poorly the Bluebirds are performing of late.
Anyone who has seen the Bluebirds in action recently will surely not be sharing the optimism of Slade himself right now. Against Derby there was actually a slight improvement, but that was inevitable following the cup exit to Reading when even the most seasoned Cardiff watcher struggled to recall a more ineffectual showing from their side than the second 45 minutes produced against the Royals.
The poor performances have been going on for some time too with the form table telling its own troubling story, over the last six matches only Millwall, Nottingham Forest and Charlton have been in worse shape than the Bluebirds.
Despite the reasonably buoyant league placing you look at the up-coming fixtures and find yourself concerned as to where Cardiff are going to pick up those precious points they need.
But pick up the points they must with February now looking critical when it comes to deciding the ultimate destiny of Slade and his men. The shortest month is busy for the Bluebirds with a third of those remaining 18 matches shoe-horned into this month.
And there are some definitive encounters within it too. After the next outing at Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff welcome struggling Brighton to the Welsh capital.
Pressure release
That it has to be said is a massive encounter.
A win over Brighton and the release of pressure would be intense, the three points denied the visitors as important as the three earned, a defeat, though, would drag Cardiff just that little bit deeper into trouble.
Similarly encounters against Huddersfield and Wigan too this month will have a profound effect.
There are a couple of factors though that will give Bluebirds supporters some comfort as they cast a fretful eye over the bottom half of the Championship table and those two factors are Blackpool and Wigan.
Cardiff City's crucial February:
Saturday, 7th: Sheffield Wednesday (away)
Tuesday, 10th: Brighton (home)
Tuesday, 17th: Blackburn (home)
Saturday, 21st: Huddersfield (away)
Tuesday, 24th: Wigan (away)
Saturday, 28th: Wolves (home)
The Tangerines have struggled all season and have just 20 points to their name leaving them 14 points behind the Bluebirds’ total right now whilst the Latics, under former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay are only two points better off.
You would look at those two and imagine, barring some sort of miracle, they are already doomed.
That would leave just one relegation spot up for grabs for Cardiff to worry about and there is surely a team in even worse shape than the Bluebirds themselves to fill that berth.
Indeed Cardiff might well survive the drop by default, somebody else’s deficiencies, rather their own virtues, might just hold the key this term.
Their manager seems confident that will be the case, but, for the rest of us, the future does not appear quite so clear cut at the moment.
Updated League Table viewtopic.php?f=2&t=145418
Wednesday 3rd February 2015
By Steve Tucker
The Bluebirds are 13th in the Championship table but will have to reverse a woeful run of form in the coming weeks
Russell Slade does not believe Cardiff City are being dragged into a Championship relegation battle which makes the Bluebirds’ boss something of a rarity in the Welsh capital.
Another disappointing defeat, this time at the hands of high-flying Derby on the weekend, saw Cardiff start to hover just seven points above the bottom three with the season approaching the ‘business end’ as they say.
The Rams’ reverse was a fourth defeat on the bounce for the Bluebirds, a sad statistic last matched way back in March and April of 2007. Recent results have set alarm bells ringing for anyone with a regard for the club, but, as we say, not for their manager.
Poor run Cardiff right now perhaps could be forgiven a sense of false security when it comes to their situation.
They are, after all, still 13th in the Championship table. That means there are 11 other clubs currently in a worse predicament than Slade and his men. An awful lot would surely have to go wrong for the Bluebirds to trouble the trap door places?
The problem is that at Cardiff an awful lot is actually going wrong right now.
Under Slade, despite a good start particularly at home, results it would be fair to say have well and truly dried up. Cardiff have just the one win now in their last nine Championship outings, a 1-0 home victory over Fulham last month.
Cardiff City's last nine Championship games To throw that forward, in stark terms that are perhaps not all together fair, there are now 18 Championship games left, at the current rate of success for Cardiff that would mean just two more wins for the Bluebirds. Relegation form in anybody’s book.
Records show that an average of around 50 points (49.7 to be exact) are usually required to beat the drop in the second-tier. That is the average of the past ten seasons the Championship has been operating.
Of course things vary, last season Birmingham survived on the lowest points tally ever, with the Blues safe with just 44, but the year before Barnsley needed an amazing 11 points more, 55 in total, to avoid dropping to League One.
Slight improvement Cardiff are currently on 34 points meaning Slade and his men need to find another 14 points from the 18 games left between now and the end of the campaign.
That would not seem too tall an order, of course, until you factor in another element and that is just how poorly the Bluebirds are performing of late.
Anyone who has seen the Bluebirds in action recently will surely not be sharing the optimism of Slade himself right now. Against Derby there was actually a slight improvement, but that was inevitable following the cup exit to Reading when even the most seasoned Cardiff watcher struggled to recall a more ineffectual showing from their side than the second 45 minutes produced against the Royals.
The poor performances have been going on for some time too with the form table telling its own troubling story, over the last six matches only Millwall, Nottingham Forest and Charlton have been in worse shape than the Bluebirds.
Despite the reasonably buoyant league placing you look at the up-coming fixtures and find yourself concerned as to where Cardiff are going to pick up those precious points they need.
But pick up the points they must with February now looking critical when it comes to deciding the ultimate destiny of Slade and his men. The shortest month is busy for the Bluebirds with a third of those remaining 18 matches shoe-horned into this month.
And there are some definitive encounters within it too. After the next outing at Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff welcome struggling Brighton to the Welsh capital.
Pressure release That it has to be said is a massive encounter.
A win over Brighton and the release of pressure would be intense, the three points denied the visitors as important as the three earned, a defeat, though, would drag Cardiff just that little bit deeper into trouble.
Similarly encounters against Huddersfield and Wigan too this month will have a profound effect.
There are a couple of factors though that will give Bluebirds supporters some comfort as they cast a fretful eye over the bottom half of the Championship table and those two factors are Blackpool and Wigan.
Cardiff City's crucial February: Saturday, 7th: Sheffield Wednesday (away)
Tuesday, 10th: Brighton (home)
Tuesday, 17th: Blackburn (home)
Saturday, 21st: Huddersfield (away)
Tuesday, 24th: Wigan (away)
Saturday, 28th: Wolves (home)
The Tangerines have struggled all season and have just 20 points to their name leaving them 14 points behind the Bluebirds’ total right now whilst the Latics, under former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay are only two points better off.
You would look at those two and imagine, barring some sort of miracle, they are already doomed.
That would leave just one relegation spot up for grabs for Cardiff to worry about and there is surely a team in even worse shape than the Bluebirds themselves to fill that berth.
Indeed Cardiff might well survive the drop by default, somebody else’s deficiencies, rather their own virtues, might just hold the key this term.
Their manager seems confident that will be the case, but, for the rest of us, the future does not appear quite so clear cut at the moment.
Re: ' Cardiff City at present and the rest of the season '
Tue Feb 03, 2015 10:34 am
Not once did he mention fact that we played all top 6 teams in last 8 games! But says can't see where next win comes from even though playing teams below us in Feb? Thought more likely to win in Feb than in previous month? But seems that's echo media Wales phylosphy at moment negative stancebon city. 