Never before can a Bluebirds side have hurtled backwards so

Never before can a Bluebirds side have hurtled backwards so quickly.

Wed 4 February 2015

By Paul Abbandonato

Never before, and I do mean NEVER, have I seen a Cardiff City team hurtle backwards quite as quickly or alarmingly than the Class of 2015.

On the surface, the Bluebirds look to sit comfortably in mid-table, the type of position from where they could launch a push for the play-offs in the closing 18 matches of the season.

Make no mistake, though, they are in real danger of being dragged into a relegation battle which some fans fear could, just could, see them fall straight through from the Premier League into League One.

If you’ve watched Russell Slade’s Cardiff recently, which do you believe is the most likely prospect... a crack at the play-offs or a scrap just to preserve their Championship status?

I know which side I’m beginning to veer towards and sadly it’s not the positive one.

For a side who just a few months ago were ranked as firm favourites to win the title, having been dubbed “the biggest and best” squad in Championship history, that represents an extraordinary dip in fortunes.

As I say, I’m struggling to recall it happening before with such haste at Wales’ capital city club.

Cardiff are on a woeful run of results, just one win in nine, five points out of the last 27 on offer. It is relegation form and a continuation of that will probably see the Bluebirds plummet right down towards the bottom three.

A look at the Championship form guide over the past six games shows only Nottingham Forest, who have just sacked Stuart Pearce, are worse than Cardiff.

Look, I don’t believe Slade’s side will be relegated, if only because there are some truly rubbish teams already below them in the division. Cardiff have enough points in the bag already to ensure they will be okay, but the fact we are even talking about the potential danger demonstrates the worrying trend that has set in.

The reason I’m concerned about Cardiff is twofold. The first is that, on top of the poor results, the Bluebirds are playing terribly.

They continue to be over-run in the midfield, their creativity is negligible. Far too often the hope of a goal appears to come from a Peter Whittingham set piece or a boring Aron Gunnarsson deep throw.

Probing little one-twos, or intricate moves in and around the opposition box to carve open defences aren’t exactly a strength of this Bluebirds side.

If they were playing well, but not winning, you could have genuine hope that results would turn. When you’re playing so badly and also losing, where are the grounds for optimism, fans will ask?

The second thing that concerns me is that whether Slade or Solskjaer has been in charge, and whatever your views of the tactics and style of play adopted, you sensed that the players on Cardiff’s books were so good at this level that they could win games anyway.

That changed on Saturday. A glance at the team-sheet ahead of the Derby defeat rammed home the fact that suddenly Cardiff lack the stardust we have become accustomed to.

For many, the bench looked stronger than the starting X1, with plausible cases to be made for Fabio, Bruno Manga, Tom Adeyemi, Kenwyne Jones and even Federico Macheda to have merited selection.

Reacting to previous criticism of his Cardiff signings, Slade stated that some of his captures for Leyton Orient were also perceived as “underwhelming” but that he had taken them into the play-offs.

Fair enough. But the difference with Cardiff is that quality players have left the club – for whatever reason – and they have been replaced by the likes of Lee Peltier, Scott Malone, Stuart O’Keefe, Alex Revell and Eoin Doyle.

It's a far cry from Mats Daehli, Javi Guerra, Ravel Morrison, Adam Le Fondre and prior to that the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Jordon Mutch, Craig Bellamy and others who were part of the Premier League experience.

The argument put forward by those who back Slade is that he should be judged after the January transfer window. Any manager wants his own players in and it is to be hoped the quintet Slade has signed begin to fire the team and get them playing and performing in a manner which is much more pleasing on the eye.

Lots of fans have their doubts about whether that will happen, though, and are bracing themselves for a right-old relegation scrap.

Slade argues the team he inherited was 17th and they are higher in the table today. True. But that side of September had only played seven matches and were just seven points off the automatic promotion spots. Today, with 28 games gone, they are 20 points behind Bournemouth and Derby.

Rightly or wrongly, right at this moment I’m more fearful of the fact Cardiff are only seven points off Millwall, who stand in the bottom three with Wigan and hopeless Blackpool.

At the start of this season, or even as recently as Christmas time, anyone suggesting that would have been dubbed mad.

Is it really madness now?

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugb ... er-8578259

Could be worse, we could still be red

Could be worse, we could still be red

True

Ravel Morrison ,le fondre and zaha did nothing when given a chance ,and he thinks macheda could have started against derby
This reporter is a joke

Could be worse, we could still be red

True

Yes, but how quickly some forget!

Could be worse, we could still be red

True

Yes, but how quickly some forget!

Chris and they have not been turning up to the matches as promised

I'm sure you have witnessed worse annis

I'm sure you have witnessed worse annis

Steve, Correct many times

That's why I called the reporter a joke
Sensationalism at it's very best
And the sad thing is this board gave him a platform

Wales Online journalism at it's finest. What a needlessly confusingly worded headline. It should just read 'The fall and fall of Cardiff City..never before has a Bluebirds side hurtled backwards so quickly'

Could be worse, we could still be red

True

Yes, but how quickly some forget!

Chris and they have not been turning up to the matches as promised

Indeed, Annis, but that says more about them as individuals than anything we could say on here!

PS: Agree with you and Steve...we HAVE seen a LOT worse than the current situation!

Obviously a new reporter on city, seen far far worse only need go back to when lost out playoffs to Preston not that many years a go

I think its an excellent report. Abbandonato writes a lot of sense!

Obviously a new reporter on city, seen far far worse only need go back to when lost out playoffs to Preston not that many years a go

I've been watching us for a long time, and I've seen worse when we were struggling at the bottom of the football league. What I am watching now is not a lot better, but I despair more now than in those days because I can't see where the improvement is going to come from. We appear to be doing the same thing week after week and it's no surprise that we keep getting the same outcome. See if our new signings make a difference, but I'm not holding my breath.

Could be worse, we could still be red

True

Yes, but how quickly some forget!

This^^^^. The positivity of the re-re-brand should be enough to buoy up the support.

Obviously a new reporter on city, seen far far worse only need go back to when lost out playoffs to Preston not that many years a go

I've been watching us for a long time, and I've seen worse when we were struggling at the bottom of the football league. What I am watching now is not a lot better, but I despair more now than in those days because I can't see where the improvement is going to come from. We appear to be doing the same thing week after week and it's no surprise that we keep getting the same outcome. See if our new signings make a difference, but I'm not holding my breath.

slightly unfair as we have played all top 6 teams in last 8 games! so a bit unbalanced results wise, lets see what feb brings aganst teams around or below us maybe after feb it will change the perspective?

Obviously a new reporter on city, seen far far worse only need go back to when lost out playoffs to Preston not that many years a go

I've been watching us for a long time, and I've seen worse when we were struggling at the bottom of the football league. What I am watching now is not a lot better, but I despair more now than in those days because I can't see where the improvement is going to come from. We appear to be doing the same thing week after week and it's no surprise that we keep getting the same outcome. See if our new signings make a difference, but I'm not holding my breath.

slightly unfair as we have played all top 6 teams in last 8 games! so a bit unbalanced results wise, lets see what feb brings aganst teams around or below us maybe after feb it will change the perspective?

Fair comment Allan! A tough fixture group recently.