' The fans deserve more/Plus '

" Cardiff City mediocre, lack passion, fervour and intensity... and the fans deserve more - the Bluebirds debrief "

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/foot ... on-9074305?
By Terry Phillips

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/foot ... on-9074305?

Sunday 19th April 2015

Terry Phillips picks the bones out of the Bluebirds' home stalemate with Millwall on another disappointing afternoon at the Cardiff City Stadium

How did the Bluebirds set-up?
The usual 4-4-1-1 with Joe Mason and Eoin Doyle in attack.

Selection & tactics?
Craig Noone returned in place of Fabio, who had played wide in midfield at Ipswich.

Russell Slade selected just about his strongest team, although Fabio went on for the injured Scott Malone during the first half, but Cardiff could not beat an awful Millwall team on the brink of being relegated.

In fact, Slade’s men have failed to score against Millwall home or away this season, losing 1-0 at the New Den.

Turning point?
Half-time. Cardiff had enjoyed 62 per cent possession in the first half and there had to be hope they would complete the job after the break with a second-half winner.

Millwall, though, came out and took charge, while Cardiff’s performance levels fell sharply.

The whole game was bitterly disappointing.

How did the referee fare?
The performance of Mark Brown (East Yorkshire) was poor in the eyes of some. Cardiff fans reckon he failed to deal properly with a controversial incident when Lee Gregory went in on Bruno Manga with his studs showing.

That sparked anger from Cardiff players and Lee Peltier confronted Gregory, while Millwall’s Martyn Woolford angrily told a linesman what he thought.

He seemed to be accusing Peltier of spitting.

I certainly didn’t see anything like that, but the referee opted to book Gregory and Peltier.

The official might have shown red to Gregory for what was a poor challenge.

There were other moments when Brown seemed to lose his way in terms of making decisions and maintaining control.

How did City deal with Millwall’s set piece moves?
Poorly. Bruno Manga and Sean Morrison failed did not exert their authority at the back and Millwall caused problems from corners and free-kicks.

Who was star man?
Craig Noone. Dan Harding was the defender given the task of stopping Noone and he could not cope with his pace and trickery.

Biggest gaffe
Gary Fletcher-Taylor missed a glorious chance to win the match. Ricardo Fuller pulled the ball back for the unmarked Taylor-Fletcher as Bruno Manga lost his man.

The Millwall man failed to connect properly when he looked certain to score.

A goal then would have been a massive blow for Cardiff.

Moan of the match
We need to see passion, fervour and a high tempo from Cardiff. But there was an end of season feel to their performance.

They don’t have much to play for in terms of league position, but the fans deserve more,

Cardiff were mediocre, particularly in the second half.

Millwall went home unfortunate not to have won.

Cause for concern
Millwall look certain to be going down. They are deep in trouble. Yet they were clearly the better team against Cardiff.

Former Bluebirds striker Neil Harris is the Millwall manager and he was bitterly disappointed his team did not complete a double against their hosts.

Cardiff lacked bite, they lacked intensity.

Why did that happen after after a more high tempo display at Ipswich in midweek?

How the league looks
Cardiff are 13th in the table, just below halfway, and need a big finish to have a chance of claiming the top 10 finish they crave. Their remaining fixtures are Blackpool (home) and Nottingham Forest (away). But they are going to need a big improvement on this to win those matches.

We certainly do Mason and we are paying good money for pure crap.

We certainly do Mason and we are paying good money for pure crap.

I agree Annis, something must change and quick

We certainly do Mason and we are paying good money for pure crap.

Yes and the pure crap was served up by the same players and formation that was applauded off the field at Ipswich after giving one of the best displays this season
So is it the manager or the players at fault

We certainly do Mason and we are paying good money for pure crap.

Yes and the pure crap was served up by the same players and formation that was applauded off the field at Ipswich after giving one of the best displays this season
So is it the manager or the players at fault

Steve, the buck stops with the manager and he has brought in 7 players, its his dire football.

We are currently 19 points from the play -offs and 28pts from 2nd place


And 2 Home wins from our last 13 home games

Its not so long ago that you thought Ole was the right man no matter what Now you believe Slade is

So don't bother taking the Ipswich performance into consideration which prior to the mill wall game was our latest form ,which you personally have stated was very good ,and let's just drag up the passed ,with all it's up heavel and transition ,and blame everything on slade
Not long ago you were saying our improvement was down to trolloppe ,now a poor performance is solely down to slade
I some times wonder if your comments are made depending on the weather ,because just like our weather your comments are so changeable
And yes I am still of the oppinion that Malky would have taken us down
And I believe ole would have got it right in the end
Am I slade fan ,not really sure ,as I don't think he has had a decent chance from both the fans and our owner

So don't bother taking the Ipswich performance into consideration which prior to the mill wall game was our latest form ,which you personally have stated was very good ,and let's just drag up the passed ,with all it's up heavel and transition ,and blame everything on slade
Not long ago you were saying our improvement was down to trolloppe ,now a poor performance is solely down to slade
I some times wonder if your comments are made depending on the weather ,because just like our weather your comments are so changeable
And yes I am still of the oppinion that Malky would have taken us down
And I believe ole would have got it right in the end
Am I slade fan ,not really sure ,as I don't think he has had a decent chance from both the fans and our owner

ONE GAME IPSWICH AND WE LOST 3-1

Shows Im honest,when we play well I say it

Our home form please Steve? ? ?


And why are thousands upon thousands now not going? please answer

But my whole point is the ipswich performance was gained by the same players who gave us yesterdays performance
surely it is them that should be taking the blame ( for once at least )
the stay away fans this year who bought season tickets are obviously the glory hunters from the previous season
, I believe the numbers of these to be about 8 k add that to the actual gates we are presently getting and you get to 20k
now I believe we had 16k not 18k season ti
cket holders this season
So 16 k less the 8k glory hunters would leave expectations for this seasons, season ticket takers of about 8k , to date we have sold about 4and a half k
im sure when the fixture list and transfer dealings are completed we will get a couple of k more
its really quite strange how you can use figures in so many ways to make various points isnt it

But my whole point is the ipswich performance was gained by the same players who gave us yesterdays performance
surely it is them that should be taking the blame ( for once at least )
the stay away fans this year who bought season tickets are obviously the glory hunters from the previous season
the , I believe the numbers of these to be about 8 k add that to the actual gates we are presently getting and you get to 20k
now I believe we had 16k not 18k season ti
cket holders this season
So 16 k less the 8k glory hunters would leave expectations for this seasons, season ticket takers of about 8k , to date we have sold about 4and a half k
im sure when the fixture list and transfer dealings are completed we will get a couple of k more
its really quite strange how you can use figures is many ways to make varioue points isnt it

Steve,

Can you qualify your statement of the club selling 4,500 season tickets to date ?

Interesting that you know the amount but the club itself has not informed the fans or the media of the actual sales.

Are you ITK ?

But my whole point is the ipswich performance was gained by the same players who gave us yesterdays performance
surely it is them that should be taking the blame ( for once at least )
the stay away fans this year who bought season tickets are obviously the glory hunters from the previous season
the , I believe the numbers of these to be about 8 k add that to the actual gates we are presently getting and you get to 20k
now I believe we had 16k not 18k season ti
cket holders this season
So 16 k less the 8k glory hunters would leave expectations for this seasons, season ticket takers of about 8k , to date we have sold about 4and a half k
im sure when the fixture list and transfer dealings are completed we will get a couple of k more
its really quite strange how you can use figures is many ways to make varioue points isnt it

Steve,

Can you qualify your statement of the club selling 4,500 season tickets to date ?

Interesting that you know the amount but the club itself has not informed the fans or the media of the actual sales.

Are you ITK ?

fair play to him though im listening to radio wales, from yesterday now, and even annis has stated on there club have actually sold around 3-4K tickets so it's not just him saying they are this low

Hmmmmmmmmsorry cant reveal my source carl but yes im defo itk
strange thats the only bit of my post you have question carl