Two Nil's Becoming A Dangerous Scoreline

The headlines wrote themselves after another two nil capitulation from Cardiff in the game against Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend.

14/12/15

With the press full of a two nil capitulation to Burnley being unfortunate, but following that up with an identical moment of deja vu against Wednesday being careless, manager Russell Slade himself was left pointing fingers at the back line as he spoke to the press following the most recent draw from a comfortable winning position.

In quotes carried by Wales Online following the full time whistle, it wasn't so much a case of scratching heads - it was banging them against the nearest wall.

'We`ve got to do a little bit better in defence. It`s about getting the balance right. Going forward to create chances and opportunities we are doing that now, but we`ve got to get the balance. What do we leave behind when we do go forward? We`ve got to make sure we don`t get hurt when we lose possession.'

Calls for a return for Bruno Ecuele Manga are ever growing, and whilst Cardiff seem to lurch from can't concede but don't score, to do score but can't keep a clean sheet - the current run of taking two goal leads only to throw them away just continues the topsy turvy nature of life at the club at this minute in time.

Of course it's easy to just focus on the backline, but they say defending begins from the front and there is a midfield to consider as well.

But undoubtedly it's leading to Manga questions and whilst Sean Morrison and Matt Connolly have taken the plaudits at points this year, they will carry the flak at points like this.

In wider press conference coverage, he also talked about his hopes for a new deal, a quiet January when it came to players leaving and larger thoughts on the match and our aims for the season.

The BBC carry the following.

'We don't want to lose our best players and you don't want to upset the group as well. There's a good togetherness, a good mentality and a good spirit there and you don't want to sacrifice that either. Well work hard to retain the services of players.'

As for the season, he added he was content with where we find ourselves given the top six aim but clearly results need to turn over the next few weeks to ensure that happens and remains a possibility given the last two capitulations.

'Top six was always our mandate at the start of the season. We're just about on course for that and we'd like to put a little bit of daylight between us and the rest. We play a few a teams that are in and around us at this moment in time so it's a big period for us.'

Next up on Tuesday is Brentford and then Birmingham who occupy tenth and ninth place respectively.

And going back to Wednesday - he knows if we don't tighten up the next two might go wrong as well.

'We had chances to kill the game off at the end of the first half and the start of the second half. But we looked open at times and for their goals we have simply not done our jobs. It is a balancing act we need to get right. It is not about any one man, we have to do the basics as a team. If you don't they prove costly. You have to get to the ball, close down, make a block and defend properly. It's about discipline.'

We need to score 3 or more.

Don't let Slade read that or he'll tell the team to stop trying if they score one goal.

2-0 has always been a dangerous score line,you should be able to defend it but it doesn't always happen.Even the mighty Barcelona !!!
Mind you if it happens tonite ....look out !