Why Cardiff City MUST pick up at least four points from their next three games... I fear for Paul Trollope if they lose them
Thursday 22nd September 2016
BY NATHAN BLAKE
Cardiff City need at least four points from these next three games, because if they lose them then they could be three or four points adrift by the end of September.
I’d fear for Paul Trollope if that happened. I know what people mean when they say it’s a collective problem with Cardiff, but no one is free of individual responsibility and he understood the job because he was at the club coaching for over a year. I feel for him but at the same time we all understand the nature of the beast and if you’re not performing, especially in modern day football, you’re in trouble, it’s as simple as that.
The crux of the matter for me is that they’re sitting far too deep against average teams. You have to become more of a threat in general play going forward. If you think you can counter-attack with that squad, you can’t, so you go to the other end and go and press the game. That’ll allow you to win the ball back high in the opponent’s half.
I was really disappointed that against Leeds we didn’t press the game, we didn’t have a pattern in our pressing and it all seemed very individualistic. After fifteen minutes or so Cardiff didn’t offer much as an attacking team.
It was all set-pieces, I said on commentary that I was surprised by how many free-kicks Leeds were giving away within their own half. Apart from the free-kicks and the corners there seemed to be little or no threat from Cardiff.
They hit the post a couple of times from those set-pieces but there was no excitement, and I feel for the fans, I really do. Football ain’t cheap but as a club they’ve got to offer better than they are, and I don’t just mean the players by that.
There is a time and a place for sitting deep against the right opposition but I don’t think there’s anyone in this division that I’ve seen who warrants it. It might be down to the manager being a bit tentative or it could also be a confidence thing. Ultimately they’re set up to sit back and soak up pressure but they haven’t got the players in their squad to that.
The best part of the game on Saturday was when it was like a basketball game, going from end-to-end. When the opposition get the ball, rather than saying ‘we’re going to soak up the pressure’, they’d be better off going the other way, to keep going up the pitch.
Your best defence is your attack, the further the opposition are away from your backline the better. With players like Sean Morrison and Matt Connolly, they’re decent on the ball but they’re not necessarily ball players, they’re solid and like to head the ball. You don’t want to put them under unnecessary pressure and invite the other team on.
OK, Rickie Lambert is 34 and you can’t expect him to go out from the centre-forward position, but what he can do is be the trigger for runners around him.
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The verdict on three games that could make or break Paul Trollope as Cardiff City face the league's worst defence and weakest attack
Why I was bemused and disappointed by how Kadeem Harris was used against Leeds
The lack of pace is staring them right in the face, and what frustrated me was that Harris was probably the only player to come out of Preston game with any credit. You then start him on the bench against Leeds, OK, fair enough. You then bring him on the left side, which I couldn’t understand, but straight away you can feel that excitement, you can seem him trying to get past the defender.
So you’re chasing the game and then you switch him to a right-back in a 4-4-2. I don’t quite understand it, nullifying your threat by playing him in a position where he can’t attack as much.
Kadeem Harris can help lift the confidence over the other players because if you put ten balls over the top and ask Kadeem, Pilkington and Noone to chase it, Kadeem’s going to get on the end of more than the other two because he's quicker.
His end delivery is decent, he can shoot and score. On that logic the ratios are higher for Kadeem to get more chances and more assists, especially as Nooninho’s confidence looks to be low. Aside from Declan John, Kadeem is the only player with the pace to turn a game in a second, and Cardiff are getting to a position where they need that.
Declan John’s pace should get him in the team but I know he has to take his chances
Declan is another player who I’ve advocated playing higher up the pitch because of his pace, but he has to improve. He’s had a lot of opportunities and eventually people are going to make a decision about whether you’re cut out for this level.
Declan needs to have a proper season, a break-out season where he’s a major threat and people are talking about him as one of the reasons why Cardiff have done so well. It’s the same for Kadeem but you do tend to get that when he comes on, that excitement and that bums off seats feeling.
Bruno Manga’s situation is frustrating and Cardiff are missing out on a top player
I’m not surprised by what’s happened with Bruno Manga, with him out of the team and his contract running down. You can go from Regan Poole all the way up, the decision making on footballers and certain processes isn’t good enough.
Cardiff are paying top dollar and ending up with nothing. Suddenly after two years they can’t wait to get rid of players on top wages who they've paid that top money for.
You want to be looking at players who maybe haven’t quite made it at a higher level, bring them in, lift their confidence, get them back to where they were and then you sell them on, or they could go on, win you a promotion and become a stalwart of the club.
I think that’s one of the reasons why the fans are disillusioned and bemused, because it makes it look like the team aren’t moving in the right direction.
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