Cardiff City's confidence crisis could get worse before it gets better... do they have the leaders to turn it around?
THURSDAY 29 SEP 2016
BY NATHAN BLAKE
Blake felt the Bluebirds got out of jail against Rotherham and fears things could get worse
It's so difficult following Cardiff City at the moment.
You never find yourself talking the club up. You want to be sitting here saying, wow, weren't they good last night? How good was the pressing, how good was the football?
There's Rickie, he gets two goals on Saturday. You hope he can go on a bit of a run, build that confidence around him, build some momentum going forward.
Bang. Back down to earth on Tuesday, he's injured. That's the only glimmer we've had in the last few weeks really, other than the form of young Kadeem Harris, and he's on the bench.
I felt the warning signs for the Derby game were there against Rotherham.
That result was more down to Rotherham scoring and then retreating, rather than Cardiff's great play. Rotherham gave up the all important momentum they had and yes, it was a big plus that Cardiff took advantage. I did feel, though, that if you were analysing the game from a Rotherham perspective, you'd be saying that they gave their opponents the chance to take the three points.
It is difficult to put your finger on why Cardiff are struggling. It could be fitness, it could be tactics, but I think largely now it's down to confidence. Their confidence is ebbing away with every game, they might win the odd one but that's the worry, it becomes just the odd one.
You look at Cardiff and okay, they might not have a lot of pace, but they've got some good technical players, a lot of experience, which should mean they are very difficult to beat at the very least.
The shambolic night Cardiff City's major problems were brutally laid bare for all to see
You can get a skewered look of things from the outside so I can't say for sure, but you have Sean Morrison, Lee Peltier, Aron Gunnarsson after the Euros, I'd also look at Peter Whittingham and Matt Connolly. Bruno Manga should be able to lead by example on the pitch. There are six players who should be and can be leading, and I hope they are.
First and foremost, though, they don't seem to believe in themselves, and I think that may be because they don't believe in the way they are playing.
With Russell Slade last season you knew what was happening, even if it wasn't very exciting. A lot of fans wanted him out and I didn't say one way or the other on that but I look at it now and ask, is the manager giving the players the confidence they need?
At the start of the season I'd say they had it but when you change system, it tells the team that you don't believe they can play that way. If you've got a lack of pace in a counter system, the two aren't going to go. Now that you're not playing well in a 4-3-3 or a 3-5-2, that's when players will start clamouring, let's go back to 4-4-2, where everyone knows what they're doing.
The key is getting into players' heads. Derby are the perfect example of that, a club who have a brilliant squad of technical players, but can't quite get over the line and have struggled this season.
You look at Fergie, the greatest manager of the lot. He'd be the first to say he's not the best coach, but how many players has he taken, got into their heads, and made them start believing? “We'll score in extra-time”, he'd say, and people started to believe it. Forget looking at what other teams are doing, look at your players and get into their heads. You've got make them believe in what you're doing and that they're the best players to carry out the instructions.
For Wales when I played, you had Bellers, Sparky, John Hartson, Speedo, Neville Southall. We were never intimidated wherever we went, even places like Turkey. Cardiff need that at the moment.
In my view, Paul Trollope wasn't one of those players when I played with him and I'm not sure he's strong enough to get into the player's minds. I'd love for him to prove me wrong and rub my face in it.
Ultimately, though, it's a collective problem, and I fear he will be the fall guy. Would that be fair? No. But the managerial merry-go round has started even earlier this season with the sacking just down the road at Newport of Warren Feeney.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.