THE FULL BRUTAL TRANSCRIPT FROM MOTD's JENAS AND WRIGHT

The full transcript of Jermaine Jenas and Ian Wright's brutal Match Of The Day verdict on 'passive' Cardiff City
By Dominic Booth


Monday 3rd Sept 2018

The two pundits were not forgiving on Neil Warnock's side despite an improved performance against Arsenal


Cardiff City will feel they put in a creditable performance in the 3-2 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.

After scoring their first goals of the Premier League season, the Bluebirds took positives from the result. Yet Match Of The Day 2 pundits Jermaine Jenas and Ian Wright delivered a brutal assessment of their display against the Gunners on BBC Sunday night TV.

Former Arsenal striker Wright was critical of Cardiff's movement and delivery in the final third, before ex Spurs midfielder Jenas called Neil Warnock's side "passive" in allowing the visitors to steal the victory.

Asked by host Mark Chapman where it went wrong for Cardiff, Wright highlighted some first half profiligacy.

Wright: "We know that Petr Cech is someone who can be vulnerable. You can see (Bobby)Reid here putting him under pressure. And I'm thinking 'this is what Cardiff are going to do'. He says he doesn't want to park the bus."


They then highlight a huge chance missed by Harry Arter in the early stages and a number of other opportunities

Wright: "He (Arter) has got to hit the target. Here, not enough movement. (Reid) here doesn't even head it. He jumps under it and doesn't seem ready for it.

"Again, they're in a position where a little bit of movement and a good ball... it's not a great ball if I'm honest and the movement is not very good.

"Those are the things they're going to have to brush up on because they're not going to get many chances.

"Harry Arter has just got to calm down, let the ball drop a bit more and show some composure. Maybe use the sidefoot and get it on target."


The footage then switched to Cardiff's opening goal, scored by Victor Camarasa, but after analysing it Wright swiftly moves on to talk about more missed chances.

Wright: "They did the right thing here (for the goal), they get a bit of movement, a bit of luck and then he (Camarasa) scores the goal.

"In the second half I think they started to press but they eased off, Sw-Cardiff (he almost calls them Swansea!). Hoilett then gets half a chance to get a shot in but it's a waste."


After Wright's near-gaffe, Chapman then quotes Warnock's post-match reaction - that he didn't want Cardiff to park the bus and try and limit Arsenal without providing a forward threat.

Wright: "I like his honesty but you want players getting the opportunity to cross the ball, don't try to hit the man, hit the space and get players making movements towards the space. They're not creating enough to score, to win games that they need to win."


Jenas then assesses the overall performance alongside a few clips of one or two defensive errors from Cardiff.

Jenas: "I just thought they were passive at times and it surprised me. I thought at Cardiff they were going to be really aggressive.

"Morrison's poor mistake led to the first goal and he was guilty for this very strange clearance... and it kind of encouraged Arsenal. It got their tails up and made them enjoy themselves.

"Manga with that mistake makes you think 'hang on, what's going on here?'

"And top teams will really punish you in these type of moments and I felt when you've got top class players on the pitch, you can't be dropping off and retreating, allowing players time and space to pick their spot. Junior Hoilett, Harry Arter and Sol Bamba have to get tight (when Lacazette hits the post).

"They didn't learn and a lovely nick around the corner from Lacazette (for Aubameyang's goal), Morrison dropping off and dangles a leg out - it was just too easy at times.

"They were in the game at 2-2 and the points were there on the board for them to take. And when I say passive I just mean 'communicate!' That (the third Arsenal goal) was as easy as it gets for a striker. It's a great finish but those little details in both boxes, that's what they need to look at. That's what's going to put points on the board."

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I was happy leaving the CCS yesterday afternoon, as I believe City out up a battling performance against a side who expect to be vying for top 4 and the champions League spots come the end of the season

However, having watched the game again, there are some decent points in there and I don't see any malice from either pundit


This is what one Swansea fan had to say in response...

RayJ
"As a Swans fan, you bluebirds will need to get used to this. Actually their assessment of the Swans last season was spot on. We were poor at the end. Mr Warnock has some work to do to keep Cardiff at the top table - but there is time."


Personally, I saw enough in this game to believe we will learn and improve quickly!

I thought they were perfectly fair with their assessment, and saw the game pretty much as I saw things. Too many errors at the back, and while me have got away with them last season we will not escape unpunished in this league. Add this to our lack of clinical finishing, and they both said the same sort of things that are continually posted on this forum. Plenty of effort but lacking a bit in quality, which is hardly surprising when you consider the value of the Arsenal team compared to us.

Why are so many fans of such a tough club like Cardiff so sensitive when it comes to any sort of puntit criticism? When did we turn into a bunch of over-sensitive soft snowflakes?

What a great performance yesterday. BUT, Arter should have scored when their goalie screwed up, Morrison should have scored, we made mistakes for their first goal due and second goal due to our centre halves. Some of our final balls from Ralls weren't great.

BUT we came so close to beating a top 6 team. Brilliant effort despite being a really average squad technically. Well done boys.

We might have done a bit better had we subbed the Junior earlier and I thought Zohore looked really slow and not up for it (although I am sure he was if you asked him). It's a game of opinions. Hense a message board exists plus pundits on a highlights show.

Blooooobirds!

Fair enough highlighting the weaknesses - but would have been more balanced if they had also discussed our improved performance from the likes of Ward, Manga etc

Cant argue with much of that. It was a spirited performance with moments to take encouragement from. But, things that we got away with in the championship, we won't get away with in the premier league, Sol Bamba's last-gasp outstretched leg for example. Looked great last season, but now it looks like poor defending against top strikers.

Personally, I think they were pretty decent in their overall appraisal of us, & it just goes to show how far our club has progressed, in little under two years, since NW took over,,, that we can compete with a very good Arsenal team.


Its all a big learning curve, but we will get better.

We gifted Arsenal their goals. You don’t back off these top teams like we did. Thought we would have learnt from that Man City game.

So we 'parked the bus' but scrored two and could have had four or five with better finishing? These pundits speak absolutely rubbish. They give us absolutely no credit whatever we do, same story as last season. The combo of Cardiff City, being Welsh and being managed by Warnock is clearly too much for them.

I went home happy as well yesterday, although I was disappointed with the result, because I felt we were always in that game with a chance of getting something out of the game. I wonder how the review would have sounded if Arter or Morrison had scored.

That Arsenal squad has cost well over £300m to assemble and I bet their manager pays more in income tax each month than NW earns but I wouldn't want to swap them.

I believe our players are going to grow into this season and despite losing yesterday the performance will, in my opinion, go a long way to giving the players the belief we can survive this season.

this is modern journalism now is it? writing out a full quote from a tv show

Let’s not kid ourselves this is a poor Arsenal outfit, we play like that against Chelsea or City and we will be seeing 5 or 6 go against us.

Mozza looks well out of depth, why he never challenged Augemang is beyond me, the only shining light in our defence are our full backs Manga and Bennett.

Big improvement going forward but bodger and badger st the back and against the top teams we will be exposed

Arsenal are a top team, or more relevant to yesterday, they have top finishers. If not for that they wouldn't have won, simple. If we had one of their top men we'd have scored a hatful. That's the fair analysis.

If we play like that against probably 12 of the teams in this league who don't have 100m up front, we will win.

There were a lot more positives in yesterday's game for us than negatives!

We need to start taking the chances when they come , Arter needed to show more composure with his 2 chances ,Morrison again off target with his header. If Reid had spotted Hoilett when he was going thru unmarked to his left as he had attracted the 3 defenders and scuffed a shot.
Our defenders need to recognise danger more quickly and close their players down on the 2nd and 3rd .

I am not knocking the boys who I thought played brightly and I think may have won over some of those bemoaning our “tactics” showing that unlike Newcastle we are prepared to have a go which as a fan is all I can ask

It’s not so much the criticism of us - we clearly have much to improve on. But there are still 4 teams below us in the table who don’t seem to get anywhere near as much negativity!

Obnoxious twits... it's our 4th game back in premiership and getting better.
Look at Newcastle, West Ham, Southampton a lot of same things apply to them.
They just don't want us there, stereotyped us.. 2 fingers up to them all.

I think their comments were fair enough.

We need to learn quickly from our mistakes while taking forward the positives.

It's true Morrison and Bamba were just standing off too much. In the championship you can get away with it a bit more but here top players don't need such an invitation to grab their chance. If only we had been tighter! I also wonder if a fit Gunnar would have offered a bit more protection to the back line with more aggressive closing down and cutting out passes.

I was surprised by our lack of aggression. Arsenal seemed to be more aggressive, the yellow card count in the first half proved that.

If we can be a bit tighter and aggressive while improving our movement up front I think we will do better than most predicted.

So many positives though - Camarasa and Bennett were very good. Reid looks a handful and when he gets his first goal I think he will be a real asset. Etheridge again, despite conceding 3, looks comfortable at this level.

Onwards and hopefully upwards!

The comments are harsh but fair overall

It was a great game to watch yesterday and we could and should have had at least a point

However, we just weren’t good enough in the final third at both ends and that’s the harsh reality of life in the premier league

What we did learn yesterday was that we can compete in this division.
Players need to improve and get better through the season. We will probably get relegated but it’s certainly not out of the question for us to stay up

I don't see any problem with their comments. They were pretty well spot on and helpful really to show us what's needed to make a fist of this season. We all know we are very short on quality but have a big heart. You have to learn quickly in this division to stand any chance of surviving.

I see Jenas' comment about us being more passive and not as aggressive as he expected to be quite a compliment. He obviously expected us to kick Arsenal off the park. I don't think they quite believe that for some "inexplicable reason" that "heavens forbid" we can actually play a bit. Arsenal did far more kicking and pulling back (Tongue in cheek) than a normal championship side & got more yellows than us. By the way, I thought the ref was excellent, which from me is as big a compliment as Jenas'! I think the points both pundits made were quite relevant and not really aimed as a "dig" at us. At least they did discuss us and not ignore us as was the case after the Newcastle game where they failed to win by "missing" & not Etheridge saving their injury time penalty. The tide may be turning.

Obnoxious twits... it's our 4th game back in premiership and getting better.
Look at Newcastle, West Ham, Southampton a lot of same things apply to them.
They just don't want us there, stereotyped us.. 2 fingers up to them all.

Nah,just the one finger from me

this is modern journalism now is it? writing out a full quote from a tv show

I guess the transcript said a that was required, so no need to make it his own, which is quite refreshing given some of the journalistic twists we’ve seen of late

Why are so many fans of such a tough club like Cardiff so sensitive when it comes to any sort of puntit criticism? When did we turn into a bunch of over-sensitive soft snowflakes?

What a great performance yesterday. BUT, Arter should have scored when their goalie screwed up, Morrison should have scored, we made mistakes for their first goal due and second goal due to our centre halves. Some of our final balls from Ralls weren't great.

BUT we came so close to beating a top 6 team. Brilliant effort despite being a really average squad technically. Well done boys.

We might have done a bit better had we subbed the Junior earlier and I thought Zohore looked really slow and not up for it (although I am sure he was if you asked him). It's a game of opinions. Hense a message board exists plus pundits on a highlights show.

Blooooobirds!

It's not necessarily the specific content , but the volume of negative viewpoints and the almost absence of positive ones.
I think your idea of a "snowflake " must be different to mine, because I can't see that standing up for yourself puts you in that category.
You keep saying Cardiff are tough and hard and similar stuff, and I don't know where that comes from. I'd be genuinely interested if you could explain that.
These little digs are subtle, but gradually corrosive to self belief. The example here is Cardiff City's first goal - if that had been done by some expensive player for Wolves or Fulham it'd have been a brilliant quality move to turn the defender and create the opportunity, but in this case it was described as "lucky".

In one sense this constant bellittlement of the team is helpful because if opponents believe it they may get a shock and yield important points to Cardiff. I think Sir Neil is only too happy to encourage it on that basis . On the other hand I personally prefer the truth and a honest approach and I find blatant propoganda something that I can't just shut up and accept.

So we 'parked the bus' but scrored two and could have had four or five with better finishing? These pundits speak absolutely rubbish. They give us absolutely no credit whatever we do, same story as last season. The combo of Cardiff City, being Welsh and being managed by Warnock is clearly too much for them.

Ian Wright said that Warnock didn't want to park the bus. NW referred to this in his post match interview when he said he would have got hammered if we did that because we're not good enough

These guys just don't like us we just ain't got class ,bollocks to them ,we are in the premiership whether they like it or not

It's not necessarily the specific content , but the volume of negative viewpoints and the almost absence of positive ones.
I think your idea of a "snowflake " must be different to mine, because I can't see that standing up for yourself puts you in that category.
You keep saying Cardiff are tough and hard and similar stuff, and I don't know where that comes from. I'd be genuinely interested if you could explain that.

It comes from going down the City for the last 30 years. Cardiff fans seem mostly to be tough, working class blokes which is a bit different to the demographics of City fans on many message boards in my opinion judging by the fact hardly any of my Cardiff mates are on here.

I've been called all sorts over the years and had my team criticised heavily. It doesn't bother me like it does you.

We are just different. It corrodes your self belief but it's harmless to me as I am sure it is to the players. I do see your points though. I use the term snowflake as meaning an over-sensitive softy.