Cardiff are not very good and I’m not sure why, Says

Cardiff are not very good and I’m not sure why, Says Scott Johnson.



By Scott Johnson


Tuesday 29th December 2020



These days, you never know what you’re going to get from Cardiff. Not just from game to game, but also between individual passages of play. They can veer from the sublime to the ridiculous. Well, not quite sublime, but you catch my drift.

Who to blame though, because you have to have someone to blame, right?

Well for most, Neil Harris carries the can, and as manager, that is certainly the case, but whether you could say its his fault, I’m not so sure. He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t, right across the board at the moment.

Take Filip Benkovic, for example. A talented, 23-year-old, Croatian centre back, signed on loan from Leicester and as yet unutilised. He probably should have thrown him a bone by now, but has not and while he remains untried and untested, he somehow represents the solution to all Cardiff’s problems.

People that have never seen him play will claim, with absolute authority, that he is better than Sean Morrison and Curtis Nelson. He is, after all, yet to be tarnished by playing for Cardiff.

This is a problem created by Harris, but he is within his rights to pick whatever side he pleases and while I would like to see Benkovic play, I respect that Harris has not buckled to external pressures. Maybe he just doesn’t like what he sees?

Harris also stands accused of not getting the best out of Harry Wilson, a prodigiously talented Welsh craftsman. Is he better on the wing or centrally? Some claim he is evidently not a winger, despite him establishing a name for himself in that very position. Also, if you ask a Derby or Bournemouth fan, they will tell you that he is a player of moments and that they used to have the same conversation.

Harris is too conservative, but he inherited a conservative squad. He’s not as honest or charismatic as Neil Warnock either. Well not many are. Cardiff don’t play enough football, yet statistics prove that they perform better the less of the ball they see. He tried to get them playing, but recognised his mistake and reverted back.

The problem is that you go round and round. Maybe a new manager would make the world of difference, but maybe they would make them worse. Maybe Cardiff will kick in to gear again, like they did at the end of last season, or maybe they won’t.

Cardiff are not terrible all the time, just occasionally, and randomly. Sometimes they look great. In beating Barnsley, they showed rare swagger and it was a joy to behold. Whereas last time out against Brentford, they looked strong in the first half and as weak as a kitten after the break. How do you explain that?

How do you account for two goalkeeping blunders from the ever-reliable Alex Smithies? How can you legislate for Leandro Bacuna, impressive in the first half, allowing Sergi Canos to walk past him in the second? Or defenders standing off Norwich for both their goals.

I can’t explain it and, seemingly, neither can Harris. He sometimes looks so frustrated in post-match press conferences that he looks like he might cry. You could say that its his job to identify and fix these problems and you would be right, but its never the same mistake and never the same players.

Rotten luck with injuries certainly hasn’t helped. Lee Tomlin is the biggest miss, followed closely by Kieffer Moore and Jordi Osei-Tutu. Cardiff are not alone in that regard though, as squads up and down the country are ravaged by a ridiculously condensed schedule.

So, Cardiff are not very good and I’m not sure why. They have good players and should be better than this, but they’re not. Everyone has their own theory and some are set in stone, but I don’t think its any one thing. If they were always shit, it would be far easier to put a finger on it, but they’re not. Maybe it will all fall in to place, or maybe it will all cost Harris his job. But then what?

It’s Wycombe next and when their backs are against the wall, Cardiff tend to come out fighting, but maybe they won’t this time. Who can say.

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Plenty of reasons why we are not a good team.

City don’t do enough when they have the ball, which often is only @35%. No creativity, no quick slick passing and movement, just patient build up play allowing the opposition to regroup around us.

They don’t do enough when they DON’T have the ball. They don’t close down and try to win it back like the top teams. They’re content to rely on their ability (misguided) that the central defence and keeper will repel any goal threat.

How many of the recent goals conceded have come from a midfielder or winger running at our static CM and especially painfully to watch at Bacuna and shot from distance.

Rarely do you see a City player doing the same. It’s play and play until we get a long throw or corner opportunity.

It’s almost like they play for 0-0 and hope to nick one from a set piece.

City are not easy on the eye, attritional and are now easy to play against.

Thats enough reasoning to be going on with.

Plenty of reasons why we are not a good team.

City don’t do enough when they have the ball, which often is only @35%. No creativity, no quick slick passing and movement, just patient build up play allowing the opposition to regroup around us.

They don’t do enough when they DON’T have the ball. They don’t close down and try to win it back like the top teams. They’re content to rely on their ability (misguided) that the central defence and keeper will repel any goal threat.

How many of the recent goals conceded have come from a midfielder or winger running at our static CM and especially painfully to watch at Bacuna and shot from distance.

Rarely do you see a City player doing the same. It’s play and play until we get a long throw or corner opportunity.

It’s almost like they play for 0-0 and hope to nick one from a set piece.



City are not easy on the eye, attritional and are now easy to play against.

Thats enough reasoning to be going on with.

Just about sums it up nicely

It should read ‘Scott Johnson is a journalist, and no-one knows why’. Producing nonsensical gibberish is part of the job description at wol these days it seems

It should read ‘Scott Johnson is a journalist, and no-one knows why’. Producing nonsensical gibberish is part of the job description at wol these days it seems

Have to agree,he lost me when he said he's not as honest as warnock.

I've put very little thought into this area.

Our manager Captain Careful is too boring. Boring team selection, boring tactics, boring press conferences, boring excuses, boring haircut...

I've put very little thought into this area.

Our manager Captain Careful is too boring. Boring team selection, boring tactics, boring press conferences, boring excuses, boring haircut...

Plus some boring players!! Our pass success stat is f@ckin embarrassing.

Jesus, I have read more riveting obituaries !!

Speed Scott, we haven't got any !!!

Ojo, Holliet and Glatzel vs NML, Zohore and Murphy ..... One group would scare the crap out of me, the others look good in a 5 a side;loverly control and the odd trick but sloooooo.

We look so much worse with Bobby G as we insist he is back to goal target man and he isn't. He has been here for 1.5 seasons and he is a link up man almost yet another type of "10"/second striker to go with the other 4 we have (Wilson, Tomlin, Ojo , Harris and not forgetting Ralls )

And our manager looks like he bans the full backs from overlapping as he is so defensive.

We've got a limited squad with no real pace and little creativity So we are stuck playing a brand of football that better/well organised teams can easily defend against. Hence why we rely on set pieces. We've also got a manager who has no plan B if plan A does not work and who is also reluctant to rotate the squad/make subs so players look tired.

That journo was given his answer tonight.

If he couldn’t see it before, he would have seen it tonight.

Scott Johnson is a terrible 'journalist' and asks more questions than he answers.