“Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Tue Apr 19, 2022 6:49 am
“Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke.
Lost 12 home games this season and this time to a ravaged injury hit Luton side.
injury ravaged Luton show City what can be achieved on a small budget.
Posted on April 19, 2022
by The other Bob Wilson
So, with one home game to play, the number of home league defeats for the last two seasons reaches twenty one. We’ve hardly ever been a particularly strong team at Cardiff City Stadium, with something like four to six losses every year being the norm, so it’s hard to see how and why that hackneyed old term “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium” has ever been applied to what I still call our new ground. However, based on seasons 20/21 and 21/22, I understand an application will be made in the summer to turn the ground into a registered charity.
Now, it needs to be said that last season was exceptional in that all of our home games were played behind closed doors and this resulted in more away wins than normal – certainly, we were far from the only team to lose more than we won on their own ground and it was only by eight to nine.
So, there was something an excuse for very poor home record last season, but I find it impossible to come up with one this time around when supporters have been allowed back in for all but the Blackburn game in January I believe (Coventry and Derby, both due to be played behind closed doors, were postponed because of a Covid outbreak in the squad).
Even if we were to give Birmingham another 6-1 defeat to go with the one they got at Blackpool today in our final home match, it won’t alter the fact that today’s twelfth league loss at Cardiff City Stadium guarantees that more than half of the away sides to visit the ground this season for league matches will have returned home with three points.
That’s an appalling record – there’s been so many home losses in 21/22 that it becomes hard to recall them all, but, off the top of my head, I’d say only in the Reading and, maybe, Blackburn games could we legitimately claim to have been robbed.
Both of those sides, like Luton today, won by 1-0 as have Bournemouth, QPR, Hull and Fulham, so that’s seven times we’ve lost by that score at home to go with heavier losses (there’s three of them) where we didn’t find the net and with the goalless draw with Preston – that’s eleven, or fifty per cent, of our home games where we’ve failed to score.
They really are desperately poor figures and today was pretty typical of what the long suffering home support have had to put up with – not as bad as some of the others in the dirty dozen defeats, but that’s not saying much.
I’m not sure if Steve Morison was watching the same game as me, our manager says we dominated it from start to finish and had all of the chances. As for the first of those claims, I’ll concede that City, using the same system and approach that impressed me a lot in the win at Reading, had a good spell of about a quarter of an hour in the first half where they passed the ball pretty well, but that did not extend to the final, and most important, pass I’m afraid – we didn’t have any chances from set pieces either and the main reason for that was that our delivery just wasn’t good enough.
As for all of the chances, again I wonder what match he was watching – the game was about a minute old when Luton’s centreback Potts put a free header from a free kick over the bar, not too long after that, Onyedimna didn’t connect as well as he would have liked when well placed – either of those go in and City would have conceded in the first ten minutes for a fourth consecutive match. In the second half, substitute Harry Cornick’s fine shot from twenty five yards landed on the top of the net with Dillon Phillips beaten and the keeper made the save of the game to deny veteran Robert Snodgrass as Luton gradually began to edge things.
I thought the goal had been coming when Cornick expertly guided in Snodgrass’ cross with his head in the seventy first minute – the skills shown in the construction and execution of the goal were of a level City we’re not able to match.
In response City had, being charitable, three chances worthy of the name and the first of those came via Luton carelessly conceding possession in a bad position during the time when we were having the good spell I mentioned earlier. Tommy Doyle seized on the turnover and drove forward to feed Jordan Hugill – maybe Doyle’s pass could have been a bit better and Hugill might have been a little sharper in his finishing, but I’d prefer to give goalkeeper James Shea credit for a good save as he left his line very quickly to make the target Hugill had to aim at that much smaller than be too critical of our two players.
I’m afraid the same cannot be said about our second chance which came about from an excellent bit of hold up play by Hugill who took a couple of opponents out of the game to leave Doyle clear with just one defender and the keeper in front of him and an unmarked Isaak Davies to his right.
Credit should go to defender (Potts I believe) for the way he handled the situation I suppose, but, in truth, it shouldn’t have made any difference.
Doyle held on the ball too long and when his pass did come, it was slightly behind his team mate. This made life that bit harder for Davies, but, even so, he should have done better than blaze high and wide from ten yards.
The only other moment when I thought there was a chance we may score was when a good move down the right involving Cody Drameh, Rubin Colwill and Doyle saw the last named tee himself up nicely before hitting a shot which Luton’s under employed substitute keeper Harry Isted dealt with easily.
I must say that it’s not just that their manager Nathan Jones is from Blaenrhondda that I don’t feel as bad about this home defeat as I did with the other eleven. Jones has done a superb job in getting Luton to a stage where the Play Offs definitely look on for his team and automatic promotion is not quite an impossibility.
To have achieved this with the second smallest playing budget in the division would be fantastic, but in recent weeks Luton have also had a series of injuries which saw a succession of regular starters missing today – they then lost Shea, full back James Bree and Onyedimna to injuries which looked like they might keep them out for the rest of the season during the match, but, as teams in their position often do at this stage of the season, they found a way to dig out a victory from adversity against opponents they’d be lapping, probably for the second time, now if the Championship was really the long distance race that it is often compared to.
The success of Luton and Huddersfield (especially the latter who were very poor last season) offers City hope for next season though – two sides with smaller budgets than ours who have confounded the pundits this season and there’s no reason to think that it’s beyond either of them to be playing Premier League football next season.
However, the fundamental weaknesses that we have in terms of individual technique and passing ability mean that, when taken in conjunction with that awful home form, the challenge facing us this summer is probably greater than the one which faced Luton and Huddersfield this time last year.
Lost 12 home games this season and this time to a ravaged injury hit Luton side.
injury ravaged Luton show City what can be achieved on a small budget.
Posted on April 19, 2022
by The other Bob Wilson
So, with one home game to play, the number of home league defeats for the last two seasons reaches twenty one. We’ve hardly ever been a particularly strong team at Cardiff City Stadium, with something like four to six losses every year being the norm, so it’s hard to see how and why that hackneyed old term “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium” has ever been applied to what I still call our new ground. However, based on seasons 20/21 and 21/22, I understand an application will be made in the summer to turn the ground into a registered charity.
Now, it needs to be said that last season was exceptional in that all of our home games were played behind closed doors and this resulted in more away wins than normal – certainly, we were far from the only team to lose more than we won on their own ground and it was only by eight to nine.
So, there was something an excuse for very poor home record last season, but I find it impossible to come up with one this time around when supporters have been allowed back in for all but the Blackburn game in January I believe (Coventry and Derby, both due to be played behind closed doors, were postponed because of a Covid outbreak in the squad).
Even if we were to give Birmingham another 6-1 defeat to go with the one they got at Blackpool today in our final home match, it won’t alter the fact that today’s twelfth league loss at Cardiff City Stadium guarantees that more than half of the away sides to visit the ground this season for league matches will have returned home with three points.
That’s an appalling record – there’s been so many home losses in 21/22 that it becomes hard to recall them all, but, off the top of my head, I’d say only in the Reading and, maybe, Blackburn games could we legitimately claim to have been robbed.
Both of those sides, like Luton today, won by 1-0 as have Bournemouth, QPR, Hull and Fulham, so that’s seven times we’ve lost by that score at home to go with heavier losses (there’s three of them) where we didn’t find the net and with the goalless draw with Preston – that’s eleven, or fifty per cent, of our home games where we’ve failed to score.
They really are desperately poor figures and today was pretty typical of what the long suffering home support have had to put up with – not as bad as some of the others in the dirty dozen defeats, but that’s not saying much.
I’m not sure if Steve Morison was watching the same game as me, our manager says we dominated it from start to finish and had all of the chances. As for the first of those claims, I’ll concede that City, using the same system and approach that impressed me a lot in the win at Reading, had a good spell of about a quarter of an hour in the first half where they passed the ball pretty well, but that did not extend to the final, and most important, pass I’m afraid – we didn’t have any chances from set pieces either and the main reason for that was that our delivery just wasn’t good enough.
As for all of the chances, again I wonder what match he was watching – the game was about a minute old when Luton’s centreback Potts put a free header from a free kick over the bar, not too long after that, Onyedimna didn’t connect as well as he would have liked when well placed – either of those go in and City would have conceded in the first ten minutes for a fourth consecutive match. In the second half, substitute Harry Cornick’s fine shot from twenty five yards landed on the top of the net with Dillon Phillips beaten and the keeper made the save of the game to deny veteran Robert Snodgrass as Luton gradually began to edge things.
I thought the goal had been coming when Cornick expertly guided in Snodgrass’ cross with his head in the seventy first minute – the skills shown in the construction and execution of the goal were of a level City we’re not able to match.
In response City had, being charitable, three chances worthy of the name and the first of those came via Luton carelessly conceding possession in a bad position during the time when we were having the good spell I mentioned earlier. Tommy Doyle seized on the turnover and drove forward to feed Jordan Hugill – maybe Doyle’s pass could have been a bit better and Hugill might have been a little sharper in his finishing, but I’d prefer to give goalkeeper James Shea credit for a good save as he left his line very quickly to make the target Hugill had to aim at that much smaller than be too critical of our two players.
I’m afraid the same cannot be said about our second chance which came about from an excellent bit of hold up play by Hugill who took a couple of opponents out of the game to leave Doyle clear with just one defender and the keeper in front of him and an unmarked Isaak Davies to his right.
Credit should go to defender (Potts I believe) for the way he handled the situation I suppose, but, in truth, it shouldn’t have made any difference.
Doyle held on the ball too long and when his pass did come, it was slightly behind his team mate. This made life that bit harder for Davies, but, even so, he should have done better than blaze high and wide from ten yards.
The only other moment when I thought there was a chance we may score was when a good move down the right involving Cody Drameh, Rubin Colwill and Doyle saw the last named tee himself up nicely before hitting a shot which Luton’s under employed substitute keeper Harry Isted dealt with easily.
I must say that it’s not just that their manager Nathan Jones is from Blaenrhondda that I don’t feel as bad about this home defeat as I did with the other eleven. Jones has done a superb job in getting Luton to a stage where the Play Offs definitely look on for his team and automatic promotion is not quite an impossibility.
To have achieved this with the second smallest playing budget in the division would be fantastic, but in recent weeks Luton have also had a series of injuries which saw a succession of regular starters missing today – they then lost Shea, full back James Bree and Onyedimna to injuries which looked like they might keep them out for the rest of the season during the match, but, as teams in their position often do at this stage of the season, they found a way to dig out a victory from adversity against opponents they’d be lapping, probably for the second time, now if the Championship was really the long distance race that it is often compared to.
The success of Luton and Huddersfield (especially the latter who were very poor last season) offers City hope for next season though – two sides with smaller budgets than ours who have confounded the pundits this season and there’s no reason to think that it’s beyond either of them to be playing Premier League football next season.
However, the fundamental weaknesses that we have in terms of individual technique and passing ability mean that, when taken in conjunction with that awful home form, the challenge facing us this summer is probably greater than the one which faced Luton and Huddersfield this time last year.
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Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Tue Apr 19, 2022 7:41 am
This season was totally ruined by Mick Macarthy.
We went on the worse run of defeats I have seen where basically we were picked off so easily at home. So from giving hope by our captain Sean Morrison where he said we are aiming at top 2 to then finding ourselves in a relegation fight with us one of the favourites to go down. I've no idea where it went wrong for him except for the fact he lost 2 very good players in the summer and he did not have the ability to replace them. That guy just turned out to be one of those managers you are glad to see go.
We went on the worse run of defeats I have seen where basically we were picked off so easily at home. So from giving hope by our captain Sean Morrison where he said we are aiming at top 2 to then finding ourselves in a relegation fight with us one of the favourites to go down. I've no idea where it went wrong for him except for the fact he lost 2 very good players in the summer and he did not have the ability to replace them. That guy just turned out to be one of those managers you are glad to see go.
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Tue Apr 19, 2022 8:21 am
And herein lies our problem as a club.
I normally roughly agree with the other bob Wilson blogs but he'd be the first to moan if we played Luton's underdog football.
I'd be gutted if we sign 7 or 8 six foot athletes smacking it long all game. Because as soon as you find a team who can match your physicality or a ref who doesn't like it you lose.
We won games and promotion with 35% possession by using a no nonsense back 4, non fancy workers midfield and a front three of speed power and a bit of trickery. We were a rope a dope Warnock team. The problem is if you do make it to the promised land or find the odd championship team who genuinely are a possession based team (Swansea) you find they wear you down and you always lose in the last 10 mins.
If Vinny sells we'd still have the same problems.
I normally roughly agree with the other bob Wilson blogs but he'd be the first to moan if we played Luton's underdog football.
I'd be gutted if we sign 7 or 8 six foot athletes smacking it long all game. Because as soon as you find a team who can match your physicality or a ref who doesn't like it you lose.
We won games and promotion with 35% possession by using a no nonsense back 4, non fancy workers midfield and a front three of speed power and a bit of trickery. We were a rope a dope Warnock team. The problem is if you do make it to the promised land or find the odd championship team who genuinely are a possession based team (Swansea) you find they wear you down and you always lose in the last 10 mins.
If Vinny sells we'd still have the same problems.
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Tue Apr 19, 2022 8:54 am
I think we had a very poor home record last season as well.
This season is over now which won't help motivation, especially as it seems SM knows who is staying and who is going.
Everything hinges on how the summer goes and next season starts. Let's hope SM gets MOTM for August & September!
This season is over now which won't help motivation, especially as it seems SM knows who is staying and who is going.
Everything hinges on how the summer goes and next season starts. Let's hope SM gets MOTM for August & September!
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:20 am
mjw6150 wrote:I think we had a very poor home record last season as well.
This season is over now which won't help motivation, especially as it seems SM knows who is staying and who is going.
Everything hinges on how the summer goes and next season starts. Let's hope SM gets MOTM for August & September!
I said the same in another earlier post. This summer transfer window is absolutely pivotal to the short, medium, and long term future of our club. If we start the season like we have the last three seasons, then the daggers really will be out.
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:21 am
I hope we go back to playing proper wingers instead of wingbacks its always asking a lot in my view and i find they have no outlet for a quick counter pass because they are basically the winger so either have to run from defence or launch a long ball to the lone striker
I much prefer an out and out striker who can concentrate on more attack rather than defence.
I much prefer an out and out striker who can concentrate on more attack rather than defence.
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Tue Apr 19, 2022 5:04 pm
Football is a very simple game which Cardiff city appear to find very complicated.
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Wed Apr 20, 2022 6:13 pm
Wales seem to be happy at the Cardiff City Stadium, perhaps it’s about having the right Manager and players to make it a fortress!
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Wed Apr 20, 2022 7:07 pm
Fortress...hhhhhaaaaahahaaaa.
Stop it.
Mattress. Lie down n roll over.
Stop it.
Mattress. Lie down n roll over.
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Thu Apr 21, 2022 5:36 am
I’m sure SM either blamed the younger players or said we were the better side in all of the defeats 
Definitely not convinced SM is the right man to lead us forward.
Definitely not convinced SM is the right man to lead us forward.
Re: “Fortress Cardiff City Stadium”? A sick joke
Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:25 pm
I don't think we should be playing 5 at the back at home though, unless there are two very attacking full backs and a central defender who can push into the DM position. Away I don't mind it so much as it lends well to counter attacking football which works best away when you tend to have less possession.