MATCH THREAD: “ WEST BROM v CARDIFF CITY “ MATCH THREAD

WEST BROMWICH ALBION v CARDIFF CITY
Tuesday 13th February, 8pm
Sky Bet Championship
The Hawthorns 



The short journey:


CARDIFF CITY FANS CAN PAY ON THE NIGHT:



Cardiff City’s Allocation for WBA Away 2,200 Tickets

Cardiff Sold 1,609 Tickets


Cardiff will be without Karlan Grant, who is unable to face his parent club. Mark McGuinness will also be missing after it was confirmed he would be out for up to eight weeks with a hamstring problem.


TEAM NEWS:

Erol Bulut:

“Macca will be out for 6 weeks”

“Callum Robinson had a virus and is getting back , but training on his own.”


“O’Dowda had his first light training session last week, we hope to have him back playing in March.”

“We have a near full and fit squad.”







The Opposition's Manager

Carlos Corberan took charge of West Brom in October 2022.

They were competing for the top six last season but just missed out on the final day.

He also had spells in charge of Huddersfield and Olympiakos.

Opposition Dangerous Players

Brandon Thomas-Asante has nine league goals this season.

Jed Wallace is always a threat.

Head To Head 

West Brom beat us 1-0 at CCS in November.

That was one of two wins for them in the last five meetings, with the other three being draws.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

West Bromwich Albion: Palmer, Furlong, Bartley, Kipre, Townsend, Yokuslu, Mowatt, Weimann, Wallace, Fellows, Thomas-Asante

Cardiff City: Alnwick, Ng, Goutas, Phillips, Collins, Siopis, Wintle, Turnbull, Bowler, Grant, Etete

Last Game

We lost at home to Preston on Saturday.

On the same day, West Brom drew away at Ipswich.

Match Odds

West Bromwich Albion - 4/7
Cardiff City - 9/2
Draw - 3/1

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

I’ve gone for the win. Backing bullut and our team I can just feel it.

I’ve gone for the win. Backing bullut and our team I can just feel it.

Brave. Cant see anything other than defeat sadly. I'd like to think we can draw the game but we just dont seem to grind out results like that anymore. We're a soft touch. If they score first it's good night.

I’ve gone for the win. Backing bullut and our team I can just feel it.

Brave. Cant see anything other than defeat sadly. I'd like to think we can draw the game but we just dont seem to grind out results like that anymore. We're a soft touch. If they score first it's good night.

Didn't we grind out a win last Saturday? Football is a funny old game anything is possible.

Erol Bulut:

“ Macca Will be out for 6 weeks .”

“Callum Robinson had a virus and is getting back , but training on his own.”


“O’Dowda had his first light training session last week, we hope to have him back playing in March.”

“We have a near full and fit squad.”

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

6th Jan FA CUP 3rd Sheffield Wednesday 4 Cardiff City 0 Crowd 10,955 Away Support (411)

13/01/2024 Cardiff City 0 Leeds United 3 Crowd 25,991 Away Support 3,236


20/01/2024 Plymouth Argyle 3 Cardiff City 1 Crowd 16,471 Away Support 1,733




03/02/2024 Watford 0 Cardiff City 1 Crowd 19,734 Away Support 2,104

10/02/2024 Cardiff City 0 Preston 2 Crowd 18,763 Away Support (562 )

13/02/2024 20:00 West Bromwich Albion v Cardiff City Crowd Away Support

17/02/2024 15:00 Norwich City v Cardiff City
92/02/2024 19:45 Blackburn v Cardiff City
24/02/2024 15:00 Stoke City (h)

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

West Brom striker Daryl Dike has suffered an injury nightmare since arriving at The Hawthorns from Orlando City in January 2022.

Having only returned from a nine-month absence recently, the American forward’s nightmare has continued after his 10-minute cameo against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Saturday 10 February.

Replacing Brandon Thomas-Asante at the 55-minute mark, Dike lasted just minutes before the worst-case scenario struck and he went down with yet another Achilles injury.

Erol Bulut:

"I think we need patience, all of us. We need patience in many things. Yes, we got four or five new players and we've tried to adapt them as quick as possible for the team today. Dave (Turnbull) had quite a good game, Nat Phillips was quite good. Wilson-Esbrand came in. They have to know their team-mates much better for those automatic movements. This will come in the next games and in those games we have to show it."

"[The new signings] are not even one week here. It’s why I always said I’d like players at the start of January. Now we have a period where many games are close together. We have to continue to show them what they need to do. I hope the next few games will be much better.“

“We need to improve our attack and be more decisive.”

"The first goal this is not the situation because we had enough players. We cannot lose these kind of situations.“

"For their second goal, I thought there was a foul on Kion (Etete). The referee allowed a lot of fouls. We don’t play rugby – we play football. There were more faults from us – we can’t say this is why we lost the game – but these are key details.“

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Erol Bulut on McGuinness:

‘It looks like he will be for six to eight weeks out with a hamstring problem. He’s 22 years old and had a great season until now. Now we don't have him for the next few games. I hope Nat and Dimi will manage it good together to be on the same level.’

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

I went to this game last season. It was a 0-0 draw, WBA were going through a bad patch but we didn't look like taking the 3 points. I think we had one effort that went wide.

Watters was our front man and he was awesome, ran his socks off keeping the play in the WBA half. Without his efforts WBA would have pounded our goal with the inevitable goal going their way. Due to Watters they were restricted to venturing into our half. He got subs near the end, he could not walk, and it was great to hear our fans applauding him off with the chant "Watters do the Ayatollah".

At the end of the game the players came over to us where us fans starting signing "Everyone do the Ayatollah". All the players joined in. We need to get back to that.

Cardiff City’s Allocation for WBA Away 2,200 Tickets

Cardiff Sold 1,520 Tickets

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

I can feel a West Ham-esque drumming in the pipeline. Hopefully not tomorrow.

3-0 home win, based on our past 3 months' perfomances, formation and game plans.

Under Erol Bulut:

Cardiff sit rock-bottom when it comes to goals scored from open play in the Championship this year. No one has scored fewer than the Bluebirds' 15 open-play goals. Only Preston and Rotherham United average fewer shots-per-game than Cardiff (10.6) this season, too.

And it shows. Cardiff look far too easy to defend against and all too rarely trouble the opposition goalkeeper. One marker which serves to provide positivity is that, in total contrast to open-play goals, the Bluebirds top the table for set-piece goals with 16 (or 18 if you include penalties). They have more goals from set pieces than open play.


Monday 12th February 2024


Ask any of the players who speak to the press ahead of the game about why the attack is stuttering and they will speak about confidence or rhythm or momentum or just waiting for things to click, but surely there is more to it than that?

Particularly when you factor in the 30 league games which have been played this season.


Erol Bulut is struggling to get his players to open up Oppositions and score goals from open play.

The attack is too easy to defend against and needs changing. The plan is difficult to decipher, too. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

Erol Bulut has opted for a large, target-man type of striker in Kion Etete recently, but Cardiff rarely supply him with crosses. He is largely used as an out for Jak Alnwick in goal, but he is still learning how to keep hold of the ball and win headers against gnarled centre-backs.

Cardiff also play with inverted wingers who want to cut inside, thus stopping any chance of a lofted cross into the 6ft 5ins striker. Couple that with full backs who are reluctant to bomb on and overlap and Cardiff are often incredibly narrow and restricted in their paths into the area.


The tempo is far too slow, too. Cardiff are joint-bottom when it comes to goals scored from counter-attacks, with a grand total of zero, an art which is perfected by the speed and accuracy of a breakaway. Preston North End's first goal by Emil Riis came by virtue of an excellent counter-attack on Saturday. Cardiff's lack of pace and ability to really cut through a defence has been telling this season.

Erol Bulut is going to have to change his tactics and fast as the fans are now starting to question him as a Championship manager.

It was a surprise to see Rubin Colwill, arguably Cardiff's form player during a pretty poor couple of months for the team, dropped to the bench for Saturday's defeat by the Lilywhites, but we do have to factor in the volume of games this month. He does, however, have to play in Cardiff's strongest XI.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Now 1,609 tickets Sold

The short journey:


CARDIFF CITY FANS CAN PAY ON THE NIGHT:

Erol Bulut: “ WBA “

Bulut: “We must forget Preston loss and bounce back at WBA.”

Erol Bulut has told his players to forget the defeat by Preston North End on the weekend and bounce back with a win against West Brom tomorrow night.

"They are a good team." Bulut said. "They are trying to be in the top six, which we were ourselves looking to be.”

“On Tuesday night they will try everything, but we will try everything to get points from them.”

"We have a very close period with games every three days. We don't have so many days for training, because we are resting, preparing and then we have the next game.”

"They drew in Ipswich on Saturday, a tough game for them. If you remember our first game against them, we were close to winning, but we got an unlucky shot from them.”

"We have to be focused on the game and concentrate. I said to my players we have to forget the game from the weekend quickly, and everybody has to be prepared.”

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Cardiff up next as Baggies enter final third of the season
12 Feb 2024

West Bromwich Albion v Cardiff City; The Hawthorns, Tuesday 13th February 2024, 7.45pm
Following the hard-fought draw at Ipswich on Saturday, Albion are now just short of two thirds of the way through the season – 30 games played and 16 to go, with the remainder neatly split into two batches of eight matches in five weeks either side of the international break in March.

That first batch kicks off with four games in two weeks, the first two at home and the second two away, with the easiest of those, on paper at least, being the visit of Cardiff City to the Hawthorns on Tuesday evening. The Bluebirds are down in 14th place but are just nine points behind the Baggies in what is a very congested pack of teams chasing a top six spot. They have had a fairly mixed season and, unlike Albion, have almost identical records both at home and away with the only difference being that they have conceded one more goal on the road than at home.

Most recently, it is their away form that is keeping them from drifting down the table having not won in the Welsh capital since early December but with three wins in their last four on the road. City boss, Erol Bulut, seems at a loss to explain why performances are apparently so inconsistent, but he retains the support of the fans for the time being with his team much higher than the 18th and 21st placed finishes they have endured in the past two campaigns.

Karlan Grant, who has scored four goals for the Bluebirds this season, will be ineligible for this match as he is still on loan from Albion, while Callum Robinson, who was well used in the first half of the season, hasn’t been involved in a matchday squad since New Year’s Day due to injury. Meanwhile, Romaine Sawyers has barely featured at all this season making just two substitute appearances in the Championship.

Monday saw the news we all feared that Daryl Dike has suffered yet another serious injury, rupturing the Achilles tendon in his left leg having just recovered from a similar injury to his right leg – he is unlikely to play again this calendar year. Since joining Albion on 1st January 2022, he has started just 17 games in all competitions scoring seven goals in those matches, plus one further goal he scored as a substitute at Sunderland. Who knows how important he could have been had he remained fit.

Thankfully, the club was able to provide Corberán with further attacking options in January and, while the bulk of the number nine workload is still likely to fall on the shoulders of Brandon Thomas-Asante, Andi Weimann and Callum Marshall will almost certainly get opportunities in the coming weeks. Weimann showed his finishing instincts with the winner against Blues last week, while Marshall has proved in his U21 career that he knows where the goal is – it will be interesting to see how Corberán rotates the starting line-up with four games in the next two weeks.

Dike wasn’t the only injury suffered in Suffolk with Kyle Bartley having been forced off at half time. He will obviously be a doubt for the visit of Cardiff City and the Baggies boss must make a decision on who to play. On Saturday, he opted to drop Okay Yokuşlu into the back four and bring Chalobah into midfield, but then admitted that it had a negative impact on Albion’s control of the game. Semi Ajayi was on the losing side on Sunday’s AFCON final and it would seem unlikely that he will be ready to start on Tuesday so, with Caleb Taylor out on loan at Bolton Wanderers, Erik Pieters is the only real alternative.

Whichever choices Corberán makes, the team should be good enough to claim all three points against Cardiff City at the Hawthorns, and with one of their toughest opponents to come in their next home game, Albion can ill afford a slip up.

History -

Albion and Cardiff City meet for the 56th time in the league on Tuesday evening and, should the Baggies hit four goals, they would rack up a total of 100 league goals against the Bluebirds! The hosts are comfortably ahead on the head-to-head record with 23 league wins to City’s 16 while at the Hawthorns, Albion have won 14 of the previous 27 league encounters with the Welsh team having recorded six victories in B71.

Cardiff’s last win at the Hawthorns was in December 2009 when Dave Jones’ team won 2-0 thanks to goals from Chris Burke and Peter Whittingham. That season, Roberto di Matteo’s team only lost four league games at the Hawthorns, and two of them were against the sides from south Wales!

The Baggies have never lost by more than two goals at home to Cardiff, but they have conceded four times on two occasions. Back in November 1923, when the Bluebirds were a real force in “English” football, they followed up a 3-0 win at Ninian Park with a 4-2 win at the Hawthorns a week later – only two players found the net that day with Bobby Blood scoring both of the hosts’ goals while Len Davies scored all four of Cardiff’s. The Welsh club would go on to miss out on the league title on goal average to Huddersfield Town.
City’s other 4-2 win at the Hawthorns was in the League Cup in September 2007 – Ishmael Miller scored twice for Albion but the Bluebirds won comfortably having taken a 4-0 lead inside half an hour thanks to a brace from Robbie Fowler and further goals from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Trevor Sinclair.

Albion’s biggest home win over Cardiff was back in November 1953 when Vic Buckingham’s “Team of the Century” romped to a 6-1 with Ronnie Allen scoring four goals and Johnny Nicholls backing the other two – Ken Chisholm had given the visitors an early lead.

A win would give Albion their first league double of the season, and their first league double over Cardiff City since the 1974/75 season when the Baggies won both fixtures 2-0. The second of those was at the Hawthorns in April 1975 under the stewardship of Brian Whitehouse who took caretaker charge after the dismissal of Don Howe. Having made his debut at York City a week before, a certain Bryan Robson made his first Hawthorns appearance against the Bluebirds scoring his first senior goal in front of just over 10,000 spectators.

City 1-2. Late winner.

Cardiff will be without Karlan Grant, who is unable to face his parent club. Mark McGuinness will also be missing after it was confirmed he would be out for up to eight weeks with a hamstring problem.

West Brom's Daryl Dike sustained an Achilles injury at the weekend and will miss the Bluebirds game. However, the Baggies may be bolstered by the return of Grady Diangana, who has flown back to the UK following his involvement with DR Congo at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Kyle Bartley was forced off at half-time against Ipswich Town at the weekend, which could see him miss this one, too.

What are the odds?

WBA v CARDIFF CITY

West Brom 3/5

Draw 14/5

Cardiff 19/4

Can't see anything but another defeat.
Horrible feeling we get drubbed

I just heard that both their key and important strikers are out tonight . Thomas -Asante is short term and Dike long term .

Have you heard the same ?


While one does not wish ill for any player individually …… if indeed both are out ….this will be a very major boost for us .

If true the alternative is a 18 year old kid on loan from West Ham ……a player who has hardly played any games.

Can't see anything but another defeat.
Horrible feeling we get drubbed

We've only been drubbed a couple of times this season against Leeds and Hull. The issue is more whether we can score anything. I really hope Ralls starts tonight. We are so much better when he plays and his set piece delivery could be crucial if we are to score anything. I expect defeat too but hoping for a score draw.

Tonight's game is on the Sky Red Button

KO 8pm

Tonight's team...

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Interesting to see the new starters impact from the beginning.

Let’s see how it goes, knowing this team they’ll pull off a win