Malky Mackay Has No Worries On Stephen McPhail!

STEPHEN McPhail felt a ‘tightness’ in his hamstring before he went off during Cardiff City’s 2-1 Capital One Cup defeat at Northampton Town this week.

But manager Malky Mackay says: “It’s not serious. Stephen felt a tightness and it would have been stupid for him to play longer.

“He had trained all week and we wanted to give him 45 minutes, but this is a minor setback. Nothing more.”

City were missing 16 players from their squad at Northampton, including eight on international duty.

Kevin McNaughton, Mark Hudson, Ben Turner and Andrew Taylor all stayed in South Wales with minor niggles when City travelled, but all four are expected to be fit to face Huddersfield tomorrow.

Mackay will also hope those away with national teams report back fit and well, saying: “It’s a crazy situation when international friendlies are thrown into the middle of a cup week and our match against Huddersfield is brought forward.

“But that’s life and we just have to deal with it.”

Meanwhile, former Cardiff City players Anthony Gerrard (pictured) and Alan Lee both look likely to be left out of newly-promoted Huddersfield’s starting line-up for tomorrow night’s Championship clash with City (7.45pm).

Peter Clarke and Joel Lynch, who was in the Wales squad for last night’s international against Bosnia, are likely to be Town’s centre-back pairing, with Gerrard among the substitutes, while Jordan Rhodes will lead the Yorkshire club’s attack.

Lee will be alongside Gerrard on the bench as Huddersfield look towards their first season at Championship level for 11 years.

Huddersfield Town (probable, 4-5-1): A Smithies; J Hunt, P Clarke, J Lynch, P Dixon; L Novak, A Clayton, O Norwood, K Southern, S Scannell; J Rhodes.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballna ... -31630944/

Well he f***ing should do.

What is the point of someone who can only play 5 or 10 minutes per game.
When he is on the pitch completely takes the momentum out of any attacking move while he spins around to get the ball on his left foot.
Realises he has been caught in possession and passes to the fullback who usually then just has one option, and that is to quickly boot it up field to safety. (fullback then gets blame for being caught in possession, after a suicide pass from McPhail).

He only tackles with his left foot, so goes in at an awkward angle and usually gives a foul away, and that is regularly around our own penalty area.

He gets sympathy because of his illnesses, but he is a very very very highly paid footballer, paid to do a job he cannot do, and therefore he should be pensioned off/insurance job. No sympathy in modern football as he is a liability. Would people still make excuses for him if he was not ill? I don't think so.

He is no where near the first team - speed, goals, tackling etc etc

Well he f***ing should do.

What is the point of someone who can only play 5 or 10 minutes per game.
When he is on the pitch completely takes the momentum out of any attacking move while he spins around to get the ball on his left foot.
Realises he has been caught in possession and passes to the fullback who usually then just has one option, and that is to quickly boot it up field to safety. (fullback then gets blame for being caught in possession, after a suicide pass from McPhail).

He only tackles with his left foot, so goes in at an awkward angle and usually gives a foul away, and that is regularly around our own penalty area.

He gets sympathy because of his illnesses, but he is a very very very highly paid footballer, paid to do a job he cannot do, and therefore he should be pensioned off/insurance job. No sympathy in modern football as he is a liability. Would people still make excuses for him if he was not ill? I don't think so.

He is no where near the first team - speed, goals, tackling etc etc

He's still on the road to recovery.

The reason he's still there is because many people including myself really rated him as a player when he was fit and well.

I find it hard to believe how you feel you have the right to say this kind of crap behind his back when he has been through so much and works his balls off just to gain fitness. Go and say this to his face and I'd be more than happy to see the result.

And yes I am saying this because he is ill. If he wasn't then he wouldn't be recovering and he would have just become a poor footballer, but the fact is he is recovering to show his full potential again and I for one support him all the way.

have to put his illness to one side.

fair enough if the club want to look after him fiancially, but he doesnt look capable of playing anymore.

Personally i was never a big fan of him and his way of playing, not going to change my mind on that just becuase hes ill

Well he f***ing should do.

What is the point of someone who can only play 5 or 10 minutes per game.
When he is on the pitch completely takes the momentum out of any attacking move while he spins around to get the ball on his left foot.
Realises he has been caught in possession and passes to the fullback who usually then just has one option, and that is to quickly boot it up field to safety. (fullback then gets blame for being caught in possession, after a suicide pass from McPhail).

He only tackles with his left foot, so goes in at an awkward angle and usually gives a foul away, and that is regularly around our own penalty area.

He gets sympathy because of his illnesses, but he is a very very very highly paid footballer, paid to do a job he cannot do, and therefore he should be pensioned off/insurance job. No sympathy in modern football as he is a liability. Would people still make excuses for him if he was not ill? I don't think so.

He is no where near the first team - speed, goals, tackling etc etc

Fans like you are the first to moan when a player leaves for better money often stating "no loyalty in the game today"Replacing Macca would cost a fortune and I'd rather trust Malky's judgement on the player than your very poor assessment of him as player.

Always liked Macca tbh,

Yes hes sometimes tries to be the perfectionist but he distributes the ball well and im glad MM has him in his plans.

He has had so much injury bad luck

Well he f***ing should do.

What is the point of someone who can only play 5 or 10 minutes per game.
When he is on the pitch completely takes the momentum out of any attacking move while he spins around to get the ball on his left foot.
Realises he has been caught in possession and passes to the fullback who usually then just has one option, and that is to quickly boot it up field to safety. (fullback then gets blame for being caught in possession, after a suicide pass from McPhail).

He only tackles with his left foot, so goes in at an awkward angle and usually gives a foul away, and that is regularly around our own penalty area.

He gets sympathy because of his illnesses, but he is a very very very highly paid footballer, paid to do a job he cannot do, and therefore he should be pensioned off/insurance job. No sympathy in modern football as he is a liability. Would people still make excuses for him if he was not ill? I don't think so.

He is no where near the first team - speed, goals, tackling etc etc

Fans like you are the first to moan when a player leaves for better money often stating "no loyalty in the game today"Replacing Macca would cost a fortune and I'd rather trust Malky's judgement on the player than your very poor assessment of him as player.

What do you mean I am the first to moan when a player leaves for more money (no loyalty)? I would never critize any player (or person in any job who leaves for more money) as that is life. Robbie Fowler is a different example as he seemed to have used the club.
Why would replacing Macca cost a fortune, as he has already been replaced? Trust Malky's judgement? well Malky doesn't rate him as highly as you may think. He has 5 others ahead of him in the squad (Whitts, Mutch. Gunnar, Kiss, Ralls). He only plays when the team is very short of players (international, cup, injuries etc.).

Though we seem to have a glut of M/F players now Macca when fit offers something a bit different to the rest.Still,time will tell eh?

Though we seem to have a glut of M/F players now Macca when fit offers something a bit different to the rest.Still,time will tell eh?

A glut of M/F. When (if ever) could city say that ?
Great for the club and hopefully a winger and couple of defenders to add, to give us a glut there as well.

Do think our midfield looks as strong as I can ever remember. Wish we had stayed in League Cup, if only to give players games.

Well he f***ing should do.

What is the point of someone who can only play 5 or 10 minutes per game.
When he is on the pitch completely takes the momentum out of any attacking move while he spins around to get the ball on his left foot.
Realises he has been caught in possession and passes to the fullback who usually then just has one option, and that is to quickly boot it up field to safety. (fullback then gets blame for being caught in possession, after a suicide pass from McPhail).

He only tackles with his left foot, so goes in at an awkward angle and usually gives a foul away, and that is regularly around our own penalty area.

He gets sympathy because of his illnesses, but he is a very very very highly paid footballer, paid to do a job he cannot do, and therefore he should be pensioned off/insurance job. No sympathy in modern football as he is a liability. Would people still make excuses for him if he was not ill? I don't think so.

He is no where near the first team - speed, goals, tackling etc etc

Couldn't agree more buddy. He may have had his injury battles but at the end of the day it comes down to what you produce on the pitch.

McPhail hasn't scored for an incredable 4½ years and gets murdered everytime he is up against someone with pace.

He has been our weak link for years yet those with rose tinted glasses fail to see the dead bleeding obvious, not to mention you get crucified for stating it.

Though we seem to have a glut of M/F players now Macca when fit offers something a bit different to the rest.Still,time will tell eh?

Yea something different alright he offers a direct route though our midfield for the opposition.

TBH great player in his day, but not good enough for our side anymore

A great servant to the club, but how can Malky risk him in the match day squad now. His injury record is appalling and in two appearances this season he has lasted ten minutes in total - maybe even less. Nowadays, he is taking a place either in the team or on the bench from someone who really could influence a game for us when we need them too.

I would be happy to support him with a testimonial and a coaching role if thats what the club wants, but he is just too much of a liability to be considered for the first team anymore.

mc phail is a fraud. he masquarades as footballer. he s the worst player iv seen down city ever. the only one to come close was mark kennedy clueless

A great servant to the club, but how can Malky risk him in the match day squad now. His injury record is appalling and in two appearances this season he has lasted ten minutes in total - maybe even less. Nowadays, he is taking a place either in the team or on the bench from someone who really could influence a game for us when we need them too.

I would be happy to support him with a testimonial and a coaching role if thats what the club wants, but he is just too much of a liability to be considered for the first team anymore.

He should have been offerred a coaching role at least 2 seasons ago, or IMO even longer ago.

I have sympathy for his plight but that doesn't extend to giving him either a first team birth or a place on the bench.

mc phail doesnt score,does nt look like scoring.not only cant he tackle,you don t want him to tackle ,giving away needless free kicks ,play off final being a good example.he s our play maker and the ball goes sideways and backwards endlessly.so left footed its embarrassing, the only time ive seen him use his right foot is when he kicked the ball away against the jacks to get sent off.apart from that he s a good player