'Cardiff city vs Crystal palace' my take.

On saturday i was absoloutely thrilled with the result and performance it was brilliant watching our keeper one of the best in the league pull off save after save and then a quick counter attack and then bang craig bellamy finishes with a goal worthy of winning any match and the away end erupts into a blue frenzy and from that moment on the city fans never shut up and the team never looked back as leicester were sucker punched and just diddnt look the same from then on.
The first half was a backs to the wall performance but the second half was truly delightful as city pressed and worked hard for eachother which is a credit to malky and the attitude he drills into the players, city could of had two or three in the second half from counter attacks aswell, i thought rudy gestede was outstanding big, powerful, held the ball up excellently,
cowie gave us that bit of energy to keep closing down and make life difficult for leicester and gunnarson as always tenacious energetic and those runs into the box.
It was one of those 1 - 0 performances that wins you championships .

cardiff city v crystal palace.

the team i would start with is ;
(442)

marshall
super kev
hudson
turner
taylor

bellamy (left midfield)
whitts
mutch
conway (right midfield)

helguson
mason

(subs); cowie, lewis, gestede, smith, noone, gunnarson, nugent

-----------------------------------------

the team i think malky will play;

marshall
kev
hudson
turner
taylor

smith (right)
cowie
whitts
conway (left)

helguson
bellamy

(subs) Lewis, Gestede, Noone, Mutch, Mason, Gunnarson, Nugent,
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

palace line up;
(443)
speroni
moxey
blake
gabbidon
parr

garvan
jedinak
andre moritz

bolasie (right wing)
murray
zaha (left wing)

subs;
who?
----------------------------------

Palace's defence vs Citys attack
conway v parr
helguson&bellamy v gabbidon&blake
smith v moxey

palace's fullbacks and centre backs lack pace so it should be easy to get in behind them and cause problems bellamy would be a problem for any defence even leicester
palace have been shipping goals of late and have not kept a clean sheet since november..

City's midfield v Palace's midfield
palace have two very skillfull and creative players in owen garvan and andre moritz so i think mutch and whitts will have to keep tabs on the pair.
mile jedinak is in the form of his life atm he reads the game well and is hard to beat you wont find many better defensive midfielders in the league so a tough test for whitts and mutch.

Palace's attack v City's attack

zaha v kev
murray v turner&hudson
bolasie v taylor

if you were to make a championship dream 11 then you could pretty much put your mortgage on bolasie and zaha being in it as your two wingers, these two have been on fire this season scoring and creating over 25% of palace's goals
for me kev v zaha does not make good reading therefore i would go for a winger who can trackback to help kev in tommy smith and give him that support.
bolasie v taylor again i would go for a winger who can trackback and helps out with the dirty work in craig conway to help taylor out and give support.

glen murray is the leagues top scorer with 18 goals, another palace player in the form of his life.
his main strength is his aerial threat but hopefuly ben turner being 6,4 and as good as he is should handle murray but the defence will have to work together on this one because zaha and bolasie supply murray with chances and murray scores the goals as the saying goes "feed the beast and he will score".
--------------------------------------------------------------

Cardiff city v Crystal palace. My prediction..
i think that we have to much quality in our attack for there poor defence to handle.
i think that with our defensive home record being as good as it is ( 7 goals conceded from 11 games ) we should be able to keep murray and co quiet but zaha on kev worries me and they might get one after all they are the leagues joint top scorers no prizes for guessing who with.
i do worry about holloways tactics because he seems to have us sussed but we took blackpool apart last time in september 3-0 so hopefuly he hasnt got us sussed after all.

if they score first it will change the game and they could sit back and counter us which could be devastating.
if we score first it will open the game up and we could end up with 3 or 4.

I am going for city to win 3-1

merry christmas to all you bluebirds out there aswell

Nice write up but Bellamy on the wing is a no go.

Who would you play instead?

Id start Kim. Why aint he involved in your team, sub or starter?

My line up would be:

Marshall

McNaughon
Turner
Hudson
Taylor

Noone
Whittingham
Mutch
Conway

Helguson
Bellamy (if not fit enough then Mason)

Bench:- Lewis, Nugent, Gunnarsson, Cowie, KBK, Smith, Gestede

-----------Marshall
Kev------Hudson------Taylor
-----Mutch------Gunner
-----------Whitts
-------------KIM
Noone-----Bellers-----Mason

Subs: Etien, HH, Cowie, Ralls, Nugent, Lappin, Lewis

I know this will never happen, thats just my experiment on fifa

the problem is zaha will be running at taylor. Mcnaugton will be fine defensively just got to hope his passing is up for it. The boy to watch out for though is bolasi, quality little player.

the problem is zaha will be running at taylor. Mcnaugton will be fine defensively just got to hope his passing is up for it. The boy to watch out for though is bolasi, quality little player.

Thats why id start Kim. His back tracking is brilliant, he really puts a shift in defensively and is quality going forward.

the problem is zaha will be running at taylor. Mcnaugton will be fine defensively just got to hope his passing is up for it. The boy to watch out for though is bolasi, quality little player.

Thats why id start Kim. His back tracking is brilliant, he really puts a shift in defensively and is quality going forward.

Yeah it would be a good shout or conway who showed saturday he can do the dirty work.

He will never start bellamy on the wing against palace mate and neither would i. He gives very litte defensively as a winger and often leaves his man go.
He's great defending from the front as a striker but as a winger he's terrible. I believe he was one of the reaso s naylor looked so bad for us

First off I've got to say , yes I'm a palace fan, I'm not here to argue or cause havoc , I just find it interesting in see the other teams views on us.

This is a good post for what it's worth but you may find that your starting line up for palace is .... Well.... Unlikely.

It's most likely going to be

Speroni
Blake/ward , ramage, gabbidon, parr
Dikgacoi, jedinak
Zaha, garvan, bolaise
Murray

Subs (of note) : moritz, okeefe, moxey,

I've watch Cardiff a couple of times and have to say your gaffer has really got a team that's ready now. In Bellamy, whittingham and a couple other you have some really good players!! I would even go as far as say that Cardiff is the most ready for the promotion fight this season. Ask any palace fan at the beginning of this season where we thought we would be and 3rd is nowhere near what we would say. We are just happy to be up here and battling with the likes of Cardiff and hull.

In our side of things against you guys its always a go game. We've played each other enough now to know what to look out for. But I think you may have missed a few things. So as a friendly fan I thought I'd point them out.

Murray: he scores goals!! But he really needs service. Cut the service cut the goals. He has 18 goals this season, the next is on 5 I believe. Should say it all.

Zaha, bolaise: you are right to be worried about these two but maybe for the wrong reason. It's not the one on one that's the problem, every defender is aware of the skill of the two lads. What you need to look out for is when they combine. Look out for what looks like over hit crosses. They may well be passes. And if one swaps wings but the other doesn't then they've spotted a weakness, see goal against Huddersfield. From what I've seen your full back are capable of at least frustrating them but not stopping them. Double teaming them doesn't work you will just leave someone else open.

Garvan, moritz: expect them to find a few good passes they are the feeders. Like pw for you guys garvan can place it on a penny if needed. Moritz has better close control so may beat a player first. Both a excellent passers.

Kg and Jedi: two defensive midfielders but really only one !! Kg makes very deep lung busting runs into space. Usually towards Murray opening the wings. Jedi will read the game and clear up our midfield. He's strong and quick with a good range of pass. Watch out for those.

The defence: I don't think you've given us enough credit. Our goal difference is to different to yours . They are organised and strong. In parr and ward there is a bit of pace. Parr is an excellent tidy defender and I think you'll be impressed by him. The centre backs may have a bit of a change this match as damo is suspended due to a horrific tackle last game resulting in a red. So it's likely to be gabbidon and ramage. I guess you know about gabbidon and for that darcy Blake too so no need to say anything there. As for ramage he is stronger than he looks, excellent reader of the game, positioning is brilliant but....... Slow. This will be where you will probably exploit. Expect our defence to be quite deep.

Speroni: regularly one of the best keepers in the league. Excellent shot stopper and really good at game reading. His distribution is quality and he is quietly confident. He's not huge so crosses are his weak point I would say and generally when he does come for crosses he punches clear. Usually towards Zaha / bolaise. Whittinghams crosses have beaten him before.

So that's a bit more knowledge about us. Maybe you could rethink your tactics. The game will be closer than you think. Fitness wise the whole squad is very very fit so don't expect us to give up easily. My shout is a score draw. Good luck tho I hope it's a cracker!! ( sorry had to do it) merry Christmas Cardiff fans. I hope palace win but that's not up to me.

good write up. and agree with a lot of the points you make. Ive always liked the look of Parr, seems very solid.

What you say about murray scoring goals though, with 18 so far this season, how many of those are penalties? about 10?

you as a palace fan would have a much better understanding of him than i would, but ive never really rated him as a very good player, a lot of the goals he seems to score are just tap ins/ penalties. If zaha wasnt diving so much he would have scored the same amount as Helguson

Also, what do you think of the future of Zaha? do you think he will go in Jan or in the summer? do you think you could still make the playoffs without him this season?

Kim was quality against Leicester, and Bellers has to go up front for me. He and Helguson are quality together.

Murray is under rated. That's how he likes it. He is above average and does what a front man does. No complaints from us. He puts himself around and causes havoc for defenders. Yes a lot of his goals are pens. But if you don't give away pens then he can't score them. Don't expect wonder goals from him. Headers and tap ins. But in any championship team he would be useful.

Zaha doesn't dive. He's just really tricky. Watch him for a whole game and the amount of times he gets chunks out of him is just shameful. But he gets straight back up and plays on to the refs whistle. He hardly ever appeals for anything. Bolaise the same. As for his future, well who can tell? I believe he'll be of at the end of the season and not jan. either way he's going. If we get promoted it makes no difference. Not with Man U and arsenal sniffing. He's young and needs to learn a lot more but can be up there with bale, Walcott, nasri and dembele as premiership highlight regulars. Not messi class tho. Thing is we don't need to sell, he has 4 years left on contract and he loves palace. As a club we will always be behind him whatever happens we owe that to him.

Parr is so tidy as a defender that he is prem worthy too he's personally my favourite palace player at the moment cos he's a footballer. Not a walking show reel or media monkey. He just does his job and goes about his day. His brain and passing and positioning is class. He loved here.

Thanks for the input and info, what do u think of darcy blake?, I've always rated him but palace fans seem to despise him

This is going to come down to if we can play the game in the Palace half.

If we do I think we can win comfortably. I really can see us troubling the likes of Gabbi and hopefully we can have another 3 goal lead at half time.

Even more hopefully we wont take our foot of the pedal in the second half like we did at their place. I cannot see it happening this time although Palace are a team we wont be able to grind down like we have with other visitors.

If Palace take the initiative like Peterborough did then we could have a few problems. Can't see this happening though.

Darcy has been unlucky here. I think we all rate him but he just can't get in the team. With ramage and Delaney playing so well for us gabbidon coming in and McCarthy still to come back that puts him well down the pecking order for centre back. He has filled in right back for ward a couple of times but he seems to drift in that position. I think as fans we are frustrated that he hasn't shown more cos we all know he's actually really good. So I don't think we dispise him just want to see more from him.

As for grinding us down you need to try something different than that. Like I said we have one of the fittest squads in the league. For Cardiff I think it's just do what you do. Clearly you are a good team and at home should do really well. Getting the first goal won't make a difference in motivation or tactics because palace don't quit. In short it should be a really good 90 mins of football. If both teams and to that, sets of fans show up then this has the potential to be a football game to remember!!

First off I've got to say , yes I'm a palace fan, I'm not here to argue or cause havoc , I just find it interesting in see the other teams views on us.

This is a good post for what it's worth but you may find that your starting line up for palace is .... Well.... Unlikely.

It's most likely going to be

Speroni
Blake/ward , ramage, gabbidon, parr
Dikgacoi, jedinak
Zaha, garvan, bolaise
Murray

Subs (of note) : moritz, okeefe, moxey,

I've watch Cardiff a couple of times and have to say your gaffer has really got a team that's ready now. In Bellamy, whittingham and a couple other you have some really good players!! I would even go as far as say that Cardiff is the most ready for the promotion fight this season. Ask any palace fan at the beginning of this season where we thought we would be and 3rd is nowhere near what we would say. We are just happy to be up here and battling with the likes of Cardiff and hull.

In our side of things against you guys its always a go game. We've played each other enough now to know what to look out for. But I think you may have missed a few things. So as a friendly fan I thought I'd point them out.

Murray: he scores goals!! But he really needs service. Cut the service cut the goals. He has 18 goals this season, the next is on 5 I believe. Should say it all.

Zaha, bolaise: you are right to be worried about these two but maybe for the wrong reason. It's not the one on one that's the problem, every defender is aware of the skill of the two lads. What you need to look out for is when they combine. Look out for what looks like over hit crosses. They may well be passes. And if one swaps wings but the other doesn't then they've spotted a weakness, see goal against Huddersfield. From what I've seen your full back are capable of at least frustrating them but not stopping them. Double teaming them doesn't work you will just leave someone else open.

Garvan, moritz: expect them to find a few good passes they are the feeders. Like pw for you guys garvan can place it on a penny if needed. Moritz has better close control so may beat a player first. Both a excellent passers.

Kg and Jedi: two defensive midfielders but really only one !! Kg makes very deep lung busting runs into space. Usually towards Murray opening the wings. Jedi will read the game and clear up our midfield. He's strong and quick with a good range of pass. Watch out for those.

The defence: I don't think you've given us enough credit. Our goal difference is to different to yours . They are organised and strong. In parr and ward there is a bit of pace. Parr is an excellent tidy defender and I think you'll be impressed by him. The centre backs may have a bit of a change this match as damo is suspended due to a horrific tackle last game resulting in a red. So it's likely to be gabbidon and ramage. I guess you know about gabbidon and for that darcy Blake too so no need to say anything there. As for ramage he is stronger than he looks, excellent reader of the game, positioning is brilliant but....... Slow. This will be where you will probably exploit. Expect our defence to be quite deep.

Speroni: regularly one of the best keepers in the league. Excellent shot stopper and really good at game reading. His distribution is quality and he is quietly confident. He's not huge so crosses are his weak point I would say and generally when he does come for crosses he punches clear. Usually towards Zaha / bolaise. Whittinghams crosses have beaten him before.

So that's a bit more knowledge about us. Maybe you could rethink your tactics. The game will be closer than you think. Fitness wise the whole squad is very very fit so don't expect us to give up easily. My shout is a score draw. Good luck tho I hope it's a cracker!! ( sorry had to do it) merry Christmas Cardiff fans. I hope palace win but that's not up to me.

Cheers mate, top post that

Darcy has been unlucky here. I think we all rate him but he just can't get in the team. With ramage and Delaney playing so well for us gabbidon coming in and McCarthy still to come back that puts him well down the pecking order for centre back. He has filled in right back for ward a couple of times but he seems to drift in that position. I think as fans we are frustrated that he hasn't shown more cos we all know he's actually really good. So I don't think we dispise him just want to see more from him.

As for grinding us down you need to try something different than that. Like I said we have one of the fittest squads in the league. For Cardiff I think it's just do what you do. Clearly you are a good team and at home should do really well. Getting the first goal won't make a difference in motivation or tactics because palace don't quit. In short it should be a really good 90 mins of football. If both teams and to that, sets of fans show up then this has the potential to be a football game to remember!!

I know Delaney is suspended so does that mean Blake will get a start or at least an appearance do you reckon?

Darcy has been unlucky here. I think we all rate him but he just can't get in the team. With ramage and Delaney playing so well for us gabbidon coming in and McCarthy still to come back that puts him well down the pecking order for centre back. He has filled in right back for ward a couple of times but he seems to drift in that position. I think as fans we are frustrated that he hasn't shown more cos we all know he's actually really good. So I don't think we dispise him just want to see more from him.

As for grinding us down you need to try something different than that. Like I said we have one of the fittest squads in the league. For Cardiff I think it's just do what you do. Clearly you are a good team and at home should do really well. Getting the first goal won't make a difference in motivation or tactics because palace don't quit. In short it should be a really good 90 mins of football. If both teams and to that, sets of fans show up then this has the potential to be a football game to remember!!

Every team that's come to the CCS to play football has been taken apart.

Every team that's come to the CCS to sit back and defend has been ground down eventually.

Whatever you try it won't work

We've already taken an Ian Holloway team to pieces so far this season.

Most likely gabbidon, he replace Delaney against Huddersfield. A bit more experienced and tidy. I would expect Blake to be at right back if ward is injured which I think is why he came off last game and bolaise was subbed to , he had a little limp. No word on bolaise being injured tho. Our other option is parr at right and moxey at left which would leave Blake on the bench but that to me is a little to much moving about and could back fire.

Darcy has been unlucky here. I think we all rate him but he just can't get in the team. With ramage and Delaney playing so well for us gabbidon coming in and McCarthy still to come back that puts him well down the pecking order for centre back. He has filled in right back for ward a couple of times but he seems to drift in that position. I think as fans we are frustrated that he hasn't shown more cos we all know he's actually really good. So I don't think we dispise him just want to see more from him.

As for grinding us down you need to try something different than that. Like I said we have one of the fittest squads in the league. For Cardiff I think it's just do what you do. Clearly you are a good team and at home should do really well. Getting the first goal won't make a difference in motivation or tactics because palace don't quit. In short it should be a really good 90 mins of football. If both teams and to that, sets of fans show up then this has the potential to be a football game to remember!!

Every team that's come to the CCS to play football has been taken apart.

Every team that's come to the CCS to sit back and defend has been ground down eventually.

Whatever you try it won't work

We've already taken an Ian Holloway team to pieces so far this season.

Thats not quite true mate as peterboro took us apart!

Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:43 pm
Cpfcfriendlyfan wrote:
Darcy has been unlucky here. I think we all rate him but he just can't get in the team. With ramage and Delaney playing so well for us gabbidon coming in and McCarthy still to come back that puts him well down the pecking order for centre back. He has filled in right back for ward a couple of times but he seems to drift in that position. I think as fans we are frustrated that he hasn't shown more cos we all know he's actually really good. So I don't think we dispise him just want to see more from him.

As for grinding us down you need to try something different than that. Like I said we have one of the fittest squads in the league. For Cardiff I think it's just do what you do. Clearly you are a good team and at home should do really well. Getting the first goal won't make a difference in motivation or tactics because palace don't quit. In short it should be a really good 90 mins of football. If both teams and to that, sets of fans show up then this has the potential to be a football game to remember!!


Every team that's come to the CCS to play football has been taken apart.

Every team that's come to the CCS to sit back and defend has been ground down eventually.

Whatever you try it won't work

We've already taken an Ian Holloway team to pieces so far this season.



- I love this confidence. But..... Who said we would sit back?? Do Zaha and bolaise strike you as that type? Yes I said defense may play a bit deep but not sit back.

You may have beaten Blackpool. And we'll done, but we aren't Blackpool. We are palace. We are fitter, livelier and hungrier than Blackpool. We have so many different ways to hurt a team : wingers with pace and skill, free kick geniuses, target man who scores with his head and both feet, midfielders who score and even centre backs who score. Please don't think grinding us down is even an option. We will come and play at your place and we give you a good difficult game. You may take us apart or play better than us but if you do then you deserve to win. We will challenge every ball, we will cover every blade of grass. Your players will earn the aches and pains they get after the game for keeping up with us. It won't be as easy as proclaiming a previous record. -

I think I answered your confidence well enough there. I didn't even mention Peterborough .

Now that is a bit of confidence from a fan who's team have drawm the last what 4 games?

Palace have two good wingers, two tidy midfielders and a striker who's scored ten penaltys and a few tap ins , something may have to give..

I prefer realism. I didn't say we'd win or lose or draw. I just said we would give a good game. We do draw a lot. Usually because we have a lead a make silly mistakes. But we always battle and to be fair we haven't given too many goals away this season. And score a fair few.

Anyway my point is that it won't be a walk in the park for you guys. We will make it difficult. But result a side and being a realist I wouldn't be destroyed if you did win. Obviously I want a palace win but as a football fan and coach I do have to concede that Cardiff are a very good team with the ability to beat us. For me it could go any way. I'm really looking forward to this one as its two very good teams going at it.

cant fault what palace have done this season, but i think they are starting to slip now and whatever the result on boxing day i think they have a fight on thier hands to make the playoffs.


however i, and a lot of people we tipping them to struggle this season, and they lost their first 3 matches, so respect!

Very good points there mate .
What tactics do you think palace will employ?
What tactics would you employ?
What do you think the score will be?
Who do u think are cardiffs best players and why?

Honest answers would be much appreciated

Darcy has been unlucky here. I think we all rate him but he just can't get in the team. With ramage and Delaney playing so well for us gabbidon coming in and McCarthy still to come back that puts him well down the pecking order for centre back. He has filled in right back for ward a couple of times but he seems to drift in that position. I think as fans we are frustrated that he hasn't shown more cos we all know he's actually really good. So I don't think we dispise him just want to see more from him.

As for grinding us down you need to try something different than that. Like I said we have one of the fittest squads in the league. For Cardiff I think it's just do what you do. Clearly you are a good team and at home should do really well. Getting the first goal won't make a difference in motivation or tactics because palace don't quit. In short it should be a really good 90 mins of football. If both teams and to that, sets of fans show up then this has the potential to be a football game to remember!!

Sounds about right with Blake, he is the "almost man" can be decent but not really good enough to hold down a starting place.

Marshall
Gunnarsson
Hudson
Turner
Taylor
Conway
Whittingham
Mutch
Noone
Helguson
Bellamy