|
15 Top Cardiff City Web Sites
More City Sites
Welsh Sites
World Football Sites
|
City Come From Behind Again, Win at Preston 2-1
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Cardiff City recorded their third come-from-behind win of the season today, rallying to beat Preston North End 2-1 at Deepdale. The win is City's fourth in their last six games and lifts them to 12th in the table.
It's the Bluebirds first win at Preston in quite awhile too, as Deepdale has been yet another venue that's rough on the Bluebirds. Since recording a 1-0 win there on November 4, 1986, City hadn't won in eight at Deepdale (three draws, five defeats).
Today looked for awhile as though it'd be just another dreary day in Lancashire. Preston jumped in front in the fifth minute of play when Simon Whaley's 20-yard drive sent a Lewis Neal corner into the bottom of the net. Things took an upturn, though, when a Roger Johnson header off a Joe Ledley corner levelled the match at the 53-minute mark. Then Ledley netted the winner midway through the second half. The FootyMad match report offered this description of the winning goal: "the eventual winner came after man of the match Ledley robbed Davidson in his own half and outmuscled Paul McKenna before placing the ball left-footed into the top corner of the net."
In a brief report on the match for his Bluesy's Blues blog, Nigel Harris noted, of City's first-hald display, that "City had more of the ball and looked more accomplished but showed nothing in the final third and were out of sorts at the back. They would have been relieved to get to the interval only one goal behind." He adds that "the 2nd period however was a different story. Cardiff dominated from first whistle to last.:
The SportingLife.com report offers this account of City's first goal: "McPhail sent a 20-yard strike narrowly wide before Hasselbaink hit a wayward volley from Ledley's cross, and moments later Cardiff were level after Johnson rose highest to head home Ledley's left-wing corner from six yards." The write up for the second goal reads as follows:
Cardiff snatched the lead following a strong run from Ledley down the Preston left.
The Wales midfielder exchanged passes with Hasselbaink just inside the Preston half to get behind the home defence and might have gone down under the challenge of Sean St Ledger but kept his feet to steer the ball past Andy Lonergan from a wide angle.
Brian Ellis's report for the Lancashire Evening Post notes that "North End were made to pay for a string of missed chances." He adds that "it was disappointing for manager Alan Irvine who had seen his side fail to build on their early lead by squandering a string of chances," especially when Preston's "old defensive frailties surfaced again at the start of the second half to allow the Bluebirds an equaliser." Of the missed chances, Ellis has it that "Patrick Agyemang had three good openings before the interval. But one was saved, one hammered into the side-netting and the striker made a hash of the other just 12 yards from goal."
The messageboard was a busy place after the game with nearly everyone in a most festive mood. Still, there were some attempts at analysis. For instance, Heathblue wrote:
Very lucky not to be 2 - 0 maybe even 3 - 0 down at half time, the chance Agewhatever he's called was easier to score!!!
A different Cardiff City came out all guns blazing in the 2nd half and aided by a brilliant save from Casper completely dominated proceedings, worthy winners in the end. Well done to all, made the journey even more worthwhile.
Taffster opined:
PNE disintegrated during the 2nd half.
I think the majority of their 1st half confidence was only their due to their goal - which although well taken had a slice of luck to it.
Kasper made some great saves to keep us in the game. We looked ropey at the back first half. McNaughton was poor, he made some bad decisions and seemed to lack pace. Loovens was struggling with a thigh niggle and you could drive a oil tanker through the centre halves.
We passed the ball well most of the game, but with little penetration in the first 45 mins. Our goal changed the game, PNE disintegrated.
Thought JFH was poor. But he took two players out for Rog to storm in for the header and he laid it off to Ledley running into a bit of space for the second. JFH also laid a few chances to others after the 2nd goal.
The result was better than the performance. but who cares.
Rhodri observed:
wonder what he said at half time, as you say could of been at least 2 or 3 down by half time we looked very bad at defender set pieces but came out all guns blazing 2nd half, cant for the life of me understand why he started jfh instead of mclaen as they played so good at watford and jfh was useless today.
Thames Valley Bluebird had a bit to say too:
Very much a game of two halves.
First half we were crap, laboured in possession and were lucky to go in at just one down. Schmeichel made a couple of decent saves and Presotn missed a couple of reasonable chances.
Preston's goal was a well struck shot after a corner was not cleared far enough. No-one anywhere near him. You could tell Preston weren't up to much though, they seemed quite happy to let us have the ball and attack by chipping balls over our back four for the awkward Agyemang.
It's worth noting that it was a difficult pitch to play on, the heavy rain meant the ball was holding up at times and running on at others. This caught a few players out as the match wore on.
At half time we were saying that at least we can only get better and to be fair we did. Shooting towards the end with the decent 600-700 (but strangely quiet at 0-1) away support.
Johnson's goal was a great downward bullet of a header from a Ledley corner. Straight over to celebrate with the city fans, arms outstretched. The second goal was all Ledley's work, battling on the half way line before breaking through. He seemed to have lost the ball before finally trying to shoot, the ball appeared to rebound off the nearest defender, back onto Ledley's boot and it looped over the goalie into the net. Another celebration with the fans which is always nice to see.
Preston seemed to fall apart a bit after that and we could have scored more in the end. JFH is still not good enough, the guy is a waste of space and Maclean should be aggrieved that he was dropped for him. 7 points out of 9 over xmas. Must be our best return in years.
Finally, absolutely brilliant to finally win at Deepdale. My 6th visit and first win.
Lawnmower summed things up succinctly enough: "1st half unbeleievably bad, couldnt get to grips with the sodden pitch. 2nd half got it out wide and totally outclassed them. Superb.
Fowler Off to USA for Treatment
Friday, December 28, 2007
Today's South Wales Echo has a report, "Fowler Heads to America for Op," that states that "the former England striker is out with an ankle ligament injury sustained in training – and while sidelined manager Dave Jones says Fowler is set to fly out next week to have keyhole surgery on his troublesome hip." Adding that Fowler's off to Colorado, Jones says that "“He is still two or three weeks away from training because of his ankle problem and the medical opinion is that a minor operation can sort out his hip. We are awaiting a final decision by specialists, but that’s how it looks right now."
So, what of this "globetrotting"? Any chance it'll be worth it? How do you weigh up the plusses and minuses? On the messageboard, The Lone Gunman added things up as follows:
Four Championship goals. Two penalties, and the other two were in the same game.
Fowler's made a total of 10 (+3) league appearances, and he's only scored from open play in one of them.
If he'd made a major contribution to the team effort you'd make allowances, but the truth is he's been anonymous during most of his appearances.
Huge wages + big medical bills = poor investment.
Angry took a somewhat different view:
Ok I must say i'm a bit disappointed with the amount of games he's played and the fact his wages are stopping us getting loans or players in in Jan (however who would come here with the LANGSTONE case still outstanding) but he is still a Cardiff player and just in case we need him for the last 10 games to keep us safe or to push us up we need him positive, remember he is still our top scorer and potentially could score a goal a game!
Crack_City_Rocker countered by saying, "He could potentially never play for us again as well, I don't think it's too much to question exactly why we've spent this stupid amount of money." Sludge Factory minced few words, declaring that "its clear that this signing was going to be a gamble and its proved a very very expensive one." He added, "however we are paying a multi, multi millionaire thousands and thousands a week and he isnt kicking a ball. I think its one of the biggest mistakes made by cardiff city football club in living memory."
More Watford Match Reports
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Thanks to the ever-vigilant messageboarder, The Other Bob Wilson, I can pass along links to a number of match reports from yesterday's sickener of a 2-2 with Watford at Vicarage Road. Tracking down links to reports can take an eternity but when you've got them presented to you in one tidy list it's rather blissful. So, without further ado, let's get to them.
James Callow has penned the Guardian's match report, "McAnuff Works Overtime to Spare Boothroyd's Blushes." He claims that "Cardiff were overwhelmingly the better side, creating two goals with the kind of creativity the hosts were desperately lacking." He adds, "Cardiff were sprightly in comparison with their hosts, with Gavin Rae and the excellent Joe Ledley running the midfield. Ledley engineered the opening goal, forcing a smart save from Richard Lee and then swinging in the subsequent corner towards the far post." Oh, and just so you know, he describes McAnuff's equaliser as a "parabolic shot which curled around Kasper Schmeichel."
The Independent's report, "Watford Rescued by McAnuff's Late Sting," has been authored by James Corrigan. He observes that
the visitors' first win at Watford in 37 years seemed certain when Kasper Schmeichel produced a wonder save off Tommy Smith in the 93rd minute. But from the resulting corner, with the Cardiff players looking to Bentley for the whistle, McAnuff arrived in the corner of the area to curl in a sumptuous right-footer.
The Telegraph's report, by Christopher Davies, is entitled "Watford and Jobi McAnuff Exploit Bad Timing" and shows a degree of sympathy for the Bluebirds. Davies writes, "Substitute referee Ian Bentley somehow added two minutes of extra time to the three minutes indicated by the fourth official which allowed Jobi McAnuff to score an undeserved equaliser for Watford against a spirited Cardiff. McAnuff's goal was timed at three minutes and 42 seconds into time added on."
The Times Online's report has as its title, "Dave Jones Says Referee Should Have Called Time on Jobi McAnuff." This account states that "Jones is confident that Cardiff are on the up. He said: 'There is a confidence and belief in the squad and we have stuck together really well.'"
For a few more reports, from ICWales, Setanta, and Watford's official site, check this post by Nigel Harris to his Bluesy's Blues blog.
Rocked by Late McAnuff Goal, City Settle for 2-2 Draw at Watford
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Cardiff City thought they were just seconds away from a vital Boxing Day win at Watford today as the clock approached the third minute of injury time. Referee Ian Bentley had indicated three minutes of second-half stoppage time and as the clock ticked down to the third extra minute, the Bluebirds were having everything their way. Then, though, play carried on past the third minute and ex-Bluebird Jobi McAnuff somehow managed to net an equaliser to give Watford a 2-2 draw and a share of the spoils. City had bossed the first half but led only 1-0 at the break, thanks to a Roger Johnson header from a Gavin Rae corner. It didn't take Watford long to make City pay for its profligacy, John DeMerit scoring four minutes into the second half. Then Peter Whittingham's drive put City back on top at the 56-minute mark and that looked to be enough until McAnuff struck late in the fourth minute of added time.
The SportingLife.com report characterises the final five minutes as "tumultuous" and nothing short of "a Watford onslaught." In the last minutes, "Francis' header was directed straight at a grateful Schmeichel, who then tipped McAnuff's stinging shot over. McAnuff had another shot just wide before he struck a first time shot high into the far corner to cue wild celebrations."
In his "Watford v Cardiff On My Radio Web Report," Nigel Harris laments City's allowing
Watford to equalise in the final seconds in the fifth minute of added time when only three minutes were displayed - when ex-City man Jobi McAnuff an oh so lucky point saver in a game which The Bluebirds fully deserved to win having comprehensively outplayed the league leaders on their own patch but failed to make it sufficiently count.
On the messageboard, Ninian Opinian had this to say:
I made the trip and it was totally gutting. Watford played like a div 2 outfit and lumped the ball forward in the last 10 mins. It was like Sheff Utd all over again. Unfortunatly it worked.
Our football was top quality at times and i cannot fault anyone in the team for their effort or commitment.The only down side perhaps was our finishing as we could have killed the game off long before the end.
If we can produce that level of performance at Preston we will win. Apparently to make matters worse the fourth official who took over as ref had not refereed at this level before and was not qualified to do so. The time keeping at the end of both halfs was a shambles.
Manager Jones wasn't too happy with the referee either, by the way. See this story, "Jones Bemoans Injury Time Goal," from the SportingLife.com site. Not all messageboard commentators were caught up with the despair at losing two points so late (though plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth came through in post after post). There were plenty of positives to point up as well and a number of posts to the messageboard cited improved play. Here are Corky's comments:
Much better than Watford and the pace and good play from Parry and McLean was very noticeable. McPhail is so good when he has a few outlets instead of having to continuously play balls to JFH feet.
We were so unlucky today, not just with the late,late goal but in general...we really were worthy winners today and Watford escaped with a point.
Fair play City if we can continue playing like that our fans will be happy...most hard working, gutsy performance I have seen for a while.
AlwaysAway wrote, "Agree 100%. Unbelievable that they did not win. Quite staggering really!" Old Blue added, "I was walking back to the town speaking to a Watford fan and even he admitted they were lucky to get away with a point. We should have been worthy winners today." Barclay offered a few comments, as well as player ratings:
Magnificent performance today. For the first time this season it reminded me of when we were flying at the start last year.
It was a hard fought game with two honest sides willing to play football. I didnt think Watford bullied us as Jones says on ceefax. Two cautions (rightly so, one each side). Ref didnt have much to do other than keep time, which he made a complete hash of. Only thoughts were, Smith should have been cautioned for a shocking tackle on McNaughton in the second half, and I felt we had a good penalty shoult when McLean wasbrought down in the box only for the ref to give a drop ball of all decisions!!
As for player ratings,
Kasper 8, sorry he has to go, 2 outstanding saves today
Macca 7 good solid performance got stuck in
Capaldi 6 OK performance when others shone, got stuck in though
Johnson 7 great goal, heart on his sleeve, won loads in the air but the delivery....
Loovens 9 Does any attacker relish playing against him
McPhail 8 Best game of the season. Any McPhail knockers should have been here today (can he do it again though?)
Rae - 7 Broke up lots of play, tackled well today, for distribution read Johnson
Ledley 7 Good performance today without being exceptional
Whittingham - 9, confidence returning?, on this evidence very much yes. tricky with the ball at his feet today, sublime pass to Parry out of the corner today.
Parry 8 Ran his heart out for the cause. Completely knackered in the second half but didnt give the defence any time to relax.
McLean 7 - Good to get him 90 (85) minutes. Cant see he's a prolific scorer but worked hard, held ball up well and defended from the front.
A pleasing day out except for the equaliser, oh and I got a parking ticket...
HalfmanHalfbiscuit said, "Yer fair play to every player, ran there socks off and turned out a good performance, thats all we can ask." Dick Nasty wrote,
"Like watching brazil Can't believe we didnt win it though. where they got the injury time from i dunno." Length observed, "They were bound to equalise after everyone started singing... "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see City win away."
How Have City Fared on Boxing Day? Not Well of Late
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas! Hope you're having a great day. Around here things are fairly merry. Certainly a good bit happier than they were about a month ago. Since starting out the season 3-6-6 and languishing just above the drop zone, City have picked up 14 points from their last eight games thanks to a 4-2-2 record. It's not quite time to exhale, but we're getting there.
Can we anticipate more merriment tomorrow, on Boxing Day? Not that long ago, one might reasonably have expected a big day as City once had a spectacular run of success in games played on December 26. That's changed in recent years, though. Here are the details:
* When City lost at home to Walsall 1-0 on Boxing Day 2003, it marked their first Ninian Park loss on the day after Christmas in 37 years. After losing to Crystal Palace at home on December 26, 1966, the Bluebirds put together an unbeaten streak of 17 games (10 wins, seven draws) in home matches played on Boxing Day.
* City had an unbeaten run of 14 Boxing Day matches home or away snapped on December 26, 2000 when they lost at Plymouth 2-1. That was their first loss on December 26 since Boxing Day 1984, when City lost at Oxford United 4-0. During this stretch, City won eight and drew six.
* Since beating Reading 1-0 at Ninian Park on Boxing Day, 1999, however, the Bluebirds have gone winless in December 26 games, drawing three and losing four.
* Overall, City have played 66 times on Boxing Day, winning 25, drawing 20, and losing 21.
It looks as though City will have a bit of a bad run to reverse, then, when they take on Watford at Vicarage Road tomorrow. Adding to the challenge is that the Bluebirds haven't had much success at Watford either. City are winless in their last six in the Hornets' nest (five losses, one draw) and last won at Vicarage Road on October 10, 1970. Since then they've drawn four and lost four at Watford. Football's a funny game, though. Maybe a three-pointer then?!
Schmeichel Loan Period About to End
Monday, December 24, 2007
It's not something I like thinking about, but it does appear as though on-loan goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is about to return to Manchester City at the end of this month. It's not exactly news that he's going back but Mike Morris has it covered anyway, in a story he's posted to Cardiff City Online today, "City Set for Schmeichel Blow." According to Mr. Morris, Schmeichel would stay with the Bluebirds if he could. "If I had a straight choice I would want to play regular first team football - and that really means staying with Cardiff City." He adds, though, that "I am Manchester City player and if they want me back that's where I will be. They are my club and where my long-term future is, but right now I simply want to play football."
How influential Schmeichel has been is borne out by some pretty simple stats. Schmeichel has four clean sheets in 11 games for City. That's a 36% success rate at blanking the opposition and rivals Neil Alexander's 15 for 39 last season (a 39% rate). It's just a bit better than the one for 12 (or 8% rate) served up by City's other keepers this season. Pardon me, then, while I get very depressed over the prospect of Schmeichel's leaving.
Have City Sold Gunter Too Soon?
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Have Cardiff City sold Chris Gunter too soon? That and other questions have got a bit of an airing on the Cardiff City mailing list this weekend. Here's a sampling of what's been said. We begin with this, from Scott Thomas:
As someone who has always decried pro-Ridsdale chanting (or indeed treating any businessman involved with the club as someone worthy of such a display) and has a lot of problems with and worries about him I can't necessarily see what the criticism is here.
What we know so far is that a major Premiership club wants to buy a young, promising, obviously ambitous player from a hugely indebted lower league outfit. What does anyone think Ridsdale or anyone else in football could have done to stop that?
C. H. Holmes opined, "If Dave Jones or PR was smart they would get agreement with Tottenham - as part of the Gunter deal - that we can have one of their players on-loan for the rest of the season....as long as it isnt Paul Robinson . . ." Scott Thomas had another go, with this:
We have run up a massive debt this decade with very little tangible or lasting to show for it and I don't recall many concerns being aired while it was happening. The Gunter sale is only the most recent (and will be far from the last) consequence of being a relatively poorly-supported, highly endebted club with no immediate likelihood of progressing up the leagues.
Marc Thomas observed:
£4 million for a player that has only played 20+ times for us sounds incredible. I can't see how City could have turned it down.
The gamble would have been to keep him to see if he carried out his potential - but he still wouldn't keep us out of the position we are in now - and/or getting more for him later on.
This is nowhere near the same league as selling Earnie, Kavanagh, Gabbidon or Collins (although they were inevitable at the time as well).
As has been pointed out, the sour note is that the money will go to paying off debts.
Ant questioned the view that City would realise £4 million from the Gunter sale: "Headline figures only. I think the actual guaranteed fee is £1m. According to the club's chief cheerleader, Terry Phillips, Wolves £2.5m for Ledley could have been accepted too if the player hadn't sensibly declined the chance to play for Mick McCarthy." Ant asked, in reply to Jonathan Smith's saying, "I don't think it's fair to blame the chairman, the board or player":
Does anyone honestly believe our £35m debt has fallen by the £1m or so Spurs have guaranteed us for Gunter? It's more likely to be in Guy and Hall's bank account. Gunter is blameless in all of this. I think the club valued him at £400 per week. That says it all. As for blaming attendances, why should people part with their cash to watch mediocrity week-in, week-out?
It's interesting to hear Ridsdale talk of Jones having to put up with £14m of player sales. The debt in May 2005 stood at £25m. Throw in the TV money (£1.7m according to Ridsdale) and the fact that we have just about hit crowd break-even figures in 05-06 and 06-07, how has the debt escalated so much? It cannot all be interest.
John Marenghi had this to say:
Ridsdale said on Radio Wales yesterday morning that the fee "wasn't quite as high as £4M!".
I've also heard the initial fee is well under £1M - considering they paid £11M for Bale (who I agree is a more accomplished player) then Spurs have taken a very small gamble on Gunter's future potential. They paid something like £5 or £6M for Kaboul who seems to be a defending nightmare every time I've seen clips of him on TV.
We've sold Gunter too soon - a successful season this year would have seen him being valued at nearer £2M but as we're skint and the money won't be used to strengthen the side its pretty immaterial if you're just looking at the playing side of things.
In reply, Steve Gabb wrote: "I'm not sure we've sold him too soon. We could have had the best board
in the world and Gunter would probably still have left."
He added, "however, I do think that Gunter has gone too early. I can't imagine that he'll get too much playing time at Spurs despite their defensive frailties. He'll be on loan back in Division Two before the end of the
season I suspect."
Bleary-Eyed Navigation
You can get to the top of Bleary-Eyed Statto's front page by clicking here.
To get to the previous week's entries (December 16 to December 22), go here. For the next week's (December 30 to January 5), go here.
|
15 Top UK Footy Sites
Sights & Sounds
More UK Footy Web Sites
UK Media Sports Pages
Football Blogs & Fan Sites
|