Minority Report - Cardiff City

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Red Rain, Apr 4, 2017.

  1. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    On Saturday, I was critical of the 4-1-4-1 formation. Today it looked more like 4-3-3, but like Saturday, Matty James was almost the 5th defender, so close was he to the back four. Indeed he was so close that he got in the way of a number of clearing headers by Roberts and McDonald because he was trying to win the initial header ahead of the defender. This is no criticism of James, who I thought had a terrific game again and was my MoTM ahead of Janko. It is a criticism of a system that requires our most influential mid-field player to play so deep that his effect on the game is not as significant as it should be.


    It also has to be said that I am not keen on 4-3-3 in the form where our front three are a striker and two wide players. For me, the distance between the players is too great for any interaction to take place between them. Having said that, our wide players were very ineffective. Neither could beat his full back, and the crossing was poor from both wings. Both wide players were given a lesson in wing play by Janko, who found time to get forward from full back to be our main threat.


    So our wingers were ineffective and our best mid-field player played too deep. What else went wrong? Well, the passing of Mowatt was diabolical. It was without comparison until the arrival of Kent, who was equally poor in that respect.


    The change to 4-4-2 was inevitable, and once again the change coincided with our best period. James became involved further forward, and the more he got involved, the better he looked. It is not just that he reads the game so well, his movement is great and his passing is insightful. All of the afore mentioned make him a very good player, but it is his first touch that sets him apart. Not only does he kill the ball first time, every time, but his first touch puts the ball exactly where he wants it. He is a marvellous footballer. What a shame he cannot show his full range of skills when his starting position is so deep.


    I have stated many times that blaming referees is counter-productive and that referees do a difficult job to the best of their ability. Well tonight we had a referee who inexplicably failed to give a second yellow card for a clear second yellow card offence. It should make no difference that the player is being carried off on a stretcher, the point is that Cardiff should have had 10 players because Sol Bamber’s offence merited a second yellow card. This is only the second time this season that I have criticised the referee, and like the referee for the Wolves game, the criticism is well merited because he ignored the rules. Whether a sending off would have affected the score line is open to doubt. The late chance missed by Marley Watkins suggests not. It did not look like we would score if you gave us another 90 minutes and removed the whole of the Cardiff defence.
     
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  2. Prince of Risborough

    Prince of Risborough Well-Known Member

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    Going down to ten would have just made them spoil the game even more than they already had.
     
  3. Red

    Red Rain Well-Known Member

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    That is the way I saw it too.
     
  4. orsenkaht

    orsenkaht Well-Known Member

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    Nothing to disagree with. Disappointingly few clear chances created, and when we did do so, our strikers should have tested the keeper more. The season is ending in an inevitable fashion, but I'm not going to bang on about that again. Amen and alleluia.
     
  5. Dja

    Django Well-Known Member

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    Disagree about Matty James.

    The getting in the way of the centre backs was a deliberate tactic to stop the hoofball to the big unit Cardiff had up front. He wasn't too deep in open play & plenty of times he bombed forward & Scowen or Mowatt filled in for him.
     

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