Hello all, apologies for a few preview-less weeks, but seeing as i've got my first, and heaviest term out of the way, i'll be trying to get back on track with these again. Cardiff City @ Vicarage Road, 26th December 2011, KO: 12:00pm Cardiff City, (Or ‘WFCWales’ as they’re known unto some), now a club known striving to reach the Promised Land of the Premiership, and having come so close on numerous occasions – they have been knocked out of the Championship Playoff Semi-Finals two times in the last two campaigns. Dave Jones’ efforts were deemed ‘not good enough’ by the Cardiff board, and consequently a summer of upheaval at the Cardiff City Stadium… and Vicarage Road… unfolded. Out the doors of the Welsh club went Chris Burke, Jay Bothroyd and Michael Chopra, leaving Mackay with a significantly depleted squad. But the Scot made a significant number of signings to bolster his options following these departures. Ex-Watford winger - Don Cowie, Ex-Watford loanee – Andrew Taylor, Watford transfer target – Craig Conway (You get the point…), in addition to Cardiff hero Robbie Earnshaw, Aaron Gunnarsson, Ben Turner, Joe Mason, Rudy Gestede, Kenny Miller and Filip Kiss all joining the bluebirds, along with the vast majority of the Watford backroom staff. Ex-Hornet player, coach and manager, Malky Mackay, now in charge of the Bluebirds has guided Cardiff to a solid 5th position as we enter the Boxing Day fixture that marks the season’s half-way stage, taking 38 points from their opening 22 fixtures. Firmly in the playoff picture, with a 5 point buffer between themselves and 7th, they are also just 5 points off of an automatic promotion place. Though Mackay’s post-move antics in the transfer and management markets may have disappointed those at Vicarage Road, Mackay himself won’t have been too down-heartened with how things are working out at this stage. In stark contrast, Watford’s slow and patchy start to the campaign sees them sat in the lower reaches of the mid-table wilderness, with 26 points from the opening 22 fixtures, 5 points above the relegation zone. However, in recent times, Sean Dyche’s side seem to have ‘turned the corner’ after a run of 4 consecutive defeats in October, and have only been defeated once in the past 9 fixtures – a 1-0 away defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough courtesy of an offside goal. 4 wins and 4 draws have seen the Hornets edge themselves slightly further away from the relegation zone going into the festive period. On what’s likely to be a cold day at The Vic, Mackay himself is likely to have to face up to a heated reception, though we’re not really too sure what to expect. Cardiff have enjoyed the best of the recent meetings between these two sides (see below), though they did not fare so well at Vicarage Road last campaign, losing 4-1. With Watford & Cardiff sitting 12 points apart in the table this time round, the Hornets are going to have to start taking more of their chances, and ideally need the strikers to start hitting the back of the net more regularly than they have been in recent weeks. It’ll be another tough home test for Dyche’s men, but as shown in recent weeks – the league table doesn’t necessarily shine through out on the pitch. Cardiff City League Form: WDWWDL Peter Whittingham (Central Midfielder) Originally a left-winger, Whittingham is more frequently found in the centre of the park, most effectively on the left of a midfield three in a 4-3-3 formation. As Cardiff’s Player of the Season in 2009/10, he brings composure, vision, agility, passing, and great ball control to the Bluebird’s midfield, allowing him to dictate the flow of play whilst rarely relinquishing possession. His ability to control the tempo of matches is widely recognised as one of his most impressive traits. He is also known to be a set-piece specialist, regularly taking charge of corner, free-kick and penalty duties. Having started his career at Aston Villa, with brief loan spells at Burnley & Derby county, Whittingham has since gone on to feature over 200 times in a Cardiff shirt, netting over 50 goals for the club. He has also featured for England at U21 level. Iwelumo & ****inson should return to the Watford squad after missing out against Blackpool through illness. Martin Taylor and Stephen McGinn are still long-term absentees for the ‘Orns. Watford Starting XI vs Blackpool (D 0-0): Loach Hodson – Mariappa – Nosworthy – Doyley Yeates – Buaben – Hogg – Kightly Deeney – Sordell Subs: Bond, Mirfin, Eustace, Beattie, Garner Cardiff appear to have a relatively clean bill of health; Whittingham is available for selection after confirmation he has only received 4 bookings so far this term. Cardiff City Starting XI vs Middlesbrough (L 2-3): Marshall McNoughton – Turner – Hudson – Taylor Conway – Gunnarsson – Whittingham – Cowie Ralls – Miller Subs: Heaton, Gerrard, Kiss, Gestede, Mason 22/01/11 Cardiff City 4-2 Watford 28/12/10 Watford 4-1 Cardiff City 21/03/10 Cardiff City 3-1 Watford 03/10/09 Watford 0-4 Cardiff City 19/03/09 Cardiff City 2-1 Watford 22/10/08 Watford 2-2 Cardiff City Providing I can between now and the game, I’ll aim to get some Bluebird fans opinions published at some point. Whilst Cardiff are ultimately better equipped and are much higher up the table than the ‘Orns, you can’t discount form, and Watford’s home form has been good in recent weeks. If Watford use the additional motivation created by a potentially hostile atmosphere, then at least a point is there for the taking. Watford 2-2 WFCWales. At The Bookies: Watford win @ 13/8 Draw @ 11/5 Cardiff City win @ 13/10 (Odds courtesy of www.williamhill.com) Or visit the vBookie prior to kick-off at 12:00 on Monday to throw some vCash at this one.
Checked before I published it. > http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footba...g-day-after-yellow-card-error-91466-29979738/
Won't be there due to family stuff. But please if we go 1-0 up early on DO NOT start singing "Malky,Malky Whats the score"
Meh, annoying (yet again) to get a draw out of a game that we could have won. Never the less, a point against Cardiff isn't too bad. Just hope we make up for it with wins against the lower opposition teams around us.
Not a bad point at all and if we beat Doncaster at home which we should be able to then things will be looking very much on the up!
A red Audi A5 with the registration P4NTO has driven past me in Whippendell Road. Is this Scott Loachs new motor?
1-1 was a fair result Another good performance from the team, didnt deserve to concede in the second half but rode our luck in the first Fair play to the lad in the Rookery who shouted "Get Hoskins on Malky"
Yeah his two/three world class saves today were shocking. Get him out now. I mean with about two mistakes this season his position as a Championship keeper for the smallest club in the division is becoming untenable. I mean it doesn't take a genius to forsee the ball taking a unlucky bounce of Mapps' back in a goalmouth scramble from a long throw. Get him out now and give Bond/Gilmartin the number 1 shirt. :boo: :boo: :boo: I would describe you in a way that I see fit and that would be very apt for you and the people in front of me who had a go at him for being on the floor for too long after making a world class diving save but I don't want to be banned or have my post edited for telling it how it is and exercising my freedom of speech again so I'll leave what I want to say to your imagination.
dont really know how i feel about that. cardiff probably edged the first half, but were very limited only ever threatening from set pieces. second half we were far better, scored a deserved goal and conceded another poor one. would have taken a point before hand though. i know loach will get chastised again. i think we need to get a couple more creative players into the team in january, also would love to sign nosworthy on a permanent basis.
Draw was fair. Did well to hold out in the first half but then we had a couple of decent efforts. Nice goal by Buaben and shame Loach ruined a decent performance beforehand with the error. Hogg and Norsworthy great again and thought Deeney did well. Our wide men didn't get into the game much. Good atmosphere I thought.
Can't defend loach any more. Tried but I look foolish now. Really good team performance, the back four look quality but the liability behind them has cost us yet more points. Hogg was outstanding, simply brilliant. How we got him so cheap I don't know because he is brilliant. But Loach can **** off. Those talking about world class saves need to wake up, he made one decent save I can remember which I'd expect any championship goalie to save. Flap flap flap all game, when they hit the post it came from him flapping a ball to the penalty spot. He just can't catch and it's not good enough. I've tried to defend him, but it's just impossible.
Another frustrating result against a very good Championship team, yet we have the ability to give away winning leads in the most bizzare way. Another mess up piece of defending and I've got to admit, Loach looks soooo nervous when the ball goes into the box. We've now given away 6 points from Leeds, Bristol City and today. This is a massive amount to just throw away. The opposition have not even done anything to earn their goals, we just like to give away "get out of jail" cards to teams. Very frustrating as we have to maximise a winning lead, not just give it away. We are unlikely to keep Kightly or Nosworthy after early January and I credit our upturn in results mainly to these two players. We've not amassed enough points on the board for my liking and I find this the biggest concern.
yes we rode our luck in the first half, but two of their chances came from Loach failing to connect with two punches, including the one that Whittingham smaked against the post. After 25 minutes we were in total control. Cardiff offered nothing in the second half, they have two lumps at the back who couldn't cope with Sordell or Deeney. A great challenge by Hodaon at the end to knock Miller off the ball, but we need to see out games. Sir Alec needs to work on some of Loaches weaknesses
Nosworthy, Hodson, Hogg, Mariappa and Deeney played well today. Yeates is long due a good performance though. We will miss Kightly big time when he goes back in Jan. Because we haven't got many attacking / wingers options.
Point is satisfying but perhaps we could have done better. However both had enough chances and i'll take an unbeaten December very happily. Disagree with the above thought that Lee Hodson looked a bit out of depth and the defence made some errors but were able to clear up. Despite his mistake(s), we need to remember that Loach saved us against Blackpool and also made some good saves today. Cardiff can play a lot better though so we were lucky there, thought the centre back two did well with Miller who can be a right handful. Also why didn't we make any substitutions? Definitely some tired legs out there for final 15 mins and Dyche should have sorted that. Ref was shocking, I understand how quickly some things happen but when issues are obvious and when you have other officials should not be happening. I wouldn'tmind if he applied the same level of discipline to all incidents, but not let some go and others not. Lots of families and wives/girlfriends there today, all the normally empty seats around my place in the Rookery were full! Decent numbers from Cardiff fans, especially given the distance and early kick off on Boxing Day. Overall good team effort though.
Hodson was quality today! Very comfortable all game, in fact the whole defence was! Apart from the goalies mistakes I don't think we looked like conceding all game. God forbid that Doyley comes back into that defence....
Hodson has been quality since he has come into the side. I don't think he gets enough credit for his defending. And going forward he always does well + provides a great out ball for Hogg to switch play aswell as good overlapping runs for Yeates. He's still very young and has done well to come back considering all the stick the fans gave him last season. Its so refreshing having him in the side over LD.
Haha in that case maybe I got it completely wrong! Just that he made some mistakes in front of me and let the Cardiff player past. I'll make sure I have a better look at him at the Doncaster game
Loach has had enough chances, time to get someone decent in. Thats 4 points we've thrown away in recent matches because of his lack of concentration.
I agree, Hodson is probably our most improved player and had another very good game today. I'm gutted for Loach though, as he made some very good saves and saved our bacon in the last minute when Miller was clean through, but all the Cardiff chances were from poor Loach clearances or hestitation. He may need to be taken out of the firing line again, but then we have no one to come in and take his place. Bond is a fine prospect, but it's expecting a lot for him to come in and do the business, same applies to Gilmartin. We need an "old pro" keeper that can come in a do a job every now and then, when required. It's inevitable that when/if Kightly and Nosworthy go back our results and performances will drop. That's why it's so important to take advantage of the situation while these guys are here. Certain silly mistakes are robbing us of good results and I'm sure we will look back at the end of the season and rue not winning at least two of our last three home matches.
Just seen the goals on Final Score. Great work by Sordell to get the ball to Buaben and great composure buy Buaben to score. On the other side, such an awful goal to concede :dismay:
Some people who were chanting at Mallky during the game went and clapped him at the end, urrr Deeney was magnificent, I love him with all my heart Deeney Deeney Deeney
