McCarthy emulates Harris and Cardiff City finally avoid defeat.

[the other bob wilson]

Set piece goals rescue City as new manager's selection surprises fans.

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

[A Quiet Monkfish]

When I saw that Flint was in for Morrison to play alongside Nelson I guessed it was those 2 who had impressed McCarthy in training the most. I'm thinking that Hoilett must have the same knack. Most teams have a Ralls or a Vaulks or a Pack or a Bacuna - in their side, surrounded by more skillful colleagues while they do the stopping/clearing up. We have 4. Not just that, those 4 play in front of 3 centre backs who are completely and utterly incapable of making anything other than the simplest pass.

McCarthy has a delicate balancing act. Try to get this squad to play some semblance of football could backfire, but he has to find a way to create goalscoring opportunities other than from set pieces. Currently I would rate our chances of staying up at 50/50, simply because we cannot buy a win and are probably the worst side in the division. Without the catalyst of Tomlin we're every defence's dream. A couple of new players in the middle will help - with respect to the skillful but largely irrelevant Wilson.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Both sides deserved to lose in that poor excuse for a football game. It was truly dire.

[Citizen's Nephew]

When I saw that Flint was in for Morrison to play alongside Nelson I guessed it was those 2 who had impressed McCarthy in training the most. I'm thinking that Hoilett must have the same knack. Most teams have a Ralls or a Vaulks or a Pack or a Bacuna - in their side, surrounded by more skillful colleagues while they do the stopping/clearing up. We have 4. Not just that, those 4 play in front of 3 centre backs who are completely and utterly incapable of making anything other than the simplest pass.

McCarthy has a delicate balancing act. Try to get this squad to play some semblance of football could backfire, but he has to find a way to create goalscoring opportunities other than from set pieces. Currently I would rate our chances of staying up at 50/50, simply because we cannot buy a win and are probably the worst side in the division. Without the catalyst of Tomlin we're every defence's dream. A couple of new players in the middle will help - with respect to the skillful but largely irrelevant Wilson.

Succinct and I agree; especially with the 50/50 staying up part. I have to admit to being very worried and am hoping for something practical and relegation-stopping from MM.

Fab write up from TOBW too. Always enjoy reading them. Interesting that it's coming up to the 50th anniversary of the Real Madrid win too so I'll give a blatant plug for TOBW's book which I've read and thoroughly enjoyed (btw I've just remembered I need to leave an Amazon review so will get on it over the w/e).

Just to add, the Barnsley pitch was a real old-school clogger so there wasn't going to be any pretty football and we've all seen forgettable matches like last night. Coming back from 2-0 down and almost sneaking 3 points was a real positive. Though we've been stuck in 15th for what seems like forever.

[the other bob wilson]

Succinct and I agree; especially with the 50/50 staying up part. I have to admit to being very worried and am hoping for something practical and relegation-stopping from MM.

Fab write up from TOBW too. Always enjoy reading them. Interesting that it's coming up to the 50th anniversary of the Real Madrid win too so I'll give a blatant plug for TOBW's book which I've read and thoroughly enjoyed (btw I've just remembered I need to leave an Amazon review so will get on it over the w/e).

Just to add, the Barnsley pitch was a real old-school clogger so there wasn't going to be any pretty football and we've all seen forgettable matches like last night. Coming back from 2-0 down and almost sneaking 3 points was a real positive. Though we've been stuck in 15th for what seems like forever.

Thank you very much. Maybe I'm being complacent, but I don't share you and Monkfish's view of how our season may end. While I agree with much of Monkfish's opinion in his first paragraph, regarding our midfield players and our central defenders, we are, as I mention in my piece, pretty good by Championship standards when it comes to things like attitude and attacking set pieces and if we get those two aspects of the game correct, I can see us amassing enough points to stave off a serious relegation fight.

However, if Mick McCarthy really is the pragmatist who plays in the style best suited to the players he has that he says he is, there can surely be no doubt what we can expect in the next six months - especially when you consider, it would be daft for him to start a rebuild when he's only here on a short contract.

Neil Harris eventually decided he had to go "back to basics" with this squad because they proved that they were a worse team when they had more of the ball - I'd say that's a shameful position for a team with our financial resources to get into, but we are where we are and whoever is our manager in the summer will have a big decision to make as to whether they want to initiate wholesale changes to the squad and the way it plays on a budget which will, surely, be small by modern Cardiff standards or whether it's best to go with more of the same with a style of play which is dated and, it seems, increasingly being overtaken by a more modern way of playing.

[surge]

Our last three games of the season are against Wycombe, Birmingham and Rotherham. This year could get exciting for all the wrong reasons.

[DubaiDai]

Thank you very much. Maybe I'm being complacent, but I don't share you and Monkfish's view of how our season may end. While I agree with much of Monkfish's opinion in his first paragraph, regarding our midfield players and our central defenders, we are, as I mention in my piece, pretty good by Championship standards when it comes to things like attitude and attacking set pieces and if we get those two aspects of the game correct, I can see us amassing enough points to stave off a serious relegation fight.

However, if Mick McCarthy really is the pragmatist who plays in the style best suited to the players he has that he says he is, there can surely be no doubt what we can expect in the next six months - especially when you consider, it would be daft for him to start a rebuild when he's only here on a short contract.

Neil Harris eventually decided he had to go "back to basics" with this squad because they proved that they were a worse team when they had more of the ball - I'd say that's a shameful position for a team with our financial resources to get into, but we are where we are and whoever is our manager in the summer will have a big decision to make as to whether they want to initiate wholesale changes to the squad and the way it plays on a budget which will, surely, be small by modern Cardiff standards or whether it's best to go with more of the same with a style of play which is dated and, it seems, increasingly being overtaken by a more modern way of playing.

I sincerely hope that MM’s pragmatism and no nonsense approach will be enough to keep us up but the club must see that a more visionary manager is needed to build for the next 2-3 years.
I am hoping both our young full backs progress (Ng and Bagan) and Smithies seems to be above average for the championship.
Apart from that Moore up front is the only other player that would seem safe as we go forward.
Central defense needs a serious look and I don’t think we have a midfield player that would be safe of any re-build(I include Ralls in that).
It is a long and difficult job for someone and the next appointment will need a 3-year contract to turn us into a football playing club.

[2b2bdoo]

I sincerely hope that MM’s pragmatism and no nonsense approach will be enough to keep us up but the club must see that a more visionary manager is needed to build for the next 2-3 years.
I am hoping both our young full backs progress (Ng and Bagan) and Smithies seems to be above average for the championship.
Apart from that Moore up front is the only other player that would seem safe as we go forward.
Central defense needs a serious look and I don’t think we have a midfield player that would be safe of any re-build(I include Ralls in that).
It is a long and difficult job for someone and the next appointment will need a 3-year contract to turn us into a football playing club.

I agree with that.

Im no Mick fan but I think the club have done the right thing in not rushing into a manager for longer than this season. It gives them time to look at what's needed, approach managed and start a real rebuild in the summer.

[Dave Blue]

What impressed him in training, the ability to boot (slice) the ball as high in the air as possible?

[RonnieBird]

Is this the Uber Negatve Thread?
We're not going to get relegated.
If we carried on with the tired and pointless NH style , we still wouldn't be there.

[life on mars]

For me Mick's booming voice across the pitch at certain players made the night for me