What EXACTLY are City doing to "unsettle" and "intimidate" sides (allegedly) ?

Once again an opposition manager bleats about City's tactics intimidating their team:

".... you expect stronger refereeing. I knew what the game was going to be like. It was going to be like that. It was the exact same game as last season..... There's probably only two or three who could stand up to the challenge and not let certain tactics intimidate them but then impose themselves on the game."

What exactly are they moaning about?

Bamba's strong in the tackle and we close down fairly quickly as a team and try to win the ball, but I've seen every home game and don't see intimidatory tactics.

Am I missing something?

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Originally Posted by Cyclops

Once again an opposition manager bleats about City's tactics intimidating their team:

".... you expect stronger refereeing. I knew what the game was going to be like. It was going to be like that. It was the exact same game as last season..... There's probably only two or three who could stand up to the challenge and not let certain tactics intimidate them but then impose themselves on the game."

What exactly are they moaning about?

Bamba's strong in the tackle and we close down fairly quickly as a team and try to win the ball, but I've seen every home game and don't see intimidatory tactics.

Am I missing something?

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He's just whining. We don't go round kicking lumps out of people. The danger is refs are going to be under pressure to dish cards out every time we make a foul. Still, 13 fouls to their 11 seems an awful lot like sour grapes, I don't remember any bad fouls from a City player, except the Ralls one where he was rightly booked and that was just cynical as opposed to dirty.

I was there and the ref did very well to let the game flow and not keep stopping it. In strong, swirling wind and some rain, that would have been extremely easy to do as players chased / lunged after balls that were being blown away from them.

It was the same for both sides.

I actually don't mind if sides go into games expecting to be unsettled.

They are beaten before they start.

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Originally Posted by Cyclops

I actually don't mind if sides go into games expecting to be unsettled.

They are beaten before they start.

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This is about it

teams expect us to play a certain " Colin way " and even before a ball is kicked they are worried about it thats got to have a effect

They have to go in to games faced with the notion that we may present tough opponents?!

Bless! It's just not fair. :-)

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Originally Posted by blue matt

Teams expect us to play a certain " Colin way " and even before a ball is kicked they are worried about it thats got to have a effect

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I hope you're not suggesting for one minute that Warlock is engaging in PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE?

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Originally Posted by blue matt

This is about it

teams expect us to play a certain " Colin way " and even before a ball is kicked they are worried about it thats got to have a effect

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And when they get beat by us (usually by playing better football - Brentford aside) they use the excuse of getting lumps kicked out of them when it simply isn’t true.
Wolves a prime example - they couldn’t accept that we were just better than them. We should’ve put 4 or 5 on them. 2-1 actually flattered them that day.

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Originally Posted by Arfur Europe

I was there and the ref did very well to let the game flow and not keep stopping it. In strong, swirling wind and some rain, that would have been extremely easy to do as players chased / lunged after balls that were being blown away from them.

It was the same for both sides.

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The ref was excellent - unlike some of his previous performances with us. As you say the conditions were difficult with the wind and wet, skiddy pitch, and a lot of players were slipping or sliding into tackles (and Joe Bennett spent the first ten minutes on his arse!).

I suppose there were a few incidents where Cardiff players were doing a bit of holding (like in the lead up to Hammill's strike that just missed the post) but they all looked OK to me - not enough to be pulled up as fouls. Barnsley did the same.

More to the point we were in their faces all match and harrying the ball carrier at every opportunity (Manga and Bamba more than the midfielders). It was a battle and Cardiff battled harder and better.

The two yellow cards were deserved, but the rest of it was just good, hard, competitive football - and this team are up for the fight and know what they're doing. Ugly but effective - and it was never going to be anything else on Tuesday with the injuries and the weather.

I too have watched every home game so far, and unless we turn into Mr Hyde the minute we cross the bridge I don't get it.

If anything I think we're more sinned against than sinners.

I wouldn't fancy going up against Sol, but he seems fair to me.

We're currently 13th in the fair play table with one red and 32 bookings

Dirty Leeds are top (no shocks) with 42 yellows and three reds.

To put it into context, the Black Country galacticos have 4 more yellows than we do.

He's old school , I love a city side that gets stuck in , not poncing about

Thank feck we haven't got jay bothroyd on huge wages falling around pretending to be hurt everytime anyone goes anywhere near him

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

He's old school , I love a city side that gets stuck in , not poncing about

Thank feck we haven't got jay bothroyd on huge wages falling around pretending to be hurt everytime anyone goes anywhere near him

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I’d love to have Jay Bothroyd in his prime playing for us right now.

It's the go-to excuse when we beat teams.

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Originally Posted by The Bob Banker Spanker

I’d love to have Jay Bothroyd in his prime playing for us right now.

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Not for me

Very high wages , like most of Dave Jones squad

And he was a diving cheat

I hate to see play acting in football

We work harder than other teams. Our goals against is phenomenal. We defend desperately and attack (when everything clicks) with pace and purpose. On a good day, I love it. That Villa game was outstanding. If we had a decent/consistent goalscorer we'd be miles away by now.

It's amazing how fans of clubs we beat moan and whinge about the ref.

I though the ref v Brentford gave them far more than he gave us.

And as for the ref at Brizzle who made a shocking error which killed our chances.:shrug:

As for our tactics, it is what it is. City play 100% committed football and go for every ball and never give up.

Do opposition managers really expect City to play into their hands? Naïve and blinkered.

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Originally Posted by Cretin Hop

It's amazing how fans of clubs we beat moan and whinge about the ref.

I though the ref v Brentford gave them far more than he gave us.

And as for the ref at Brizzle who made a shocking error which killed our chances.:shrug:

As for our tactics, it is what it is. City play 100% committed football and go for every ball and never give up.

Do opposition managers really expect City to play into their hands? Naïve and blinkered.

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That's it , the never say die attitude , haven't seen a city side with this much guts for years

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Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY

That's it , the never say die attitude , haven't seen a city side with this much guts for years

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11-12 season under Mackay I’d say. Especially the Carling Cup final.

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Originally Posted by jon1959

The ref was excellent - unlike some of his previous performances with us. As you say the conditions were difficult with the wind and wet, skiddy pitch, and a lot of players were slipping or sliding into tackles (and Joe Bennett spent the first ten minutes on his arse!).

I suppose there were a few incidents where Cardiff players were doing a bit of holding (like in the lead up to Hammill's strike that just missed the post) but they all looked OK to me - not enough to be pulled up as fouls. Barnsley did the same.

More to the point we were in their faces all match and harrying the ball carrier at every opportunity (Manga and Bamba more than the midfielders). It was a battle and Cardiff battled harder and better.

The two yellow cards were deserved, but the rest of it was just good, hard, competitive football - and this team are up for the fight and know what they're doing. Ugly but effective - and it was never going to be anything else on Tuesday with the injuries and the weather.

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I posted elsewhere that the ref did well and if Barnsley are the slick passers their manager claims then a game left to flow should have suited them.

If anything I thought a lot of the tackling was a bit insipid.

It was far from a dirty game and there was a little give and take from bit sides apart from those 2 late bookings which were well deserved and the sort of tactics our soft sides of the past would be undone by and it's good to see we are relatively streetwise now