Huge win for City on the day the fans came back.

[the other bob wilson]

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

[Lawnmower]

Thanks Bob.
That must have taken ages !

Couple of points..

I actually thought OKeefe did well when he came on at Derby. We actually got a bit of parity for 20 minutes as he was winning tackles and hurrying a Derby midfield who'd had it easy up until then.

Second Derby didn't look like a 'team' - Ince in particular was unwilling to pass after he'd beaten a man.

Third, I had a look st the top tier and 2/3 of it were occupied and each block 2/3 to 3/4 full. There were even people in the middle tier.
The number of empty seats all round was a lot less than I expected, and I'd say 25k plus is a fair estimate.

It's still a long way off getting back to 22-23k every week, but that's a great step forward and it was lovely so see so many grinning kids.

There also seemed to be s more positive atmosphere amongst the 'faithful', it was an immensely successful day - and great that we've got the new stand and thus the space to take advantage of offers like this.

Let's hope maybe on the last day and perhaps the play offs we get to use it again.

Its been such a roller coaster year or 2 , that IF and this is a big IF , we win at Wembley In sure I won't be the only one struggling to hold it in.

Credit has to be given, not only to Slade, but also to Ken Choo, who I believe is the one who has talked sense into Tan and helped resurrect our club with the help of some excellent staff who have had a tough time over the years and are now finally being given the freedom to do their jobs

[the other bob wilson]

Thanks Bob.
That must have taken ages !

Couple of points..

I actually thought OKeefe did well when he came on at Derby. We actually got a bit of parity for 20 minutes as he was winning tackles and hurrying a Derby midfield who'd had it easy up until then.

Second Derby didn't look like a 'team' - Ince in particular was unwilling to pass after he'd beaten a man.

Third, I had a look st the top tier and 2/3 of it were occupied and each block 2/3 to 3/4 full. There were even people in the middle tier.
The number of empty seats all round was a lot less than I expected, and I'd say 25k plus is a fair estimate.

It's still a long way off getting back to 22-23k every week, but that's a great step forward and it was lovely so see so many grinning kids.

There also seemed to be s more positive atmosphere amongst the 'faithful', it was an immensely successful day - and great that we've got the new stand and thus the space to take advantage of offers like this.

Let's hope maybe on the last day and perhaps the play offs we get to use it again.

Its been such a roller coaster year or 2 , that IF and this is a big IF , we win at Wembley In sure I won't be the only one struggling to hold it in.

Credit has to be given, not only to Slade, but also to Ken Choo, who I believe is the one who has talked sense into Tan and helped resurrect our club with the help of some excellent staff who have had a tough time over the years and are now finally being given the freedom to do their jobs

It did take longer than normal!

Regarding O'Keefe I was talking about the home match last season which he started - we were 2-0 down at half time with Simon Moore having saved a penalty and just huffed and puffed away after the interval without suggesting we could get back into the match.

Agree about Derby. After they play Hull, they've got Bolton at home and then they go to Bristol City and Charlton - they'll find those last two very tough if they don't improve their attitude from yesterday.

Yes, that was a big step along the way to the gradual process of making watching Cardiff City an enjoyable experience again. I think you may be right about people being given the freedom to get on with their jobs - whatever the reason, something has changed for the better down there and, for me, Ken Choo in particular deserves praise for the improvement.

[Lawnmower]

Ah, that makes sense now.
Well done, I don't even remember him playing against Derby at home last year 😄

[GRUMPYS DEN]

Thanks Bob.
That must have taken ages !

Couple of points..

I actually thought OKeefe did well when he came on at Derby. We actually got a bit of parity for 20 minutes as he was winning tackles and hurrying a Derby midfield who'd had it easy up until then.

Second Derby didn't look like a 'team' - Ince in particular was unwilling to pass after he'd beaten a man.

Third, I had a look st the top tier and 2/3 of it were occupied and each block 2/3 to 3/4 full. There were even people in the middle tier.
The number of empty seats all round was a lot less than I expected, and I'd say 25k plus is a fair estimate.

It's still a long way off getting back to 22-23k every week, but that's a great step forward and it was lovely so see so many grinning kids.

There also seemed to be s more positive atmosphere amongst the 'faithful', it was an immensely successful day - and great that we've got the new stand and thus the space to take advantage of offers like this.

Let's hope maybe on the last day and perhaps the play offs we get to use it again.

Its been such a roller coaster year or 2 , that IF and this is a big IF , we win at Wembley In sure I won't be the only one struggling to hold it in.

Credit has to be given, not only to Slade, but also to Ken Choo, who I believe is the one who has talked sense into Tan and helped resurrect our club with the help of some excellent staff who have had a tough time over the years and are now finally being given the freedom to do their jobs

Amen to that!!

[surge]

It's fantastic to see the club take effort to rebuild bridges, and credit to Ken Choo if he is a driving force behind this, and in the unlikely result of our promotion it will be utterly fantastic to do it properly for the first time.

Slade would also deserve a fantastic amount of credit, and considering where we were does so even without that ending, and he has yet again won 7 points from 9 which was so often forgotten when he was being criticised for not winning back to back games - though this can still be held against him as can what you've said about it being obvious that Whitts shouldn't be played in a middle two and we desperately needed someone capable of scoring goals and working harder than Kenwynne which he took three windows (?) to rectify. Three windows where despite 20 years of watching players like Jamie Vardy, Rickie Lambert, Ashley Williams etc. first hand the only lower league player that he's seen potential in is Doyle. I'll let you note on the lack of opportunities for youth players if you want to add this to this thread.

I would hope that Derby fans are a little bit more intelligent than to give any credence to "doing a Cardiff". Nearly every club in the football league and a fair few in the premier league could replace our club's name in that phrase (that's why they and we aren't Fergie's Man United) but we could even be replaced by Bayern Munich considering how many Champions League finals they've lost. Utterly ridiculous phrase that was created in order to put pressure on us by a rival and nonsensical that it's been repeated by any City fan.

[Sloop_Jon_Bee]

It did take longer than normal!

Regarding O'Keefe I was talking about the home match last season which he started - we were 2-0 down at half time with Simon Moore having saved a penalty and just huffed and puffed away after the interval without suggesting we could get back into the match.

Agree about Derby. After they play Hull, they've got Bolton at home and then they go to Bristol City and Charlton - they'll find those last two very tough if they don't improve their attitude from yesterday.

Yes, that was a big step along the way to the gradual process of making watching Cardiff City an enjoyable experience again. I think you may be right about people being given the freedom to get on with their jobs - whatever the reason, something has changed for the better down there and, for me, Ken Choo in particular deserves praise for the improvement.

[BobbyBlue]

It Was indeed a great win Bob, the atmosphere down there was rocking, the canton stand was loud and proud again, the footy played was good, we should of had one more goal Atleast IMO when noone was one on one with the keeper.

[louie]

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

Once again, well written with such knowledge.

[Loramski]

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

Superb write-up. That's a good point you make about Immers stopping Thorne from playing. I remember Ole putting Gunnarsson in that position against Chelsea here, presumably to stop Matic from running the game, but Immers in there is giving us an all-round presence.

Two home wins in a row and I don't want to nit-pick but it's a bit of a worry to me that we're not creating much from open play. While Lawrence did seem to lose a bit of form he was always ready to rotate positions with Immers and Pilkington and get himself in the box, even Whitts was doing it a bit too (the first goal against Brighton, for example) but it's been more rigid since Noone came back. Certainly not complaining about good wins against two teams near us in the league but I wouldn't like to see us become too reliant on set-piece goals, we've only had 12 & 8 shots in those games compared to 25 & 16 in the two home games before that.

Nit-picking, as I said. Plenty of encouraging things about yesterday, on and off the pitch.

[NYCBlue]

Careful with the Ken Choo stuff. You'll get him sacked if Vinny finds out.

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

Superb write-up. That's a good point you make about Immers stopping Thorne from playing. I remember Ole putting Gunnarsson in that position against Chelsea here, presumably to stop Matic from running the game, but Immers in there is giving us an all-round presence.

Two home wins in a row and I don't want to nit-pick but it's a bit of a worry to me that we're not creating much from open play. While Lawrence did seem to lose a bit of form he was always ready to rotate positions with Immers and Pilkington and get himself in the box, even Whitts was doing it a bit too (the first goal against Brighton, for example) but it's been more rigid since Noone came back. Certainly not complaining about good wins against two teams near us in the league but I wouldn't like to see us become too reliant on set-piece goals, we've only had 12 & 8 shots in those games compared to 25 & 16 in the two home games before that.

Nit-picking, as I said. Plenty of encouraging things about yesterday, on and off the pitch.

That's not nit-picking, that's a good observation that carrys weight.

[nugent]

Whittingham still plays an important role here. He is the best set piece taker we have had for years, since we are scoring from set pieces then we still need him

[the other bob wilson]

That's not nit-picking, that's a good observation that carrys weight.

I agree - to be fair, I think Russell Slade is right when he says we are now at a stage where results, rather than performances, are all important, but we'll have next to no chance of making the top six if we end up having to rely wholly on set pieces to score our goals.

[the other bob wilson]

It's fantastic to see the club take effort to rebuild bridges, and credit to Ken Choo if he is a driving force behind this, and in the unlikely result of our promotion it will be utterly fantastic to do it properly for the first time.

Slade would also deserve a fantastic amount of credit, and considering where we were does so even without that ending, and he has yet again won 7 points from 9 which was so often forgotten when he was being criticised for not winning back to back games - though this can still be held against him as can what you've said about it being obvious that Whitts shouldn't be played in a middle two and we desperately needed someone capable of scoring goals and working harder than Kenwynne which he took three windows (?) to rectify. Three windows where despite 20 years of watching players like Jamie Vardy, Rickie Lambert, Ashley Williams etc. first hand the only lower league player that he's seen potential in is Doyle. I'll let you note on the lack of opportunities for youth players if you want to add this to this thread.

I would hope that Derby fans are a little bit more intelligent than to give any credence to "doing a Cardiff". Nearly every club in the football league and a fair few in the premier league could replace our club's name in that phrase (that's why they and we aren't Fergie's Man United) but we could even be replaced by Bayern Munich considering how many Champions League finals they've lost. Utterly ridiculous phrase that was created in order to put pressure on us by a rival and nonsensical that it's been repeated by any City fan.

I can see where you're coming from about "doing a Cardiff", but I must say I cannot remember seeing anything to match what happened to us in our last four matches in 2008/09 in fifty odd years of watching domestic football.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

Immers was excellent yesterday.

[Tandy]

Out of the 51 goals scored by Cardiff City this season 18 goals have been scored by set piece 5 of them set piece goals were penalties.
I make that 62% of our goals are scored in open play.
So to say that we are reliant on a set piece to score goals is wrong.

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

Out of the 51 goals scored by Cardiff City this season 18 goals have been scored by set piece 5 of them set piece goals were penalties.
I make that 62% of our goals are scored in open play.
So to say that we are reliant on a set piece to score goals is wrong.

I'm sure that until recently we hadn't scored from a set piece for a long while? It may have even been Bob who pointed it out?

[the other bob wilson]

I'm sure that until recently we hadn't scored from a set piece for a long while? It may have even been Bob who pointed it out?

It was. Sean Morrison got injured on 18 December at Birmingham and we'd gone a couple of matches without scoring a set piece goal before that. I'm pretty sure we didn't score another set piece goal until Bruno Manga's against Ipswich fifteen games later - just checked this and there was Whitts' free kick at Huddersfield and I suppose Pilkington's two penalties against Preston would count as set pieces, but we went over a third of our season without scoring from a corner or crossed free kick.

[insider]

I can see where you're coming from about "doing a Cardiff", but I must say I cannot remember seeing anything to match what happened to us in our last four matches in 2008/09 in fifty odd years of watching domestic football.

I think this matches anything in history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E...ty_F.C._season