FT: BRENTFORD 1 - 3 CARDIFF CITY. Match thread

[Michael Morris]

Andreas Bjelland is expected to miss Brentford's home game with Sky Bet Championship high-flyers Cardiff and spend some time on the sidelines.

The Danish defender was forced off after being at fault for Millwall's first-minute winner on Saturday, and Bees boss Dean Smith later revealed Bjelland had felt an injury in the warm-up.

Chris Mepham is set to come in and form a centre-back partnership with John Egan. Florian Jozefzoon missed the Millwall defeat with a gashed foot and will be checked.

Second-placed Cardiff expect to be without influential midfielder Joe Ralls again. Ralls suffered a knee injury in training and has missed Cardiff's last two games.

Craig Bryson could also miss out after limping out of Saturday's 3-2 win against Birmingham - the Bluebirds' sixth straight league success. But Callum Paterson should shake off a knee injury and Gary Madine and Sean Morrison are in contention to start after returning to the bench on Saturday after injury.

Opta stats

Brentford haven't kept a clean sheet in a league match against Cardiff since December 1998, conceding in 14 consecutive games since.

The Bluebirds haven't completed a league double over Brentford since the 2002/03 season.

In the reverse fixture, Brentford had 25 shots without scoring against the Bluebirds - only one team has had more in a Championship match this season without scoring (Brentford v Norwich, 27 in January).

Cardiff's current run of six consecutive Championship wins is the longest current run in the division.

The Bees have scored the most goals from outside the box in the Championship this season (13).

10 of the last 11 Championship goals conceded by Cardiff have been scored in the second half.

Match officials

Referee: JAMES LININGTON
Assistants: John Flynn and Matt Foley
Fourth Official: Gavin Ward

[Former Labour leader]

Safe journey to our travelling support...
..and bring home 3 points!
Bloooobirds

[Former Labour leader]

Andreas Bjelland is expected to miss Brentford's home game with Sky Bet Championship high-flyers Cardiff and spend some time on the sidelines.

The Danish defender was forced off after being at fault for Millwall's first-minute winner on Saturday, and Bees boss Dean Smith later revealed Bjelland had felt an injury in the warm-up.

Chris Mepham is set to come in and form a centre-back partnership with John Egan. Florian Jozefzoon missed the Millwall defeat with a gashed foot and will be checked.

Second-placed Cardiff expect to be without influential midfielder Joe Ralls again. Ralls suffered a knee injury in training and has missed Cardiff's last two games.

Craig Bryson could also miss out after limping out of Saturday's 3-2 win against Birmingham - the Bluebirds' sixth straight league success. But Callum Paterson should shake off a knee injury and Gary Madine and Sean Morrison are in contention to start after returning to the bench on Saturday after injury.

Opta stats

Brentford haven't kept a clean sheet in a league match against Cardiff since December 1998, conceding in 14 consecutive games since.

The Bluebirds haven't completed a league double over Brentford since the 2002/03 season.

In the reverse fixture, Brentford had 25 shots without scoring against the Bluebirds - only one team has had more in a Championship match this season without scoring (Brentford v Norwich, 27 in January).

Cardiff's current run of six consecutive Championship wins is the longest current run in the division.

The Bees have scored the most goals from outside the box in the Championship this season (13).

10 of the last 11 Championship goals conceded by Cardiff have been scored in the second half.

Match officials

Referee: JAMES LININGTON
Assistants: John Flynn and Matt Foley
Fourth Official: Gavin Ward

It was Posted on here yesterday that the ref has been very good to us and very bad for Brentford over the years. Long may that continue.

[binman]

Have you read this beauty from the Brentford board by a 'first time user'

First of all, new user in peace.

Secondly, having seen Cardiff v Birmingham on the weekend, when visiting family in the area, I have to say that whilst 'Colin' has done a decent job with them they are definitely beatable. A poor Birmingham side managed to put two goals past them, and so I think we can get the three points against them and derail their promotion push:

Here's what I saw:

* Their Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is currently playing through an injury – our strikers should always test him with hard low/high shots into the corner.

* Their defence had a big falling out over the weekend – Lee Peltier had a poor game yet blamed others for Birmingham's goals. Plus Peltier is two points away from receiving a ban as well, so will not want to risk making a bad challenge and being booked/sent off then subsequently banned.

* Callum Paterson and Bruno Manga are suffering from poor form. Sean Morrison is also playing through an injury due to lack of cover – any good pacy striker will cause them problems. Manga is three points away from a ban as well.

* Loic Damour is a weak-link in midfield – gives the ball away far too cheaply. In fact, their ball retention in midfield is very poor for a team in the top half of the Championship.

* Cardiff go 3-on-3 at the back whilst sending players up for corners. A quick break will put them under pressure from counter-attacks.

* Marko Grujic is their best midfielder, so he needs to be isolated – cut out his distribution and frustrate him all night.

* Cardiff have an inability to close-out games, and would rather score early and see the game out.

* Craig Bryson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing are likely to play, though their fitness is going to be poor. Force them into making errors if they start.

Cardiff are a team which thrives on confidence – take that from them and they are a very average/disjointed side.

The emphasis for attacks should be to hit the wide channels at every opportunity, hassle and harangue defenders and look to force Damour/Grujic off the ball. Kenneth Zohore is their main attacking outlet, with Gary Madine injured, and even he is not completely 100% injury free so man-mark him out of the game.

I would play a tight 4-4-2 with a ball-winner and a box-to-box player. Watch out for quick breaks and keep possession even if it means 50/60 passes before launching the killer ball behind their back line.

I think we can take all three points, and I will go for a 2-1 win for The Bees.

(Feel free to forward this to The Gaffer).

Well the bit about Damour is about right but it's hardly classified - good job Patterson and Manga are in poor form - hope they see this

[life on mars]

It was Posted on here yesterday that the ref has been very good to us and very bad for Brentford over the years. Long may that continue.

And one of our ex keepers is the 4th official, what can go wrong .

[The Bob Banker Spanker]

Have you read this beauty from the Brentford board by a 'first time user'

First of all, new user in peace.

Secondly, having seen Cardiff v Birmingham on the weekend, when visiting family in the area, I have to say that whilst 'Colin' has done a decent job with them they are definitely beatable. A poor Birmingham side managed to put two goals past them, and so I think we can get the three points against them and derail their promotion push:

Here's what I saw:

* Their Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is currently playing through an injury – our strikers should always test him with hard low/high shots into the corner.

* Their defence had a big falling out over the weekend – Lee Peltier had a poor game yet blamed others for Birmingham's goals. Plus Peltier is two points away from receiving a ban as well, so will not want to risk making a bad challenge and being booked/sent off then subsequently banned.

* Callum Paterson and Bruno Manga are suffering from poor form. Sean Morrison is also playing through an injury due to lack of cover – any good pacy striker will cause them problems. Manga is three points away from a ban as well.

* Loic Damour is a weak-link in midfield – gives the ball away far too cheaply. In fact, their ball retention in midfield is very poor for a team in the top half of the Championship.

* Cardiff go 3-on-3 at the back whilst sending players up for corners. A quick break will put them under pressure from counter-attacks.

* Marko Grujic is their best midfielder, so he needs to be isolated – cut out his distribution and frustrate him all night.

* Cardiff have an inability to close-out games, and would rather score early and see the game out.

* Craig Bryson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing are likely to play, though their fitness is going to be poor. Force them into making errors if they start.

Cardiff are a team which thrives on confidence – take that from them and they are a very average/disjointed side.

The emphasis for attacks should be to hit the wide channels at every opportunity, hassle and harangue defenders and look to force Damour/Grujic off the ball. Kenneth Zohore is their main attacking outlet, with Gary Madine injured, and even he is not completely 100% injury free so man-mark him out of the game.

I would play a tight 4-4-2 with a ball-winner and a box-to-box player. Watch out for quick breaks and keep possession even if it means 50/60 passes before launching the killer ball behind their back line.

I think we can take all three points, and I will go for a 2-1 win for The Bees.

(Feel free to forward this to The Gaffer).

Well the bit about Damour is about right but it's hardly classified - good job Patterson and Manga are in poor form - hope they see this

This guy knows more about City than I do.
I think we are quite good at closing out games, 3 of our last 6 wins have been 1-0 whilst the last two may have been a bit more squeaky bum at the end, we had enough chances to put those games to bed.
The other one was a 2-0 win over Bolton, as comfortable as it gets.

[jon1959]

Cardiff City: Etheridge; Manga, Bamba, Morrison, Bennett; Mendez-Laing, Grujic, Damour, Paterson, Hoillett; Zohore.

Subs: Murphy, Pilkington, Halford, Connolly, Traore, Wildschut, Madine.




Zohore and NML (almost) have got their early season form back - now we need Damour to come good again.

Real shame Peltier is missing after going so long against Birmingham.

[The Bob Banker Spanker]

Let’s hope Damour can put in a performance like the start of the season tonight, c’mon City

[Penarth Blues]

Cardiff City: Etheridge; Manga, Bamba, Morrison, Bennett; Mendez-Laing, Grujic, Damour, Paterson, Hoillett; Zohore.

Subs: Murphy, Pilkington, Halford, Connolly, Traore, Wildschut, Madine.

Zohore and NML (almost) have got their early season form back - now we need Damour to come good again.

Real shame Peltier is missing after going so long against Birmingham.

That's a better team than I thought we might put out

[NYCBlue]

Have you read this beauty from the Brentford board by a 'first time user'

First of all, new user in peace.

Secondly, having seen Cardiff v Birmingham on the weekend, when visiting family in the area, I have to say that whilst 'Colin' has done a decent job with them they are definitely beatable. A poor Birmingham side managed to put two goals past them, and so I think we can get the three points against them and derail their promotion push:

Here's what I saw:

* Their Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is currently playing through an injury – our strikers should always test him with hard low/high shots into the corner.

* Their defence had a big falling out over the weekend – Lee Peltier had a poor game yet blamed others for Birmingham's goals. Plus Peltier is two points away from receiving a ban as well, so will not want to risk making a bad challenge and being booked/sent off then subsequently banned.

* Callum Paterson and Bruno Manga are suffering from poor form. Sean Morrison is also playing through an injury due to lack of cover – any good pacy striker will cause them problems. Manga is three points away from a ban as well.

* Loic Damour is a weak-link in midfield – gives the ball away far too cheaply. In fact, their ball retention in midfield is very poor for a team in the top half of the Championship.

* Cardiff go 3-on-3 at the back whilst sending players up for corners. A quick break will put them under pressure from counter-attacks.

* Marko Grujic is their best midfielder, so he needs to be isolated – cut out his distribution and frustrate him all night.

* Cardiff have an inability to close-out games, and would rather score early and see the game out.

* Craig Bryson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing are likely to play, though their fitness is going to be poor. Force them into making errors if they start.

Cardiff are a team which thrives on confidence – take that from them and they are a very average/disjointed side.

The emphasis for attacks should be to hit the wide channels at every opportunity, hassle and harangue defenders and look to force Damour/Grujic off the ball. Kenneth Zohore is their main attacking outlet, with Gary Madine injured, and even he is not completely 100% injury free so man-mark him out of the game.

I would play a tight 4-4-2 with a ball-winner and a box-to-box player. Watch out for quick breaks and keep possession even if it means 50/60 passes before launching the killer ball behind their back line.

I think we can take all three points, and I will go for a 2-1 win for The Bees.

(Feel free to forward this to The Gaffer).

Well the bit about Damour is about right but it's hardly classified - good job Patterson and Manga are in poor form - hope they see this

He'll be upset to see that Peltier's not playing. We may have conceded a late goal on Saturday but I can't help thinking the OP should have noted that we did in fact see the game out and took the three points. Just as we had in the 5 games prior to that.

[the other bob wilson]

Have you read this beauty from the Brentford board by a 'first time user'

First of all, new user in peace.

Secondly, having seen Cardiff v Birmingham on the weekend, when visiting family in the area, I have to say that whilst 'Colin' has done a decent job with them they are definitely beatable. A poor Birmingham side managed to put two goals past them, and so I think we can get the three points against them and derail their promotion push:

Here's what I saw:

* Their Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge is currently playing through an injury – our strikers should always test him with hard low/high shots into the corner.

* Their defence had a big falling out over the weekend – Lee Peltier had a poor game yet blamed others for Birmingham's goals. Plus Peltier is two points away from receiving a ban as well, so will not want to risk making a bad challenge and being booked/sent off then subsequently banned.

* Callum Paterson and Bruno Manga are suffering from poor form. Sean Morrison is also playing through an injury due to lack of cover – any good pacy striker will cause them problems. Manga is three points away from a ban as well.

* Loic Damour is a weak-link in midfield – gives the ball away far too cheaply. In fact, their ball retention in midfield is very poor for a team in the top half of the Championship.

* Cardiff go 3-on-3 at the back whilst sending players up for corners. A quick break will put them under pressure from counter-attacks.

* Marko Grujic is their best midfielder, so he needs to be isolated – cut out his distribution and frustrate him all night.

* Cardiff have an inability to close-out games, and would rather score early and see the game out.

* Craig Bryson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing are likely to play, though their fitness is going to be poor. Force them into making errors if they start.

Cardiff are a team which thrives on confidence – take that from them and they are a very average/disjointed side.

The emphasis for attacks should be to hit the wide channels at every opportunity, hassle and harangue defenders and look to force Damour/Grujic off the ball. Kenneth Zohore is their main attacking outlet, with Gary Madine injured, and even he is not completely 100% injury free so man-mark him out of the game.

I would play a tight 4-4-2 with a ball-winner and a box-to-box player. Watch out for quick breaks and keep possession even if it means 50/60 passes before launching the killer ball behind their back line.

I think we can take all three points, and I will go for a 2-1 win for The Bees.

(Feel free to forward this to The Gaffer).

Well the bit about Damour is about right but it's hardly classified - good job Patterson and Manga are in poor form - hope they see this

Wasn't there a very similar piece on the wurzels board before we played them?

[The Bob Banker Spanker]

Essential for NML to help cover Manga with the tricky players they have

[Former Labour leader]

Wasn't there a very similar piece on the wurzels board before we played them?

What are you suggesting Bob?
Not you is it?

[Fine Lines]

Hope Damour puts in a good performance. Not been overly impressed with him so far. Hanford to come on second half maybe.

[The Bob Banker Spanker]

Great start - not.
1-0 Brentford

[ccfc_is_my_life]

Hope Damour puts in a good performance. Not been overly impressed with him so far. Hanford to come on second half maybe.

Well, he's not the midfielder who just cost us a goal...

[WJ99mobile]

One of those days right here

[Former Labour leader]

Dear me

[The Bob Banker Spanker]

QPR 1-0 up at Villa

[ccfc_is_my_life]

We've enough to worry Brentford. Brentford are a decent side.

[Michael Morris]

What a finish from Sir Sol

[Fine Lines]

What a finish from Sir Sol

Sir Sol of Bamba

[ccfc_is_my_life]

Ronaldo who? Messi who?

Neither a patch on Beckenbamba.

[Fine Lines]

Forget playing football against this lot on a narrow pitch. Get it in the mixer.

[William Treseder]

What a goal!!! Brentford are lively. It will be a massive achievement if we leave here with something.