Cardiff record third straight win to hit fifty point mark and safety.

[the other bob wilson]

The usual attritional fare, but a very good goal to win it.

https://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

[Loramski]

No mention of Wilson-Esbrand there. I thought he was a good outlet for us, especially in the first half, and is giving us more energy than the increasingly tired-looking Collins in that position.

Having just mentioned in the loan thread how many central midfielders Eli King will have to get past as it stands, the opposite appears to be the case for Isaac Davies. All the front three last night are on loan here and while O'Dowda will presumably be a starter next season there doesn't seem to be anything like the same quality of competition up front as there is in midfield. How do you see that playing out?

[the other bob wilson]

No mention of Wilson-Esbrand there. I thought he was a good outlet for us, especially in the first half, and is giving us more energy than the increasingly tired-looking Collins in that position.

Having just mentioned in the loan thread how many central midfielders Eli King will have to get past as it stands, the opposite appears to be the case for Isaac Davies. All the front three last night are on loan here and while O'Dowda will presumably be a starter next season there doesn't seem to be anything like the same quality of competition up front as there is in midfield. How do you see that playing out?

Wilson-Esbrand put a superb cross over in the second half, but no City player was attacking the far post for a cross from the byeline as a wide player did what it seems like ninety per cent of supporters want them to do - go on the outside and pull back a cross. Sadly, the response to the cross was what you’d expect from City’s attack, no one had the instinctive striker reaction of making sure they get to the far post.

I thought Wilson-Esbrand was very slightly below the standards he had set for himself in the previous two games, but, after a slow start, he’s beginning to show why Man City gave him such a long contract.

As for our forwards, I can’t see Bowler or Grant being here next season and probably not Diedhiou either. I agree that, as things stand, it looks like Isaak Davies will be involved with the first team squad next season, but most summers are spent with much talk of the need to bring in a goalscorer and I’m sure this one will be no different. However,, having got lucky once when we bought a twenty goal striker for a relatively small sum, it’s hard to see us doing that again. The days of the “hidden gem” that the jacks used to come up with occasionally are gone now I think because if we know of a brilliant striker in, say, Bundesliga 2, you can guarantee the rest of the Championship does as well.

[Loramski]

I had hopes for Crole, shame he doesn't seem to have pushed on. Looked comfortable enough playing for the first team in pre-season 18 months ago and scored a nice goal. What a bonus if he came good but the signs aren't great.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

I had hopes for Crole, shame he doesn't seem to have pushed on. Looked comfortable enough playing for the first team in pre-season 18 months ago and scored a nice goal. What a bonus if he came good but the signs aren't great.

I bow to the judgement of the likes of you, TOBW etc who watch the youngsters play. I'd read comparisons, probably unfairly, with Crole and Alan Shearer. Yes, such hype is best avoided, but it wasn't so long ago that he was getting some very good plaudits. There's a big difference stepping up to the first team at times, but I wonder what has gone wrong (if anything has)?

[Loramski]

I bow to the judgement of the likes of you, TOBW etc who watch the youngsters play. I'd read comparisons, probably unfairly, with Crole and Alan Shearer. Yes, such hype is best avoided, but it wasn't so long ago that he was getting some very good plaudits. There's a big difference stepping up to the first team at times, but I wonder what has gone wrong (if anything has)?

I don't know what happened this season. He came on at Blackburn in the cup in September so must've been on Bulut's radar but the loan move to Queen's Park in January is as underwhelming as it gets, maybe TOBW can think of something relevant that happened in between but I'm not aware of it. He got injured playing for Queen's Park reserves a week or so into the loan and that's the last I've heard of him.

If ever there was a time for another Simon Howarth to break through it's now but it's looking increasingly unlikely that it'll be Crole, as far as I can make out.

[the other bob wilson]

Crole’s loan to Torquay last season was over almost before it started amid gossip about a disagreement with Gary Johnson and about how he could be a bit of a difficult character to manage (I should emphasise that I’d never heard that about Crole before he went to Torquay and I haven’t since).

My main observation about Crole since he came back from Torquay is that he has stopped scoring goals (or he’s not scoring them at the rate he used to anyway). Could this be down to him being drilled in all of the other aspects of a striker’s game which you don’t have to bother about so much in youth football where all a teenage striker has to bother about is sticking the ball in the net?

[Loramski]

Crole’s loan to Torquay last season was over almost before it started amid gossip about a disagreement with Gary Johnson and about how he could be a bit of a difficult character to manage (I should emphasise that I’d never heard that about Crole before he went to Torquay and I haven’t since).

My main observation about Crole since he came back from Torquay is that he has stopped scoring goals (or he’s not scoring them at the rate he used to anyway). Could this be down to him being drilled in all of the other aspects of a striker’s game which you don’t have to bother about so much in youth football where all a teenage striker has to bother about is sticking the ball in the net?

That's possible but there's no point in me trying to speculate, I haven't a clue. It's just a shame. We weren't blessed with strikers last season or this, the chance was there for him to push on and he seemed to be on both Morison's and Bulut's radars but it hasn't happened for him.