Out of position, out of form and out of order – The Cardiff City situation that is not fair on anyone

[LeningradCowboy]

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/out-position-out-form-out-21753489

A surprisingly sensible article from WalesOnline. Bacuna is not performing well at the moment, but he's hardly played in his proper position since the start of last season.

[blue lewj]

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/out-position-out-form-out-21753489

A surprisingly sensible article from WalesOnline. Bacuna is not performing well at the moment, but he's hardly played in his proper position since the start of last season.

If there is one thing that annoys me with Mick apart from the overall style it is playing players out of position and not learning from his mistakes.
Bacuna isn't effective in a more advanced role, most can see that but Mick wants to persevere.

Centre backs at full back when we have full backs available?

He certainly isn't doing himself any favours really.

[dembethewarrior]

Bacuna is there to drop in as an extra midfielder when we don't have the ball.. An ultra defensive tactic you can't achieve by playing an actual attacker in an attacking role. Said it from day one.

[dembethewarrior]

"That position, ironically, is where Cardiff could do with a point of difference, given the similarities Marlon Pack, Joe Ralls, Will Vaulks and Sam Bowen all share."

Yeah. The similarities are endless.

[2b2bdoo]

Bacuna has never been the best, but he is more than capable of performing at this level. Why MM thinks he is some kind of number 10 or attacking midfielder I don’t know.

Harris played him at RB which he isn’t but he did enough to make me think he could have played right wing back especially under MM system but that doesn’t seem to be an option.

[life on mars]

He is indeed a man of mystery, endless managers have utilised him in multiple positions .

I have know idea what his best spot is , perhaps the bench to come on and cover in one of the many roles he can play adequately if not spectacularly ,however he is in that wage category that means he has to go , expensive bench players are not what we can afford .

[Dave Blue]

I don’t want to say he is any good but I’m a bit sick of him being singled out as if everyone else in the side is on top form and he is the one dragging us down. The latest fall guy it seems.

[Llandaff Blue]

I don’t want to say he is any good but I’m a bit sick of him being singled out as if everyone else in the side is on top form and he is the one dragging us down. The latest fall guy it seems.

You're in a thread where everyone is saying he's not at fault for his poor form cause he's out of position :hehe:

He's hardly being singled out, the CBs get more criticism than Bacuna as does Vaulks. I'm personally confused why Bacuna has been played in wildly different positions under each manager, his best role is in the middle

[Dave Blue]

You're in a thread where everyone is saying he's not at fault for his poor form cause he's out of position :hehe:

He's hardly being singled out, the CBs get more criticism than Bacuna as does Vaulks. I'm personally confused why Bacuna has been played in wildly different positions under each manager, his best role is in the middle

Well it’s a very rare thread from what I have witnessed be it on here or social media. Have a look on line when the team is announced each week. You may see my point.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

For me, for what we paid for him and the contract we offered him, Bacuna has been a waste of money. He's tidy enough in the middle, can run around and tackle a bit, can score goals, but I struggle to see how he has offered us any improvement on what we had.

[the other bob wilson]

For me, for what we paid for him and the contract we offered him, Bacuna has been a waste of money. He's tidy enough in the middle, can run around and tackle a bit, can score goals, but I struggle to see how he has offered us any improvement on what we had.

I agree with all of that although I’m fairly sure his scoring record is worse than that of Pack, Ralls and Vaulks if you’re talking games per goal. I can remember Neil Warnock saying Bacuna was a replacement for Gunnar, who was leaving the club a few months later, when we signed him - I think it’s taken Gunnar leaving for it to be fully appreciated what a good job he did for us over a number of years and, for lots of reasons, Bacuna has been unable to fill his boots so to speak.

To be fair to Neil Harris, I think he saw Bacuna primarily as a central midfielder, but, because of the mess he made of the right back position last season, he had to play him there. I’ve always said that I’ve thought the four central midfielders Warnock left us with are decent Championship standard players, but, especially if Bowen can keep performing like he has done so far for the first team, I’m struggling to see a place for Bacuna in the middle of the park.