At 3pm yesterday, the season was 39 games in, and we were 1 point and one place above Swansea.

The mystery is how the game looked like a lot of those awful one-sided affairs in our PL season 2012/3, because according to the heading statistics it shouldn't.
Lots of folk blaming manager and tactics, but that doesn't explain Joe Ralls unable to take a corner or free kick as well as most parks players could do. It also doesn't explain why our not-so-great footballers who at times in recent weeks have shown they can string together passes quickly and move up through the gears to threaten opposition defences.
I can offer only one explanation have -as usual - been at the game. I was expecting Swansea to play their usual game, but with a poor run behind them and a hostile crowd against them, didn't expect them to get out of the blocks as quickly as they did. They looked completely confident - even relaxed, relishing the occasion. City on the other hand played like frightened rabbits. What limited ball control, passing ability we have, seemed to desert us - the occasion had it seemed got to them.
So with 90% of a long season over, the two sides are in results terms neck and neck. ? Does the table lie ? Well maybe. I still think we're way over-performing as a side, which in my opinion compliments Morison. I also think Swansea are under-performing. Player-for-player they're better in every position except perhaps right side [Dramah]. But it also brings into question the claims repeated in the media -and sometimes here - that we have some sort of 'golden generation' of footballers coming through the ranks, and it's a question of building a new team around them. Unless we're mightily shrewd in the transfer market this summer, for me it's mid-table at best/

Weren't we 2 points behind them and a win would have seen us go 1 point ahead?

At 3.00pm yesterday, the season was 38 games in and we were two points and one place below Swansea. Please explain the headline.

Trying to pick over what went wrong, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that man for man Swansea are better than us. Which in turn means Morison has a hell of a job over the summer. Even our 'promosing' youngsters looked out of their depth.
On that display I am not sure that even Ralls is worth keeping.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dml1954

At 3.00pm yesterday, the season was 38 games in and we were two points and one place below Swansea. Please explain the headline.

---

focus on the underlying message and not the headline

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

I was expecting Swansea to play their usual game, but with a poor run behind them and a hostile crowd against them, didn't expect them to get out of the blocks as quickly as they did.

---

A number of people have suggested Swansea were on a poor run before yesterday’s game, but I’m not sure where that idea came from.

In fact, Swansea’s form in the previous six games was identical to City’s (won 3, drew 1, lost 1), while their form over the previous ten games was marginally better than City’s.

I concur with the thrust of your post, though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

A number of people have suggested Swansea were on a poor run before yesterday’s game, but I’m not sure where that idea came from.

In fact, Swansea’s form in the previous six games was identical to City’s (won 3, drew 1, lost 1), while their form over the previous ten games was marginally better than City’s.

I concur with the thrust of your post, though.

---

Surely that’s only 5 games.

Stats wise wasn’t such a difference in either shots on target 4-2, on goal 12-10, even possession was better than normal against them and corners were in our favour..

But 4-0 in goals is just awful.

We left them space as our defenders stood too far off overloading midfield. Left side was particularly a problem with McGuinness, Ralls and Bagan chasing shadows.

RHS was better as Ng stepped up and Dramah was probably our best player.

We looked disorganised and nervous.
Early goal was a massive blow as it subdued the crowd then the 2nd when we were having a decent spell killed it.

Massive holes left then when we pushed forward and the subs made meant we left more room too. Colwill is technically very good, but not much help defensively.

Day couldn’t have gone much worse tbh.

Anyone else wonder why there was no punishment for the Swansea player who kicked out at Ng ?

Ref seemed to make a big fuss then not take any action.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lawnmower

Surely that’s only 5 games.

Stats wise wasn’t such a difference in either shots on target 4-2, on goal 12-10, even possession was better than normal against them and corners were in our favour..

But 4-0 in goals is just awful.

We left them space as our defenders stood too far off overloading midfield. Left side was particularly a problem with McGuinness, Ralls and Bagan chasing shadows.

RHS was better as Ng stepped up and Dramah was probably our best player.

We looked disorganised and nervous.
Early goal was a massive blow as it subdued the crowd then the 2nd when we were having a decent spell killed it.

Massive holes left then when we pushed forward and the subs made meant we left more room too. Colwill is technically very good, but not much help defensively.

Day couldn’t have gone much worse tbh.

Anyone else wonder why there was no punishment for the Swansea player who kicked out at Ng ?

Ref seemed to make a big fuss then not take any action.

---

I was at the game but had radio Cymru in also. It was over the far side to me but radio confirmed people have been sent off for less. Ref didn't even give a free kick against the city as it wasn't a foul and Swansea player just kicked him. If it wasn't it being a Derby and the ref not wanting to be accused of "spoiling the game" it would have been a red.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lawnmower

We left them space as our defenders stood too far off overloading midfield. Left side was particularly a problem with McGuinness, Ralls and Bagan chasing shadows.

We looked disorganised and nervous.

Massive holes left then when we pushed forward

---

In a nutshell.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lawnmower

Surely that’s only 5 games.

---

Apologies. It was a typo. Shouldn’t post from my phone. Before yesterday, it was won 3, drawn 1, lost 2 for both teams from the previous 6 games.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lawnmower

Surely that’s only 5 games.

Stats wise wasn’t such a difference in either shots on target 4-2, on goal 12-10, even possession was better than normal against them and corners were in our favour..

But 4-0 in goals is just awful.

We left them space as our defenders stood too far off overloading midfield. Left side was particularly a problem with McGuinness, Ralls and Bagan chasing shadows.

RHS was better as Ng stepped up and Dramah was probably our best player.

We looked disorganised and nervous.
Early goal was a massive blow as it subdued the crowd then the 2nd when we were having a decent spell killed it.

Massive holes left then when we pushed forward and the subs made meant we left more room too. Colwill is technically very good, but not much help defensively.

Day couldn’t have gone much worse tbh.

Anyone else wonder why there was no punishment for the Swansea player who kicked out at Ng ?

Ref seemed to make a big fuss then not take any action.

---

“We looked disorganised and nervous.”

I have come to the conclusion that this is our main issue with these Derby’s over the years.
We start by picking a team which is too defensive and our players seem to freeze on the day while Swansea strut about almost knowing they can beat us

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

The mystery is how the game looked like a lot of those awful one-sided affairs in our PL season 2012/3, because according to the heading statistics it shouldn't.
Lots of folk blaming manager and tactics, but that doesn't explain Joe Ralls unable to take a corner or free kick as well as most parks players could do. It also doesn't explain why our not-so-great footballers who at times in recent weeks have shown they can string together passes quickly and move up through the gears to threaten opposition defences.
I can offer only one explanation have -as usual - been at the game. I was expecting Swansea to play their usual game, but with a poor run behind them and a hostile crowd against them, didn't expect them to get out of the blocks as quickly as they did. They looked completely confident - even relaxed, relishing the occasion. City on the other hand played like frightened rabbits. What limited ball control, passing ability we have, seemed to desert us - the occasion had it seemed got to them.
So with 90% of a long season over, the two sides are in results terms neck and neck. ? Does the table lie ? Well maybe. I still think we're way over-performing as a side, which in my opinion compliments Morison. I also think Swansea are under-performing. Player-for-player they're better in every position except perhaps right side [Dramah]. But it also brings into question the claims repeated in the media -and sometimes here - that we have some sort of 'golden generation' of footballers coming through the ranks, and it's a question of building a new team around them. Unless we're mightily shrewd in the transfer market this summer, for me it's mid-table at best/

---

As someone who is a Joe Ralls fan and has been saying he should be offered a new contract, I must say he was terrible yesterday (he often struggles against Swansea), possibly our worst player. I’ve just posted along similar lines to you on another board - we’re not as bad as we looked yesterday, but, for me, we play to Swansea’s strengths because, despite the addition of players like Doyle, we’re still among the poorest, or maybe the poorest, of the sides in the division when in possession.

Going back to Ralls, I think he’s one of the better technicians we have, but he’s below average by Swansea’s standards. This brings us back to the prevailing philosophies of the two clubs, for me Swansea are too much one way and they struggle this season against better equipped sides than us, but while you can imagine so much of their training being with the football, whereas, increasingly under Morison, we’ve looked like a team where training is prinarilly about things like keeping our shape when out of possession. Trouble is, I’d say one of the big reasons we’ve struggled this season is we’re not as good out of possession as we once were.

I agree about the youngsters to the extent that Bagan struggled yesterday and McGuinness is not at his best after his first season as a regular first teamer at a level he’d not played before this season. However, if we are to become more comfortable in possession, it’s the younger players who offer the most hope in the likes of Bagan, Ng, Denham, Connolly, Davies and the player who would demand the ball most in the Under 23s, Bowen, who is a Swansea type player and in true modern day Cardiff style, he’s someone our manager doesn’t seem to trust or like.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Father Dougal

I was at the game but had radio Cymru in also. It was over the far side to me but radio confirmed people have been sent off for less. Ref didn't even give a free kick against the city as it wasn't a foul and Swansea player just kicked him. If it wasn't it being a Derby and the ref not wanting to be accused of "spoiling the game" it would have been a red.

---

That’s really interesting as that’s 3 times in the last 4 or 5 Derby games that they have got away with it.

Bennett at the Liberty 2 years back and the keeper last season at CCS I think ..

Not that we deserved anything, or that I’m saying we would have done any better.. but it might have helped.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

Apologies. It was a typo. Shouldn’t post from my phone. Before yesterday, it was won 3, drawn 1, lost 2 for both teams from the previous 6 games.

---

👍 personally going into the game I thought it could go either way and that scoring first was imperative.

Their form has been up and down with a couple of really good performances followed by some shambolic ones.. us similar really.

We didn’t score early , they did and that allowed them to time waste and drag us into leaving holes which they exploited - particularly after the 2nd ( awful) goal..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DubaiDai

“We looked disorganised and nervous.”

I have come to the conclusion that this is our main issue with these Derby’s over the years.
We start by picking a team which is too defensive and our players seem to freeze on the day while Swansea strut about almost knowing they can beat us

---

Looking back, Hugill made a hash of 3/4 really decent chances, Colwill mishit one and completely missed wildly at another. All added together would suggest to me that we were nervous and totally lacking in confidence from the 1st few minutes. Sometimes in matches little things or moments, or passages of play can change the nature of a game. But we don't have a Lee Tomlin in our entire squad who might have still had a bit of confidence on the ball to get a few minutes of good play out of the team and get the crowd going.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

Looking back, Hugill made a hash of 3/4 really decent chances, Colwill mishit one and completely missed wildly at another. All added together would suggest to me that we were nervous and totally lacking in confidence from the 1st few minutes. Sometimes in matches little things or moments, or passages of play can change the nature of a game. But we don't have a Lee Tomlin in our entire squad who might have still had a bit of confidence on the ball to get a few minutes of good play out of the team and get the crowd going.

---

I agree. I'd just change nervous for shell-shocked. If it had been a tennis match, we choked.