The Brian Barry Murphy effect making home games enjoyable again.

Can Cardiff show same fluency and promise in this week's two away matches?

https://mauveandyellowarmy.net

Darren Purse gets hammered by some.

Shouldn't he be getting a lot of credit for all these young players coming through.?

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Originally Posted by Hilts

Darren Purse gets hammered by some.

Shouldn't he be getting a lot of credit for all these young players coming through.?

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Two ways of looking at it i suppose. Kpakio and Lawlor would not have played that much under 21 football, so my guess would be it was younger age group coaches that would get most credit for them, but the slightly older boys like Joel Colwill, King and Ashford’s, it would be Purse. As for Purse’s apparent unpopularity, what do these critics say he’s dong wrong? Given where the criticism is coming from, it’s just as likely to be about some imagined slight or another, rather than anything that’s happened on the football pitch.

As you imply it could be a different picture this time next week. Having watched Championship football for 20 of the last 22 seasons it's fair to say that along with many others I've got a good idea of the strengths/weaknesses of clubs there and what's needed to succeed, so I don't think anyone is counting their chickens just yet. But I was impressed with the way we kept pressing for 90+ minutes, and didn't give an albeit average Rotherham any time on the ball. I think that side our game is going to be crucial especially away from home.

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Originally Posted by A Quiet Monkfish

As you imply it could be a different picture this time next week. Having watched Championship football for 20 of the last 22 seasons it's fair to say that along with many others I've got a good idea of the strengths/weaknesses of clubs there and what's needed to succeed, so I don't think anyone is counting their chickens just yet. But I was impressed with the way we kept pressing for 90+ minutes, and didn't give an albeit average Rotherham any time on the ball. I think that side our game is going to be crucial especially away from home.

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Agreed, but if we’re going to press like we did against Peterborough and Rotherham all season, it makes the need for more players to be brought in this summer all the more um pressing.

I’ll be honest, I was a bit bored during the first half. There were a few nice passages of play from City, but ultimately they were ineffective and, for much of the time, Salech looked way too isolated up front. Rotherham, meanwhile, were just dreadful.

A lovely finish from Ashford for the second goal and a much better second period overall. It was a decent performance all round, but in truth City didn’t need to do much to beat some hopeless opposition.

I fully expected the standard of football in League One to be inferior to the Championship (and I thought that was pretty poor last season), but I’ve been genuinely surprised by just how bad our first two opponents at the CCS have been. Peterborough looked a weak side, but at least they attempted to give us a game. Rotherham were woeful from first whistle to last and it quickly seemed like they had absolutely nothing to offer.

Although I don’t claim to be an expert on League One by any means, I suspect the EFL computer has been kind to City and given us a comfortable set of fixtures to begin with. Peterborough finished 18th last season and, before the new season began, the bookies reckoned they’d finish 15th this time around. Rotherham finished 13th in 2024/25 and were priced to finish 14th this season. Meanwhile, newly-promoted Port Vale and Wimbledon were both expected by the bookies and pundits alike to be among the relegation candidates (they were priced to finish 20th and 24th).

Those fixtures have given our young players a good opportunity to find their feet at this level and gain a bit of confidence, and I’m sure the games will also have given the new manager some much-needed time and space to get his ideas across. I’m pretty certain there will be much stiffer tests to come, but it’s been a decent start all the same and there are definitely some encouraging signs.

lots of positives all over the pitch.
played well all game, never let Rotherham into it at all.
Great for Salech to get off the mark, and if Rubin can add regular tap-ins to his repertoire that will be a big plus.
Turnbull probably gets MOTM for the 2 assists, but Lawlor had a challenge being up against a seasoned pro like Hugill and came through with flying colours

In my piece I wondered how many passes there were in the build up to the second goal. A thank you to the club who have published this;-

https://x.com/cardiffcityfc/status/1...693322181?s=61

Others may disagree because it is quite hard to keep count of them all, but I make it 34 passes if you include Trott’s throw out.

Bloody tippy, tappy:hehe:

Something else I meant to say (and I hope I'm not tempting fate here) - I reckon the woeful performances of Peterborough and Rotherham coupled with the promise shown by City should have put paid to the notion we're in danger of suffering back-to-back relegations. That suggestion seemed ridiculous to me before a ball was kicked, but it looks even more daft now.

We are playing in the old Div 3 and people are happy about it. We could go down to the national league and dominate forever.

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Originally Posted by ToTaL ITK

We are playing in the old Div 3 and people are happy about it. We could go down to the national league and dominate forever.

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no we couldn't, if we dominate then we'll get promoted

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Originally Posted by Rjk

no we couldn't, if we dominate then we'll get promoted

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And we’d be a year closer to him being able to enjoy a game - three further promotions should do it.

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Originally Posted by Rjk

no we couldn't, if we dominate then we'll get promoted

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i think you missed my point. Do we want success in Old Div 3 or a chance at getting to the PL and make a proper go at it...i feel a lot of you would rather stay down.

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Originally Posted by ToTaL ITK

i think you missed my point. Do we want success in Old Div 3 or a chance at getting to the PL and make a proper go at it...i feel a lot of you would rather stay down.

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nobody wants to stay down

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Originally Posted by Rjk

nobody wants to stay down

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lets go up then and try and/hopefully get a good side for that battle. ATM the club seem content at this level.

Here you go - count the passes:

https://x.com/CardiffCityFC/status/1957115200693322181

Winning 3-0 at home to anyone is of course enjoyable but we did have to watch the centre halves stand still on the ball or pass ponderously to each other for more time than I would like.

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Originally Posted by Hilts

Darren Purse gets hammered by some.

Shouldn't he be getting a lot of credit for all these young players coming through.?

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I’d be interested in watching an interview with Darren Purse, giving his update on how the U21s are going, how the new players are bedding in and if/how Brian Barry-Murphy’s arrival at the club has changed how the youth teams are operating.

Since Bellamy was involved with the academy at Cardiff we’ve heard about the importance of all age groups playing in the style of the first team, to ease the pathway into the senior squad. I think it’s obvious what we’re building here with BBM is long term and the timing seems perfect for the youth teams at Cardiff to adopt the identity of the first team playing style.

I thought Dak Mafico had a rough ride against Rotherham on Saturday, but should have Jac Thomas been in the frame for his league debut? Granted, he’s two months younger than Mafico, but he’s an out and out left back and should’ve been a better fit to plug the gap in that position with Bagan (sort of) ruled out.

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Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

I’ll be honest, I was a bit bored during the first half. There were a few nice passages of play from City, but ultimately they were ineffective and, for much of the time, Salech looked way too isolated up front. Rotherham, meanwhile, were just dreadful.

A lovely finish from Ashford for the second goal and a much better second period overall. It was a decent performance all round, but in truth City didn’t need to do much to beat some hopeless opposition.

I fully expected the standard of football in League One to be inferior to the Championship (and I thought that was pretty poor last season), but I’ve been genuinely surprised by just how bad our first two opponents at the CCS have been. Peterborough looked a weak side, but at least they attempted to give us a game. Rotherham were woeful from first whistle to last and it quickly seemed like they had absolutely nothing to offer.

Although I don’t claim to be an expert on League One by any means, I suspect the EFL computer has been kind to City and given us a comfortable set of fixtures to begin with. Peterborough finished 18th last season and, before the new season began, the bookies reckoned they’d finish 15th this time around. Rotherham finished 13th in 2024/25 and were priced to finish 14th this season. Meanwhile, newly-promoted Port Vale and Wimbledon were both expected by the bookies and pundits alike to be among the relegation candidates (they were priced to finish 20th and 24th).

Those fixtures have given our young players a good opportunity to find their feet at this level and gain a bit of confidence, and I’m sure the games will also have given the new manager some much-needed time and space to get his ideas across. I’m pretty certain there will be much stiffer tests to come, but it’s been a decent start all the same and there are definitely some encouraging signs.

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Ah so the fixtures we get at the start of the season are important, there you go then :thumbup:

Agreed, last year's were very tough, this year's are pretty good.

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Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

I’ll be honest, I was a bit bored during the first half. There were a few nice passages of play from City, but ultimately they were ineffective and, for much of the time, Salech looked way too isolated up front. Rotherham, meanwhile, were just dreadful.

A lovely finish from Ashford for the second goal and a much better second period overall. It was a decent performance all round, but in truth City didn’t need to do much to beat some hopeless opposition.

I fully expected the standard of football in League One to be inferior to the Championship (and I thought that was pretty poor last season), but I’ve been genuinely surprised by just how bad our first two opponents at the CCS have been. Peterborough looked a weak side, but at least they attempted to give us a game. Rotherham were woeful from first whistle to last and it quickly seemed like they had absolutely nothing to offer.

Although I don’t claim to be an expert on League One by any means, I suspect the EFL computer has been kind to City and given us a comfortable set of fixtures to begin with. Peterborough finished 18th last season and, before the new season began, the bookies reckoned they’d finish 15th this time around. Rotherham finished 13th in 2024/25 and were priced to finish 14th this season. Meanwhile, newly-promoted Port Vale and Wimbledon were both expected by the bookies and pundits alike to be among the relegation candidates (they were priced to finish 20th and 24th).

Those fixtures have given our young players a good opportunity to find their feet at this level and gain a bit of confidence, and I’m sure the games will also have given the new manager some much-needed time and space to get his ideas across. I’m pretty certain there will be much stiffer tests to come, but it’s been a decent start all the same and there are definitely some encouraging signs.

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Rotherham were a very poor side, and there will likely be a few who are worse than them, who will just pack 11 men behind the ball
I think you’re right about the confidence bit though, thankfully we have played two crap teams and have come out on top by finding a way to play against them

I expect a different type of game against the likes of Luton, Stockport etc and that’s where BBM will earn his money
10-12 games in and we’ll have a better idea of how the season will shape up in my view

Coming back to the confidence thing, last season we had got into the habit of losing and there seemed like an expectation of that from the players!
This season we have started well and as you rightly point out that can only be a good thing for the young players in the squad, long May it continue

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Originally Posted by North Cardiff Blue

Agreed, last year's were very tough, this year's are pretty good.

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Last season, our first four fixtures saw us play the teams that had finished 16th, 14th and 8th in the Championship and 19th in the Premier League during 2023/24 - a perfectly reasonable set of fixtures by anyone's standards. Unfortunately, however, we collected only one point from those four games because it turned out that our team was the worst in the division and our manager was utterly hopeless.

Thankfully, things appear to be a lot more promising this time around.

:thumbup:

I agree, it was a bit boring at times. A decent team would have made it more enjoyable and made it a cricket score. Rotherham were the worst team i've seen come to the CSS in years. they were woeful ! don't get too carried away, we play a decent team and we'll lose as the squad is toilet and no physicality

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Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman

Last season, our first four fixtures saw us play the teams that had finished 16th, 14th and 8th in the Championship and 19th in the Premier League during 2023/24 - a perfectly reasonable set of fixtures by anyone's standards. Unfortunately, however, we collected only one point from those four games because it turned out that our team was the worst in the division and our manager was utterly hopeless.

Thankfully, things appear to be a lot more promising this time around.

:thumbup:

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Sunderland Promoted, Burnley Promoted, Swansea away, Boro, Leeds Promoted, sixth game, it would have been hard to get a tougher start.

Agreed, a great set of fixtures this year, Plymouth without a point soon too.