A dreadful team to watch

[The Lone Gunman]

No - I didn't enjoy the game at all, in fact I thought it was really poor all round, and the City haven't produced much "quality" football for quite a while now, but I would still rather watch quick direct football than a bore fest.

So would I, as long as 'quick direct football' doesn't equate to pumping hopeful long balls across the field to nobody in particular, giving away possession easily and frequently, wingers running up blind alleys before losing the ball or putting it out of play and relying on little more than set-pieces for goalscoring opportunities.

[Grievous Angel]

So would I, as long as 'quick direct football' doesn't equate to pumping hopeful long balls across the field to nobody in particular, giving away possession easily and frequently, wingers running up blind alleys before losing the ball or putting it out of play and relying on little more than set-pieces for goalscoring opportunities.

Yes, I understand that we played badly - you've made that point very clearly. We obviously have have very different agendas when it comes to commenting on matters relating to Cardiff City. I know what mine is - I can only guess at yours.

[AfricanBluebird]

No - I didn't enjoy the game at all, in fact I thought it was really poor all round, and the City haven't produced much "quality" football for quite a while now, but I would still rather watch quick direct football than a bore fest.

I think the point is that ‘quick’ has disappeared from our team in almost every area. We don’t keep possession and can’t hit teams effectively on the break as we lack the pace and guile, so a combination that doesn’t bode well.

Low possession football where we hit teams on the break and maximise set pieces is fine by me, but jeez, our pace has disappeared and our set pieces have fallen to pieces.

That’s the point TLG is making I think

[Hilts]

I think the point is that ‘quick’ has disappeared from our team in almost every area. We don’t keep possession and can’t hit teams effectively on the break as we lack the pace and guile, so a combination that doesn’t bode well.

Low possession football where we hit teams on the break and maximise set pieces is fine by me, but jeez, our pace has disappeared and our set pieces have fallen to pieces.

That’s the point TLG is making I think

TLG isnt making that point hes just saying we are dreadful to watch but your correct.

A fully fit NML will give us some extra pace.

I really think we should be doing far more in possession though even with the players we have.

We should be far better at set pieces though.

[dembethewarrior]

Glatzel has only been here a few weeks and arrived after Zohore left, so how could I possibly have said that before.

Jesus wept.

[dembethewarrior]

Here we go with the personal insults - wondered how long it would take.

It’s a serious observation

[dembethewarrior]

SB started by saying "I don’t think the OP understands football that well if he doesn’t understand why we played like that last night."

Any reason you didn't pull him up on his condescending reply and reserved such comments for me?

Because he’s given an opinion, he’s come to the conclusion you don’t know a lot about football. That’s his opinion.

Nothing really condescending about it.

[The Lone Gunman]

Because he’s given an opinion, he’s come to the conclusion you don’t know a lot about football. That’s his opinion.

Nothing really condescending about it.

Ah, OK.

I've come to the conclusion (long ago) that you're an idiot. Nothing condescending about that. Just my opinion.

[Des Parrot]

During his post-match interview with Sky last night, Sean Morrison was honest enough to admit that Cardiff's tactics against Fulham involved nothing more than "sitting back and trying to play on the counter-attack."

Meanwhile, Josh Murphy told Sky the pre-match plan had been "to frustrate the opposition and play more like a Neil Warnock team."

The way City set up, you could have been forgiven for thinking they were facing a top Premier League side in a cup game or playing away to a leading Championship team who were in top form, but they weren't.

Cardiff were playing at home against a Fulham side they had finished in front of during the last two league campaigns; a side who were abysmal for the majority of last season; a side with a rookie manager and a notoriously fragile defence; and a side who had already been beaten by Barnsley and Nottingham Forest this season. Nevertheless, Warnock's tactics were all about stopping the opposition rather than attempting to take them on.

After Harry Arter stupidly and deservedly got himself sent off, City had almost half an hour to press home their man advantage and try to play some proper football. However, they created just three chances during that time - a long range effort from Joe Ralls that went well wide, a tame header from Robert Glatzel that went even wider and another header from Sean Morrison that also missed the target.

The manager's reaction to gaining a man advantage was not to take off a defender or a defensive midfielder and bring on a second striker to play alongside the isolated Glatzel. Instead, he took off one ineffective winger and brought on another. The result was that his players spent most of the last half hour pumping aimless balls from one side of the field to the other while barely threatening the goal of a team who were clearly rattled and obviously far from great.

Cardiff City's football has been difficult to watch for much of Warnock's tenure, but this season his team looks especially grim. In recent months, I've highlighted how few draws the Bluebirds have been involved in during the last year or so. Their sequence of 53 games without a score draw was finally ended last night and it looks to me like there will be plenty more draws in the coming months.

Warnock told Sky's reporter after the match that he doesn't have a clue where his team will end up this season. To me, they already look mid-table bankers. They're nowhere near weak enough to be involved in a relegation scrap, but by the same token they don't appear to have either the quality or the ambition to get involved in the battle for promotion. Meanwhile, the football they play makes for utterly dreadful viewing.

In a nutshell, no positivity, nothing else to add.

[dembethewarrior]

Ah, OK.

I've come to the conclusion (long ago) that you're an idiot. Nothing condescending about that. Just my opinion.

You’re welcome to it, no harm in having an opinion.

No wonder so many people have wanted to kick your face in on here over the years 😂

[The Lone Gunman]

You’re welcome to it, no harm in having an opinion.

No wonder so many people have wanted to kick your face in on here over the years ��

That's not a problem either. They've all been idiots, in my opinion.

As it happens, I've encountered far more decent people as a result of this message board over the years than idiots and have even become good friends with a few. The idiots are of no great consequence. Never have been, never will be.

[goats]

That's not a problem either. They've all been idiots, in my opinion.

As it happens, I've encountered far more decent people as a result of this message board over the years than idiots and have even become good friends with a few. The idiots are of no great consequence. Never have been, never will be.

You tend to find that people like to gob off far more on an mb than say if you bumped into them at the bar. Meek puppies they would be more like, maybe you should all meet up and discuss ccfc properly?

[dembethewarrior]

That's not a problem either. They've all been idiots, in my opinion.

As it happens, I've encountered far more decent people as a result of this message board over the years than idiots and have even become good friends with a few. The idiots are of no great consequence. Never have been, never will be.

There are some decent people on here. Great opinions too.

[WJ99mobile]

I would say when done right, Warnock football is as exciting as it comes. I love the sheer chaos and unpredictable nature of the counter attacking showing we have seen from a Warnock Cardiff. Much preferable to the sit and clap, footballs equivalent of paint by numbers, that teams like Man City can serve up.

When it’s bad, it’s really bad. Almost comparable with Sunday league.

We’re not always pretty but at least we have a plan. More so than most managers who just buy good players and expect them to just ‘work’.

Sometimes in this league you need something different. Our hoofball is ours.

[Hilts]

Do you wake up and drop yourself on your own head from the top of the stairs every morning, or are you just a little bit thick?

Im pretty certain DML its a wind up account. Has to be?

[CardiffIrish2]

Our goal was good....and er yeah that’s about it
Should have been two nil up going into half time.
Hey ho I used to watch Jack charlton’s Irish team so that was a nice bit of nostalgia that tribute act last night 😂

[goats]

During his post-match interview with Sky last night, Sean Morrison was honest enough to admit that Cardiff's tactics against Fulham involved nothing more than "sitting back and trying to play on the counter-attack."

Meanwhile, Josh Murphy told Sky the pre-match plan had been "to frustrate the opposition and play more like a Neil Warnock team."

The way City set up, you could have been forgiven for thinking they were facing a top Premier League side in a cup game or playing away to a leading Championship team who were in top form, but they weren't.

Cardiff were playing at home against a Fulham side they had finished in front of during the last two league campaigns; a side who were abysmal for the majority of last season; a side with a rookie manager and a notoriously fragile defence; and a side who had already been beaten by Barnsley and Nottingham Forest this season. Nevertheless, Warnock's tactics were all about stopping the opposition rather than attempting to take them on.

After Harry Arter stupidly and deservedly got himself sent off, City had almost half an hour to press home their man advantage and try to play some proper football. However, they created just three chances during that time - a long range effort from Joe Ralls that went well wide, a tame header from Robert Glatzel that went even wider and another header from Sean Morrison that also missed the target.

The manager's reaction to gaining a man advantage was not to take off a defender or a defensive midfielder and bring on a second striker to play alongside the isolated Glatzel. Instead, he took off one ineffective winger and brought on another. The result was that his players spent most of the last half hour pumping aimless balls from one side of the field to the other while barely threatening the goal of a team who were clearly rattled and obviously far from great.

Cardiff City's football has been difficult to watch for much of Warnock's tenure, but this season his team looks especially grim. In recent months, I've highlighted how few draws the Bluebirds have been involved in during the last year or so. Their sequence of 53 games without a score draw was finally ended last night and it looks to me like there will be plenty more draws in the coming months.

Warnock told Sky's reporter after the match that he doesn't have a clue where his team will end up this season. To me, they already look mid-table bankers. They're nowhere near weak enough to be involved in a relegation scrap, but by the same token they don't appear to have either the quality or the ambition to get involved in the battle for promotion. Meanwhile, the football they play makes for utterly dreadful viewing.

No mention of Fulham’s pointless passing around their own box, the only reason they even had so much possession. They need to split that statistic up, depending on which half the team is in....it’s almost pointless counting it good if it’s just back and fire between defenders and goalie.

[The Lone Gunman]

No mention of Fulham’s pointless passing around their own box, the only reason they even had so much possession. They need to split that statistic up, depending on which half the team is in....it’s almost pointless counting it good if it’s just back and fire between defenders and goalie.

To be honest, I'm not greatly interested in Fulham or impressed by them. I don't have friends, family or colleagues who support Fulham and the only time I ever seen them play is either when they're playing Cardiff or occasionally when they're on TV (I did catch about half of their game against Huddersfield a couple of weeks ago). From what I can see, they aren't up to much, although they have a great goalscorer for this level in Mitrovic. With Parker at the helm, I'd be surprised if they finished higher than fifth or sixth at best.

[LeningradCowboy]

I don't have a problem with Neil Warnock setting the team up to be defensively solid and play counterattacking football. The problem is that we aren't particularly good at it.

We look okay when the opposition pass the ball around in front of us, but as soon as they attack with any urgency we get carved wide open. I don't think it's a coincidence that we've been in front for so little time this season. Even Huddersfield could have scored twice against us after we retook the lead in stoppage time. We're also prone to lapses in concentration and making silly mistakes.

We're inefficient when we do get the ball because we struggle to play around the opposition's counter-press and usually resort to lumping the ball forward to avoid getting caught in possession. Our attacking players don't seem to have any cohesion and we are overly reliant on individual brilliance to score goals. We're playing Tomlin in an advanced central position, but our primary option is to get the ball wide, so he hardly touches the ball.

[J R Hartley]

No mention of Fulham’s pointless passing around their own box, the only reason they even had so much possession. They need to split that statistic up, depending on which half the team is in....it’s almost pointless counting it good if it’s just back and fire between defenders and goalie.

Now there’s an interesting idea to increase the excitement - set the ball on fire.

That should suit us down to the ground. We’ve been treating the ball like a hot potato for quite some time now.

[J R Hartley]

I don't have a problem with Neil Warnock setting the team up to be defensively solid and play counterattacking football. The problem is that we aren't particularly good at it.

We look okay when the opposition pass the ball around in front of us, but as soon as they attack with any urgency we get carved wide open. I don't think it's a coincidence that we've been in front for so little time this season. Even Huddersfield could have scored twice against us after we retook the lead in stoppage time. We're also prone to lapses in concentration and making silly mistakes.

We're inefficient when we do get the ball because we struggle to play around the opposition's counter-press and usually resort to lumping the ball forward to avoid getting caught in possession. Our attacking players don't seem to have any cohesion and we are overly reliant on individual brilliance to score goals. We're playing Tomlin in an advanced central position, but our primary option is to get the ball wide, so he hardly touches the ball.

Good post. We rarely had the ball last night but when we did we couldn’t get Tomlin in the game at all. The game passed him by but the few times he got the ball he did something with it. That reverse pass that set us up with a chance for 2-0 was the only real bit of quality football from us last night. He also lost it himself a couple of times because he’s looking around for options that are just not there and got caught doddling. We are so static as a football team and I think to get the best out of Tomlin we need more footballers in the team but that isn’t going to happen.

As soon as he went off it was more hoofball to Paterson and we must be the only team in the entire football league who have a spare man and still resort to 50-50 2nd ball tactics. Long throws. Chuck it in the mixer. Centre half taking the throw ins so when the throw breaks down and is played back to the thrower we’ve got a clumsy oaf who can’t get the ball out of his feet. We made no use of the extra man whatsoever.

[Lord Dargavel]

I find myself hoping that there is plenty in the kitty for January to bolster centre midfield and the strike force but I fear this is folly. Neil doesn’t have a good track record with acquiring strikers that fit his battle plan. I do think that Charlie Austin may have fitted in better than Madine, Glatzel, Niasse and Bogle but that ship has sailed. Perhaps the ongoing Sala payment dispute looms large over the transfer budget?!

[dembethewarrior]

Fans’ favourite Tomlin couldn’t be arsed to move back onside every time Smithies kicked forward. Of course, it he had been fit enough to stay on the field etc etc he would have .....(complete sycophantic description)

Do people purposely look for ANYTHING to use to put our players down?

[Hilts]

Tomlin shouldnt be expected to have long balls smashed at him by our keeper anyway.

[dembethewarrior]

Tomlin shouldnt be expected to have long balls smashed at him by our keeper anyway.

They’ll be asking pettier to dribble 60 yards up the wing next.