Jon Jo Gypo hit more long balls today than all our players combined.
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Will that go noticed or is the media so one-eyed that we only knock it long?
Everything is based on last seasons statistics.
We were good on the eye with Arter, Ralls and Camarasa dominating large parts today.
We shall see what the media have to say.
Long ball merchants? Pfft
Jon Jo Gypo hit more long balls today than all our players combined.
Unfortunately Voldemort's long passes usually tore us apart...
I'd rather us win matches with less possession but it was good to see some control being exerted - though I worry that we don't have the skill to unlock Prem defences if we go to a possession based game.
Promising today though and let's hope we continue to gain in confidence and competitiveness
I thought Shelvey started well in the first 15 minutes and his long passing was effective, however it soon became apparent that long passing was all he wanted to do so when he got the ball our back four would drop deeper and it completely nullified his threat. I was surprised that he couldn't adapt and play through the lines instead of constant Hollywood passes. I suppose this is what separates the top players.
Of course it will go innoticed.
we.re certainly no threat to barcelona or man city but it was encouraging we could string a few passes together today . long may it continue !
A few more stats. from today
https://www.premierleague.com/match/38320
Cardiff City Newcastle United
51.3 Possession % 48.7
1 Shots on target 6
12 Shots 12
533 Touches 503
314 Passes 305
21 Tackles 11
42 Clearances 25
5 Corners 5
2 Offsides 0
2 Yellow cards 2
0 Red cards 1
14 Fouls conceded 16
After half time Ralls stuck more faithfully to the pivot role in front of the back four with Camasara employed further forward and Arter given licence to roam. I think that NW knew that Benitez would instruct his team to press our midfield three from the front in his ht team talk and preempted this by withdrawing Ralls to a more conservative position. Coaching is a very "hands on" pursuit nowadays and the chess battle between the two managerial luminaries today was very entertaining.
It was interesting to see Sky put on a stat in the first half today "%age of long passes" which showed Cardiff at 48% and Newcastle at 22%. Now, I think you lot are a little bit paranoid, but that is the first time I have ever seen that particular stat used. I found the stat funny because it was ambiguous. What, I wonder, constitutes a "long pass". And, who decided that, say, a pass of 25 yards is a long pass, but a pass of 24 yards is not?
I don't know if the same stat was used at any other stage of the game because I turned off after 30 minutes. The game was a bit dull and barely a step up from the Championship. I was impressed by the little I saw of Murphy and Camarasa. Just looking at the stats though, and another game where only one shot on target was achieved. This time, out of 12 shots at goal.
Midfield were a massive improvement imo. It's a shame we can't get Reid playing just behind a lone striker like when Ward came on last week because I thought he looked dangerous picking up loose ball in space and running at defenders.
It's also a shame 3 of our back 4 have little composure on the ball, that's where many of our long balls become aimless hoofs up field. Saying that a ball playing CH cost a fortune now days.
He hit a lot of aimless balls too, to no-one.
He’s good, but IMHO very overrated.
I’m happy with our 3 now.
Ralls by contrast is massively underrated-
7 goals 4 assists last season
Shelvey had 5 and 8 in a powerful Newcastle team in the Championship.
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/10...tory/Joe-Ralls
Ralls averaging a rating of 7.1 this season- marginally better than Shelvey
https://www.whoscored.com/Players/40.../Jonjo-Shelvey