Well, the managers come and go, the names on the team sheet change, but when it comes to Cardiff City playing at the stadium which bears their name, it’s the same old, same old, same old story – we’re crap and we know we are.
Each of the same olds I used above signifies a season of the dross Cardiff have served up at home since our Play Off defeat by Fulham which ended the elongated 19/20 season and I fear that 23/24 is going to stretch the truly miserable sequence to four years if today’s 2-1 loss to a QPR side who have had a nightmare run over the past ten months and started the season by shipping four first half goals at Watford last week is anything to go by.
I’m hoping that I’m reading too much into today’s result against one of the few sides who have been tipped to finish below us this year, but I strongly suspect I’m not.
As I saw it, it was vital we start the home season off with a win given how things have gone on our own ground in recent years because a failure to win in a game that we were widely expected to take three points from would only bring back demons which, if his post match comments are anything to go by, our manager thinks are real and an issue he has to overcome before his team can progress as he wants them to.
The game last week at Leeds saw us spend the large majority of our time defending and the possession stats were almost 75/25 in favour of our opponents. It’s true that having a lead to defend in the second half probably skewed those figures more in Leeds’ favour, but, from what we’ve been told, it was a typical Bulut type showing – concede the initiative to your opponents and then break with speed and numbers when the opportunity arises.
However, in his pre game press conference on Thursday, Bulut talked of the need for a different type of approach from his team today where we were more on the front foot and in our opponent’s faces. It all seemed pretty obvious to me, especially when you consider that QPR’s levels of self belief must have been on the floor and opposition heads would have dropped pretty quickly if we’d scored early on.
So, we were told by the manager what he, apparently, wanted, but what we got was completely different – at least up until about the seventy minute mark.
City fans have grown used to seeing their team starting slowly in home games (here’s a quiz question I cannot answer myself but maybe someone else can- when is the last time City flew out of the traps and made a fast start that rattled their opponents in a home game?), but today was so disappointing in so many respects.
I noticed that someone on the messageboard I use wrote during the first half that City were “passive” – that was the exact word that I came up with at about the same time as he did as I watched us playing what looked like a counter attack set up without the counter attacking. We were just sitting back letting this side that are relegation favourites walk all over us.
On the rare occasions we had the chance to counter attack we were so slow and our passing so laboured and inaccurate that QPR were only troubled twice in the first half when Ebou Adams had a shot deflected over after a scramble in the six yard box and Ike Ugbo probably should have done better with a chance he turned wide from six yards after a Mark McGuinness header.
Another cause for concern was that so many of those I think of as our more reliable players like Ryan Wintle, Perry Ng and Callum O’Dowda were having such poor games.
The last named was culpable for the first goal as City were sloppy for the umpteenth time as O’Dowda hesitated from a throw near our corner flag and allowed Paul Smyth to get past him and roll over a cross that Sinclair Armstrong tapped in from six yards. It was all too reminiscent of the two goals against Colchester on Wednesday and perhaps the most concerning thing was that the personnel involved were completely different (all four goals we’ve conceded in our last two home games have come down our left).
Jak Alnwick had already been forced to tip over a header by Steve Cook when the veteran defender had been left unmarked from a free kick as the visitors were given all of the time they needed to gain confidence when I’m sure they had been expecting a far sterner examination in the opening stages.
The second half brought no improvement, there was the same sluggishness and lack of cohesion from a team in which maybe only Mark McGuinness and Aaron Ramsey could feel fairly satisfied with their play in the first hour.
When Ramsey hit the bar with a curling shot from twenty yards it came completely out of the blue because it was so much against the general flow of the game, but soon after, the Welsh captain carelessly conceded possession which enabled the visitors to break on one of those quick counter attacks we were supposed to be showing and Armstrong was able to play in Kenneth Paal who confidently put away his chance.
Mind you, QPR’s task was made all the easier by Dimitrios Goutas, seemingly brought in to provide a calming, experienced presence at the back, diving into a tackle like a complete novice and ending up being absolutely skinned.
It had now got to the stage where City were hearing opposing fans oleing as their written off team began to start taking the piss a bit – this was supposed to be an upbeat occasion where Ramsey was welcomed back and we celebrated with three points, the fact it all went so wrong only heightened the sense of disappointment.
Callum Robinson was introduced for an injured Adams and he at least provided some energy and thought, but it was the introduction of a youngster who was making his league debut that provided the catalyst for City’s “Grandstand finish” – you know, the bit at the end where we knock lots of dead balls into the box and everyone begins to think we can save something from a dismal afternoon/evening, but we hardly ever do (even when we did manage to pull back a two goal deficit against the jacks last season, we promptly sat back and allowed them to score a winner).
I can’t believe any City fan felt that Ollie Tanner would be coming on in our second league game this season and would represent our best hope of creating a goal, but he made a big difference and, forget about tactics, forget about systems, he showed that he wanted to be out here-, so many others spent the first hour and more looking like they couldn’t wait to get off the pitch.
Ugbo tapped in following good work by O’Dowda to get one back on seventy eight minutes and the big moment when City could have levelled came when Ng crossed and McGuinness flicked a shot against the crossbar from eight yards.
After that there were numerous corners (I see little sign of any improvement in our attacking set pieces so far this season) and balls into the box, but nothing came of them and the ten minutes of added time passed by much too quickly as far as City we’re concerned.
Looking on the boards and a few of the post match quotes, I’ve not come across anyone saying we were unlucky because we hit the woodwork twice – the consensus is that we got exactly what we deserved, just like we have done in the vast majority of the umpteen defeats we’ve suffered at home in the past three years.
I’ll finish on today’s game by mentioning Erol Bulut’s post match comments about the team being nervous in the first half and that some of the them were still carrying mental scars from two years of relegation struggling.
I’m sure many will disagree with our manager there and with me when I say that nerves could be responsible for the some of the listless and careworn football we saw from City today. I was saying at the back end of last season that we’d got into the territory where our consistent under performance at home over a long period meant that serious thought should be given to using the services of a sports psychologist – we’re putting ourselves at a huge disadvantage with our long term inability to cash in on what should be the advantage of playing at home.
Today’s been one of those days where all of the teams I have wanted to win were beaten and that stretches to City’s under 18s who have been talked up a lot, including by myself at times, as one of the better groups we’ve had at this level down the years, but today they lost 3-0 at home to Birmingham in their first league game of the season.
Finally, the start of the season is the time I ask readers to show their support by making a voluntary donation towards the blog’s running costs and to help towards things like book projects that I’m working on. Back in 2018, the blog would not have survived without the contributions of some of its readers as I just did not have the financial means to pay the web hosting bill I received that summer.
Since then, my finances have improved and, with me now receiving the state pension to go with my works one, I can say that there is no longer any need for anyone to donate towards running costs – touching wood, the blog will never ever be in a position again where it’ll need help from readers to survive.
So, with nothing in the pipeline in terms of new projects this year, I can say to all readers, and especially those who do still donate towards the blog, there is no need to do so this year at a time when many need every last penny to make it through the cost of living crisis.
That is not to say you cannot still make a contribution if you want to – they can be made through cash, bank transfer, cheque and PayPal. Many of you who do contribute will already have my bank details, but anyone wishing to make their first contribution can contact me at paul.evans8153@hotmail.com for more information.
As always a big thank you to all those who have made donations in the past and especially to those who still do (particular thanks go to the Owl Centre for their continued very generous sponsorship), a happier Cardiff City season than last time around to all of you!