This followed the “yawn-athon” of a Boxing Day oh-so-dull home clash with Walsall who came with no ambition at all but left with three points anyway courtesy of another defensive calamity.
Not even the worst moments under Alan Cork, Bobby Gould and Co in the Hammam regime saw City lose three successive league games but Lennie’s lads have now managed it twice in 8 months. The current run of one point in the last 12 available equal City’s worst run in the past 4 years, “achieved” at the end of last season. At home though, one point from the last 4 home games at Ninian Park (and that was courtesy of a 90th minute equaliser to avoid another loss) is Cardiff’s worst set of home league results in nearly 6 years. In isolation, it’s a poor run but not disastrous and tribute to the rise and success of the club that we’re not accustomed to blips like this. The worry is, the side show few signs of positive results without a major shake up.
Let’s make no bones about this. There have been worse games, worse results and worse performances. City did not deserve a Boxing Day home defeat for the first time in almost 40 years but the only real positive is that they made themselves harder to beat. The negative is that playing moderate, unambitious opposition, they still lost.
City were negative and tiresome to watch. Gone was the free flowing football, the neat passing and link up. Instead, it was sideways, backwards, sideward again, backwards again and belt it forward. They lacked belief, passion, quality, pace, confidence and aggression. A little more of any of those would have been enough to unseat the Saddlers but we weren’t up to it in front of an excellent 17,531 crowd - many of whom probably wished they had stayed home watching TV repeats instead.
Stats will show City had far more goal attempts but disguise that their only meaningful efforts came in the final 20 minutes when they were chasing the match and trying to scramble a draw. True, they were unlucky in this period but, as a spectacle, you had to look at the league table in the match programme to convince yourself that you were not watching a relegation scrap ... and one from a lower division too.
After recent calamities at Norwich and home to Millwall 6 days previous, Lennie declared he had been too loyal to some players and would make changes. However, severely hampered by a lack of options in a squad where he has really has 18 fit players for selection, there were two scapegoats - the previously ever-present Neil Alexander and Chris Barker - when half or more of the side could have been dropped or rested. The other worry is that Lennie seems to be concentrating his efforts on getting defence right - understandable with the avalanche of goals recently conceded - but it’s perfectly obvious that City’s biggest problems at present lie in midfield and that was left alone.
City lined up with Margetson, Weston-Prior-Gabbidon-Vidmar, Langley-Boland-Kavanagh-Whalley, Thorne-Earnie. Martyn Margetson stepped in for the first time this season, Spencer Prior for the second occasion. I am sure however that I am not the only fan wondering why and how, as well as he played, Prior has overtaken James Collins in the pick list when “Ginge” has done nothing wrong when selected by City, looks stronger and better and creates more danger at set-pieces going forward.
As the Walsall, their started with an unadventurous 4-5-1 formation and even had their chief creator Paul Merson missing - with conflicting rumours of him being injured, rested or allowed to stay home with his family rather than travel to this game. Their side was Walker, Bazeley-Roper-Ritchie-Aranalde, Osborn-Emblen-Wrack-Samways-Leitao and Bulky Birch as the lone frontman. Only 1 player cost a transfer fee, they will never be anything special at this level but they are always competitive and give anyone a game.
Cardiff made their customary slow start. Why, why, why do we nearly always do this? Walsall won three corners in the opening four minutes with Prior making one excellent headed clearance under pressure in the opening 30 seconds and then Vidmar blocking a goalbound Emblen swept effort after Leitao got around the back of City's defence with far too much ease to present him with a close range opportunity inside three minutes.
Having survived that early onslaught, City tried to steady their nerves without ever really managing to raise their game. The defence were more withdrawn and unambitious than usual.
Weston tried bringing the ball out as did Gabbidon eventually. Prior looked effective simply because he did what he does best, no-nonsense defending, it’s when he thinks he’s a footballer blessed with half decent skill that it goes wrong. With all respect to him, a sure sign of how City have fallen is Prior being talked about as our best player just for producing basic-style defensive. Vidmar meantime looked lost. Taking time to come to terms with playing left-side as he tended to drift into the centre, never getting over halfway and although in his preferred position, it was concerning that his only contribution was cutting or turning inside onto their right foot and laying it off, the Aussie looks well off his best. He certainly offered nothing more than Barker and, arguably, quite a lot less.
Midfield is where City’s game seems to have totally broken down. With Whalley, Boland, Kav and Langley, The Bluebirds fielded four players who all want to play central and with Kav playing slightly deeper than the rest, nobody who can really take the game to the opposition. It’s no coincidence that City have lost their balance and their way since Lennie refused to stump up money for Julian Gray and lost John Robinson through injury but did nothing to replace the total lack of natural width. It was an avoidable situation but we did nothing.
It was Lennie’s late summer signings - two of his four players came after the August kick-off - that lied behind City’s start of season blip and it’s the same inactivity at a time when every other rival have bought and shown their ambition in recent weeks that is a significant factor in this mini-crisis where we have lost considerable ground.
Up front, we have the leading and 5th leading scorer in Division One but you wouldn’t have thought it. Starved of crosses and real service, they again struggled to make real impact but Earnie is totally out of sorts. He may not be getting the luck but he doesn’t look as happy on the field at present. His first touch has been dreadfully poor in recent times and he’s not making the same runs that we are so used to seeing from him but he is genuine class, it won’t last
City never seriously tested the Walsall goal all first half. Maybe Thorne should have done better than placing Weston and Boland crosses wide late on in the half, the only creation came from Gareth Whalley trying to thread passes through the middle and he was unlucky not to find Thorne and Earnie on a couple of occasions. The only real effort of substance came from Whalley too as he spun and dummied inside halfway, took the ball on and let fly from 25 yards to bring a diving but relatively comfortable save from Walker.
Walsall had one further attempt in the half when Margetson saved well from a Wrack close range header. What was pleasing was better communication in defence, something that has been sadly lacking in recent times. Prior was an organiser, Martyn Margetson’s calling was clear and decisive and could be clearly heard in the stands, something I’ve never heard from Alexander even when behind the goal.
My abiding first half memory though is watching a City side who offered little more than 5 yard sideway or backwards passes. Vinny Samways in the Walsall side, dubbed Vinnie Sideways when at Spurs in his younger days, must have wished he was part of it. We really lack someone competitive, aggressive in that area to take it on. John Robinson is a vital cog to this side and it shows most when he’s not about.
Half-time: CITY 0 WALSALL 0
In the early stages of the 2nd period, City showed signs of bringing the game, and the crowd, to life. Within 90 seconds of the restart, Gareth Whalley set the tone with a rasping drive that narrowly cleared Walker and the bar but having come to life either side of half-time, that was Whalley’s last telling contribution to the match as he went strangely anonymous despite playing to the end.
With the support behind them, City advanced and Walsall dropped back but in that spell of pressure, City only found one more chance as Earnie showed glimpses of his old self taking the ball wide inside the area, cutting in past two players and letting go with a rising drive that cleared the bar, the sort of finish that would have found the net a few weeks ago. He also showed his lack of confidence as he received the ball in a prime angled shooting position but opted to slide the ball inside for Thorne who was snuffed out,. not expecting the ball himself.
Have raised their tempo and got everyone excited, City let things drift again and a passage of play followed that was a non-event. When City got near goal, they usually let themselves down with Division Three standard balls often hit too high, too hard and too far. The game seemingly drifting to an inevitable 0-0 unless someone produced magic or tragic, it was City who cracked with the latter.
69 minutes in, Walsall made a rare break into City’s half. There was still nothing on when the Spaniard glove wearing Aranalde, sent off with Lee at Bescot earlier in the season, got past Rhys Weston a little too easily and hit nothing more than a high and hopeful ball to the far post.
The rest was pure calamity and farce as it drifted past Margetson, Vidmar who was underneath it seemed to be struck with temporary paralysis as he froze, Birch stole in behind him and knocked a simple header back to the near post where NEIL EMBLEN nicked in between Margetson and Prior (the former virtually sitting on the floor) and almost apologetically squeezed the ball over the line off some part of his body. City were mugged but made themselves the easiest of victims, the comparatively better defensive work was thrown out of the window at that moment as every one of the back four plus keeper all missed opportunities to prevent danger.
200 or so from the Black Country let out a stifled roar, the first time I even noticed there was an away support on an afternoon notable for the remarkable lack of atmosphere and noise coming from home fans too who, to their credit, never openly criticised or dissented as perhaps would have happened in bygone times with this kind of showing.
With that, City woke up. Kav ran straight at and almost through Walsall’s defence, Langley meantime went wide and stayed wide, took on his man and started getting balls over. It all begged the question, why the hell weren’t we doing this for the first 70 minutes?
Chances finally came our way but it wasn’t our day and when Andy Campbell replaced Willie Boland to go wide for the final quarter of an hour, it showed the lack of options Lennie currently has. Mind you, he hardly helped himself picking two defenders, a holding midfielder and one forward as his substitute options for a home game against a mediocre side.
Earnie came closest twice. The first time as he delayed a shot inside the area but when he shot low, the fingertips of Walker (who also denied us points at Bescot) tipped it onto the inside of the post then had the luck as the ball ran across the line and came out. When Thorne found Earnie with a cushioned header, his overhead kick was flying to goal but it hit Aranalde point-blank in the face, he knew nothing about it. Prior, Campbell, Boland (before being replaced), Thorne and Langley all tried but put the ball wide whilst Thorne got the ball into the net but was disallowed as Walker was adjudged to have been fouled coming out of goal under pressure.
Given four subs, a goal, a couple of injuries and plenty of time-wasting by the visitors, the final joke came when the ref only found two minutes of added time but I somehow think City wouldn’t have saved themselves if they had been given two hours. But with the final action of the match, Gabbidon met a corner in a crowded goalmouth but got underneath the ball and put it into the Grange End. End of game.
The final whistle was a scene of frustration, desolation and a few boos too. Walsall couldn’t believe their luck celebrating an away win they scarcely deserved but, like City, you could hardly argue that they deserved to lose either.
There is no time to mull on this latest setback and, perhaps, that’s a good thing. Within a month, City have fallen from a side in the play-offs matching Ipswich, Sunderland & Co to one in mid-table obscurity surrounded by Millwall, Crewe, Walsall and Rotherham - the sides who make up the numbers in this division. How disheartening. If things do not improve shortly, a relegation battle may not be out of the question either even if, realistically, 15 points only are required from the final 21 games. But 6 points of the play-offs and going backwards fast, talk of those play-offs and a Premiership challenge seem to be nothing more than a joke which is the biggest shame of all.
City kick-off at Watford’s Vicarage Road in another lunchtime game within 48 hours. Playing another struggling out of form team away from Ninian Park and with the backing of nearly 3,000 fans may just be what City need too. It can’t get worse, can it?
Report from FootyMad
A goal by Neil Emblen in the 70th minute silenced the home crowd as the Bluebirds slithered to yet another home defeat.
He was well placed to head in from close range after the City defence failed to clear a cross from Zigor Aranalde.
Saddlers boss Colin Lee was delighted, but not surprised, by his team's success.
"It was a very disciplined performance, but it is not easy playing two games in three days with limited resources," he said.
"I felt that it was our day when James Walker made a good save late on but although we had a couple of anxious moments towards the end we held on very well.
"We have not got the monetary resources of Cardiff but we can compete by being organised and committed. Today we changed things around a little and fortunately it has worked.
"I felt that we were in control of the game throughout and Cardiff probably failed to create enough chances as the home team."It was only after Walsall went ahead that Cardiff were able to attack the massed visiting rearguard.
Cardiff boss Lennie Lawrence brought on Andy Campbell in the 77th minute as City tried to rescue something from a game they could have won comfortably.
Eight minutes from time Robert Earnshaw fired a shot against the inside of the post and two minutes later an overhead kick was goalbound before Ian Roper cleared for a corner.
Bluebirds boss Lawrence felt that his side deserved something from the game.
"We were very hard done by today and we didn't deserve to lose," he said. "I thought one goal would do it and I full believed that we would get it.
"But if you can't score you have to keep a clean sheet and we should have cleared the ball that led to their goal.
"We seemed to lack confidence up front and we were really mugged when they broke away to score, but there was an element of misfortune in the defeat.
"We have to stop losing as soon as possible and get some more quality into our opponent's box."City's poor run of results, which has seen them gain one point from the last four matches, will surely mean that owner Sam Hammam will get the cheque book out in the New Year.
External reports
BBC
Western Mail
Birmingham Post