Positives for Cardiff City from Chelsea defeat and why it we

Positives for Cardiff City from Chelsea defeat and why it went wrong in a calamitous final 10 minutes



By Tom Coleman

Sunday 16th September 2018


On the face of it, Cardiff City's 4-1 defeat to Chelsea was a hammering.

Yet Maurizio Sarri's response after the game - and body language during it - told you that the Blues could not sit comfortably until the contest's dying embers.

Cardiff troubled their glamorous hosts and will no doubt take plenty of positives from their trip to Stamford Bridge.

But it went very wrong for Neil Warnock's side in the final 10 minutes as they allowed Chelsea to cruise to the victory mark.

Here's our analysis of the game...

What positives can Cardiff take?

For the second time this season, a Cardiff set-piece brought a goal and the hard work of assistant manager Kevin Blackwell is yielding impressive results.

The Bluebirds had been strangely off colour from dead ball situations in the opening three games of the campaign, but to have scored in successive games against 'top six' sides will please the Cardiff coaches.

Both times it has come via a Sean Morrison nodded assist, with the captain a major problem for defences in the penalty area.



Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff City

Otherwise, it was the control Cardiff were able to assert at times in the second half that emerged as a huge positive. Both Bobby Reid and Danny Ward excelled up front and some of the football was crisp and incisive.

Ultimately Chelsea had the nous, both at the back and in front of goal towards the game's climax, but yet again it was a Cardiff performance

For that reason, it's fair to say the 4-1 scoreline was a little harsh.









Not many teams will stop Hazard in that form

Another positive here or at least a mode of taking solace. There's no shame in being beaten by such a wonderful individual display.

Some of Hazard's touches were bordering on the outrageous. He was purring.


The way the Belgian shifted his weight to dummy Joe Bennett and keep balance, while thundering a shot into the bottom corner was a joy to watch.

The quick one-touch exchanges with Pedro and Olivier Giroud for the second were too much for Cardiff to handle.

Although you couldn't help but feel very few teams will stop Hazard if he's in the mood. Arsenal were beaten 3-2 earlier in the season with a similar attacking display in which Hazard only played 29 minutes.

Mind you, Willian and Pedro aren't bad either and both caused Cardiff headaches. The overriding feeling from Cardiff's players having faced a team with Chelsea's attacking riches will be that the Bluebirds can certainly take points from the weaker teams blessed with fewer world class talents.










Why Cardiff's performance disintegrated

Warnock struggled to hide his exasperation in the post-match press conference. He was still stewing after watching Cardiff's forlorn back line fold after 80 minutes of pressure.

Quite why Sol Bamba felt compelled to tackle Willian in the way he did, was baffling. Then the Brazilian was given far too much space to pick his spot from 20 yards for the fourth.

It was simply a case of tiredness kicking in, probably more mental than physical fatigue in truth.

Cardiff had contained Chelsea without offering too much of a threat themselves in the second half. As the game entered its final 15 minutes with the score still 2-1, the visitors knew they had to do something.

Unfortunately it meant Warnock's defence switched on and they paid a heavy price.






What they can do against Manchester City

It will likely be more of the same against City, but Cardiff will at least have the crowd on their side. If they can fuse the positives from the Chelsea and Arsenal defeats, they will cause the Champions some problems backed by a raucous Cardiff City Stadium support.

What Warnock dearly wants is a game against one of the lesser lights to provide the litmus test for Cardiff's progress this season. Burnley at home cannot come soon enough.

Either way, it feels like the Bluebirds can compete. Against Arsenal they did. Against Chelsea they did for 80 minutes.

The 4-4-1-1 ought to remain and the outlook should still be positive and 'don't panic' even if a drubbing by Man City is forthcoming. The embryonic signs of a more progressive, more dynamic Cardiff - fitting for the Premier League - are all there.

Concentration at the back must be a bare minimum next week. Otherwise Pep Guardiola's men will feast.

No idea who this Mr Coleman is, but that's one of the most intelligent articles on football I've read for many years.
I suspect that it's not very far from the view which Sir Neil will take and it's technically correct, which is most unusual these days.
He's not suggesting any strategies which would get us beaten 6-0 if we adopted them and he seems to understand exactly how we can go about the very difficult task of accumulating enough points to get a respectable position in the table with the rescources which we've actually got rather than worrying about what we haven't got.

Very well said.

Don't understand how the reporter can say we were able to exert control in the second half. We were over run after half time caused mainly by giving the ball away too often and playing against a very, very good side with one of the best players in the world on top form. The fact that it was only 2-1 with just over ten minutes left was down to brave defending a couple of good saves by Etheridge and a couple of poor finishes by Chelsea. 4-1 was not harsh, it reflected Chelsea's dominance. That's not to criticize as not many teams will get anything at Chelsea and at least we gave it a go, unlike Huddersfield at Man City.

Interesting how opinions can differ. Myself I thought , apart from a wonderful strike ,we made Chelsea look very ordinary in first half. We lost Arter in second half, to me that was an important nail in the coffin ,we just were not the same in the 2nd half. Chelsea players probably had a rollicking half time and upped their game.After the penalty There was no way back.Overall a good account of ourselves, fans were outstanding.