City have exceeded expectations so far this season and there isn't one fan with half an ounce of common sense that wouldn't have bitten off the hand of anyone who offered an opening run of five wins, a draw and a defeat in the opening seven games!
Now is not the time to start jumping on the backs of individual players and from what I saw of last night I agree with Vince Alm that it was a collective failure in a game where the team itself were below par and Preston took their opportunities when offered
Sol Bamba won't need us (or Neil Warnock) to let him know that he messed up more than once and he'll come back stronger and more determined on Saturday!
As for Etheridge? Well, there seems to be a bit of a bandwagon rolling already where he is concerned and that simply isn't right or fair. Overall, he has performed decently this season and (as the last line of defence) any errors are emphasised regardless of the errors made by those in front of him!
I'm not having that 'Manager of the Month Curse' tosh or using the international break as an excuse; City managers have won that award before and gone on to win their next game!
They cannot use the international break as an excuse either. Neil Warnock will have had his players well prepared and the simple fact is they didn't perform to the standards they have set themselves so far this season...and they'll know that!
A football season is set out well before any given team (in this case ours) starts a good, bad or indifferent run and there will be peaks and troughs. That's the nature of the game we (mostly) love; yet many City fans were starting to believe we were unbeatable and some are far too quick to 'look' for the negatives of one game rather than the positives of the previous six!
A big game/test now on Saturday and I'm sure the players will turn up and make amends at the Cardiff City Stadium. Let's hope the fans do too. Positivity is key!