MATCH THREAD: “ CARDIFF CITY v STOKE CITY " MATCH THREAD

CARDIFF CITY v STOKE CITY
Saturday 12th April, 3pm
Sky Bet Championship - Match 42
Cardiff City Stadium 



Cardiff City: Horvath; Ng, Fish, Daland, O'Dowda (c); Chambers, Robertson; Alves, Ashford; Robinson, Salech

Subs: Turner, Bagan, Mannsverk, Turnbull, R.Colwill, Davies, Tanner, Willock, Meite





Cardiff have only won one of their past eight games, drawing at Preston in midweek, results elsewhere have gone their way with defeats for relegation rivals Oxford United, Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday.


Omer Riza:

‘Perry trained today and will be back. Andy Rinomhota has hurt his back and we’ll see how he is tomorrow. Anwar hasn't trained this week and won't be available. Ollie is frustrated because he wants to play, but he's still getting back to where he was before the injury.’






ITS PAY ON THE DAY FOR CARDIFF FANS


Really this should be a 30,000 Crowd

Most clubs would Sell out for such an Important game:



Stoke Fair play are bringing approx 1,550 Fans




TEAM NEWS:


NG will be assessed again on Thursday .

“Joe Ralls and Rambo [Aaron Ramsey] are long-term injuries and still out.”

Alnwick is out for the season.

inside_the_stadium.png

Club Connections

Alan Curtis and Chris Barker are amongst the players to have played for both clubs.

James Rowberry, who used to be a coach with us, is one of their assistant managers.

Rival Players

Ben Wilmot is an ex Swansea player.

The Opposition's Manager

Mark Robins was appointed Stoke manager in January.

He is best known from his two spells as Coventry manager. He took them from League Two to the Championship play-off final. He also got them to the FA Cup semi finals last season.

Opposition Dangerous Players

Ali Al Hamadi has two league goals since joining on loan in January.

Lewis Koumas caused us a lot of problems in the league game at their stadium, he has three goals and two assists in the league.

Head To Head 

Four of the last five meetings have finished in a draw.

That includes the FA Cup game earlier this year, which we won on penalties.

Stoke scored a late equaliser in the league game at their stadium to draw 2-2.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

Cardiff City: Horvath, Rinomhota, Fish, Daland, Goutas, O'Dowda, Mannsverk, Chambers, Colwill, Ashford, Salech

Stoke City: Johansson, Tchamadeu, Phillips, Wilmot, Bocat, Thompson, Burger, Baker, Manhoef, Bae, Gallagher

Last Game

We drew 2-2 at Preston on Tuesday.

On the same night, Stoke drew 1-1 at home to Luton.

Match Odds

Cardiff City - 5/4
Stoke City - 9/5
Draw - 9/4

Predictions

Post your predictions below  :thumbright:

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“ Last 5 Remaining Fixtures “





12/04/2025 Cardiff City v Stoke City Crowd Away Support




18/04/2025 Sheffield United v Cardiff City - Friday, 18th April, 2025



21/04/2025 - 15:00 Cardiff City v Oxford United Crowd Away Support



26/04/2025 -15:00 - West Bromwich Albion (h)

03/05/2025 -15:00 -Norwich City (a)

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Stoke Fair play are bringing approx 1,800 Fans

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Really this should be a 30,000 Crowd

Most clubs would Sell out for such an Important game:

V PRESTON


Cardiff manager Omer Riza:

“It’s an important point.”



"Anything we spoke about we didn't do, which was disappointing.”




"First half we weren't good enough, nowhere near it. First and second balls, again off the pace. We didn't press, didn't cover space, we didn't do anything really.”


"Anything we spoke about we didn't do, which was disappointing.”


"But second half I thought we addressed it. We made the changes that we needed to liven it up a little bit and my players are showing fight. I think that's what's important.”


"They worked really hard second half. We have managed to get a point out of it and we have to take that. I think it's an important point”looking at the other results today."

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TEAM NEWS:


NG will be assessed again on Thursday .

“Joe Ralls and Rambo [Aaron Ramsey] are long-term injuries and still out.”

Alnwick is out for the season.

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Must win this one so I expect Riza will setup with 5 at the back. I still think he should be replaced before season ends

Biggest game of the season.

We need to fill it out and get behind the players.

Pick players that look like they care and impacting games...

____________Horvarth
Rino (if fit)____ Fish______ Bagan ______O'Dowda
________Chambers_____Robertson
Davies________Ashford_____________Alves
_____________Salech

ive gone for a draw we have played them twice both ended in draws the one we did win was on penalties got draw all over it im hoping riza really goes for it because a draw is no good

This game has a draw all over it.

It’s clear that Riza is unable to motivate this group of players which I find hard to accept, as surely many of these players who are under contract for next season would get a financial hit in their wages if we are relegated. Maybe it’s time to start throwing some cups in the dressing room!

Updated:

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If Stoke win this, they will be more or less safe. A big game for both teams. I just hope Cardiff turn up and put in a good performance, unlikely though.

interesting weekend coming up and anything but a win will feel like we are already down.

Omer Riza:

“Perry [Ng] will be back. He trained today. Andy [Rinomhota] has hurt his back. We'll see how he is tomorrow.

"Anwar [El Ghazi] hasn't trained this week and won't be available for the weekend. He will potentially be back to train with the team next week.

"Ollie Tanner is still training towards getting fully fit. Ollie has been getting frustrated because he wants to play. He gets disappointed in himself. But he's still getting back to where he was before the injury.

"The boys that came on in the game the other day were really impactful, which is pleasing to see. Everyone wants to play their part for this Club and that togetherness is great to see.

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Cardiff have only won one of their past eight games, drawing at Preston in midweek, results elsewhere have gone their way with defeats for relegation rivals Oxford United, Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday.

It means the Bluebirds stay third from bottom in the table, two ahead of Luton Town, who frustrated Stoke in midweek with an injury-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw at the bet365 Stadium.

Riza added: “We have five massive games, and this is a very, very big game. The point against Preston was massive and we go into this game and we will be ready again.

"We are fighting. The boys know how much it means and we are fully focused on the job we are trying to get done.

"We know the seriousness of where we are and we know it's not a joke. We have been given an opportunity on Saturday and it's a very important game. Hopefully we can perform in both halves and get the result we need."

Crowd expected to barely 20,000 tomorrow including Stoke Fans and 1,000 Free Tickets for School Children.

We are giving 1,000 Free School Tickets V Oxford and WBA Home

Horvath

Ng/Rino… Lawlor… Fish… Bagan

Ashford… Turnbull… Robertson… Alves

Salech… Robinson

Win this or we're down. That's how I'm seeing it. Fully expect Sheffield United to make our goal difference even worse next Friday.

A MUST win game tomorrow, and we should definitely go all out attack. Therefore my team would be:-
Hovarth
NG, Fish, Lawlor/Bagan, O’Dowda
Davies, Ashford, Robertson, Alves
Salech, Meite
Reserves: - Turner, Chambers, Rino (if fit), Turnbull, Lawlor/Bagan, Colwill, Tanner, Robinson

Let’s go for it Riza PLEASE!

Win this or we're down. That's how I'm seeing it. Fully expect Sheffield United to make our goal difference even worse next Friday.

I disagree we are down if we don't win. If we draw and Portsmouth beat Derby we'll be out the bottom 3. Don't get me wrong a win is massive but even that does not guarantee anything. Many more twists left in this.

Win this or we're down. That's how I'm seeing it. Fully expect Sheffield United to make our goal difference even worse next Friday.

I disagree we are down if we don't win. If we draw and Portsmouth beat Derby we'll be out the bottom 3. Don't get me wrong a win is massive but even that does not guarantee anything. Many more twists left in this.

Disagree, this and Oxford are two games we just have to win to stay up.

I say that because all but one of Derby's last five games are against teams in the relegation mix, they're going to pick up points.

Stoke and Oxford are our big opportunity to pick up points.

It would take someone with ridiculous optimism to believe that we'll win the games at Sheffield United and Norwich, as well as WBA at home, to keep ourselves up.

Win this or we're down. That's how I'm seeing it. Fully expect Sheffield United to make our goal difference even worse next Friday.

I disagree we are down if we don't win. If we draw and Portsmouth beat Derby we'll be out the bottom 3. Don't get me wrong a win is massive but even that does not guarantee anything. Many more twists left in this.

Disagree, this and Oxford are two games we just have to win to stay up.

I say that because all but one of Derby's last five games are against teams in the relegation mix, they're going to pick up points.

Stoke and Oxford are our big opportunity to pick up points.

It would take someone with ridiculous optimism to believe that we'll win the games at Sheffield United and Norwich, as well as WBA at home, to keep ourselves up.

All entirely logical but WBA and Norwich may be out of the play off question by the time we play them so a win against them is not implausible, we also got 4 points off them earlier in the season. My heart says 2 v 1 tomorrow but my head says 1 v 1 but that will not be the end.

So Omer Riza is Happy:

Keeps saying “undefeated and he’s satisfied:”


Cardiff have only won one of their past eight games, drawing at Preston in midweek, results elsewhere have gone their way with defeats for relegation rivals Oxford United, Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle on Wednesday.

But even Worse 5 Wins from 28 League games:


NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS COME THE END OF THE SEASON “OMER RIZA / DARREN PURSE / RICHARD SHAW ETC “ ALL HACE TO GO.

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Omer Riza:

‘Perry trained today and will be back. Andy Rinomhota has hurt his back and we’ll see how he is tomorrow. Anwar hasn't trained this week and won't be available. Ollie is frustrated because he wants to play, but he's still getting back to where he was before the injury.’

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Stoke supporters not confident today and thinking a draw will be a good result. In reality, they’re not wrong!

They’re as negative as our lot and with good cause. Some tear diluted beer for one side or the other tonight!

Over 1,700 Stoke

Cardiff City: Horvath; Ng, Fish, Daland, O'Dowda (c); Chambers, Robertson; Alves, Ashford; Robinson, Salech

Subs: Turner, Bagan, Mannsverk, Turnbull, R.Colwill, Davies, Tanner, Willock, Meite

Sheffield United losing again this time at Plymouth.

They’ve previously lost at home to Millwall and at Oxford

Update:

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