ANOTHER VIEW: CARDIFF CITY V BRISTOL CITY

It would be easy (as the regulars and not so regulars have done today but for me, this was agame either side might have won haf they taken their chances

The Bluebirds once again started brightly without really threatening the Bristol goal in any meaningfully way before Bristol came into the game with some smart midfield work and an attack that saw them score the opening goal with some ease (cue the BarryFraud88 Negativity Show)

For a while, Bristol tool control of the game but the Bluebirds stuck with it and had a good spell before the break without getting the goal their play deserved


HALF-TIME: CARDIFF CITY 0 - 1 BRISTOL CITY
The second half saw no initial changes but remained the to and fro battle that we saw in the first half until Mick McCarthy took off the ineffectual (today) Leandro Bacuna and changed the formationto 4-4-2

I felt this could be a dangerous move with the Bristol forward line playing well but it turned out to see thr Bluebirds have their most potent period of the game with a resulting equalusing goal; albeit via an own goal rebounding from a Keiffer Moore shot

At that point it could have gonr either way and both sides were making the effort on a very warm day...

Sadly, a Bristol attack saw a sweet shot placed padt Phillips and into the Bluebird net to ser Bristol take back the advantage

The Bluebirds huffed and puffed fir the remainder of the game but came up short with the fair number of opportunities coming their

Certainly not a drab game but it's never nice to lose, particularly against our biggest rivals

We'll no doubt slip back a little after today's remaining games are played but there is scope for optimism; but whisper it quietly, there are some amongst us that simply don't want that...


FULL-TIME: CARDIFF CITY 1 - 2 BRISTOL CITY

Definitely thought we looked better when we went to 4 at the back.

As you say... Bristol took their chances, we didn't.

We'll lose again like that if we don't play more positively. More (good) crosses, more shots, more taking the man on. Only Giles seems to play like this.

Definitely thought we looked better when we went to 4 at the back.

As you say... Bristol took their chances, we didn't.

We'll lose again like that if we don't play more positively. More (good) crosses, more shots, more taking the man on. Only Giles seems to play like this.

Agree with you; and Giles was my MotM...

Always respect your views Chris but there’s something lacking for sure from McCarthy.

Whether that’s reverting to a back four or keeping the three at the back and get the wing backs forward a lot more we’ll have to wait and see.

Whatever he decides (and I don’t think he’ll change the system) we need to get a more possession, more attacking game going.
Otherwise it’ll just be a war of attrition every game.

Always respect your views Chris but there’s something lacking for sure from McCarthy.

Whether that’s reverting to a back four or keeping the three at the back and get the wing backs forward a lot more we’ll have to wait and see.

Whatever he decides (and I don’t think he’ll change the system) we need to get a more possession, more attacking game going.
Otherwise it’ll just be a war of attrition every game.

Respect to you too, Paul; and it's easy to agree with that

The point of my OP was that it wasn't all negative today but the lack of a midfield (partly down to Mick's blind faith in Bacuna) certainly in the first half put us on the backfoot and gave Bristol the impetus to run through us with Morrengo (sorry if that's the wrong spelling) the most dangerous

We had our chances and (for me) a stone wall penalty but it wasn't to be...

One thing I think we can totally agree on though, is that I'd rather be sitting where you are right now...!

Enjoy, mate and catch up soon...

Definitely thought we looked better when we went to 4 at the back.

As you say... Bristol took their chances, we didn't.

We'll lose again like that if we don't play more positively. More (good) crosses, more shots, more taking the man on. Only Giles seems to play like this.

Agree with you; and Giles was my MotM...

It's all about opinions but I thought he was poor by his standards today. He put a lot of crosses into the box but most were over hit, clearing everyone, or under hit, not clearing the first defender. He certainly tried hard but it wasn't really his day. Let's hope for an exciting day on transfer deadline day. We certainly need more creativity in midfield and another striker. We can be very predictable in our tactics.

Our only real threats come from out wide or set pieces.

If teams can nullify the threats from the wings and avoid giving away set pieces in dangerous areas they soon realise that we pose almost no threat from midfield.

Pack (who I thought did well today). Ralls and Bacuna are all solid enough Championship midfielders but what we're badly missing is the sort of unpredictability and creativity that a fit and focussed Tomlin could provide.

Such a shame we're unlikely to see that however.

Bacuna must be tipping MM off to get picked all the time. I believe the issue is like NW, MM has no plan B or C. He just sticks to what he does and hopes hoofing it will lead to something.

Definitely thought we looked better when we went to 4 at the back.

As you say... Bristol took their chances, we didn't.

We'll lose again like that if we don't play more positively. More (good) crosses, more shots, more taking the man on. Only Giles seems to play like this.

Agree with you; and Giles was my MotM...

It's all about opinions but I thought he was poor by his standards today. He put a lot of crosses into the box but most were over hit, clearing everyone, or under hit, not clearing the first defender. He certainly tried hard but it wasn't really his day. Let's hope for an exciting day on transfer deadline day. We certainly need more creativity in midfield and another striker. We can be very predictable in our tactics.

Mick's predictability is one of our biggest worries, so have to agree with you...

Definitely thought we looked better when we went to 4 at the back.

As you say... Bristol took their chances, we didn't.

We'll lose again like that if we don't play more positively. More (good) crosses, more shots, more taking the man on. Only Giles seems to play like this.

Agree with you; and Giles was my MotM...

It's all about opinions but I thought he was poor by his standards today. He put a lot of crosses into the box but most were over hit, clearing everyone, or under hit, not clearing the first defender. He certainly tried hard but it wasn't really his day. Let's hope for an exciting day on transfer deadline day. We certainly need more creativity in midfield and another striker. We can be very predictable in our tactics.

Mick's predictability is one of our biggest worries, so have to agree with you...

In truth chris, MM concerns me a bit, we always playing the "not to lose" football, not an ounce of creativity in midfield, and im hoping Collins gets a goal soon?? But wasnt a disaster performance imho.

Definitely thought we looked better when we went to 4 at the back.

As you say... Bristol took their chances, we didn't.

We'll lose again like that if we don't play more positively. More (good) crosses, more shots, more taking the man on. Only Giles seems to play like this.

Agree with you; and Giles was my MotM...

It's all about opinions but I thought he was poor by his standards today. He put a lot of crosses into the box but most were over hit, clearing everyone, or under hit, not clearing the first defender. He certainly tried hard but it wasn't really his day. Let's hope for an exciting day on transfer deadline day. We certainly need more creativity in midfield and another striker. We can be very predictable in our tactics.

Mick's predictability is one of our biggest worries, so have to agree with you...

In truth chris, MM concerns me a bit, we always playing the "not to lose" football, not an ounce of creativity in midfield, and im hoping Collins gets a goal soon?? But wasnt a disaster performance imho.

Agree about creativity in midfield but we did create a lot of chances or opportunities today and we do score more goals than most teams... think problem is midfield and defence have a mindset of being careful and tend to play what I call stop go football so slowing down our attacks far to much..... Morrison biggest culprit