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ricardo

Ricardo's report v Cardiff

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Ricardo and son set off to the match in a jaunty mood having seen Derby squander a winning lead in the dying minutes. It seemed like an omen that the turning point had been reached and all was set fair for us to put in a strong run back into pole position.As the teams were announced and with four City forwards on from the start, it was plain to see that the new boss was not afraid to send out a positive message. However, with Redmond and Lafferty wide it was asking a lot of the two central men and this showed up quite early on as City found it difficult to dominate play. It was all a little bit untidy until in the ninth minute when Olsson got clear down the left and his cross was deflected back to Hooper on the edge of the "D". A quick shuffle and low shot looked goalbound until Moore in the Cadiff goal made an outstanding save down low to his left. At the other end Ruddy had to look sharp to beat away a free kick but City continued to look dangerous when Redmond and Martin combined well down the right. Indeed, in the 15th minute it brought the opening goal when Redmonds little shimmy and cross was headed on by Jerome and Hooper added the finishing touch at the far post. It was very noticeable that City were mixing it up a bit more than usual with several long balls over the top for Jerome to stretch his legs. The ref seemed to be letting a lot go and there was quite a bit of robust play with Johnson and O''Neil not giving any quarter in the centre of the field. It was all very scruffy at times and when Cardiff resorted to the long throw there was more than a little argy bargy in the penalty area. A second goal almost came when after sustained pressure, O''Neil volleyed a twenty yarder that was dipping under the bar until Moore produced another good save. We didn''t have to wait long though because in the next attack Martin took off down the right and squared across the edge of the box for Lafferty at the other corner to curl a delightful effort beyond the keeper and in off the far post. It was all suddenly looking very easy but then as Cardiff came forward a minute later, Cueller seemed to whip the ball away from LeFondre only for the Cardiff man to tumble and be awarded, what looked to me, a quite ludicrous penalty. Thankfully justice was done when after a delay for City protests, Ruddy flung himself to his left to palm away Wittingham''s effort.There still seemed to be plenty in the game for Cardiff as they dominated possession though the Canaries always looked like they had more goals in them on the break. With half time approaching Martin again galloped down the right and rode two tackles before his cross deflected off a defender and Jerome hooked in number three. It was the last action of a satisfactory half that should have seen the points comfortably in City''s grasp.The second period began with City looking a bit snappier in their passing and in some surging breaks down the right they really should have nailed the coffin lid down. Redmond and Johnson combined beautifully only for the latters cross to evade Jerome. Then the big City striker missed two gilt edged chances with headers that made poor contact. When Redond''s mazy run and shot against the bar didn''t go in on the hour, I was beginning to think it was time to bring on Wes because Cardiff were still having far too much of the ball for my liking. Certainly in retrospect this should have been obvious because within four minutes it had to be done at 3-2 instead of 3-0.City failed to clear sustained Cardiff pressure and when the cross came in from the left Olsson allowed Revell to sneak in front of him to net from close range. Then three minutes later a route one ball was flicked into the area and Harris lobbed over Ruddy who had needlessly advanced from his line. Oh deary me, we still cannot get out of the habit of allowing the oppostion to score from half the number of chances that we need. Wes now came on for Hooper and Murphy for Lafferty and although the crowd were very nervous it did start to look a little tighter.City still looked very dangerous in breaks although Murphy did himself no favours with several surging runs that ended up with him displaying schoolboy like control and spoiling some good goalscoring openings. At the other end Cardiff were huffing and puffing but could only create one really good chance when Revell''s header seemed to take an age before bouncing just wide of the upright thanks to the combine effort of the River End blowing and the Barclay End sucking. That''s how it seemed anyway.The five minutes of added time were negotiated successfully but there was an audible sigh of releif when the whistle finally blew. MOM for me was Turner who stood strong when things got a little dodgy and also good marks for Johnson and O''Neil who really had to battle today. The defence still doesn''t look solid to me although Martin at right back had a good game and the link with Redmond was much better because of it.Good marks for the new manager who must realise that we are in a run of must win games. It was a brave starting line up but I still think he should have tightened it up five minutes earlier.

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Thanks for the report Ricardo.

Seems like old habits will die hard for our players. Lets hope AN''s influence over them comes quickly enough.

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Thanks Ricardo as always a good report

It seems this bunch have managed to remove two managers and are starting on a third!

Had Adams and his "luck" been in the dugout we would have lost today.

Alex is going to need a very stiff yard broom to sweep this attitude under the carpet

They do not seem mentally able to sustain concentration for 90 mins (sometimes not even 5)

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[quote user="The Butler"]

Thanks Ricardo as always a good report It seems this bunch have managed to remove two managers and are starting on a third!Had Adams and his "luck" been in the dugout we would have lost today.  Alex is going to need a very stiff yard broom to sweep this attitude under the carpet

They do not seem mentally able to sustain concentration for 90 mins (sometimes not even 5)

[/quote]

This has to be surely down to a leader on the pitch.  I like Martin, but he displays a casual attitude sometimes (imo) that suggests he may not have the character and attributes to be a good captain on the pitch.  Martin had a good game by all accounts today on the right, but if he is captain, it maybe he is better if he plays central defence.  If not, a strong character in the mould of a Dion Dublin type figure would be a good acquisition and captain imo, to help organise and keep defenders on their toes.   Imagine if Alex Neil was playing - he would be dominating and shouting and organising the players.   Who does that in our team?  Hopefully he can instill a bit of steel from the sidelines, but we really need someone on the pitch who can do that too. 

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[quote user="The Butler"]

Thanks Ricardo as always a good report

It seems this bunch have managed to remove two managers and are starting on a third!

Had Adams and his "luck" been in the dugout we would have lost today.

Alex is going to need a very stiff yard broom to sweep this attitude under the carpet

They do not seem mentally able to sustain concentration for 90 mins (sometimes not even 5)

[/quote]Yes, its a worry. This could very easily been 4 or 5 nil today but just as easily 3-3.Several back fours have been tried but none have looked what I would call solid.

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A wins a win. 3 - 0 at halftime probably flattered us. Cardiff missed 2 good chances and a penalty 1st half. Defensively we were all over the place again, failure to keep clean sheets will cost us I fear. We never got a grip in midfield and never seemed capable of keeping the ball for any length of time. Two vital games coming up.

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Two in two and optimism for the future. Goes to show what a gritty, external manager has to offer. Hopefully, Neil can take us to a one in four lottery chance. Goes to show what we might have achieved had a gritty, external manager been appointed last Summer. I think we would have looking down at Ipswich in the table.

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On it from kick off today but couldn''t maintain the tempo second half. That''s where we missed Tettey who must run on Duracell where as O''Neil is only Ever Ready ;) We rarely seem to put together 90 mins even with Tettey. But that''s 16 points from 7 games which is promotion form.

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Very hard to enthuse about his performance today but we don''t judge young players on a 30 mins no show do we?

The ingredients are there for Josh to be a very good player as I am am sure we will see in time.

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As Ricardo suggests our midfield looked a little lightweight today with both Redmond and Lafferty on the wings. I agree. Once Cardiff raised the tempo we struggled to gain possession.

However we saw a lot of good attacking play with Hooper/Jerome beginning to really click. Redmond''s final ball was a lot better. So I suppose you cannot have it all ways. Manager''s tactics with subs again interesting. As at Bournemouth his theory seems to be the best form of defence is to attack. Murphy would have been the last player I would have brought on in the circumstances, but by keeping him upfront and wide it does deter the opposition from all out attack - if you are still with me !!!

Ruddy again looked shaky and does not command the box and you can see this is affecting the other defenders. If Swansea offer 5 million for Ollson - I would bite their hand off!!!

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[quote user="vos"]As Ricardo suggests our midfield looked a little lightweight today with both Redmond and Lafferty on the wings. I agree. Once Cardiff raised the tempo we struggled to gain possession.

However we saw a lot of good attacking play with Hooper/Jerome beginning to really click. Redmond''s final ball was a lot better. So I suppose you cannot have it all ways. Manager''s tactics with subs again interesting. As at Bournemouth his theory seems to be the best form of defence is to attack. Murphy would have been the last player I would have brought on in the circumstances, but by keeping him upfront and wide it does deter the opposition from all out attack - if you are still with me !!!

Ruddy again looked shaky and does not command the box and you can see this is affecting the other defenders. If Swansea offer 5 million for Ollson - I would bite their hand off!!![/quote]Yes, I agree with much of that, Vos. I just thought that when we didn''t add to our score after an hour, despite some good chances, we should have strengthened the midfield and tightened up a bit. I was calling for Wes to replace Lafferty after 60 mins. I don''t think Murphy did himself justice today and Olsson to my mind is a bit too suspect as a defender. He was in two minds for the first goal.For the second goal, I thought Ruddy didn''t need to come and ended up in no mans land.

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Thanks Ricardo.

I don''t know if you heard any Radio Norfolk but Greg Downs was being refreshingly frank in his views. I''d give him the job permanently.

Downs suggested we need two new central defenders with at least one having pace and thought none of our current crop could read the game quickly enough. The last defender he thought had those attributes being Craig Fleming.

Looking at the top 8 teams the difference with the rest (Woves and to an extent Brentford aside) is goals scored. Our goal scoring buys us a seat at that table and our goals against clearly shows we are not top two material at the present.

I would happily see Ruddy dropped - and a month ago was desperate to see him dropped - and if he wants to go he can go or else get his head down here and fight for his place back.

I can''t see Bassong rolling his sleeves up, Bennett is sadly having an injury prone season and the rest seem not quite up to the grade.

Good goalscoring with a poor defence is like trying to fill a bath with the plug out and psychologically it knocks players and fans back as we have seen this season.

What is your view on Ruddy and our centre defenders?

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I found it a bit odd when Greg Downs said we need a centreback who is about 5''10 or 5''11 tall. I think he said it just to attempt to back up what he was saying about how we''ve never better Malky and Fleming as obviously Fleming isn''t that tall for a CB.

 

I don''t think you''ll find many sides playing a CB the shorter side of 6''. And Turner/Bassong was better than Malky/Fleming.

 

 

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]On it from kick off today but couldn''t maintain the tempo second half. That''s where we missed Tettey who must run on Duracell where as O''Neil is only Ever Ready ;) We rarely seem to put together 90 mins even with Tettey. But that''s 16 points from 7 games which is promotion form.[/quote]

I thought the ten minutes of high intensity attacking/chasing/closing down immediately after half time seemed to sap the energy out of the players, they looked knackered after that and as Ricardo says, the change was needed earlier.

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[quote user="GJP"]

I found it a bit odd when Greg Downs said we need a centreback who is about 5''10 or 5''11 tall. I think he said it just to attempt to back up what he was saying about how we''ve never better Malky and Fleming as obviously Fleming isn''t that tall for a CB.

 

I don''t think you''ll find many sides playing a CB the shorter side of 6''. And Turner/Bassong was better than Malky/Fleming.

 

 

[/quote]

He was talking about a little and large combination with the smaller man providing the short distance bursts of pace to cover the big mans lack of mobility, probably a fair point.

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[quote user="Rivvo"][quote user="GJP"]

I found it a bit odd when Greg Downs said we need a centreback who is about 5''10 or 5''11 tall. I think he said it just to attempt to back up what he was saying about how we''ve never better Malky and Fleming as obviously Fleming isn''t that tall for a CB.

 

I don''t think you''ll find many sides playing a CB the shorter side of 6''. And Turner/Bassong was better than Malky/Fleming.

 

 

[/quote] He was talking about a little and large combination with the smaller man providing the short distance bursts of pace to cover the big mans lack of mobility, probably a fair point.[/quote]

I know what he was talking about. But I don''t think you see much of that around.

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People say old habits but I seem to recall a number of Lambert games like this where he ignored the warning signs, or perhaps didn''t see them before the situation became apparent.

Good report as usual Ricardo.

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[quote user="GJP"][quote user="Rivvo"][quote user="GJP"]

I found it a bit odd when Greg Downs said we need a centreback who is about 5''10 or 5''11 tall. I think he said it just to attempt to back up what he was saying about how we''ve never better Malky and Fleming as obviously Fleming isn''t that tall for a CB.

 

I don''t think you''ll find many sides playing a CB the shorter side of 6''. And Turner/Bassong was better than Malky/Fleming.

 

 

[/quote] He was talking about a little and large combination with the smaller man providing the short distance bursts of pace to cover the big mans lack of mobility, probably a fair point.[/quote]

I know what he was talking about. But I don''t think you see much of that around.

[/quote]

That''s true but I don''t know why, perhaps there''s too much focus on physical presence and power for centre halves now, they were a pretty effective combination though.

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The whole Bassong thing is deeply frustrating. You just can''t shake the memory of the POTS season where he was outstanding. And he was dynamite from set pieces. Cuellar is an accident waiting to happen - is that 3 pens he''s given away now ? All in the same manner. You only have to give the forward a sniff and they will go down. Great shame that RB is injured again. Turner seems to need more time than he has. I was hoping that AN would sit Bassong down and sort it all out. But do we conclude that as he was absent yesterday that he isn''t coming back?

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Is it a great shame Ryan Bennett is injured again?

How many times has he defended better than the man next to him? Not many at all, I would suggest.

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At a higher level of football, I like Martin''s fluidity at Centre Back.

Two direct assists with driving runs into space, plus nice involvement on the other goal - he follows a pass in and creates space for Redmond to isolate the full back - is impressive from right back however.

Surprised not to see him get more praise.

Parma

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