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Cardiff - Post match discussion thread

One does not need be an expert of anything to manage capturing a wounded whale, but give us a holler if you need some secrets of the trade to help your poonless harpoon back in the water.

Er, thanks, I'm certain that's a very kind offer and, even though it makes very little sense, I'll certainly remember to call you should the occasion arise.

I can't help but think it's a long shot, though.
 
Er, thanks, I'm certain that's a very kind offer and, even though it makes very little sense, I'll certainly remember to call you should the occasion arise.

I can't help but think it's a long shot, though.

No problem, mate. Just remember, whales are gracious animals, as long as they're not beached. Owning a swimming pool might not be such a stupid idea as you think.
 
Ive seen some **** at WHL in my time, but that was poor

If you compared winning a game with pulling a bird, that win was like pulling a big fat bird at the burger van at 5am just after she has **** herself, horrid

That post cheered me up no end :lol:
 
Apologies for the downer of a post, I agree it wasnt all bad.

The Soldado goal. The relief it gave him almost brought a tear to my eye, hope it works wonders for him
Harry Kane cameo. I thought he was good, and probably should have capped it off with a goal at the end
 
We made painfully hard work of it yesterday and, not for the first time, it was a fairly dire watch, but I suspect Sherwood had more than half an eye on next weekend's game (Adebayor's pointed reference to it in his post-match interview for the BBC suggested it looms large in their minds). Sherwood knows he is relying on the fitness and performance levels of a core group of players to have any chance against Chelsea, was probably mindful of the exertions against Dnipro in the week, and I think it likely he instructed them to conserve as much energy as possible in this game. I'm having a good go at convincing myself that's why we looked so utterly lethargic, anyway.
 
We made painfully hard work of it yesterday and, not for the first time, it was a fairly dire watch, but I suspect Sherwood had more than half an eye on next weekend's game (Adebayor's pointed reference to it in his post-match interview for the BBC suggested it looms large in their minds). Sherwood knows he is relying on the fitness and performance levels of a core group of players to have any chance against Chelsea, was probably mindful of the exertions against Dnipro in the week, and I think it likely he instructed them to conserve as much energy as possible in this game. I'm having a good go at convincing myself that's why we looked so utterly lethargic, anyway.

Nice one Cyril!

Same logic as those AVBers who said we chose to "rest" in games, even before we scored!!!!
 
We made painfully hard work of it yesterday and, not for the first time, it was a fairly dire watch, but I suspect Sherwood had more than half an eye on next weekend's game (Adebayor's pointed reference to it in his post-match interview for the BBC suggested it looms large in their minds). Sherwood knows he is relying on the fitness and performance levels of a core group of players to have any chance against Chelsea, was probably mindful of the exertions against Dnipro in the week, and I think it likely he instructed them to conserve as much energy as possible in this game. I'm having a good go at convincing myself that's why we looked so utterly lethargic, anyway.

Looked to me like we went into the match at 100mph and then ran out of energy.
 
I'm not saying we were great. Far from it. But it was a performance that has been consistent with much of what we've seen all year.

I don't understand why this performance is getting so much grief than any others where I feel we have been as equally as unimpressive or even worse.

This is the level we have shown for a lot of the year. No point comparing us to Liverpool or City because their football has actually been fluid
 
I'm not saying we were great. Far from it. But it was a performance that has been consistent with much of what we've seen all year.

I don't understand why this performance is getting so much grief than any others where I feel we have been as equally as unimpressive or even worse.

This is the level we have shown for a lot of the year. No point comparing us to Liverpool or City because their football has actually been fluid

I can only speak for myself, but I found the total lack of movement from wooden midfielders extraordinarily frustrating. There simply does not seem to have been a pattern/m.o. right now. Are we trying to get the ball wide early? No. Are we looking to make incisive quick passes into the channels? No. Are we looking to keep possession until 'the moment' arrives? No. Are some of our players forgetting that you pass to the chaps in white shirts? Yes.

Look, I know I'm being hyper-critical in this regard, and I know that generally Sherwood has actually exceeded my personal expectations of him, but this group of players is capable of a lot more IMO if they were all on the same page in terms of effort and application.
 
I'm not saying we were great. Far from it. But it was a performance that has been consistent with much of what we've seen all year.

I don't understand why this performance is getting so much grief than any others where I feel we have been as equally as unimpressive or even worse.

This is the level we have shown for a lot of the year. No point comparing us to Liverpool or City because their football has actually been fluid

But isn't that the point?

We have changed managers, got a little bump in results mostly due to Ade's reintroduction and form, plus the value of having two attacking players.

That said, despite a reduction in schedule (hence more training/strategy time), the games continue to be dire, no fluidity a really difficult to understand strategy (is there one?) even against mediocre or crap sides, ffs Norwich got smashed by Villa ...

This game gets the attention because it's home, to a dead side and nothing has changed ..
 
But isn't that the point?

We have changed managers, got a little bump in results mostly due to Ade's reintroduction and form, plus the value of having two attacking players.

That said, despite a reduction in schedule (hence more training/strategy time), the games continue to be dire, no fluidity a really difficult to understand strategy (is there one?) even against mediocre or crap sides, ffs Norwich got smashed by Villa ...

This game gets the attention because it's home, to a dead side and nothing has changed ..

I agree. All I was saying was it's very much in line with what we've seen all year but I agree we are not seeing any real progress in our style of football. Still think the blend is very wrong
 
I agree. All I was saying was it's very much in line with what we've seen all year but I agree we are not seeing any real progress in our style of football. Still think the blend is very wrong

It's really tough for me thee days, especially given my sometimes-pathetic levels of optimism…we are at a point now where our expectations have been steadily raised for the last 6 years. We have been consistently closer to the top 4 than any other club outside 'the four' and we have missed it by insanely tight margins/weirdness the last few years. So I am a bit of a victim of that…

And I think you're right, the balance isn't great. Further, if I'm honest, I think personally Sherwood's remit has been to get us to the end of the season and look like we can be CL points-wise before ushering in someone else, although Levy knows the absolute hailstorm of **** he will cop if we did make CL and booted Sherwood out.

My chief aggravation lies with the squad, who I feel have enough football intelligence among them to make it happen, yet who increasingly seem hamstrung by their own stupor. It's aggravating to watch. I know I've picked out a couple who have dinged my bell recently, there are others, but I found it significant that the one move from back to front not involving Dembele lead to a pacy move, some quick passing (when Soldado told Townsend where to pass and when) completed by an excellent pass and finish for the goal. THAT is what we're capable of far more regularly and that is what I want to see…not holding onto the ball, checking left, turning, checking again and finally passing!!!!
 
I agree. All I was saying was it's very much in line with what we've seen all year but I agree we are not seeing any real progress in our style of football. Still think the blend is very wrong

Yep, it's not a Cardiff game issue

To me its two key areas

- Team unit
- Tactics/strategy

For Team unit, I'll split it

Defense - Lloris, Walker, Vert, Kaboul, w/Vlad & Dawson = when all fit, great base, only issue is LB position (knew this was going to bite us in the ass if we didn't buy in January)
Forwards - Ade/Soldado = actually think we are good here, only issue is bench is super light, no option to change it up from bench
Midfield - this is the mess - decent players, to use your term, bad blend

Breakdown of midfield

DM - Sandro/Capoue -> ok here, Sandro if fit is an automatic starter for every game, Capoue could be ok backup, jury still out
CM - Eriksen -> Super light here, 1 guy with a lot of promise, but we don't know where to play him (left/center/in hole?)
Wide - Lennon/Townsend/Chadli -> Lennon needs a system to play to, otherwise you get what happened at Cardiff, great effort, a few attacking plays but not enough product. Townsend I don't get what instructions he's given, comes inside too often, shoots too often, adds pace but often at the cost of quick loss of possession.
Box to box/who knows midfielders -> Paulinho, Dembele, Siggy, Bentaleb -> none seem to have a defined role, defined impact or style they specifically help create.

The tactics/strategy of knowing what we want to do, who best fits that system and/or can help drive it seems to be the big problem e.g. When Dembele plays, wtf is his role? what is he supposed to do with possession?
 
Allow me to start.

Yes, nice to win BUT that was awful. Our inability to foster a tactical plan today, let alone a pattern of play, was crushing to me. The only moment we played with pace and intelligence, we scored.

What will it take? Does Sherwood know he's a dead man walking, and as such is he just trying to steward us through to something great by the end of the season? Or does he genuinely not have a clear idea how he wants us to play?

Thoughts?

I don't think he doesn't know what he wants. I think he doesn't know how to get us to play that way. What he wants seems a little bit outdated too! He has no managerial experience and we cannot afford to allow him the time to make the mistakes he would make as a newbie manager. At best we have stood still this season despite spending more in this window than ever before. We've seen Liverpool overtake us because they had the balls to stand up to their star man and refuse to let him go. They have also bought players that fit their manager's vision.

We could learn a lot from this but probably won't I afraid!
 
I don't think he doesn't know what he wants. I think he doesn't know how to get us to play that way. What he wants seems a little bit outdated too! He has no managerial experience and we cannot afford to allow him the time to make the mistakes he would make as a newbie manager. At best we have stood still this season despite spending more in this window than ever before. We've seen Liverpool overtake us because they had the balls to stand up to their star man and refuse to let him go. They have also bought players that fit their manager's vision.

We could learn a lot from this but probably won't I afraid!

Liverpool kept Suarez because Real didn't wage a summer campaign to get him and then bid a world record amount for him.
 
Exactly! I'm fed up of hearing that! If Madrid had offered 80m for Suarez and put him on the front page of marca for a month and offered 40m for bale and not mentioned him publicly, do you think bale would still be here and Suarez in Spain?
 
I don't think he doesn't know what he wants. I think he doesn't know how to get us to play that way. What he wants seems a little bit outdated too! He has no managerial experience and we cannot afford to allow him the time to make the mistakes he would make as a newbie manager. At best we have stood still this season despite spending more in this window than ever before. We've seen Liverpool overtake us because they had the balls to stand up to their star man and refuse to let him go. They have also bought players that fit their manager's vision.

We could learn a lot from this but probably won't I afraid!

Liverpool also have a coach who worked his way up the ladder in terms of size of club and has a few years of experience behind him. We went from AVB to TS, one of whom had little experience as a head coach and the other none. Given his lack of experience TS is doing decently in terms of results. The tough games ahead of us are going to just that, tough, and we will see what Tim and the lads are made of. Whatever happens the last two games have brought me moments that put a smile on my face. Those three goals against Dnipro and Soldado's goal took me back to the sheer joy that can be felt by those men in that Lillywhite shirt with the chicken badge.

COYS!!!
 
i think sherwood made the wrong call by not starting with sandro.
cardiff's players aren't technically great, so giving them space is giving them too much respect.

we looked soft in defence and it had an impact on the midfielders and fullbacks' confidence. still it looked like sherwood had instructed everyone to get up there to attack and just left 2 CBs behind.

lennon over extended his role imo, playing sweeper for much of the time and mopping up the loose balls. that either nauhton or one of the CMs ought to but did not.

there was no system, it was players in designated positions asked to do their best.
 
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