Given current dire Bluebirds form (one win in seven league games)
and Norwich being on a run and at home for their new coach’s home debut, did
anyone expect a result here? Really?
I sit in optimism corner but even I didn’t. Pre kick off, I
would’ve done a Klinsmann in the frosty garden for a point.
As the ever bad BBC Radio Wales commentary began to fill the
kitchen like pollution I busied myself with the dishwasher expecting the worst.
At a crucial time of year, the first-half here saw all the
deficiencies and problems Russell Slade’s side contains at the moment magnified
to grotesque proportions. The stuttering, ugly lack of fluency in the side is
obvious and Norwich seized total control, breaching City’s increasingly anxious
defence three times.
To compound a rather grim 45 minutes, Peter Whittingham
missed a penalty - A face-palm moment if ever there was one.
I muted the radio at half time and stared out the kitchen
window. One of the cats pissed on a bush.
It’s in defence where Cardiff’s biggest problems lie for me,
with Sean Morrison a weak link and a lack of desire across the whole line and
City leaking goals - A problem which arks back to Solskjaer’s reign and the sale of former captain Mark Hudson.
Is it the back four or the lack of protection they get the
issue? Is it the lack of possession the team are getting at the moment (30%
first half and 40% second). If we’re ‘defending as a team’ (as Slade often says)
then we’re doing a pretty lame arse job. Is it Slade's fault, is it the players fault? Whatever it is, we look like conceding
every time a team attacks us.
To their credit, the Bluebirds fought back in the second
half but there shouldn’t be anything to fight back from and it shouldn’t take a
setback to spark a performance and a good 20 minute spell in a game isn't good
enough.
New lump Alex Revell (above) up front did well working like a dog
doing the running of five men. He even bagged a neat goal on the volley and set
up sub Kadeem Harris (above) with a flick-on for his goal. Revell and Harris were the flickering
lights in the bleak darkness, with both working hard to make things happen and
getting Norwich wobbly towards the end. Shame about the rest of the boys.
The limp sulky Bluebirds (see above pic) are in the bottom
half of the table now and they deserve to be, ten points off the play-offs and
only 11 off the bottom three!
In the press, like robots tediously, players and staff at
the club talk about a surge, about City somehow going on a magical blistering
run of form and forcing their way into the top six. I suppose they have to say
that to keep morale up but it’s pathetic really - to go on a run a team has to have
a system, be clicking and confident. The Bluebirds are nowhere near and, particularly
away from home, the football is mind-numbingly bad at the moment and has been
since November.
With a fortnight of the transfer window to go, has Russell
Slade got any funds to bring in fresh blood and the quality badly needed? Forget
paying £100k for a left back, City need to splash out two or three million to breathe
life into the season. Without that I’m afraid City will coast along and finish
where they are now - mid table. Probably 14th.
We are allowed to play in blue mind.
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