Cardiff City vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[arana peligrosa]

I was out last night and spent today outside therefore late post-match thoughts now.

Sometimes bad Ipswich results/performances pale into insignifance when you spend a good day out. That was the case yesterday. Social side bang fantastic, you see Town mates, you spend a time with them, speak to them and that made yesterdays worthwhile.

If yesterday had only been about football it would have been a terrible waste of time and money. Abysmal performance in which our lack of quality was frightening. Very poor from us but to be honest against Bolton we had been even worse. But I can't question players' commitment and desire. They certainly tried yesterday, unfortunately though they were lacking quality. They weren't good enough.

Not even once did I get off my seat yesterday ! We could have played until midnight and still wouldn't have created any good goalscoring opportunity let alone score. Only two half chances for us throughout whole 90 minutes. Both from Sears and apart from that our inability to create opportunities was glaring.

Hyam - Skuse....... this combination always does my brain in ! Two defensive minded midfielders who will never offer a service to our strikers.

I had said after the Fraser's injury in the QPR game : 'our season is over' and unfortunately this seems to be the case. We terribly miss him as this is the ONLY quality midfielder we have available if fit this season. His replacement in Pringle is the one who can deliver decent ball into the box but obviously not the same class.

Ipswich were known from using set-pieces successfully last season. That habit is well gone and there is a new one in conceding from set-pieces. But failure to sign decent defenders means that each one from our regular back four knows they'll be in the team next week. Even if they concede another 10 goals from corners or other set-pieces they will remain in the team. Add to this Micks 'faith' in them means they feel their places in the team aren't under any bit of threat.

Midfield......average midfield where lack of quality is depressing. Skuse was back in the team but even if we had played without him it wouldn't have made any difference. Him and Hyam won't carry the team forward, they won't despatch decent balls forward.
A few words about Bru. He's the ilk of player who doesn't need to do much to become Town fans' favourite. One goal in a few months or one decent performance in 6 or 7 games means that many people are charmed. Very lightweight and now I can't understand why he plays as he offers nothing.

Hoofball yesterday? Yes, a lot of that but we tried to pass it at times and then our lack of quality was extremely EXPRESSIVE. Total inability to create opportunities and feed the strikers. We were very predictable. No imaginations nor element of surprise.

As for strikers. Well I understand that they lack service from our poor midfield but still their goalscoring records of late are far from impressive.

Cardiff were certainly for taking. Their centre back and yesterdays goalscorer Manga was dodgy but we still didn't make anything out of it.

Really awful and boring display from us. Those who still think we are good enough to make top 6 must be delusional but on the other hand anyone who wouldn't mind Mick to go ought to be careful what he/she wishes for. This rubbish uninspiring team could be relegated under any different manager. WE ARE WHO WE ARE. It's Evans whose policy stops us going forward.

While on the way back I met Ian Milne at the Cardiff train station. I approached him, had a brief chat and asked politely if there is a chance for Evans investing in the team this summer and makes us better. He's said the same old story which we all know that this is between Mick and Evans regarding bolstering the team. We did swap a few words but he didn't say anything that I didn't know. He said that paying on fees doesn't always work and reminded Jewell and Keane times. I told him that we aren't asking for spending heavily, just adding a bit of quality make us better. On the finish of our chat I thanked him for that and said: 'please tell Marcus to invest in summer and get some quality in'.

There is no point in slating players for yesterdays perfomance. As I've said they tried, they attempted to create something but lack of quality was our weakest point. We will win some games before end of the season but this team has his limitations.

That's what I was looking for and while we may have kept play on the ground for longer periods than before, some would like to see our high-ball tactics completely eradicated, if only to allow ourselves a better opportunity at getting results.

As for strikers, you are quite right in that our forwards aren't contributing at satisfactory level. Pitman, Sears, Murphy, maybe Varney can be excused from criticism, have been nowhere near as prolific as some would have hoped and how often do we review a game and see shortcomings from various names ? One last time, while Murphy had an outstanding season last time out, he is a pale imitation of what was before and for all promotion chasing sides you ideally require someone who can find the goal regularly, and right now, that is not in our possession.

On your other point, Yes I do think we can still make the top six. Doesn't make you delusional as stated, it's merely maintaining enough faith in the side that we can still do something. Maybe hearts ruling heads but until it's a mathematical impossibility I will keep hope that we can achieve another play-off ambition.

[number 9]

Same old story, I'm afraid to say. We've been talking about lack of quality in the squad for months. The thing is there isn't much quality in the league, but how many times have we heard "they played us off the park"? Bolton the most recent, yeah? And I hate to bring up a contentious subject again, but surely the manager has to take some of the blame? Why can teams like Bolton and Huddersfield play better football than us? Am I missing something...do they have more quality? Seriously, I'm really trying to understand.

[jaykay]

not a great week.sat was always going to be the game where i thought we would do well to get anything,but the bolton game should have seen a 3 point return.
i'm not a fan of buv but along with skuse and the back 4 they are micks favorites.befor anyone says but fans have favorites but thats normal.but managers are like parents they shouldnt have favorites.people our are defense is solid well the goals against is one of the worst in the top 12 and our goals for is on par with several in the top ten.i still cant work out how mick could change a winning side.i'm with rossi about having 2 defensive midfield players in the side,i said that early in season after the home game against huddersfield.one defenive midfield player is fine and i would have hyman as that person.he got to be the future at his age not skuse or douglas i know am in a minority but i dont rate skuse,every player in the side has a assist apart from skuse,no goals,only 4 shots at goal all season.1 trick pony as far as i am concerned.hyman looked a different player when he was paired with foley.i know mick can only do a job with the tools eavans has supplied him,but he is charge of the tactics and wish he used the ones against leed,burnley and notts forrest more often.those games proved we do have the players who can play good football.

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

not a great week.sat was always going to be the game where i thought we would do well to get anything,but the bolton game should have seen a 3 point return.
i'm not a fan of buv but along with skuse and the back 4 they are micks favorites.befor anyone says but fans have favorites but thats normal.but managers are like parents they shouldnt have favorites.people our are defense is solid well the goals against is one of the worst in the top 12 and our goals for is on par with several in the top ten.i still cant work out how mick could change a winning side.i'm with rossi about having 2 defensive midfield players in the side,i said that early in season after the home game against huddersfield.one defenive midfield player is fine and i would have hyman as that person.he got to be the future at his age not skuse or douglas i know am in a minority but i dont rate skuse,every player in the side has a assist apart from skuse,no goals,only 4 shots at goal all season.1 trick pony as far as i am concerned.hyman looked a different player when he was paired with foley.i know mick can only do a job with the tools eavans has supplied him,but he is charge of the tactics and wish he used the ones against leed,burnley and notts forrest more often.those games proved we do have the players who can play good football.

do you think a run of games might break him in?

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

not a great week.sat was always going to be the game where i thought we would do well to get anything,but the bolton game should have seen a 3 point return.
i'm not a fan of buv but along with skuse and the back 4 they are micks favorites.befor anyone says but fans have favorites but thats normal.but managers are like parents they shouldnt have favorites.people our are defense is solid well the goals against is one of the worst in the top 12 and our goals for is on par with several in the top ten.i still cant work out how mick could change a winning side.i'm with rossi about having 2 defensive midfield players in the side,i said that early in season after the home game against huddersfield.one defenive midfield player is fine and i would have hyman as that person.he got to be the future at his age not skuse or douglas i know am in a minority but i dont rate skuse,every player in the side has a assist apart from skuse,no goals,only 4 shots at goal all season.1 trick pony as far as i am concerned.hyman looked a different player when he was paired with foley.i know mick can only do a job with the tools eavans has supplied him,but he is charge of the tactics and wish he used the ones against leed,burnley and notts forrest more often.those games proved we do have the players who can play good football.

do you think a run of games might break him in?

but I completely concur with you about Skuse, JayKay - never rated him and never will, far too negative for me.

[jaykay]

not a great week.sat was always going to be the game where i thought we would do well to get anything,but the bolton game should have seen a 3 point return.
i'm not a fan of buv but along with skuse and the back 4 they are micks favorites.befor anyone says but fans have favorites but thats normal.but managers are like parents they shouldnt have favorites.people our are defense is solid well the goals against is one of the worst in the top 12 and our goals for is on par with several in the top ten.i still cant work out how mick could change a winning side.i'm with rossi about having 2 defensive midfield players in the side,i said that early in season after the home game against huddersfield.one defenive midfield player is fine and i would have hyman as that person.he got to be the future at his age not skuse or douglas i know am in a minority but i dont rate skuse,every player in the side has a assist apart from skuse,no goals,only 4 shots at goal all season.1 trick pony as far as i am concerned.hyman looked a different player when he was paired with foley.i know mick can only do a job with the tools eavans has supplied him,but he is charge of the tactics and wish he used the ones against leed,burnley and notts forrest more often.those games proved we do have the players who can play good football.

do you think a run of games might break him in?

but I completely concur with you about Skuse, JayKay - never rated him and never will, far too negative for me.

there was me thinking i was the only one who didnt rate him.not saying he useless but could never understand how so many thought highly of him.foley who not played
in that position often,showed in one game how that position shoud be played.not facing our goal mouth geting the ball from one defender and passing it straight back to another.then what happens is the big boot forward.he should be taking the the ball on the half turn and looking for the pass to our forward midfield players. people want our full backs to overlap.our wide players to track back so i think skuse should do the same in defensive midfield and maybe asissit in a goal at least once this season or have more than 4 shots at goal three quaters through the season.

[Bluemike]

not a great week.sat was always going to be the game where i thought we would do well to get anything,but the bolton game should have seen a 3 point return.
i'm not a fan of buv but along with skuse and the back 4 they are micks favorites.befor anyone says but fans have favorites but thats normal.but managers are like parents they shouldnt have favorites.people our are defense is solid well the goals against is one of the worst in the top 12 and our goals for is on par with several in the top ten.i still cant work out how mick could change a winning side.i'm with rossi about having 2 defensive midfield players in the side,i said that early in season after the home game against huddersfield.one defenive midfield player is fine and i would have hyman as that person.he got to be the future at his age not skuse or douglas i know am in a minority but i dont rate skuse,every player in the side has a assist apart from skuse,no goals,only 4 shots at goal all season.1 trick pony as far as i am concerned.hyman looked a different player when he was paired with foley.i know mick can only do a job with the tools eavans has supplied him,but he is charge of the tactics and wish he used the ones against leed,burnley and notts forrest more often.those games proved we do have the players who can play good football.

do you think a run of games might break him in?

I thought we had signed someone.

[derick_ipsw]

I was out last night and spent today outside therefore late post-match thoughts now.

Sometimes bad Ipswich results/performances pale into insignifance when you spend a good day out. That was the case yesterday. Social side bang fantastic, you see Town mates, you spend a time with them, speak to them and that made yesterdays worthwhile.

If yesterday had only been about football it would have been a terrible waste of time and money. Abysmal performance in which our lack of quality was frightening. Very poor from us but to be honest against Bolton we had been even worse. But I can't question players' commitment and desire. They certainly tried yesterday, unfortunately though they were lacking quality. They weren't good enough.

Not even once did I get off my seat yesterday ! We could have played until midnight and still wouldn't have created any good goalscoring opportunity let alone score. Only two half chances for us throughout whole 90 minutes. Both from Sears and apart from that our inability to create opportunities was glaring.

Hyam - Skuse....... this combination always does my brain in ! Two defensive minded midfielders who will never offer a service to our strikers.

I had said after the Fraser's injury in the QPR game : 'our season is over' and unfortunately this seems to be the case. We terribly miss him as this is the ONLY quality midfielder we have available if fit this season. His replacement in Pringle is the one who can deliver decent ball into the box but obviously not the same class.

Ipswich were known from using set-pieces successfully last season. That habit is well gone and there is a new one in conceding from set-pieces. But failure to sign decent defenders means that each one from our regular back four knows they'll be in the team next week. Even if they concede another 10 goals from corners or other set-pieces they will remain in the team. Add to this Micks 'faith' in them means they feel their places in the team aren't under any bit of threat.

Midfield......average midfield where lack of quality is depressing. Skuse was back in the team but even if we had played without him it wouldn't have made any difference. Him and Hyam won't carry the team forward, they won't despatch decent balls forward.
A few words about Bru. He's the ilk of player who doesn't need to do much to become Town fans' favourite. One goal in a few months or one decent performance in 6 or 7 games means that many people are charmed. Very lightweight and now I can't understand why he plays as he offers nothing.

Hoofball yesterday? Yes, a lot of that but we tried to pass it at times and then our lack of quality was extremely EXPRESSIVE. Total inability to create opportunities and feed the strikers. We were very predictable. No imaginations nor element of surprise.

As for strikers. Well I understand that they lack service from our poor midfield but still their goalscoring records of late are far from impressive.

Cardiff were certainly for taking. Their centre back and yesterdays goalscorer Manga was dodgy but we still didn't make anything out of it.

Really awful and boring display from us. Those who still think we are good enough to make top 6 must be delusional but on the other hand anyone who wouldn't mind Mick to go ought to be careful what he/she wishes for. This rubbish uninspiring team could be relegated under any different manager. WE ARE WHO WE ARE. It's Evans whose policy stops us going forward.

While on the way back I met Ian Milne at the Cardiff train station. I approached him, had a brief chat and asked politely if there is a chance for Evans investing in the team this summer and makes us better. He's said the same old story which we all know that this is between Mick and Evans regarding bolstering the team. We did swap a few words but he didn't say anything that I didn't know. He said that paying on fees doesn't always work and reminded Jewell and Keane times. I told him that we aren't asking for spending heavily, just adding a bit of quality make us better. On the finish of our chat I thanked him for that and said: 'please tell Marcus to invest in summer and get some quality in'.

There is no point in slating players for yesterdays perfomance. As I've said they tried, they attempted to create something but lack of quality was our weakest point. We will win some games before end of the season but this team has his limitations.

Great report Mach, you certainly paint a very clear picture. Thought about doing it professionally?

[jaykay]

not a great week.sat was always going to be the game where i thought we would do well to get anything,but the bolton game should have seen a 3 point return.
i'm not a fan of buv but along with skuse and the back 4 they are micks favorites.befor anyone says but fans have favorites but thats normal.but managers are like parents they shouldnt have favorites.people our are defense is solid well the goals against is one of the worst in the top 12 and our goals for is on par with several in the top ten.i still cant work out how mick could change a winning side.i'm with rossi about having 2 defensive midfield players in the side,i said that early in season after the home game against huddersfield.one defenive midfield player is fine and i would have hyman as that person.he got to be the future at his age not skuse or douglas i know am in a minority but i dont rate skuse,every player in the side has a assist apart from skuse,no goals,only 4 shots at goal all season.1 trick pony as far as i am concerned.hyman looked a different player when he was paired with foley.i know mick can only do a job with the tools eavans has supplied him,but he is charge of the tactics and wish he used the ones against leed,burnley and notts forrest more often.those games proved we do have the players who can play good football.

do you think a run of games might break him in?

good job i spelt his name wrong with a A and not E