Ipswich Town vs Cardiff City Preview & Matchday Thread
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 3:29 am
Ipswich Town V Cardiff City 
Saturday 10th December 2016 – 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
Marko had some complimentary words in last week’s preview about our ‘Opening Thoughts’ and ‘Final Thoughts’, asking how Mike and I found different things to say each week. It’s certainly easier to come up with new talking points after witnessing a 3-0 victory! The difficulty comes when the team reverts to type the following week, and turns in a display that is barely distinguishable from a whole host of previous matches which all blend into each other in the memory. I’m sure plenty of the 1,115 Town fans who made the long trip to Bristol at the weekend could identify with that sentiment as they traipsed away from Ashton Gate. It was the same old story as countless other occasions already this season when we have failed to build on a positive performance – or at least result – in the following game. Of the Blues’ six wins in 2016/17, four have been followed by a lacklustre away league defeat, against Brentford, Reading, Newcastle and now Bristol City, with the stalemate against Villa and the 2-0 home reverse to Forest completing the rather bleak picture. Frosty was spot-on with his assessment when he said that there was an air of inevitability about the outcome of a fixture following an Ipswich win at the moment. And, unfortunately, the sense of déjà vu doesn’t stop there, with Saturday being the latest example of a game in which we struggled to test the opposition ‘keeper. Read the match report – or Mick McCarthy’s comments, for that matter – from just about any recent game and you won’t have to look far before coming across the familiar refrain ‘Ipswich huffed and puffed but couldn’t find the final pass/cross/bit of quality’. When viewed like this, it is really no surprise that we are amongst the league’s lowest scorers, and the lowest away from home.
Looking on the bright side, we do tend to see a reaction from McCarthy and his team after a setback, to the extent that the Blues are also yet to suffer two losses on the bounce in 2016/17. Indeed, two of our better results this campaign – the 1-0 success at Derby and the 2-1 win at Hillsborough – have come on the back of two of our more disappointing displays, against Reading and Rotherham respectively. The problem is, of course, that we can’t be expected to mount a serious promotion push on the back of such inconsistent form. Our last five results in the form guide below are enough to show that. But finding the solution as to how to turn things around is rather more complicated. Mick’s decision to name an unchanged side for the visit to Ashton Gate was hardly a controversial one, even if his ploy of announcing it in advance was questionable to say the least. Having had success against QPR by playing the more experienced, ‘gnarled’, ‘less sexy’ pros – we all know who I’m talking about! – he wasn’t going to suddenly change tack and select our more creative individuals. Perhaps the answer is to strike more of a balance, with one deeper-lying midfielder behind a more advanced playmaker. But that didn’t exactly bear fruit against Nottingham Forest, with the Skuse/Bishop partnership failing to flourish before being broken up at half time. It’s frustrating in the extreme that Town can’t string two wins together, any more than they can two passes at times. Even a half-decent run of results would see us on the coat-tails of the top six, in what is not the strongest of divisions this year. Next up is a visit from the similarly erratic Cardiff City, managed by none other than Mr. Col…Neil Warnock.
The Opposition – Cardiff City FC
Riverside A.F.C. was formed in 1899 as a way of keeping players from the Riverside Cricket Club together and in shape during the winter months. In 1905, Cardiff was granted city status by King Edward VII, and as a result the club put in a request to change their name to Cardiff City, but the request was turned down as they were deemed to not be playing at a high enough level. To combat this, they arranged to join the South Wales Amateur League in 1907 and the following year they were granted permission to change the name of the club to Cardiff City.
Over the next two years, the club welcomed many of Britain's top sides to Cardiff, including Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Crystal Palace, with the matches being played at various grounds in Cardiff and nearby towns. The club would eventually move into their new ground, Ninian Park, in 1910.
With the new ground in place, Cardiff joined the Southern League Second Division. Their first match was a 2–1 defeat to Aston Villa. They stayed in the division for the next decade, apart from when the league was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I.
The club's most successful period so far has been the 1920s, in which they finished runners-up in the old Football League First Division, followed by two FA Cup finals in 1925 and 1927, the latter against Arsenal. The final against Arsenal saw Cardiff become the only team to have taken the FA Cup out of England, with a 1–0 victory. The final was also notable as it was the first to be broadcast to the nation by BBC Radio.
On 30 August 1920, Cardiff City played their first Football League match at Ninian Park.
This early Cardiff City team showed more than enough class to match others in the league, and they were promoted to the top flight of English Football at the first attempt.
1923–24 has proved to be the best ever in the league for Cardiff City. After a dramatic season in which they and Huddersfield Town tussled for the Championship title, Cardiff would have to settle for 2nd spot on goal average.
The following season was the first time Cardiff City appeared at Wembley Stadium in an FA Cup final, versus Sheffield United, which they lost 1-0, and, as mentioned above, in 1927 they won the FA Cup final against Arsenal.
That FA Cup win was not the end of their cup exploits that season; they also won the Welsh Cup, defeating Rhyl by a scoreline of 2–0, and would go on to win the FA Charity Shield after beating the Corinthians 2–1 at Stamford Bridge.
In the 1928–29 season, Cardiff City were relegated from the First Division of the Football League. However, this was only a sign of things to come for the Bluebirds, and after two seasons in the Second Division, they were once again relegated in 1931 into Division 3 South, and in 1934 they had to re-apply to stay in the Football League after finishing last.
They were crowned champions of Division 3 South and returned to the Second Division in the 1946–47 season. Finally, they finished second level runners-up and returned to the top level after 23 years in the 1951–52 season.
During the 1960s, Cardiff began qualifying for European competition for the first time through the Welsh Cup. Two years later, the club would go on to reach the semi-final of the Cup Winners’ Cup, the furthest any non-top division club has ever gone in European competition.
The club remained in the old Second Division except for the 1975–76 and 1982–83 seasons.
Between 1985 and 1993, Cardiff were continuously in the lower two divisions of the league after being relegated to the Third Division. They were relegated to the Fourth Division once in the 1985–86 season and were promoted to the Third Division in 1987–88 as runners-up. Two years later, they dropped into the Fourth Division for the second time. Cardiff won the new Division Three championship in 1993 but were relegated two years later, and in 1996 finished in their lowest ever league position – 22nd of 24 in Division Three. They finished third in Division Three in 1999 and won automatic promotion to Division Two.
Having sold his interests in Wimbledon, Sam Hammam purchased control of Cardiff City in August 2000. Shortly after he took over at Cardiff, the club crest was redesigned. This new design incorporated the Cardiff City bluebird in front of the Flag of Saint David, and featured the Club's nickname superimposed at the top of the crest. Lennie Lawrence guided Cardiff to promotion via a Division Two play-off triumph in 2003.
The Bluebirds established themselves in Division One during the 2003–04 season, finishing in 13th position. They struggled to a 16th position finish at the end of the 2004–05 campaign and ended the 2005–06 season with an 11th position finish.
After failing to get the new stadium plans agreed by Cardiff Council due to concerns over financial security in 2006, Hammam agreed to a takeover by a consortium led by new chairman Peter Ridsdale but the club remained £40 million in debt.
Datuk Chan Tien Ghee (TG) took over as chairman on 27 May 2010 after a meeting on the same day. Vincent Tan also invested and joined the board.
Cardiff changed their home colours to red and black, as well as their badge, from the 2012–13 season in exchange for an investment plan from the Malaysian owners, including a new training facility, stadium expansion and a transfer budget. Cardiff topped the Championship and with it gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time, but were relegated after only one season with 30 points from 38 matches.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær was sacked on 18 September 2014, and replaced by Leyton Orient manager Russell Slade.
On 2 January 2015, Cardiff beat Colchester United in the FA Cup in front of the lowest ever recorded crowd of 4,194 at the Cardiff City Stadium, which prompted an emergency meeting of the Cardiff Board. A week later, the club announced an official statement, saying that, after deliberation with members of the board and chosen fans, the club's home colours would be changed back to blue with immediate effect.
On 5 October 2016, Neil Warnock was appointed First Team manager of Cardiff City.
Last season, Cardiff finished in 8th place in the Championship table on 68 points.
The Gaffer – Neil Warnock
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
A look back to a nice 3-1 win and a cracker of a goal from Cole Skuse
Media Watch - K L Blue
Kundi Benyu
http://www.footballconference.co.uk/new ... s_id=19454
Zach Ward's opinion(do you agree?)
http://www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk/sport ... -1-7716163
Daryl Horgan
http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/30735/
That word "transitional" from Darren Ambrose
http://www.sudburymercury.co.uk/sport/m ... _1_4807024
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 16th place with 24 points
Bristol City 2-0 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 3-0 QPR
Ipswich Town 0-2 Nottingham F.
Sheffield Wed 1-2 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 2-2 Rotherham
Cardiff Last 5 Matches – Currently in 22nd place with 19 points
Cardiff City 0-0 Brighton
Aston Villa 3-1 Cardiff City
Cardiff City 3-2 Huddersfield
Newcastle Utd 2-1 Cardiff City
Cardiff City 0-1 Wigan Athletic
Fixtures of Interest
BRIGHTON VS LEEDS UTD (FRIDAY)
BRENTFORD VS BURTON ALBION
READING VS SHEFF. WEDNESDAY
PRESTON VS BLACKBURN
Marko's Caption Contest
Another good week with captions. Frosty, don't know if you wrote out your caption by actually remembering the past, but I can relate to it; Wrexham 1989......, oh my God, forgettable football team trip!
Scores:
Frosty 5pts
Nicscreamer 4pts
Bluemike 3pts
Gold&Black & Derick 2pts
League table
Herforder 35
Gold&Black 33
DerickIpsw 32
Nicscreamer 31
Blueblood 28
Bluemike 28
Frosty 26
Ando 25
Quasar 23
Watership Down 14
Patthegimp 11
Number 9 11
IpswichtownNo1 10
Tangfastic 9
Shed on Tour 7
LoudNProud 5
Ashfordblue 5
Supershred 3
Longjohn 1
Foxy Lady 1
Barmy Billy 1
ItfcTrev76 1
Try this:
Match Referee – James Adcock
Final Thought - Bluemike
One step forwards, Two steps backwards, and so it goes on. I think it is fair to say we all headed down to Bristol with a little bit of renewed optimism following our emphatic win over QPR but it proved to be yet another false dawn as some familir shortcomings came back to haunt us once more. Poor defending, poor decision making, a distinct lack of creativity, no goal threat, the list goes on, suffice to say the feeling among Town fans this week is once again one of how badly we need change, I am still very much floundering on which side of the fence to fall and am just about clinging onto the belief that MM will get us out of this rut and salvage the season but it is by the smallest of fingernails now.
My main talking point this week is just what has Johnny Williams got to do to get a start, I could understand it when he was getting back to fitness but surely now is the time to unleash this exciting talent, when chasing the game Saturday, Mick without question made Two very poor changes by taking off our attacking players, not only that Williams was once again left kicking his heels on the touchline and was only introduced at 0-2 down with little time to make an impact, this has to change, we need Williams on the pitch, no matter where I am or who I talk to everyone says the same thing so suurely to god we can't all be wrong, or maybe we can, in Mick's eyes anyway.
Dare I repeat myself yet again but this really is a pivotal time in our season and it can still go either way but defeat to Cardiff will undoubtedly see Town fans losing the plot at 4.50pm come saturday evening and will be another big nail in MM's coffin, I have to say it would probably just about tip me over the edge too, these kind of games have to be won, Cardiff are pretty rank, just as Rotherham and Forest were and we know what happened there. This weekend could be a crucial one in the reign of Mick McCarthy and to be honest I hope we do the business, I believe a fair few actually want us to lose to force the issue, get a grip !!! For me I see us running out narrow winners, but there again I often do.
IPSWICH TOWN 2 CARDIFF CITY 1
And we might scrape a draw, but I take Cardiff to win 1-3 
check out tic-tac language - and he's wearing his rucky shirt!