[Archived] Cardiff At Home 18Th August

[Athlete]

chaddy's gonna thank this.

His hero Nicko was in attendance in the posh seats

[ABBEY]

80 mins to show any urgency . Cracks papered over again.

[Gav]

Thought I'd throw a bit of a curve ball in amongst the same old turgid discussion that goes round in circles on this message board. About 6 have bitten in the first 7 minutes.

Apologies for the "constructive as ever" comment. Had to keep up appearances for at least another minute or so.

Really funny, great for the fans looking at this thread for information Jimmy, you're a reet comedian

[Mike E]

That wasn't good enough. Nothing to do with the players so much as Bowyer's selection.

Raya needs to be dropped. His recklessness led to the goal and almost another straight after. Steele to replace.

Thought defence was actually pretty good tonight, especially helped by Akpan's presence. Lowe did ok but thought he was better at rb. Still baffled by Henley coming off. Spurr did nowt wrong although his lack of pace worries me. Prefer Olsson.

Duffy and Hanley both solid with the latter playing best as well as scoring.

Marshall was playing, was he? Huh. Barrow made much more down that wing.

Conway ran himself ragged, cracking player. Koita and Delf would have got us goals in that 2nd half imo. Hope Koita was injured rather than a tactical change.

Vs Brighton, I'd go:

Steele; Henley, Hanley, Duffy, Olsson; Barrow, Guthrie, Akpan, Conway; Delf and Koita.

[Athlete]

That was horrific. Words fail me. We were total rubbish for 90 minutes and Bowyer comes out and applaudes our intensity and spirit. How well we did to play the ball from the back - there was no one to pass the fecking thing to Gary.

Awful. Awful. Awful.

But with only three players over 24 this team is the future of the club - according to Bowyer. God help us.

BOWYER OUT!

GB is coming out with the garbage Kean spouted..

The subs were a joke.. Koita looking threatening takes him off at HT.. Then takes an attacking defender Henley off when we were on top to accommodate love child jlowe for Guthrie who the wolves game apart doesn't look interested.. Bout time GB went

[Stuart]

That was horrific. Words fail me. We were total rubbish for 90 minutes and Bowyer comes out and applaudes our intensity and spirit. How well we did to play the ball from the back - there was no one to pass the fecking thing to Gary.

Awful. Awful. Awful.

But with only three players over 24 this team is the future of the club - according to Bowyer. God help us.

BOWYER OUT!

The guy sees what he wants [Venkys] to see.

I don't know about you, Paul, but it's making my lads not want to watch. The matchday experience is awful, one of 'same old same old'. Same names on the team sheet, same game play, same end result. It's not fun.

The bloke in front of us even brought his young lad (about 4 yo) wearing a ManU shirt!! Nobody even commented. There is no pride in our club anymore. It's as if 'well the manager doesn't care, why should we?'

If it hadn't been for the Rovers fans during that second half, we'd have lost tonight. I'm convinced of that.

[Mike E]

Oh, and yes there were 12000 there imo.

[ABBEY]

That was horrific. Words fail me. We were total rubbish for 90 minutes and Bowyer comes out and applaudes our intensity and spirit. How well we did to play the ball from the back - there was no one to pass the fecking thing to Gary.

Awful. Awful. Awful.

But with only three players over 24 this team is the future of the club - according to Bowyer. God help us.

BOWYER OUT!

Not often I agree with you but exactly how I saw it . He said Duffy & Hanley stop everything . Er no bowyer they don't .

[joey_big_nose]

My God Cardiff were terrible. We played okay when direct, created a lot of chances. Should have won easily. Somehow contrived to miss three open goals. I'm worried about where the goals are going to come from.

Cons

Lowe started okay but from the 20 min on was genuinely terrible. He has to be dropped.

Marshall still really poor

Koita off the ball offered very little running

Delfy and Barrow ran the channels well but we just didn't use them enough

Raya was abysmal, nearly lost the game for us. What the hell is he playing it short all the time for? There is zero benefit from it and it puts us in danger

After a decent start to the season Guthrie looked a bit lost today - hope this isnt another Spearing situation

Passing as a whole was terrible. The more touches we took the worse we looked. It's a huge problem. Half the time we would put ourselves under pressure, the other half we would boot the ball up field anyway.

Pros

Akpan looked good. Physical, technically decent, tall, good engine, passes forward. Like him.

Delfy and Barrow offered good running up front, sadly under appreciated by our midfielders

Shocking goal aside the defence was pretty good although Cardiff were awful...

Duffy and Hanley offered a real attacking threat

Spurr didn't overlap much but his set piece and throw in delivery was excellent

Conway was excellent, kept on running all game, fought for the ball, rarely loses it

If we had won that - as we should have very easily - then you come away quite positive but we couldn't put easy chances away and the midfield passing as a whole was terrible. It puts you in bad spirits.

In terms of where the lineup is going... Think we will see Guthrie and Akpan start on Sat. Actually think Lowe might be dropped. He was that bad. Reckon Koita will go to bench again (doesn't look fit to me) and we will start Barrow and Delfy. Will be interesting to see if Gaz sticks with Raya... I wouldnt. Gaz probably will.

[Darwen Rover 007]

Lowe (probably our worst player) substituted for Henley and put at RB a position in which he can only defend in when we needed Henleys pace and attack mindedness...

This for me personifies the biggest most severe weakness in our club... Bowyers stubborn favoritism ensure he lacks credibility and most of the players know this to be the case...

Chuffed with the ending massively frustrated with bowyer - this to me proves he is not a leader..

[ABBEY]

What was radio rovers moaning at fans for ? They said Lowe was getting endless stick . I can only speak from where I sit and that's I heard nothing . Anyone hear or elaborate?

[tomphil]

I don't know what the moaning is about we indeed had a right good go tonight.................in the last 5 mins only yet again.

Let's be honest, thank rank turgid stuff tonight. Dread to think what he said on the radio but there is no papering over how poor we were for the majority of that game. After we'd gifted the customary goal away with the customary blind linesman then Cardiff offered little really. Though the defence played quite well but the first decent side we come up against this season will noller us on the evidence so far this season.

Positives: Hanley, quite simply he's got himself fit and mentally tuned in again which he was at no stage last season. A touch of the Scott Danns here I reckon, knows there is serious interest so he's playing out of his skin all of a sudden.

Delfy looked sharp in bits but that's it. A points a point though and they are all going to be very very valuable this season. Bowyer got a get out of jail card yet again. If we don't improve fast it will run out soon for sure !

Also must have been lowest gate in league for a good while which shouldn't go unnoticed in Pune.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

But we have 11,000 season ticket holders !?!?

Are phantoms boosting the declared gates yet again ?

IMV, integrity and Rovers simply can't be used together.

How many times do we have to go through the same loop with this one - all teams included season ticket numbers whether they attend or not.

[rovers11]

Should have won really. Apart from the shocking mistake at the beginning which led to the goal, Cardiff didn't really have many chances beyond that.

Said before the game that we'd go direct today which would be quite effective. That proved to be the case as we got it out wide and crossed in, had the long throw, and won plenty of set pieces. That's the way we should be playing with the group of players we have.

Also said Lowe is going to be shifted to rb from now on to make way for an Akpan/Guthrie partnership and we saw that change happen in the second half. Lowe is undroppable, but at least he's decent at RB.

I agree with someone earlier who said we have a decent team in there somewhere but GB is not the man to get the most out of them. 2 points from 9 is poor. I expected us to win tonight. Ok, we should have one on the balance of play and chances but the final score is all that matters.

I like Akpan, Guthrie, Barrow and Koita. Think they're a step up from what we have. Delf has also been better than expected. We need another attacking midfielder as we have no technical ability if Guthrie is not on there. Plus, we need another target man up top.

[DE.]

We've already got the ultimate target man in Browny.

[Tom]

4 games played this season, each time we have gone a goal behind, 3 of those within the first 10 minutes.

If we do have a gameplan its going out of the window early

[Mercer]

How many times do we have to go through the same loop with this one - all teams included season ticket numbers whether they attend or not.

You keep missing the point.

If you think Rovers really have 11,000 season ticket holders then I will make a case for the moon being made from green cheese ! IMV, knock 3 to 4 thousand off that number.

We've already got the ultimate target man in Browny.

Might need him.

Some whispers tonight that Rhodes out for minimum of 4 weeks. If correct, we really are goosed.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

A strange match - more by huff and puff than any skill or composure - we had enough chances to win the match. Cardiff started time wasting as soon as they scored - which didn't help the spectacle.

For those moaning at Lowe (and rightly so after tonights performance) - after listening to GB I do wonder how much of Lowe's constant back passing is down to tactics. He always receives the ball with his back to the play - so has little choice but to play it back to the defence (or risk getting caught in possession) - this then results in a long hoof forward. On the positive side - he actually made some good and timely interceptions - but why he was moved to right back I don't quite know (possibly some concerns about Apkan lasting the 90 minutes).

Some limited positives from tonight - Duffy and Hanley actually played quite well - and some of the long range passing from them was good. Marshall and Conway were ok, as was Fonz. I do like the look of Akpan - a midfield player with pace.

Tactics were again poor - though I suppose ultimately effective as we went back to the Allardyce era.

Any news why Spurr played instead of Olsson ? Spurr may offer a long throw - but that is about it - and Conway didn't look as effective without Olsson overlapping.

[tomphil]

There was probably about 10k on tonight in real terms. Talk of 8 thousand is wrong, looking out there in no way you could have fit everyone in the ground in one end tonight without a bit of overspill at least. It'll only get worse though with that @#/? on offer.

[roversfan99]

There isn't a decent team in there. Bowyer has scrambled together a team filled with crap, which only fully dawned on me tonight, with Rhodes injured, Gestede gone, the misused Cairney gone and the underused King gone. There were no excuses last year as we had 40 goals.

Looking at the team today. Raya is horrendous, how he is ahead of 2 admittedly average goalkeepers themselves in Boro outcast Steele and League 2 free agent Eastwood is a mystery.

Henley has returned to the frightened rabbit caught in the headlights. Hanley was fine but is never going to be accident free. Duffy is appalling, terrible distribution and so rash. Spurr again is very poor, not a clue why Olsson was a sub.

Marshall again was woeful, people consider him to be proof of GB's transfer wizardry but hes an example of a player who performs well once every 5 games. Conway is our shining light at the moment. Lowe is an absolute joke. Akpan, the Reading reserve dubbed "No Hope Akpan" isnt much better, but at least he cant pass wind so he fits in.

The strikeforce is a joke too, Koita is raw, quite dangerous but hes an unknown quantity and Delfouenso's just been released by Blackpool.

Apart from Conway and Hanley, I don't think I'd pay money for any of them. Hanleys a push too.

[arbitro]

Bowyer spoke recently about changing the way we play which I interpreted as playing out from the back as Raya appears to have good feet. He clearly doesn't understand that the majority of our players simply aren't good enough or when we do try and pass it around the ball is going sideways or backwards. The vast majority of our chances tonight came from set pieces when the ball was either kicked or thrown into the penalty area. If that is potentially going to win us games then so be it, the result is the most important thing but somebody need to tell Bowyer that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Quite simply we can't play that way because of the severe limitations of too many of our players.

On the evidence of the first four games Marshall should be dropped. He appears to have gone big time and his performances have been luke warm. Lowe is perhaps one of the most limited players I can recall playing for us. Raya needs leaving out for his own good, Spurr (long throw aside) has league one player written all over him. Henley needs a rocket up his backside and looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

[roverandout]

That's literally what its come to on here isn't it. Waiting for Chaddy to post his honest opinion on the game so that some tool can jump all over him and give him grief. Personally I hope he's gone to the pub. Roverandout will probably sit up until the early hours mind you!

I'm bed now thanks

[tomphil]

A strange match - more by huff and puff than any skill or composure - we had enough chances to win the match. Cardiff started time wasting as soon as they scored - which didn't help the spectacle.

For those moaning at Lowe (and rightly so after tonights performance) - after listening to GB I do wonder how much of Lowe's constant back passing is down to tactics. He always receives the ball with his back to the play - so has little choice but to play it back to the defence (or risk getting caught in possession) - this then results in a long hoof forward. On the positive side - he actually made some good and timely interceptions - but why he was moved to right back I don't quite know (possibly some concerns about Apkan lasting the 90 minutes).

Some limited positives from tonight - Duffy and Hanley actually played quite well - and some of the long range passing from them was good. Marshall and Conway were ok, as was Fonz. I do like the look of Akpan - a midfield player with pace.

Tactics were again poor - though I suppose ultimately effective as we went back to the Allardyce era.

Any news why Spurr played instead of Olsson ? Spurr may offer a long throw - but that is about it - and Conway didn't look as effective without Olsson overlapping.

Lowe's a poor passer and always has been so I think they probably drill it in him to keep it simple, plenty times he received the ball facing forwards tonight ! All our mids seem to do it though whoever is selected alongside golden boy, We pass slowly sideways then they always stop it and dawdle so inviting to keep closed down then there is no option but to turn it backwards. It's been the same from Bowyers first game of his first full season in charge. No wonder people are sick of it now. A marked improvement in the pace of the game once he'd been shunted out the way in what any other manager would have done as a like for like sub.

[Paul]

I don't know about you, Paul, but it's making my lads not want to watch. The matchday experience is awful, one of 'same old same old'. Same names on the team sheet, same game play, same end result. It's not fun.

.

Tom hasn't been to a night match, Liverpool apart, for 18 months. It's impossible to know why. He's still excited to go on a Saturday but he does see it from a different perspective than you and me.

I have been more miserable at Ewood tonight but I can't recall being quite so angry before.

[ABBEY]

Did we win and I missed a goal ? Bowyer interviewed like we won and radio rovers blasted the darts tune out like we'd won