BFTG - Cardiff

[LWJ]

Well we were third in 16/17.

Heavy weekend so I might have remembered

[Royal Rother]

Well we were third in 16/17.

Heavy weekend so I might have remembered

Lower than 19th in entertainment table that season.

[Snowflake Royal]

Let's be honest. The past few years have hardly been entertaining. With football not being a cheap pastime to follow live.

I think I saw a stat saying this is the first time we've been above 19th in 5 seasons....

At this unusual height, it's no wonder I am feeling dizzy!

Last 5 seasons are:
18/19 - 20 Clement / Gomes
17/18 - 19 Stam / Clement
16/17 - 3 Stam
15/16 - 19 Clarke / McDermott
14/15 - 17 Adkins / Clarke

So it's wrong 2/5ths of the seasons for our final place, let alone at any point during the season. We were up in the top 6 for a while under Clarke when we finished 19th and we were mid table a fair amount early on when Adkins was sacked.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I think I saw a stat saying this is the first time we've been above 19th in 5 seasons....

At this unusual height, it's no wonder I am feeling dizzy!

Last 5 seasons are:
18/19 - 20 Clement / Gomes
17/18 - 19 Stam / Clement
16/17 - 3 Stam
15/16 - 19 Clarke / McDermott
14/15 - 17 Adkins / Clarke

So it's wrong 2/5ths of the seasons for our final place, let alone at any point during the season. We were up in the top 6 for a while under Clarke when we finished 19th and we were mid table a fair amount early on when Adkins was sacked.

Crazy that we finished 19th that season when we looked like potential champions before that Fulham game.

[Snowflake Royal]

At this unusual height, it's no wonder I am feeling dizzy!

Last 5 seasons are:
18/19 - 20 Clement / Gomes
17/18 - 19 Stam / Clement
16/17 - 3 Stam
15/16 - 19 Clarke / McDermott
14/15 - 17 Adkins / Clarke

So it's wrong 2/5ths of the seasons for our final place, let alone at any point during the season. We were up in the top 6 for a while under Clarke when we finished 19th and we were mid table a fair amount early on when Adkins was sacked.

Crazy that we finished 19th that season when we looked like potential champions before that Fulham game.

The danger of a manager with no commitment and a squad full of loanees with nothing to play for.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Last 5 seasons are:
18/19 - 20 Clement / Gomes
17/18 - 19 Stam / Clement
16/17 - 3 Stam
15/16 - 19 Clarke / McDermott
14/15 - 17 Adkins / Clarke

So it's wrong 2/5ths of the seasons for our final place, let alone at any point during the season. We were up in the top 6 for a while under Clarke when we finished 19th and we were mid table a fair amount early on when Adkins was sacked.

Crazy that we finished 19th that season when we looked like potential champions before that Fulham game.

The danger of a manager with no commitment and a squad full of loanees with nothing to play for.

Tru dat.

[Royal_jimmy]

At this unusual height, it's no wonder I am feeling dizzy!

Last 5 seasons are:
18/19 - 20 Clement / Gomes
17/18 - 19 Stam / Clement
16/17 - 3 Stam
15/16 - 19 Clarke / McDermott
14/15 - 17 Adkins / Clarke

So it's wrong 2/5ths of the seasons for our final place, let alone at any point during the season. We were up in the top 6 for a while under Clarke when we finished 19th and we were mid table a fair amount early on when Adkins was sacked.

Crazy that we finished 19th that season when we looked like potential champions before that Fulham game.

We finished 17th that season. It was 19th under Adkins/Clarke.

Even still I get your point. When we were winning 2-0 at Fulham, we were 2nd in the league as it stood.

[3points]

I loved the full bloodied tackle Morrison out in about half way through the first half. Almost a ball popper. Think it was Ralls for them. Fair play, he went at it full tilt too

[Hound]

Good player that Ralls lad

[Snowflake Royal]

Last 5 seasons are:
18/19 - 20 Clement / Gomes
17/18 - 19 Stam / Clement
16/17 - 3 Stam
15/16 - 19 Clarke / McDermott
14/15 - 17 Adkins / Clarke

So it's wrong 2/5ths of the seasons for our final place, let alone at any point during the season. We were up in the top 6 for a while under Clarke when we finished 19th and we were mid table a fair amount early on when Adkins was sacked.

Crazy that we finished 19th that season when we looked like potential champions before that Fulham game.

We finished 17th that season. It was 19th under Adkins/Clarke.

Balls, wrong way round.

[bcubed]

Watched the match again on tv.

Still can't get over how good Swift was. He looked a different player to me. As well as the clever touches and great through balls there were tackles! At least 4, I reckon. And dont recall any daft passes to the opposition. And he looked fitter, quicker and stronger than last season or any previous season, come to that.

I've not been a fan and described him as inconsistent and part of a powderpuff midfield (or perhaps agreed with someone else using that term!) So this was great to see.

Do any of the other Swift detractors recognise these massive improvements?

[CountryRoyal]

Do any of the other Swift detractors recognise these massive improvements?

Absolutely, felt he put in a much more mature performance, a lot less careless and much more solid. If I had one complaint it would be that, at times, he likes to slow a counter attack by cutting inside when perhaps a pass down the outside would get us behind, instead it allows the defense to get back and we're playing in front of of them again, but that would really be nitpicking. It was a good performance and much more the like the swift we should be seeing week in week out. Doesn't justify a place unless he puts in displays like that.

[Woodcote Royal]

It's early days for this new system but the weakness will be against teams who pack the midfield and force us out wide. That's exactly what happened in the second half vs Wycombe and we struggled. I don't think we have enough quality at wing back.

The weakness is out wide where there is just a wing back and not a full back plus winger and leaves the flanks vulnerable to being overloaded.

[Woodcote Royal]

The ref was pretty average to poor until about 60 odd mins when he picked up what Cardiff were up to and started pulling them up for their multiple fouls

Joao did fall over too easily, but he was still being constantly kicked, pulled and wrestled before the ball came to him. You're not actually allowed to do that and could easily have been a foul to him on numerous occasions

I agree apart from the fact I think you're being too kind to yet another sh+t official, the likes of whom are becoming the norm rather than the exception. Why did it take him an hour to spot what had been obvious to most since kick off?

As you suggest, on at least 4 or 5 occasions it had been obvious that Joao was being fouled long before he hit the deck and all occasions this week's twat gave nothing, in one case leading to a period of sustained pressure when we came close to conceding.

These incompetents are having an adverse effect on too many games and something needs to be done

[Snowflake Royal]

Watched the match again on tv.

Still can't get over how good Swift was. He looked a different player to me. As well as the clever touches and great through balls there were tackles! At least 4, I reckon. And dont recall any daft passes to the opposition. And he looked fitter, quicker and stronger than last season or any previous season, come to that.

I've not been a fan and described him as inconsistent and part of a powderpuff midfield (or perhaps agreed with someone else using that term!) So this was great to see.

Do any of the other Swift detractors recognise these massive improvements?

I thought he was good against Weds. Not at all powderpuff like he was last year.

[Nameless]

It's early days for this new system but the weakness will be against teams who pack the midfield and force us out wide. That's exactly what happened in the second half vs Wycombe and we struggled. I don't think we have enough quality at wing back.

The weakness is out wide where there is just a wing back and not a full back plus winger and leaves the flanks vulnerable to being overloaded.

So , given we’ve not had any defensive cover from our wings for years , there is no weakness in the system.

[Hound]

Always been a big frustration for me with Swift is he is far from small. He must be 6ft, and isn’t skinny. He really shouldn’t be ‘powderpuff’ and nor should Ejaria

Hopefully for whatever reason he’ll be getting stuck in a lot more from now on

[If you still hate Futcher]

It's early days for this new system but the weakness will be against teams who pack the midfield and force us out wide. That's exactly what happened in the second half vs Wycombe and we struggled. I don't think we have enough quality at wing back.

The weakness is out wide where there is just a wing back and not a full back plus winger and leaves the flanks vulnerable to being overloaded.

So , given we’ve not had any defensive cover from our wings for years , there is no weakness in the system.

The difference is that in this system the full back is pushed on, meaning there is space in behind where we are vulnerable to a counter attack.

Cardiff aren't geared up to exploit that as they tend to put in diagonal balls to the far post for their big centre forward to win and then feed off the knock downs, rather than work the ball down the channel in behind the wingback and cross from the byline.

The understanding between the 3 CBs and the CDM as to who covers that space may take a little bit of time.

[Snowflake Royal]

The weakness is out wide where there is just a wing back and not a full back plus winger and leaves the flanks vulnerable to being overloaded.

So , given we’ve not had any defensive cover from our wings for years , there is no weakness in the system.

The difference is that in this system the full back is pushed on, meaning there is space in behind where we are vulnerable to a counter attack.

Cardiff aren't geared up to exploit that as they tend to put in diagonal balls to the far post for their big centre forward to win and then feed off the knock downs, rather than work the ball down the channel in behind the wingback and cross from the byline.

The understanding between the 3 CBs and the CDM as to who covers that space may take a little bit of time.

Our full backs were regularly pushed up exposing our flanks to counter before we switched formation.

For the little more it's exposed to counter, we have an extra CB to cover. I was far from convinced but Cardiff worked and 3 CBs will suit our attempts to play out better as there should always be two CBS back and closer together.

[Nameless]

The weakness is out wide where there is just a wing back and not a full back plus winger and leaves the flanks vulnerable to being overloaded.

So , given we’ve not had any defensive cover from our wings for years , there is no weakness in the system.

The difference is that in this system the full back is pushed on, meaning there is space in behind where we are vulnerable to a counter attack.

Cardiff aren't geared up to exploit that as they tend to put in diagonal balls to the far post for their big centre forward to win and then feed off the knock downs, rather than work the ball down the channel in behind the wingback and cross from the byline.

The understanding between the 3 CBs and the CDM as to who covers that space may take a little bit of time.

Or maybe Gomes used the formation in this game because it was the right one to use against Cardiff and if we play teams with width he’ll play differently ?
Also given our full backs tend to push up anyway and stroll back, having 3 defenders across the back is better than having 4 but one of them way out of position. We’ve been hit by teams counter attacking in the gap left by our full backs quite often (Sheffield Wed for example) and had centre backs dragged out of position to cover the full back.