Kolsch

The substitutions cost us today. As you say, completely lost our shape with the Williams / Andi sub. Should have been King. Nakhi coming on was fair, Bell was ineffective today. Strange taking Tanner off though, we were attacking well down the right and it meant Sykes was far too deep so we lost all shape. It goes back to the square peg in round hole argument. Where Nige is now refraining from just playing his strongest starting team personnel wise (players in wrong positions etc), he seems to want to do it with substitutions now.

Frustrating game and the run was always going to come to end soon but a shame it’s today. Midfield and Attack just looked flat. It was infuriating when Zak and Tanner had the ball and literally no City player was showing so they were having to go back. Sykes in particular wasn’t showing half of the time. James looked tired today. Nige’s substitutions baffling. King should have come on for Williams to maintain some balance and when Tanner came off we just didn’t get the success we were getting the ten minutes or so before that down the right hand side as Sykes was too deep. I just hope Kalas isn’t out for the season. The worst bit about the result is just how poor Cardiff are.

I feel like I need an eye test after watching a game on red button. Why is the picture so bad?

Yes fair call mate. At least we have belief now and I feel we have a chance in every game now. Both Nige and his staff deserve full credit for that.

Apologies I phrased that wrong. I just mean I’d be surprised if we’re as tactically versed as some other teams. West Brom and Middlesbrough for instance. Nige’s strengths lie in other areas which have shown the past two months.

I agree and these are what Nige needs commending for. We are going in the right direction on and off then pitch.

Three points at their place again tomorrow will be a big statement! Hopefully we dust ourselves off from Tuesday and go again.

Fair enough Dave. I agree with a lot of what you say but I guess we’re different in this instance ? It just looks to me very much like there’s a ‘just go out and play’ approach to our side. I still feel like we’re going to get our comeuppance soon against a well coached team that’s done our homework against who we can’t overwhelm. Its probably just that Nige is old school though, I guess his strengths lie in other areas.

Thanks for the update and wishing Rob a speedy recovery. He has been superb overall this season.

I agree. For however well we’ve done this calendar year, I think a lot of the changes were forced upon him and it’s just fallen into place. The change in formation, personnel, having to play young players due to squad depth amongst other things. I still feel also that there’s no real plan with our teams going into games. I’d be amazed if we did numerous tactical drills on the training pitch or in the analysis room at the HPC in the lead up to games if watching our games is anything to go by. We’re doing well because Nige embraced the change in formation, stuck with a performing team and our lads have a real togetherness and camaraderie. And credit to him for that. But I think it’s a little premature to start rewarding the manager with new deals just yet. Let’s see what happens when an inevitable bump in the road occurs.

Proud of the team last night. We put up a fight against one of the best teams in the world and on another day we could have scored a couple of goals. Kalas was outstanding and Scotty showed why he’d easily make the step up to the Premier League. Tactically it looked like we hadn’t planned much. Maybe Nige just didn’t want the players to over think it. Great experience for the team though and it’ll only help them going forward. On to Saturday.

Excellent performance from Matty today. Similarly to Casemiro at Man U, I think we’d notice it considerably if he missed a game. Credit to Williams as well, he put in a great shift.

I agree mate. Having so many youth products putting on the red shirt is brilliant to see and that makes days like today even more sweeter. Added to that the way the new players have settled in and embraced the club.. perfect combination.

This is such a likeable team. They give it everything, no bad attitudes, give it their all. Loving watching this team. Fantastic spirit amongst them. We’ve got to give credit to everyone behind the recruitment.

Outstanding, as Nige said best performance in a City shirt when you consider he’s against two of the best wingers in the league. His tackling gets most of the attention but he is one brave so and so. Puts his body on the line for the team. After hearing his interviews he seems a really grounded, hard working and likeable lad as well. Credit to our recruitment team and credit to our coaches for his development. Credit must go to George as well for his attitude after not playing the first part of the season.

Put in a great shift today and another goal for him. Great seeing the lads full of confidence.

Another really good performance against a good side. Defense outstanding. Pring superb but Tanner MOTM for me. As Nige said, best performance in a city shirt so far. Put his body on the line and didn’t give their wingers a sniff. Matty James and Williams superb in the middle. Another goal for Syksey who worked hard. There’s a real togetherness and spirit with these lads and I’m really enjoying watching them. Playing well but also really likeable lads. Hopefully we can keep gates like that at the gate. What a difference 6 weeks makes.

Keeps his place with Kane in front at times. I think him and Wilson would work well together down the right. It’d be a good option in games where we need more width.

He is playing great in the middle of the park. Exactly what we needed for balance and to protect our back 4. The midfield pre Christmas just allowed teams too much room to exploit our defense. Kal moving there has addressed that issue.

He is proving to be great value. I might be mistaken but I’m sure he has been involved in every match day team this season (bench for the first few months but still available) so hopefully the injury issues last season were just a one off. He is getting better every game and I was really impressed by his organisation yesterday. He was constantly at Sykes and helping him out positionally. The pass for the goal was outstanding and a very under appreciated part of his game is his weight of passes and ability to not give the ball away. Even when he has to go long he tends to find a man. It’s quite exciting to see this line up develop. The majority could be our core group for the next 18 months and they’re all under 25.

Man U, Man City or Liverpool at AG. Big crowd and the tv money would be much needed.

Another excellent performance. Defense solid. JD slotted in well for Pring. Tanner excellent, linked up well with Skyes and great assist for Bells second. Also good to see him organising throughout the game. Atkinson a bit shaky first half but got into it as the game went on. Zak superb once more. Midfield getting better with every game. James and Naismith getting a real understanding now. Scott with the best performance of the season. Praying we keep him - not just because of his quality but because his value is only going to go up. Sykes really good, especially first half. I still think he could do more defensively and he seems to switch off at times when tracking his man but he’s definitely getting better. Wells worked tirelessly. Sam Bell - take a bow. What a performance by the young man! Long may it continue. We definitely have a group of players who’ll give everything. We showed that even when the chips were down.

Satisfactory point overall, although I think their position in the table flatters them. Very average team each time I’ve seen them this season. Defensively solid and created chances, it’s just a shame we couldn’t convert our chances. Sykes’ poorest performance since moving further up the field. He looked tired because he was struggling to get back at times to help Tanner and Vyner. Semenyo was lively all game, he’ll be a big miss if he leaves this month.

Another great performance from Zak. At fault for the goal but that wasn’t one to over scrutinise, it was just a nice bit of play and movement really. He’s formed a good partnership with Atkinson. I think him and Tanner compliment each other superbly also and they have a good understanding which is only going to improve. Head and shoulders our player of the season so far, he’s been Mr Consistent.

Disagree about him not being brilliant on the ball. I think he is superb on the ball. Always looks calm and composed and rarely gives it away. His balls over the top are usually weighted well and when he played RCB he played some superb through balls (Weimann pass vs Sheff Utd one example I seem to recall). He just needs to commit more with his runs down the wing and take players on occasionally. I think that will come though because he’s shown it in glimpses.