Cardiff City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[pauliewalnuts]

Marshall, top keeper. Fair play.

Turner for them was excellent, too.

Agree with both of you, when their keeper and centre half are their most important performers it tells you a lot about the game. Once we got the measure of Zaha I thought we dominated but a combination of our finishing and decision making plus the two mentioned above denied us the win our efforts deserved.

Well, we were much the better team in the second half, but Zaha went off on the hour, so it was helped mostly by him not being there. I thought Cardiff were much the better side the first half, bar the first ten minutes, but we had the chance to take the three points in the second half.

I don't think we deserved the win, really - we had the chance, but didn't take it. We also competed for at most 10 minutes of the first half.

[pauliewalnuts]

I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?

We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as  badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having  said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.

You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".

This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.

Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.

I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.

West Ham have won 3 in a row. Plus a draw at Chavski. So 10 points out of 12. Without conceding a goal. How many of the clubs below us are going to manage that?

I don't know, but they've got 13 matches to do it in, and it won't take a 10 points out of 12 run to drag us into it, either.

We need to start winning our own matches. We can't influence anyone else's, so picking up three points for us is crucial. We've won 2 of our last 11, and taken 8 from the last 33 points.

That has got to improve.

[Monty]

They dominated the first half, we did the second, so the draw is a self-evidently fair result.

[Ad@m]

You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".

They've won their last 3 and kept clean sheets in their last 4. The only one of those 4 they didn't win was Chelsea away. Given how shit West Ham are I'd say that is remarkable. It certainly won't be repeated by 7 of the teams below us.

[Chris Smith]

I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?

We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as  badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having  said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.

You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".

This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.

Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.

I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.

Even if you think a number of sides are all going to have a form surge at the same time, mathematics and probability suggest it still won't be enough. So many of the games that the bottom half sides play are going to be against each other and those that aren't are against the sides who have been consistently better so far this season. Which makes the combination of results to make it happen, while not impossible,  highly improbable. As an example a team like Cardiff would need to win home games against teams like Aston Villa.

[PeterWithesShin]

You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".

They've won their last 3 and kept clean sheets in their last 4. The only one of those 4 they didn't win was Chelsea away. Given how shit West Ham are I'd say that is remarkable. It certainly won't be repeated by 7 of the teams below us.

For a side that had won 2 out of 15 league games before Chavski, including 9 defeats, i'd say that was remarkable. And the odds of 7 other clubs doing it are slim. 2 or 3 of them may not manage that between now and the end of the season, never mind consecutive games.

[pauliewalnuts]

I think we've certainly gone backwards. Last season was awful, only saved by a decent run at the end. What happens if we don't replicate that during this run in?

We don't need to to do that this season. Remember position is the important thing. At this stage last season we were in and out of bottom 3. Now there are 7 teams below us who need to do a West Ham and for us to keep playing as  badly as we have been to take us into the bottom 3. That is not going to happen. Having  said that it is absolutely unacceptable that we are where we are.

You say "do a West Ham" as if it's something remarkable, when actually, it means "win two games".

This time last year, 18th position was 23 points, 11th was 30.

Now, 18th is 24 points, 11th is 28, as it stands, and 5 of the teams below us currently are playing tomorrow.

I am not saying by any means that we are doomed to relegation, just that the arguments that "it's not going to happen" when there is this much of the season left, are somewhat over-confident.

Even if you think a number of sides are all going to have a form surge at the same time, mathematics and probability suggest it still won't be enough. So many of the games that the bottom half sides play are going to be against each other and those that aren't are against the sides who have been consistently better so far this season. Which makes the combination of results to make it happen, while not impossible,  highly improbable. As an example a team like Cardiff would need to win home games against teams like Aston Villa.

i don't think a number of sides are going to have a form surge at the same time, I didn't say that.

I pointed out that the gap in points is so small, that it really isn't going to take very much for things to change considerably.

Even if you can get past the concern that we'd ideally not be having these concerns for another season in the first place, it's a bit worrying how piss poor our current form is, and how tight the gaps are.

Hositing the white flag and declaring us to be doomed is nuts, but so - in my opinion - is writing off the possibility of getting dragged into it at this point, especially when our form is so poor.

We need to win a few games.

[SoccerHQ]

Cardiff are a dreadful team, not just generally but home and away v us they've been dreadful, there's no chance they'll finish above us imo. Fulham are too far behind imo so there's two teams and I'm sure one of the number below us won't catch us up, I'm thinking Norwich as long as they don't beat us as their last four league games are horrendous.

I think that's going to be the bottom three Norwich, Cardiff and Fulham.

[curiousorange]

I reckon three more wins will be enough.

[SoccerHQ]

I would agree as obviously we'll draw a game or two so that would be pretty much 40 points.

I reckon they'll come Norwich and Fulham (YES HOME WINS!!!! (Gets the party hat out) and fancy us to nick the game at Swansea on the break.

[PeterWithesShin]

Cardiff are a dreadful team, not just generally but home and away v us they've been dreadful, there's no chance they'll finish above us imo. Fulham are too far behind imo so there's two teams and I'm sure one of the number below us won't catch us up, I'm thinking Norwich as long as they don't beat us as their last four league games are horrendous.

I think that's going to be the bottom three Norwich, Cardiff and Fulham.

I agree. Norwich look woeful. 1 win in 11. Three months since they scored more than 1 goal in a league game.

[supertom]

I would agree as obviously we'll draw a game or two so that would be pretty much 40 points.

I reckon they'll come Norwich and Fulham (YES HOME WINS!!!! (Gets the party hat out) and fancy us to nick the game at Swansea on the break.

I'd go along with that. Those are the games I'd fancy most. I don't see us winning more than another 4 this season, so we'll probably end up on something similar to last season points wise. That'll be more than enough to survive. For Lambert to keep his job? In Randy's book, yes.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'll also chuck the Bitters into the mix. 8 wins in their last 45 league games. Jammed a point tonight with their only shot on target.

[ChicagoLion]

We were the better team over all and should have won that based on the second half performance. Its a bit worrying that our forwards have become goal shy.

We are in a relegation fight and we keep using up the so called winnable games.

[curiousorange]

I'll also chuck the Bitters into the mix. 8 wins in their last 45 league games. Jammed a point tonight with their only shot on target.

For no reason other than to fuck us off, they'll pick up points when they have no right to.