Cardiff Player Ratings

[Brown Fox]

For those who went to the match any player ratings would be appreciated!!

[Thracian]

Ricardo 5.5 (Just gave me no confidence at all - again. His comic two-fisted punch when he could just have caught it led to the fans cheering sarcastically every time he did get get he ball in his hand. Sven obviously rates the guy but he also rated Kirkland and I know what I think).

Van Aanholt 5 (He's about as much like Ashley Cole as Donald Duck. One great chance to put us ahead which he never looked like taking. Otherwise his performance was never better than luke warm).

Bruma 6 (Okay first half but faded badly)

Naughton 6 (Second goal came from his department. Another to play his part early on but then falter).

Bamba 6.5 (Here, there and everywhere but he's got to be concerned about the lack of a challenge near the penatly spot for both their goals)

Mee 5.5. (See above. And he wasn't that special generally).

King 5.5 (Had one good attempt first half with the outside of his foot which was nearest to a goal for us but otherwise seemed to be as guilty of passing the buck as everyone else in the second half).

Dyer 5 Disappointing.

Wellens 5 Disappointing.

Gallagher 5.5 (Surprised he was replaced cos he was one of the few who might have fashioned a goal for all he was lightweight and mostly inconsequencial)

Yakubu 5.5 (Never a goal threat).

Subs:

Abe 4

Vassell 4

Waghorn 4 (One promising run and cross but otherwise seemed to want to play by himself, though admittedly with a bit of attitude. Sven moved him to the left wing where he was always going to be totally ineffective).

Sven 0 (Piss poor. We gave Cardiff too much respect, we seem to be messing the team about too much, we had too many non-performers, too little threat, insufficient movement and support and a whole host of other deficiencies. Might as well not have bothered with half-time or the substitutions because we just didn't compete second half and the subs had no impact).

[edwbon]

According the commentators on the BBC the center of the pitch was awful with bald brown patches and the players did not have the confidence to start putting passes together. It seems though that we started brightly enough to be considered the better of the two sides, but then Cardiff scored the first goal.

I wonder why the football league allows games to be played on pitches in this condition as it tends to even the sides out and the outcome of the games depends more on other intangibles like playing in a familiar environment and crowd support and so on . Still Cardiff took its chances well and I think we can have no complaints. Concerning Bruma I understand that Sven was trying to give the midfield more defensive bite and think the experiment is worth continuing for a couple of games .

[SamL]

Bamba 7

Bruma 6

No wonder we lost, only two players actually played.

[marbelladave]

I had a decent seat in the Ninian stand, fair way from you lot, which is rarely a bad idea...

Ricardo 5. Genuinely dissapointed, thought he would get better as he played more games but it's not happening yet. Controls his area well when we push out, short distribution is great and his long kicking has already improved. Punching less often but one (that he should have caught) from inside his six yard box left our players looking really quizzical. Both Cardiff goals were passed into the net without much pace, they were either superbly placed or he was slow to get down, maybe a bit of both.

Naughton 5.5. Not at his best. Largely ineffective going forward, with Dyer largely missing he was too easily closed down and with no outlet dis-possessed too often and too easily. Shaky at the back too, caught out on several occasions including their second goal, never gave up though, a big positive.

Bamba 7. Probably our best defender he did good work all over pitch without ever quite being at his best. Caught flat footed and facing our own goal twice, he was poorly positioned to prevent either goal.

Mee 6.5. Not as impressive as recent weeks he still looked pretty capable both in defence and when bringing the ball upfield. Like Bamba he was still not goalside when the scoring shots were made. Had to spend a fair amount of tine covering for the absent van Aanholt.

van Aanholt 4.5. Poor, no real energy or commitment at all, his forward runs were desultory, his one good chance fell to his weaker foot and was sent wide. Caught well forward on a few occasions even his recovery pace looked to be missing.

Bruma 5.5. Played well enough without ever suggesting that he could be the dominant player we so badly need. Tried to take the load off of Wellens and King but it didn't really work and left them both strangely un-involved,

Wellens 4.5. Totally bullied by the Cardiff midfield once they went ahead. His nornal fiesty persona just evaporated and one long shot apart he never looked like excerting any real influence going forward.

King 5. Heavily marked at all times, doubly so when he got forward he was still one of the few players to pose a goal threat. One decent opportunity went begging and although he got forward well, nothing else really fell for him. Found himself playing deeper and deeper secondhalf when our game fell apart, tough day at the office.

Dyer 4. Got absolutely nothing out of McNaughton, I mean nothing! Should have been replaced well before he was.

Yakubu 4.5. As isolated and ineffective away from home as he is dangerous at the Walkers. No decent sevice so no threat, does not make the effort to lead the line so our attack has no proper focus. Disappointing from set pieces too.

Gallagher 6.5. Our best player for much of the first half, virually all our better play came through him including the move that set up King. A heavy tackle took the bite out of his game and he was not the same thereafter.

Abe 4.5. Brought on to play wide left in a midfield 4 he was well off the pace, looked a bit lost and gave the ball away. Showed why he is not currently starting.

Waghorn 5.5. Started down the center off Yakubu, he managed to bring some energy to proceedings but not much else, Well marked and with poor service he could do little. Pushed out to the left for the last 20 mins he largely disappeared.

Vassell 5. Brought on to partner Yakubu for the last quarter he had no more luck than Waghorn, did not look at all sharp though.

Referee 6. The usual homer, nothing to get really excited about, just gave Cardiff pretty much everything and us very lttle. Probably made little difference to the result.

[Wymsey]

Sounds like we're dipping in form at a crucial point of the season......

[marbelladave]

Sounds like we're dipping in form at a crucial point of the season......

Whoa.....Take it easy, bit premature there!

(He says optimistically....)

[cc_star]

Mee 6.5. Not as impressive as recent weeks he still looked pretty capable both in defence and when bringing the ball upfield. Like Bamba he was still not goalside when the scoring shots were made. Had to spend a fair amount of tine covering for the absent van Aanholt.

van Aanholt 4.5. Poor, no real energy or commitment at all, his forward runs were desultory, his one good chance fell to his weaker foot and was sent wide. Caught well forward on a few occasions even his recovery pace looked to be missing.

Now that we don't have the issue of Hobbs playing on the wrong side/not being at his best/not being the best passer (delete as applicable) and Mee has certainly proved himself in doing the role that Sven needs from a LCB, is it time to have another look at Bruno, obviously in the past Bruno's lack of pace coupled with Hobbs meant we weren't great on the left side & PVAs mobility seemed to be the reason he was brought in with a view to replicating the success that Naughton has had on the right, but can we honestly say this is happening. The threat going forward is almost non-existent and he actually look poor at the back, plus we've lost Berner's threat from corners.

PVA may well be the next Ashley Cole in years to come but apart from 45mins against Derby I think he's not been great for us and with you pointing out that his lack of performance had an impact on Mee is it time we had a look at Mee again.

[David Guiza]

Ricardo 6- other the punch I didn't think he did anything else wrong, I think it's almost certain that he's picked a lot more for his distribution then anything.

Naughton 6- average, nothing special not many mistakes either. Although Emmanuel Thomas did seem to be in a lot of space on many occasions.

Bamba 6- usual game although no challenge for either game as previously mentioned

Mee 6- dealt with arguably the best targetman in the division fairly well

PVA 5- could have possibly scored and looked very nice getting back on too many occasions

Bruma 6- thought he looked quite good, also reminded me of a better Kisnorbo when he used to play that roll.

King 5- anonymous

Wellens 5- can't remember many successful passes from him

Dyer 5- anonymous

Yakubu 5- did nothing but also wasn't given any chances

Gallagher 5- same as Dyer and King

[Langston]

We didn't play well at all last night, never looked like creating anything.

It's so easy to blame surfaces after defeats, such a lame excuse. Both teams have had to adjust to the pitch.

Ricardo is awful, we can't be messing around with goal keppers or be 'giving them time' at this stage, or indeed any stage of the season, if they're little more than a fisting, Portuguese liability.

[marbelladave]

Now that we don't have the issue of Hobbs playing on the wrong side/not being at his best/not being the best passer (delete as applicable) and Mee has certainly proved himself in doing the role that Sven needs from a LCB, is it time to have another look at Bruno, obviously in the past Bruno's lack of pace coupled with Hobbs meant we weren't great on the left side & PVAs mobility seemed to be the reason he was brought in with a view to replicating the success that Naughton has had on the right, but can we honestly say this is happening. The threat going forward is almost non-existent and he actually look poor at the back, plus we've lost Berner's threat from corners.

PVA may well be the next Ashley Cole in years to come but apart from 45mins against Derby I think he's not been great for us and with you pointing out that his lack of performance had an impact on Mee is it time we had a look at Mee again.

Reasonable call. I think Sven likes him because, like Naughton he gets forward quickly and gives us options, that's the theory, didn't see much of that last night though.

Had he struck his shot better when he was through on goal to give us the opener, this might have been a very different conversation....

[evs_the_fox]

Sounds like we're dipping in form at a crucial point of the season......

[Filthy Fox]

dipping in form???????

cardiff is always going to be hard match, especially when playing away

my verdict is if we lose against Coventry this Sat then we can kiss the play offs goodbye... if we win then we are back on track and no way off form...

[shiv]

Ricardo 6 - Didn't hugely fill me with confidence but had good distribution.

Naughton 6 - Thought he was unlucky to be against Emmanuel-Thomas who was a handful. Worked his socks off defensively and pushed forward more in the second half.

Bamba 7 - Worked hard, made some crucial tackles. But as a unit, we were poor defensively.

Mee 7 - Did well considering he was marking Bothroyd.

Van Aanholt 5 - Thought he was shit. Got forward but offered very little, final ball was poor.

Bruma 7 - He was one of the stand out players for us, won tackles and got stuck in.

Wellens 5 - Thought he was fairly poor, and deservedly substituted.

King 6 - Thought he was okay first half but almost invisible in the second half.

Dyer 6 - Got in some decent positions but like the whole team, final product just wasn't there.

Gallagher 6 - Unlucky to be subbed but wasn't the same after those two tackles.

Yakubu 5 - Lazy and poor. Just didn't look interested.

SUBS:-

Waghorn 6 - Worked his socks off as usual but didn't pose much of a threat.

Abe 6 - Played much better than Wellens.

Vassell 5.5 - Made a couple of decent runs but didn't really get much time.

I thought overall we were poor, but Cardiff weren't much better. We just looked to pass the ball and get nowhere and nobody seemed to want to put the ball in the box. Ref was shit as usual as well.