My thoughts now I've slept on it

Now I'm free from any possibility of me overreacting, I thought I'd shed some light on what has happened over the last two matches. They have caused overreaction in two very different camps, that I'll call the 'Malky out!' Group and the 'Malky could probably murder our children and we'd still think he's a good guy' group. Me, i see Malky as having done a fantastic job last year with the shoestring budget, as he earned his job. This year, however, it has to be faced i feel he has underachieved.

Last year, we had problems all over the pitch at our worst. We had a real struggle scoring, our midfield couldn't hold the ball and our defence were far too leaky. Malky, quite rightly, brought in new strikers and midfielders to address those problems. But it's almost as if he either forgot or chose to ignore our poor defence, by bringing in only one defender and letting two others leave the problem has been made worse. As I've seen G-Star at, there isn't any decent rotation options, and that breeds complacency. The whole back four should be dropped after last night, but we simply don't have the players to do that. It was in my opinion a horrendous piece of management, and we're paying for it now.

The other thing that concerns me is how our 'war chest' was spent. While superb players like Noone, Bellamy, Mutch and Maynard showed Malky has a good eye, he also made some very odd signings. Was he building for the future? If so, why Smith and Helguson? Did he want experienced battlers? Then why Kim and Velikonja? I failed to understand the thinking at the time and I struggle even more now Velikonja hasn't properly seen the light of day, and promising youngsters like Kiss and Ralls are yet to see the pitch. The massive budget we spent made every other team in this league envious, but honestly i don't think it was spent as well as it could be in places. Malky favours 'good personality' players, which isn't a bad thing, but I'd call anyone that didn't want superstars like Austin, Ince and Rhodes showing up as well a liar.

I don't want Malky sacked, that'd be ridiculous. But he does need It to be known that he has performed poorly too often this year. Top of the league is brilliant, but when you have a playoff team and inject another ten million pound into them that should be considered a requirement, not an achievement. If you don't allow yourself to be blinded by the table, you can see just how difficult it is for us to keep a clean sheet, just how lucky some of our wins have been. It's worrying compared to how solid other teams like Middlesborough and Palace look.

I just hope Malky has been mentally roughed up a bit and realises something has to be done, potentially via big changes in January. I'm not dumping you Malky, but we definitely need to sit down and talk about where this relationship is going.

Excellent Post

BUT I Dont Think he has Underachieved Just yet - Lets say that at the end of the season if we are still in this division,

For me now its just a little too early to be worrying, But cracking post all the same and i agree with everything else bar what i said

We need a defensive superstar, someone in the back four who is an equivalent to Ince, Rhodes or Austin at the back. A Lewis Dunk or a Tom Lees, or a Craig Cathcart. Quality defenders are a must.

Yes, good thread.

Malky does need to take some ownership in that he hasn't strengthed our defence.

Which, to be frank, I have always - since hudson rocked up - have thought to be our weakest overall area.

Yes Hudson is good, but he is no Prior, Purse, Loovens or Johnson.

All of which were a lot better than him.

I would fancy a move for Johnson in January.

I think Hudson is better than Prior and Purse, who were prone to gaffs on a much more regular basis. I would put Hudson on a par with Loovens and Johnson. He had a poor first season with us, but since then (last night apart) he has developed into our most consistent defender.

The lack of defensive cover has been a concern since the start of the season, but the concern was cover for potential injuries. At the moment we have no defensive injuries, they're just playing poorly, individually and as a unit, and that's something which needs addressing quickly.

Our home record is going to come under severe pressure in the next two games, both very tough. If we aren't able to pull through these, then there will be even more pressure to turn things around away from home.

I forgot to add another point I wanted to make. This may be due to me being a disciple of the Jose Mourinho school of tactics, but there was no way the same team that played against Bolton should of come out again. We may of had some bad decisions, but the team fell apart during the second half and you can't make it look like that's okay and you'll still be allowed to play the next match. Frei was the only change. Cowie was allowed to play again and he shouldn't have, that's the main example but I would of rotated the team as much as possible. At the very least out McNaughton back in the team and drop someone else in the defence instead.

It's how it should work in my opinion, and it's a tactic that highly effective if used with the right people. Bad performances are not tolerated and will get you dropped, and a good player will then look to prove himself the next match he does get picked. If players know they will be dropped if they perform poorly, they will make sure they don't. That's what I want to see happening with our midfield and attack. I can't happen with our defence because there is no options, but I won't go into that again.

I think Hudson and Turner are both fine centre backs, oddly enough. On their day they are both goal scoring threats and also able to park the bus quite well. They just haven't done that in a while, and be that because they've become complacent or they're just off the pace, it's Malky's fault for not allowing them to have a rest.

It seems good old Morris has a very similar view of my own. This article (written after my own before you start), says pretty much exactly what I'm saying, just admittedly better. It's also much gloomier.

http://www.cardiffcity-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/roll_up_roll_up_coming_soon_to_a_championship_ground_near_you_766811/index.shtml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I agree with both you and Paul Evans - it's really hard not to, to be honest. I do rate Hudson highly and he has been our most consistent performer of late and Turner did look the more uncomfortable of the pairing last night, but as you say with no competition for places, you can't help but feel we might see a couple more average defensive performances before it gets better.

Still, that's the challenge of being a City fan, eh?

I'm not sure if I'm agreeing with you or Mourinho but he absolutely had to make more than one change after Bolton. What message do you send to your incumbents and squad players if you only ever make cosmetic changes to the side.