Unofficial match ratings - Leeds V Cardiff

Marshall - Another stalwart man of the match performance from marshall. He commanded his area well and while his defence often give him very little to do he made two top class saves to deny almost certain goals and was always on hand to collect crosses that came too close. The decision to pick up the ball from the backpass was stupid and amateurish, the ball should of just been kicked away as opposed to HOPING to was an interception. No harm done though in the end, so he only loses one point because of it - 8

Connolly - on first inspection a quiet night for our right back. He dealt with most danger on that side pretty confidently, to the level that I never really saw it as a weak point. In my opinion he was being unessecerily rough all too often, shoving players to the ground then screaming abuse at the referee for giving the free kick isn't my cup of tea. Often it was completely uncalled for too, one particular scenario had him box McCormack tight into the corner flag with nowhere to go, and Conway had arrived to ensure no help would arrive. But still, he shoved him to the ground and conceeded the free kick. It could cost us one day - 7

Hudson - Stonewall performance, a phrase that can be used to sum up virtually every match he plays now. There was no excitement this time around, no glorious blocks or throwing his face into the ball. There was however a very confident centre-back more than capable of marking his man out of the game and clearing any danger that came close to him - 8

Turner - the fans overwhelmingly voted Marshall their man of the match, but I think Turner can consider himself unlucky. The commentators on my feed felt that way too, the way they were talking about him you'd think he was superman. There's definetely evidence for it though based on yesterday. They tried to put the ball over the top of him, past him, through him, yet every single time he was too fast and too strong and collected the ball easily. He blocked any shot that came his way, and seemed to have some sort of sixth sense that allowed him to know what was going to happen five seconds before Leeds even knew, he always seemed in the exact right place. Possibly the best praise I can give him is he made Hudson look ordinary - 9

Taylor - a mixed bag, making his rating very difficult. Defensively i feel he did very well, shutting out wingers like Connolly but not conceeding free kicks as cheaply. He also cut into the box when required well too, one particularly impressive defensive display saw him block a dangerous shot with his left, and then nick the ball from the feet of the player it found on the rebound with his right. However, something in could copy and paste every week is he offered absolutely nothing going forward. He made some great runs and he's surprisingly fast with the ball at his feet, but he seemed completely incompetent at offloading it usefully. Crosses were either too long, too short or too close to the goalkeeper. And worse when passing the ball short he seemed to not know the difference between the ones playing in red as the ones playing in white. It seems harsh penalising a defender who defended well for not not being very good in attack, but it's the modern game an what's required of a full back - 7

Conway - Well, where do I start. Ill try and be nice. He works really hard every match, and his defensive work has seemingly given our defence more confidence. Deep breath. Whenever a encountered a defender his first though always seemed to be 'dive'. I don't blame him, as he's definetely a better diver than he is a passer of the ball (he's a terrible diver). On the rare occasion he grew a pair and ran down the wing invariably he would lose the ball. Shouldn't be anywhere near that position when players like Noone are on the bench - 4

Whittingham - it's considered bad taste to critiscise potentially one of the best Cardiff city players of all time. But however in this case it has to be done. He needs to be dropped, had a word with, beaten over the head with a pillow till he promises to try harder, ANYTHING to get him back on form. He was another one responsible for our high rate of giving the ball away, his passing being off target and he also faile to realise how often Bellamy was offside and kept trying to give him the ball despite other options. Free kicks again, he either didn't give it his all or handed it over to Bellamy indicating a severe confidence problem. Is it Bellamy's fault? He seems to of handed attacking control completely over to him and I think that's damaged his game. He needs to realise he's just as good as Bellamy, and start showing that - 5

Kim Bo-Kyung - in a thread earlier this week I said I think Kim needs more time to grow, that one or two awesome matches doesn't immediately make him great. Most of you disagreed - so this is my 'Haha!'. Against a team like Leeds, you can't try and dribble past them all because they will just shove you over. Kim was either incapable of seeing this, it was too stubborn to stop trying. Whenever on the ball every touch he took made his situation worse yet he stubbornly refused to offload. In dangerous spots too, eight outside our box leaving me screaming at him to pass for once. In the oppositions box he was part of a promising attack yet got too fancy on the goal line and kicked it out under no pressure at all. He was everywhere on the pitch at once and is most definetely a box to box midfielder, but he has much growing to do - 6

Gunnarrson - the pick of performances in otherwise a poor day for our midfield. His physical grunt again broke defences well, and in contrast to Whittingham made smart decisions that made good attacks great. Definetely one of the backbone of our team now - 8

Smith - Leeds made it difficult for our strikers most of the match, but Smith still managed to look dangerous. He was finding space, providing options and fired off a few mean shots. Leeds defence performed well though, and he found himself pushed off the ball too often with no support. On another day id of tipped him to score - 8

Bellamy - at his age, I'm surprised no one has taught him the offside rule yet. It sounds silly but he must of reached double figures on that front, and it's honestly a little emberassing. At one point he stopped chasing a good long ball because he assumed he was offside it happened that regularly. When he knew he was inside though he looked good, too much speed for the defence and the awareness of a man that's showing he's too good for the league. Too often however when the team are on the ropes they repeatedly give the ball to him expecting magic, and he's only human. His tempter got the best of him at times today as well, the reason for his yellow card. He got the assist on the goal, but tha wasnt his objective - 7

Campbell - what a debut. You can't get better than a goal on your first match, even if it was simply a case of sticking his foot in front of a hooked shot by Bellamy that landed right in front of him. After the goal however Leeds pushes hard, and that skewed what you can make of him. He was in good spaces to recieve the ball but that's pretty easy to do when half of Leeds defence is up the other side of the pitch. That's not a critisicism though, just a declaration that for the most part it wasnt a true test of his capabilities. For doing the ayatollah three times in ten minutes however and grinning wildly all match long, in going to give him a - 8

Helguson - I was told he was on the pitch, ill be damned if I spotted him at all though. Why on earth was he deployed as a winger when we had Noone ready and waiting? Very odd decision from Malky. - N/A

Thanks Red... Have some flair

Agree with most of that.
Conway is definitely one of Malky's pragmatic choices.

Maybe give Kim a 7 though.

Few of us would select Conway in our starting eleven, but is it a coincidence that since he has returned to the side we have looked much more comfortable defensively and are conceding very few goals. Taylor is quite clearly benefiting from Conway's inclusion in the starting line up.

Phil Blue/Red wrote:Few of us would select Conway in our starting eleven, but is it a coincidence that since he has returned to the side we have looked much more comfortable defensively and are conceding very few goals. Taylor is quite clearly benefiting from Conway's inclusion in the starting line up.

Indeed, I highlighted the confidence he seems to deliver to the back four in particular Taylor. I guess though it could be spun on its head - should the team be in a situation where we compromise our midfield with a poor player just because it stops a player in defence being weak? Surely Taylor should be expected to perform alone, not need babysitting?

Red614 wrote:

Phil Blue/Red wrote:Few of us would select Conway in our starting eleven, but is it a coincidence that since he has returned to the side we have looked much more comfortable defensively and are conceding very few goals. Taylor is quite clearly benefiting from Conway's inclusion in the starting line up.

Indeed, I highlighted the confidence he seems to deliver to the back four in particular Taylor. I guess though it could be spun on its head - should the team be in a situation where we compromise our midfield with a poor player just because it stops a player in defence being weak? Surely Taylor should be expected to perform alone, not need babysitting?

It's a team game. It's all about the whole, not the performance of individuals. That's the reason we are top of the league and 10 points clear at the moment.

I rate Conway and would have him starting every week. He is similar to Kimbo in many ways. Keeps the ball well, helps do some of the dirty work... but most importantly, he is a brilliant out ball and always seems to be there to help relieve pressure.

I guess it's all about opinions but I would drop Conway to make room in midfield for Smith. Fraizer to replace Smith up front and Noone still the (unlucky) winger on the bench.
It's annoying that as Whittingham struggles, Mutch isn't ready to step in.