A Defensive Weakness?

An interesting view from the Telegraph about a perceived defensive weakness. The online article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/10407046/Premier-League-digest-talking-points-tactics-and-total-football.html also shows a diagram of City players' average positions on the pitch. The text is as follows:-

Cardiff have faced more shots than any other team in the Premier League this term (174)
The Welsh side’s promotion from the Championship was founded their defence with only 45 league goals conceded (second best after Brighton); this season, despite signing Steven Caulker for a club-record fee and the astute capture of Chilean midfield ankle-snapper Gary Medel, they have one of the worst defences in the league with 13 conceded in nine games.
It would appear the propensity to allow the opposition to shoot is the issue, but blame cannot lie with Caulker or Medel, but right-back Kevin Theophile-Catherine.
The Frenchman, signed from Rennes in the summer, is of attacking persuasion, his main work consisting high up the pitch and wide on the right; this is important, given Peter Odemwingie, Jordon Mutch and Kim Bo-Kyung all favour moving inside (as demonstrated with the average positions above). This, however, leaves a big gap between Theophile-Catherine and his centre-backs, which Leroy Fer and Anthony Pilkington dropped into to exploit. Fer, in particular, was key to Norwich’s attacking play.
Chris Hughton’s sides are hardly renowned for their attacking, yet they managed a staggering 31 attempts at goal (11 more than any other team). It is an issue prevalent throughout; against Spurs (29 shots), the Frenchman was stationed high with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Roberto Soldado exploiting the space, while against Newcastle (20 shots), Loic Remy scored twice from the time he was granted on Cardiff’s right-hand side.
Last week’s ball-bouncing error aside, it appears Cardiff have a lot to thank goalkeeper David Marshall for, it appears.

That's the kind of analysis I like reading - good find!

So, either Malky has to curtail Cathy's attacking instincts, or probably the better option would be to ask whoever plays in front to stay right and cover the gap. Perhaps, that is why Malky prefers to use Cowie in tighter games and maybe why letting Conway go out on loan might not have been such a good idea after all.  

Wow. That is very surprising, it's amazing what the stats reveal.


One thing is for sure, Malky needs to sort out this mess and quick.


The reason the opposition is getting so many shots off, in my layman opinion, is because as soon as we get possession, we boot the ball up the pitch and give it right back to them to come at us again. I don't understand it, is clearly a tactical decision, but why is malky making them do it? Especially when we only have one small attacker to try and win it every time.

It might be a hint as to the type of player Malky might bring in at right wing (if he does). If he's noticed this, bringing in a winger that's focused on bombing down the wing and throwing balls into the box would only make the situation worse. In theory he'll bring someone in that will contribute to the attack but also always has one eye on where the right back is.

Me personally, maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't see why a winger should suffer because a fullback wants to get forward. The back four should defend first and foremost, attack should be left to the wingers and strikers. I'm all for players that wander from positions as is required (as long as you do it safely, Taylor), but I don't get the 'lets make our attacker defend so our defender can attack' logic.

Red614 wrote:It might be a hint as to the type of player Malky might bring in at right wing (if he does). If he's noticed this, bringing in a winger that's focused on bombing down the wing and throwing balls into the box would only make the situation worse. In theory he'll bring someone in that will contribute to the attack but also always has one eye on where the right back is.

Me personally, maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't see why a winger should suffer because a fullback wants to get forward. The back four should defend first and foremost, attack should be left to the wingers and strikers. I'm all for players that wander from positions as is required (as long as you do it safely, Taylor), but I don't get the 'lets make our attacker defend so our defender can attack' logic.

Craig Conway :bounce:  

Cyncoedslumdog wrote:

Red614 wrote:It might be a hint as to the type of player Malky might bring in at right wing (if he does). If he's noticed this, bringing in a winger that's focused on bombing down the wing and throwing balls into the box would only make the situation worse. In theory he'll bring someone in that will contribute to the attack but also always has one eye on where the right back is.

Me personally, maybe I'm old fashioned, but I don't see why a winger should suffer because a fullback wants to get forward. The back four should defend first and foremost, attack should be left to the wingers and strikers. I'm all for players that wander from positions as is required (as long as you do it safely, Taylor), but I don't get the 'lets make our attacker defend so our defender can attack' logic.

Craig Conway :bounce:  

Exactly, referring to my second paragraph - what kind of stupid idea is that?

mm was aware of the type of player he is and in many ways tc is similar to brayford. is it the case that no one is aware that his ass needs protecting when he gets forward?

I hate to admit it but Don Cowie looked pretty solid when he came on, he didn't give the ball away, ran like a trooper and was sensible in his pass. But pretty blunt when he came to attack. 

I agree Red, let's get back to the traditional way of things, let the wingers attacked the full backs defend. simple.

It's all down to the mainly defensive style of play encouraged by MM. If you allow teams to attack you they will invariably have many shots on goal. We have witnessed this on many occasions during the past two seasons, so why should any one be surprised at the published stats. What has also been very noticeable is that because the defence is mainly compacted around the 18 yard area, most of the shots are from 'long distance'. The number of shots on target is what matters and it appears from the Norwich game that there were far too many of those. Having said that, I think that Swansea, because of the width of their attack, will probably be the team that gets in behind the defence and cause problems inside the box. We could learn a very harsh lesson this week-end. This could very well be the game which defines our season, not just because it is against The Swans, but because of their style of play.

On the positive side (maybe clutching at straws here but desperately trying to make myself feel better after reading so many depressing stats) is MM the type of manager that will alter things if they are not going right for the team - witness half time substitutions? These stats would not have escaped his keen eye?

As for the weekend derby is it not usual that form generally goes out of the window in general fear of being lynched from the 26000 people stood/sat/swinging from the stands?!!

Cardiff 1 Swansea 1 prediction

Positivity people!

Yes the stats look bad and current form indicates a bad day, but save the criticism for after the match.

Red614 wrote:Positivity people!

Yes the stats look bad and current form indicates a bad day, but save the criticism for after the match.

My point exactly

Despite my feelings about Malky's tactics, my gut feeling is we can put one over on them and pull off another 'shock result'.