Match Ratings

Sigh.... Here we go.

Moore - there was a kid sat in the empty family stand - not sure if he was a ball boy or a son to someone important, he looked about twelve. Anyway, a stray Bournemouth shot flew at 100mph at him and he made a stunning gloveless catch as casual as anything. I'd rather we had him in goal to Moore today, who couldn't catch a ball to save his life. One shot in the second half came straight at him and he couldn't get a hand to it, saved only by the crossbar. Gets a point for decent distribution, but that's it. - 2

Brayford - did nothing wrong and was probably our best defender, but that's like picking your favourite flavour of turd. Made some decent runs down the wing but suffered from a lack of support or a decent cross target - 6

Gabbidon - boy do I hope he regretted picking himself and then not putting a single centreback on the bench. Far too casual on the ball and made more trouble then he stopped. Particularly poor in the air - if you're going to charge down a long balls you HAVE to control it. Hope we dont see him on the pitch again soon - 3

Cala - Juan Cala gives me hope that I can make it as a professional footballer. Didnt make a single useful pass, missed every tackle he made, blamed the fullback when he lost his man in the box, showed no interest in tracking back when he lost his position.
Possibly the worst performance I have ever seen from a professional footballer. I would say if I could I'd give him a zero, but even that would be far too generous - 1

John - I felt sorry for him. The first half he was truly terrible, losing his man in defence and giving the ball away in attack, which is suicidal for a fullback. Left the pitch practically in tears at half time with Gunnarrson and Cala both laying into him. Then he came back for the second half and worked himself into the ground. Stopped giving the ball away, made a couple of excellent last ditch tackles, provided a potent attacking threat. Good for him, and I hope tonight hasn't scarred him too much - 5

Kimbo - remember when Kimbo was drawing praise for his ball control? I think we might of left him in Dubai and took back the wrong South Korean, because the guy that played tonight didn't know where to stand on the pitch, lost every ball he played and had the passing ability of Stephen Hawking after a couple of jägerbombs. Maybe it was rustiness but whatever it was, he needed to show himself tonight and he failed miserably - 4

Adeyemi - come on Tom, I like you. You're a born leader and your tenacity makes things happen - so where was it tonight? Backed off too many opponents, didn't create anything with his passing, seemed slow compared to his marks. Work to be done, but at least he seemed to be upset by his performance and like John showed a small improvement in the second half - 5

Gunnarrson - If he is to remain in the first team, he made a good claim for the permenant captaincy. Shouted commands, led by example and was personally responsible for not letting the score get any higher. If anything he seemed to try and do too much and be everywhere on the pitch. He's impressed me since the relegation -
7

Maynard - I forgot who was playing left wing, and that really sums it up. To his credit he worked hard to look after John who was on the verge of complete meltdown, not only in vital covering play but also a pat on the back and words of encouragement. In attack though he offered nothing - he's not a winger, it's that simple - 6

Guerrera - don't really know why he was subbed. Didn't see much of the ball and when it did come he was overwhelmed due to zero support. Didn't take being subbed well, shared some seemingly nasty words with the staff and stormed off down the tunnel - 6

Le Fondre - he's running out of time, he really is. Not a winger no, but you at least expect some basic ability, what we got instead was a player who couldn't control anything with any speed on it and couldn't fiure out where to stand on the pitch. In the second half in particular he seemes completely lost - he played right wing, left wing, striker, midfielder and centreback, all to no effect - 4

Daehli - our man of the match, his performance made me want to cry. A breath of fresh air from the moment he came on, beating every man that came at him and never, ever giving the ball away. In one period he beat three players consecutively then played a beautiful ball straight trough the legs of the of the fourth. He was immense, he really was. My only worry is that he is very short and very weak - both were exploited tonight. He can't keep up with the other players and even if he gets a head start he can be shouldered aside. Messi overcame it though, so it's not impossible - 9

Macheda - in my section there was an odd reaction to Macheda touching the ball. Outside of the box it was a sigh, the inevitability of him losing the ball all too much. In the box it was a gasp, as his shot is always hit hard and accurately, a couple of solid blocks by their centrebacks and an offside flag the only things stopping him scoring. A proper old school striker - zero in link up but lethal in the box - 7

Pilkington - wasn't on the pitch long enough to fairly judge - N/A

Good job Red, have some more flair from me.......

Given the players we have in the squad, I can't understand the continued fascination with selecting players out of position, Maynard & Le Fondre spring to mind.....

Kimbo has been going steadily downhill since early last season and Guerra must be wondering why he commited himself to Cardiff City.

The fitness levels and coaching has got to improve or we are in for real problems. You can't just dump players randomly into a team and expect them to perform. Fitness comes from playing regularly, something that few of our players are doing.

Part of Ole's legacy appears to be an unfit squad with very little team spirit. We need a strong man in soon with an ability to control players like Ravel Morrison being the acid (whoops) test.

Save to say, what a shambles we are currently in.

I can honestly see us going the way of the Wolves. Straight relegation.


Oh how different it could have been if we had beaten Norwich - the results, and confidence of the squad and fans, would have vastly different.

If I took anything away from the match it was how badly we need a man manager. Malky and Ole literally seem two worlds apart in management styles - one filled the squad with poor quality players but they would run themselves ragged every single match, Ole has filled it with star players that are brainless and demand strict organisation to achieve success. I never thought I'd be hoping we could get Conway and Bellamy back, but I was last night.

Optimistically, Slade could be the perfect appointment if he can implement a good structure and get the team working together. I don't think we need anymore players, as man for man I do still feel we have one of the best squads on the league. It just needs that man that's going to get them all working together properly. Slade has proven to be very, very good at that, and he has vast experience working with low confidence squads on the verge of relegation and making things happen.

Failing that, I'll show up at training and offer to play at centreback. Even my 78 year old grandmother could keep Cala out of the squad

A lot of the problems are down to morale.  Ole has abandoned players who joined specifically as he was the manager and he sold them a vision for City.  Sadly, his vision was flawed and certain players, finding themselves in a foreign country and at a leaderless and listless club are showing major character deficiencies.

Cala is a very good player, but no doubt feels that he has been pushed from pillar to post.  Whoever the new manager is, he willl need to sort our these man management considerations asap and anyone with an attitude should be out on loan immediately.

Cala was a bad egg last night, without a shadow of a doubt. I can put up with a poor performance and possibly attribute it to low morale - but not how he reacted to it. He blamed John when it was his own man that went unmarked to score, he criticised Moore for not coming out to collect the ball despite Cala having it at his feet and able to clear, he petulantly kicked the ground if he lost the ball and didn't show any interest in turning around and chasing it again. Possibly the worst was that he started shouting orders and completely ignoring the fact Gabbidon was right next to him and doing the exact same thing but with different directions.
A couple of players threw their hands up in exasperation when being told to push higher up by Gabbidon but to sit back by Cala. Cala lost his head basically, and coupled with the still unknown tunnel incident at the back of last year I seriously worry about his usefulness to the squad.

At least Gabbidon was well placed to make a judgement on Cala. A pity, as I had hoped that Cala would be a useful player this season.