a birdy match day thread - the owls v the bluebirds

[maisie'sdadVice Captain]

First topic message reminder :

Match day thread. Sheffield Wednesday v Cardiff City to be played on Saturday 7th February, 2015. kick-off 1500 hrs.

Formed in 1867 as The Wednesday, they are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the 3rd oldest in the football league. they get their nickname from the suburb of Owlerton, where the ground is located. We can count on the support of Neil Kinnock whilst they can only rely on his one-time deputy, Roy Hattersley, plus the wandering minstrel Michael Palin



Like many others it was originally The Wednesday cricket club, that started to play football. Sheffield Wednesday, a little better than us in the league have taken just one home point this year and three in total.

We play them at Hillsborough, following a run of four straight defeats and travel to a stadium with a near 40,000 capacity. Cardiff will be in their new red away strip as the owls, under boss Stuart Gray, will be in their traditional blue.

Wednesday, will be without skipper and former city idol Glenn Loovens who has been handed a two match ban after picking up his 10th caution of the season.

A round trip using British Rail is quite feasible in a day, but the hardy fan will face a 400 mile journey and the met office have issued amber snow warnings for the week. travel wisely and perhaps your courage will be rewarded.........



we last played Sheffield Wednesday in September last year and under the tenure of Danny Gabbidon and Scott Young. who will forget that off the line clearance by Fabio or the volley from Anthony Pilkington

[Arkay DubyaGlobal Superstar]

Agreed!

[TDAGlobal Superstar]

Seems to me that the edge that we had disapeared with the substitutions.

Peltier was enforced, but Revel for Doyle was bizarre. Listening to the commentary, Doyle seemed to be really sharp and should have been match fit. Why take him off, when there was a real chance that he would eventually bury a chance and get off the mark?

Apart from getting booked, Revel didn't appear to make much impact.

[CyncoedslumdogNational Legend]

Listening to fans on the radio who were at the match, there was universal amazement when he pulled Doyle off to put Revell on.
Doyle apparently was sharp, hard working and dangerous while Revell is simply a "good runner".
A poor decision unless he was injured. As for the ongoing presence of Whitts and Gunnar, I despair of any innovative thinking when setting up the team.

[Tyrion TannisterGlobal Superstar]

Sorry I missed the game, was on my stag party. I will say this though - what wednesday did to our defence in the second half was NOTHING compared to what the contents of my stomach did to a skip a few hours later. You can have that image for free too.

Doyle sounded really sharp as playing him slightly behind Jones wasn't as silly as I assumed it would be - he looks like a player who's happy to have the ball at his feet and make runs up the pitch.

[maisie'sdadVice Captain]

connolly wants a pair of size 9's up his ass for giving away that penalty then putting his hands up in the air as if to say twernt me ref. twat cost us two points

[*** G L O V E S ***National Legend]

connolly wants a pair of size 9's up his ass for giving away that penalty then putting his hands up in the air as if to say twernt me ref. twat cost us two points

The thing is Connolly is one of the finest centre-backs in this division - just look at his record! He's now at his peak age wise, and yet he is still not being given regular game time. We splashed out £9m on defenders in the summer when we had Turner, Hudson and Connolly - as well as Oshilaja who is more than capable of filing in as fourth choice - which is more money thrown down the drain.

I'd have Peltier - Connolly - Manga - Malone

[Arkay DubyaGlobal Superstar]

connolly wants a pair of size 9's up his ass for giving away that penalty then putting his hands up in the air as if to say twernt me ref. twat cost us two points

The thing is Connolly is one of the finest centre-backs in this division - just look at his record! He's now at his peak age wise, and yet he is still not being given regular game time. We splashed out £9m on defenders in the summer when we had Turner, Hudson and Connolly - as well as Oshilaja who is more than capable of filing in as fourth choice - which is more money thrown down the drain.

I'd have Peltier - Connolly - Manga - Malone

I'd agree, although I'm yet to be convinced by Malone. He had a shocker against Derby but then I'd still prefer him to Fabio who looks capable of getting himself sent off and giving away a howler at any given moment.

[CyncoedslumdogNational Legend]

Fabio woild be perfect as a wing back in a 5-3-2 or 3-5-2 depending on the state of the game. We could even hide Whitts in that formation as he seems undroppable (along with Gunnar). Malone is a bit of a disaster defensively.

[TDAGlobal Superstar]

connolly wants a pair of size 9's up his ass for giving away that penalty then putting his hands up in the air as if to say twernt me ref. twat cost us two points

I don't blame Connolly. I blame a system that allows a player to feel entitled to go to ground if simply touched by a defender, as was claimed by a Wednesday player after the game. Contact between players has always been part of the game and is not a foul unless a player is unfairly disadvantaged by such contact.

Things need to change as this, along with shirt tugging, is ruining the game.

[Arkay DubyaGlobal Superstar]

connolly wants a pair of size 9's up his ass for giving away that penalty then putting his hands up in the air as if to say twernt me ref. twat cost us two points

I don't blame Connolly.  I blame a system that allows a player to feel entitled to go to ground if simply touched by a defender, as was claimed by a Wednesday player after the game.  Contact between players has always been part of the game and is not a foul unless a player is unfairly disadvantaged by such contact.  

Things need to change as this, along with shirt tugging, is ruining the game.

Hear hear!

TDA for FIFA President! Etc etc

[*** G L O V E S ***National Legend]

connolly wants a pair of size 9's up his ass for giving away that penalty then putting his hands up in the air as if to say twernt me ref. twat cost us two points

The thing is Connolly is one of the finest centre-backs in this division - just look at his record! He's now at his peak age wise, and yet he is still not being given regular game time. We splashed out £9m on defenders in the summer when we had Turner, Hudson and Connolly - as well as Oshilaja who is more than capable of filing in as fourth choice - which is more money thrown down the drain.

I'd have Peltier - Connolly - Manga - Malone

I'd agree, although I'm yet to be convinced by Malone. He had a shocker against Derby but then I'd still prefer him to Fabio who looks capable of getting himself sent off and giving away a howler at any given moment.

I agree that Malone has been poor on the whole so far, but I don't think we have anyone else available. Not a fan of Fabio who, tireless running aside, offers little defensively.

[Tyrion TannisterGlobal Superstar]

That left back spot has troubled us for years - Taylor was famously the weakest link in Malkys squad, and it rally only got worse when Fabio came along. Seems somewhat remarkable that no one has really seen that as a focus point for someone of real quality.

I'm kind of with Slumdog Senior though - a 5-3-2 would of done us pretty well until we lost our only true right wing back in Brayford. We'd have to hatchet someone like Noone or Harris in there.

Our biggest problem by an absolute mile however remains the tactics - Cardiff have been plagued by managers that seem to think scoring an early goal then sitting back for 80 minutes is the way to go, when it really isn't.

[*** G L O V E S ***National Legend]

Full-backs are particularly important when playing a diamond in the middle, too. I only seen brief highlights of the game from Saturday, so I'm assuming Malone offered absolutely nothing other than his half-decent assist?

[TDAGlobal Superstar]

Can I mention Declan John at this point?

[*** G L O V E S ***National Legend]

Can I mention Declan John at this point?

He played really well in the development squad last week apparently. I still see him as more of a winger, much like Fabio, but it would be nice to see 'one of our own' given a run out.

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