Cardiff City v Huddersfield Match Report

Mason looks good in red. Turner looks better in blue. I quite liked the Huddersfield kit.

Onwards and upwards

And Marshall won the game for us.

Helgerson looks like a good signing, we missed having a player like him last season.

Disappointed with Cowie tonight, but Mason looked sharp when he replaced him.

I LOVE U ALL

The Devil's Advocate wrote:Disappointed with Cowie tonight, but Mason looked sharp when he replaced him.

First game of the season is always a bit ropey, it will take a few matches for the team to get into their stride.

Not wishing to go all negative in our happy home but that could have been last year's end of season side with Miller up front and no idea how to use him. A squad well blessed with forwards now and we play with one at home (Bellamy was hardly in the game out wide for some reason) and ask him to jump for the ball all night. However, perspective is important. First game and we did scrape 3 points. In Malky we trust.

Malaise Yeah! wrote:Not wishing to go all negative in our happy home but that could have been last year's end of season side with Miller up front and no idea how to use him. A squad well blessed with forwards now and we play with one at home (Bellamy was hardly in the game out wide for some reason) and ask him to jump for the ball all night. However, perspective is important. First game and we did scrape 3 points. In Malky we trust.

We could have lost; we didn't, we stole three points. ~Promotion form. IMHO.

We stole 3 points first game last season too at Upton Park thanks to Kenny.

I think Kimbo is going to make a big difference, I have a good feeling about him. Still not 100% convinced about our available striking options though.

One game at a time guys. A win is a win whether it's pretty or not. Cater in the fact many of our first team are either not here (Kim) or are a little tired from internationals or the cup only a few days ago. The squads completely reworked attack also still needs some time to grow into a working unit - Bellamy displays that very obviously since he seemed very disconnected from the rest at times.

What I took from the night is actually some more wing players would be a good idea. With no Kim and Conway not playing we were stuck with Cowie on the right, who I really don't think cuts it. It's even worse on the left when we don't play Bellamy though. That shouldn't take away the fact though that far too many times last night our defence were dire, and seriously need reworking.

Malaise Yeah! wrote:Not wishing to go all negative in our happy home but that could have been last year's end of season side with Miller up front and no idea how to use him. A squad well blessed with forwards now and we play with one at home (Bellamy was hardly in the game out wide for some reason) and ask him to jump for the ball all night. However, perspective is important. First game and we did scrape 3 points. In Malky we trust.

Some valid points there. It was worrying to see some of the poor habits of last season still in evidence.

Despite having much less possession, Huddersfield created more chances. Marshall made at least 3 great saves that kept City in the game.

Finally, all hail the new clock.
I laughed out loud when I first saw it.

Red614 wrote:One game at a time guys. A win is a win whether it's pretty or not. Cater in the fact many of our first team are either not here (Kim) or are a little tired from internationals or the cup only a few days ago. The squads completely reworked attack also still needs some time to grow into a working unit - Bellamy displays that very obviously since he seemed very disconnected from the rest at times.

What I took from the night is actually some more wing players would be a good idea. With no Kim and Conway not playing we were stuck with Cowie on the right, who I really don't think cuts it. It's even worse on the left when we don't play Bellamy though. That shouldn't take away the fact though that far too many times last night our defence were dire, and seriously need reworking.

I'll go along with what you have said here. Given the players we have, I would hope to see more flexibility throughout a game. For instance, Bellamy was obviously against a very good full back, so why didn't he switch to the right occasionally, where he is equally effective? Cowie is capable of filling the space on the left, but Cowie & McNaughton produced very little threat, working together. Bellamy was obviously hoping for better service from Taylor, but given that City were on the back foot for much of the game, there was little scope for that partnership to flourish.

A player who did catch my eye was Jordon Mutch. He clearly is not fully match fit yet, but I think he will grow and the team with him. I was also impressed by the little cameo we saw from Filip Kiss.....he may well press Gunnarsson for a starting place this year.

Mutch has really impressed me these last two games. I didn't know much about him beyond that 'talented youth' tag he has and the Birmingham City fans in my family all telling me how devestated they were that he left. But what he showed, especially against Newcastle but also last night, was a ball holding ability I haven't seen in our midfield for a while. Not afraid to hold the ball and his passes are useful yet safe. He's given us more ball posession in the centre of the pitch and that, again, especially against Newcastle gave our other outfield players much more confidence in joining plays and making themselves dangerous. He's also shown himself to be decent going forward (although he may need some finishing practice from what I saw). Ignoring the fanfare that comes with Bellamy, he's my favourite new signing from what I've seen so far.

••••••• wrote:
Mason looks good in red. Turner looks better in blue. I quite liked the Huddersfield kit.

Onwards and upwards

Great report, difficult to disagree with anything you have said.