I spent last night watching the Championship semi-final play off last night between Cardiff City & Reading, a great game for the neutral due to the early goal and some slipshod defending. Upon watching it though it suddenly occurred to me that Cardiff appear to lack a “big game” mentality, or perhaps they just lack the required bottle to see out a promotion campaign.
Over the last 5/6 years how many times have they led the Championship and then fallen away badly in late season or have been undone by what is usually an inferior side in the play offs? Is there something lacking at the club in terms of belief or is it a problem with the players themselves?.
Throughout the season I have watched quite a bit of the championship and have seen Cardiff put in some scintillating displays and I would say they are probably man for man a better side than Norwich City who were promoted automatically. To be fair there was no pressure on Norwich after their promotion last year and it appears they are riding on the crest of a wave, not much will be expected of them next year either and they could be a surprise package in the premiership if they continue their current brand of football.
Cardiff’s inconsistency and knack of losing matches they should be winning has come back to haunt them again as it has done for many years. Its almost as if they realise they may be on the road to promotion and get scared (or bottled it in layman’s terms). Must there be a major rethink on the management and squad in the summer or are the fans content with being the nearly men yet again? Last night they simply didn’t show up, Reading were by far the better team and it will now be a good play off final between Swansea City & Reading. I believe that Cardiff need to take a long look at themselves this summer and decide if they want the next step as much as their fans do.
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Interesting article. I think last year (Play Off Final) and the previous year (missing out on Play Offs by one goal scored) City definitely bottled it.
However, with Cardiff losing vs Reading I think it’s too easy to say they bottled it again. They didn’t have Craig Bellamy, Stephen McPhail, Mark Hudson and both goalkeepers (Marshall & Heaton) who are all first team starters, so it disrupted their rhythm.
The second leg started with half hour of Cardiff pressure, a few last ditch blocks and two reasonable penalty shouts turned down. A calamitous error mistake changed the entire dynamic of the game and City were not good enough to get back into the game.
Manager to stay, but a huge squad turn around needed, in my opinion.
Happens too many times and with different players can’t keep changing players need to look at manager and coaching staff we haven’t played as a team and there appears to be a lack of togetherness as a team