Cardiff (A) Match thread - Sponsered by M4 toll

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

The owners must be wondering what the hell is going on. Unlike his predecessor(s), Clarke has been given plenty of financial backing and a free hand to choose both his backroom staff and playing squad.

Spot on, but only if Clarke chose these players.

If he did it's dead man walking I fear

[Doolittle]

Too early to call for Clarke's head, but he's been far too slow to realise that two CMs and four forwards doesn't work for us

What were we playing when we won 7 games out of 9?

4-3-3 with three forwards and three midfielders. Most of it anyway. And you could see the weakness developing from the point Piazon began starting.

We made hard work of Charlton and but for an exceptionally early goal that completely threw Middlesbrough we didn't trouble them a whole lot - mainly because we sat back to defend admittedly.

Precisely - got away with it a couple of times, then the problems started coming, then the problems kept coming, and now the confidence has evaporated. I realise injuries to Quinn and Tshibola have been a blow, but he wasn't playing Tshibola enough even before he got injured. Anyway, hopefully the international break will give an opportunity for a reset, but Clarke does need to realise that we're not the Barcelona of the Championship, so we do actually need to protect the back four a bit.

[RoyalBlue]

From the BBC report for those wondering how crucial Marshall's role was in the result today ...
"Reading poured forward late on in a bid to salvage a point, but they were thwarted by an inspired Marshall, whose three sharp saves in a minute prompted a standing ovation from the home fans."

On the other hand, Dellor/Gooding reckon we were well and truly outplayed and could have lost by more. 10 shots on target, no matter how inspired the keeper, should have resulted in at least a goal for us. How many were easy saves for Marshall?

The owners must be wondering what the hell is going on. Unlike his predecessor(s), Clarke has been given plenty of financial backing and a free hand to choose both his backroom staff and playing squad.

Spot on, but only if Clarke chose these players.

If he did it's dead man walking I fear

Piazon and Vydra were his, I'm sure. Did some of the other signings have history with him?

[genome]

Why doesn't he go back to a 4-3-3 with Norwood, Williams and Fernandez, rather than 2 out of those and a front four?

We are lacking a backbone.

[Crowbar6753]

I thought Hurtado looked ok when he came on, i would like him to maybe get a go as an attacking midfielder just behind the forward with license to run at defenders. After all he is our player and not a loanee, he does seem to have a few tricks up his sleeve and with a run in the team i think he could be a real asset.

[sandman]

I thought Hurtado looked ok when he came on, i would like him to maybe get a go as an attacking midfielder just behind the forward with license to run at defenders. After all he is our player and not a loanee, he does seem to have a few tricks up his sleeve and with a run in the team i think he could be a real asset.

Will someone please tell Gooding and Williams that?

[CountryRoyal]

We've looked poor since the Charlton game (included), bar a good 30 minutes against Fullham we've looked pretty open. The balance of the team is all wrong but there's too much talk about Blackman's position and an underperforming Vydra. The problems lie in midfield, we need to go 3 across with 3 up top. No more of this 4-4-2 crap.

[Platypuss]

Need to go back to the drawing board - sort the defending out as we can't score our way out of trouble.

[Esteban]

I think the problem started when Quinn got injured. Clarke seems to have decided that two central midfielders and an attacking midfielder is the way forward. All that has happened is the 4 attacking players have pushed on and a massive gap appeared in front of the holding midfielders. As they struggle to fill that gap, they've pulled back four with them and we've completely lost our shape. That has caused two problems:

1) When Norwood drops deep to collect the ball from the defence, the opposition can go with him, because they know he's got to pull off a difficult pass to get the ball forwards, or pass backwards, which usually results in a hoof upfield from defence.

2) When the opposition attack, there's space between the defence and midfield for their creative players to move in to and it's been killing us - see Dembele, Bunn, etc.

Add to that our apparent inability to defend set pieces properly and we have a problem. Clarke needs either go back playing three central midfielders and get our shape back, or find a way of organising the midfield and forwards, so that they are closer together and plug that gap.

That's killed 15 minutes of the journey home.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Why doesn't he go back to a 4-3-3 with Norwood, Williams and Fernandez, rather than 2 out of those and a front four?

We are lacking a backbone.

This is exactly what I suggested after the Fulham game. Clearly our confidence has been knocked, obviously injuries haven't helped but the squad should be still more than capable. Seems like we haven't found another system that works for them yet and the current formation clearly isnt working.

I watched the capitulation at Fulham from the stands and sadly its looking far more costly than first feared. Had it not gone that way and we held out for the win instead, the results of the last 3 games could well have been different too.

[The Cap]

Kitsondinho wrote:
Sky must be delighted they've chosen us 3 tmes in December...

Beat me to it. Can just imagine their producers thinking 'WTF have we done?'

[Extended-Phenotype]

Once again baffled by the decision to avoid the formation which seemed a winning one and instead persist with this losing one. I understand we have lost players through injury which made the 4-3-3 it's most effective, but why add to the problem by changing the way we play? Just plug the gap in a winning system everyone is used to.

[CountryRoyal]

We just simply HAVE to play Fernandez Norwood Williams in midfield.

I hope that Clarke and everyone pulls a finger out over the international break, anything other than a win will be pretty oxf*rd shit, but I'd just be happy with a really convincing performance, something that's lacked for a while.

[Ian Royal]

Once again baffled by the decision to avoid the formation which seemed a winning one and instead persist with this losing one. I understand we have lost players through injury which made the 4-3-3 it's most effective, but why add to the problem by changing the way we play? Just plug the gap in a winning system everyone is used to.

It is starting to make me wonder whether that formation was deliberate or a happy accident because Quinn's solid but can play on the left so Clarke considered him a more attacking player along the lines of Piazon or McCleary.

[RG7Fan]

The owners must be wondering what the hell is going on. Unlike his predecessor(s), Clarke has been given plenty of financial backing and a free hand to choose both his backroom staff and playing squad.

You say that, and I thought that way initially but if you look at it further I'm not sure how much has been put in.

[*] £3m has been saved on Pog.
[*] Feds / Pearce / Karacan / Kelly / Guthrie wages all saved. Assume £750k / year each (even as an average)?
[*] Akpan and a load of lower level players gone + Drenthe (lets not forget).

Then there were the loanees - Mackie / Ake / Chalobah. We don't know what they were costing us, if anything.

Conservatively that could be £7-8m a year. And then there is £4m for Hector - lets assume £2m upfront. So we're at £9m+ immediate cash in / saved.

I bet the new boys haven't cost that much in total (fees + year 1 wages) - so, has there really been a huge investment? I know that is mixing fees and wages which is why I only took year 1, but for a quick and dirty calculation I think it proves a point.

Clearly they have been Clarke's decisions - clever work. He's on the hook, but I dont think we should get too carried away thinking £m's have come flooding in. The big money will come from the Prem - £100m TV money for starters ...

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Once again baffled by the decision to avoid the formation which seemed a winning one and instead persist with this losing one. I understand we have lost players through injury which made the 4-3-3 it's most effective, but why add to the problem by changing the way we play? Just plug the gap in a winning system everyone is used to.

It is starting to make me wonder whether that formation was deliberate or a happy accident because Quinn's solid but can play on the left so Clarke considered him a more attacking player along the lines of Piazon or McCleary.

I'd go with happy accident tbh.

Let's face it, Clarke has consistently been tactically awful

[CountryRoyal]

Do you think Clarke is holding this team back?

[Ian Royal]

The owners must be wondering what the hell is going on. Unlike his predecessor(s), Clarke has been given plenty of financial backing and a free hand to choose both his backroom staff and playing squad.

You say that, and I thought that way initially but if you look at it further I'm not sure how much has been put in.

[*] £3m has been saved on Pog.
[*] Feds / Pearce / Karacan / Kelly / Guthrie wages all saved. Assume £750k / year each (even as an average)?
[*] Akpan and a load of lower level players gone + Drenthe (lets not forget).

Then there were the loanees - Mackie / Ake / Chalobah. We don't know what they were costing us, if anything.

Conservatively that could be £7-8m a year. And then there is £4m for Hector - lets assume £2m upfront. So we're at £9m+ immediate cash in / saved.

I bet the new boys haven't cost that much in total (fees + year 1 wages) - so, has there really been a huge investment? I know that is mixing fees and wages which is why I only took year 1, but for a quick and dirty calculation I think it proves a point.

Clearly they have been Clarke's decisions - clever work. He's on the hook, but I dont think we should get too carried away thinking £m's have come flooding in. The big money will come from the Prem - £100m TV money for starters ...

Bare in mind we were making big losses, so just maintaining similar spending is in of itself a significant investment.

And regardless of how it's financed, bringing in a dozen new players in one transfer window, many of a high caliber, is certainly significant backing.

[ILoveMoonPig]

Bare in mind we were making big losses, so just maintaining similar spending is in of itself a significant investment.

And regardless of how it's financed, bringing in a dozen new players in one transfer window, many of a high caliber, is certainly significant backing.

Agreed. Plus there was that business with Vibrac that they bailed us out of.

[CountryRoyal]

Let's not understate how much we are missing Quinn, Tshibola, and dare I say it, HRK.

And would we have conceded the goals we did today with a fit Paul McShane? Something to think about.

Seeing as one was Ferdinand's fault and the other was Hector's, yeah, definitely one.

Not too sure about this "oh it's because McShane isn't in the team"

He lost his man at Rotherham for thei goal, which came from a corner, and was directly responsible for at least 2 goals shipped against Fullham. I confess he is our best defender and a loss, but let's not act like every time he's played we've been reeling in the clean sheets, especially recently.