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Cardiff 0 - 1 Wolves: The Verdict

Lower your defences and prepare to be assimilated. We are the Wolves. Resistance is futile.
 
We need to forget about Warnock and focus on the brilliant strike by Neves, the save by Ruddy and the general all round performance. Warnock is not worth discussing imo.
My M.O.M would be Boly again I think, would have given it to Coady but for the penalty he gave away.
We were the better side over all, but the last ten minutes it was all Cardiff. Where did they get 5 minutes injury time from anyway??
 
Extremely heart stopping finale.

Deserved win, but we tried very hard to lose. We were lucky not to get punished in the first half for some very sloppy passing, only Cardiff's lack of ambition letting us off the hook at times. We were the better side all night though, it could, and should have been at least 2-0, possibly 3. I still havent explained to my flatmates what was going on last night. Or the neighbours


https://streamable.com/qu7iq
 
I don't think this will upset Cardiff too much, the way they play hasn't ever been based on them dominating games or playing well but it's effective and they are bloody hard to beat. Would love Fulham to nick second though.
 
Neil Warnock. Manager of the season. Typical English grit. Gets it forward. Stick it in the mixer. Big man up top. Players run all day... And then the pundits sit around wondering why we've gone out of the World Cup at the group stage...

I totally agree with this
 
After the storm, a few thoughts.

Ruddy was excellent. Fair play after the flak he has taken from a few, including me. Given his recent form, I don't think he could have complained if he'd been dropped, but after that he can have a free pass for the rest of the season. His penalty save wasn't a good penalty but it was a class save.

Can't see us starting with that front three again. I'm not sure we'll see Leo again, he's now an active detriment to our team play. Jota also hasn't been the same for a while, so I suspect we'll see Cav-Afobe-Costa for Derby.

The back three are immense. All of them. Douglas and Doherty still have shaky moments defensively but they do work their bollocks off so won't criticize. Boly was my MOTM.

Neves is awesome. Absolutely ran the game. Saiss is a good footballer but prone to a bit of panic and some incredibly stupid challenges. As soon as he's booked, I'm scared he'll do something equally as reckless.

I thought Dean was excellent tbh. Those saying he made the game about himself by awarding the penalties; they were penalties, not sure what you want him to do? Let the game flow and didn't fall for some of Cardiff's flopping around either. Good to see.

Nuno got the tactics wrong but we won anyway. He probably should have shaken Colin's hand but can forgive him entirely with the emotions of it all and Colin's reaction is pathetic and he deserves all the backlash he's receiving.
 
I don’t think Nuno got it wrong at all. I think his plan was to introduce Helder and Cav later on as they had both started the last two games. We deserved to win.
 
Might have been his plan YW but Leo had a stinker for most of the game (aside from hitting the post, which was really clever play from him and deserve a goal). He was the least effective of the front three, I think he was actively detrimental to the team.
 
I don’t think Nuno got it wrong at all. I think his plan was to introduce Helder and Cav later on as they had both started the last two games. We deserved to win.

On reflection I think you're right. The second half we were dominating, whilst Fosta was the catalyst Cav was the extra dimension and they couldn't cope with either. I thought it was a tactical win for Nuno.
 
What a fucking match. So dramatic at the end and an unbelievable result. The best team won but we made hard work for ourselves by not taking our chances, again.

MOM Ruddy

Back to the mol on Wednesday to play Derby and hopefully another 3pts
 
You have to feel a little sorry for the opposition when they are running on fumes and we throw on £20m of talent, while they can bring on Gary Madine.

Well, actually, as it is Colin, I don't feel sorry at all.
 
Kept an eye on the game via the FotMob app. Subsequently became aware that it does not report penalty awards, as when I looked on the BBC website it was very much a case of "What the shitting tits?!"

Re: Tactics: I think Nuno got it right, tire the opposition and then unleash Cavaleiro and Costa to run at them in the last 20-30 minutes. Gutted for Bonatini, would have been a sublime piece of thinking had the ball been a few inches to the left.
 
I'm not sure how having next to no attacking threat for 55 minutes can have been a plan?
 
Absolutely delighted with the win but it has to be said that the first half was far too edgy to have been a plan. If it was a plan it was a bit of a questionable one given that we weren't exactly tiring their defenders out as we hardly attacked. I don't think their defence had had an easier 45 minutes this season. Doherty was lucky not to concede a penalty when he had his arms all over one of their players in the box in the first half, also.

Onto the second half, absolutely different game. We outplayed them and looked incisive, decisive and penetrated much better than the previous half. The introduction of Costa changed the game. He was fantastic when he came on. Still, we nearly threw it away with two stupid penalties conceded at the end but luckily Ruddy was on hand to save the day and lady luck also stepped in to prevent them from scoring the second penalty.

I'm not putting a dampener on things, just touching reality. We deserved the win in the end, but mistakes were made. Ultimately, going up as champions is a fantastic achievement and last night was always going to be difficult but we came out on top and that's what matters most.
 
Cardiff defended with six at the back at times - they couldn't keep that up all game. They were always going to set up to contain our wing backs. I think Nuno recognised that beforehand.

Did Leo play well? No, obviously that wasn't the plan. But by starting Leo and Benik (who did OKish I thought), it allowed Cav and Costa to be the fresh legs we would need in the decisive moments. They clearly had a positive impact too.
 
WOW.

Worked till 11 last night and had my phone on Airplane mode till I could get in, watched it with the Mrs in the early hours, when Neves scored I cracked and asked how it finished and she said 1-0 but neither of us knew about the two penalties. It was surreal when the penalties were awarded, knowing the final score but my heart still being in my mouth as it happened.

Thought Ruddy was fantastic throughout, good adjustment for the free kick save, Costa was great when he came on and if he scores that chance it's right up there for moments of individual brilliance. Afobe worked hard he's just not cut out for that role. Neves was imperious, I loved hoaw they chanted "what a waste of money" when he ballooned that one over the bar 5 mins before the winner. I thought then he'd do something to put that right.

Only downside was Bonatini, he kept on getting under Jota's feet and there telepathy was off. The touch and control he had has abandoned him. I'm not even sure one in off his arse would change anything he's regressed horribly. A real shame.

We're so close now though. Bring on the next two games, almost certainly to be promoted against Blues or Bolton, lovely.
 
Cardiff defended with six at the back at times - they couldn't keep that up all game. They were always going to set up to contain our wing backs. I think Nuno recognised that beforehand.

Did Leo play well? No, obviously that wasn't the plan. But by starting Leo and Benik (who did OKish I thought), it allowed Cav and Costa to be the fresh legs we would need in the decisive moments. They clearly had a positive impact too.

A quick question, you think they wouldn't have had the same impact had they started from the beginning?
 
It was a plan. But an untested or tried one that didn't quite come off.

Afobe did ok with what he had to work with but dropping to the halfway line to lay the ball off is just not his game. He looked better when he went through the middle.

Leo wasn't terrible, just the odd heavy touch here or there, lacking confidence and sharpness, and perhaps trying to be a bit too audacious scoring from that angle. It would have been amazing if it went in though, as Cardiff's defenders didn't even expect it.

It's unlikely we'll see that front three again. In fact I'm sure of it.

Jota still looks off the pace after his injury to me. The odd bit of skill or movement but so much went wrong for him, including his decision making. IMO he is one player who is feeling the effects of a full ultra-physical season right now. I expect him to be on the bench against Derby.
 
A quick question, you think they wouldn't have had the same impact had they started from the beginning?

Not necessarily, no. It was always going to be a very tight game, I don't think anybody doubted that. Cavaleiro in particular is a player who Nuno regualrly takes off after 60 minutes because he uses so much energy. Both him and Costa had started the two previous games within the past week which had taken a lot out of us as a squad as it was.

If we had lost maybe Nuno would have taken some flak but we didn't and he got it right.
 
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