Cardiff City were missing q great deal last night as we put in the most ineffective performance in the league for some time – certainly since December.
Our midfield never got to grips with the physical presence of QPR’s 5 man unit. There was precious little space and Chopra, McCormack and Parry had very little joy in attack.
Put simply, there was no guile or creativity in the side to break-down the Rangers defence. As has historically been the case at Cardiff City, we have no plan B and with our tactics clearly ineffective after the first half – we had no options to change it and continued in the same disappointing vein.
Far too often, we lofted high balls forward to Chopra and McCormack – sheer madness. Parry was moved to give us more chance in the air – what’s that about? We dont have the personnel to make that work, but you cant blame the defenders for doing it…there were precious few options. No space was available on the wings while a solid wall formed in front of them and our midfield rarely made themselves available.
In no small part was this down to the absence of Jay Bothroyd. He is a skilful player and causes numerous problems for defences with the ball at his feet. Additionally, when it goes to Jay, it sticks at theat end of the pitch allowing midfielders to puch on and the likes of Chopra to run behind and turn defenders. Add to that his aerial ability and you can see why Jay is such an important figure for us.
We can’t stick to the same plan at Southampton. If they had scouts at last night’s game, they will have a very clear picture of how to shut us out. If that means we have to turn to Eddie Johnson, then so be it! Otherwise, we need to get working on a different style of play. A Jason Koumas type player, or dare I say it, even Stephen McPhail, would have helped enourmously last night. We have a number of players hoping to start in the first team, we must figure out a way of effectively using the XI on the field. That did not happen last night.
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