Did Cardiff City Forget Gestede Wasn’t Playing ?!

Cardiff City were suffered another nightmare against Ipswich Town on Saturday, putting in a disappointing performance and being soundly beaten 3-0 by the Tractor Boys. City have been in poor form of late, the only recent win coming in a 3-1 victory over Peterborough. That match was started by young French striker Rudy Gestede – he was a handful for the Posh and grabbed a headed goal = though he should have had a hat-trick. Unfortunately, Gestede was ruled out for the trip to Ipswich Town – failing a late fitness test due to a sore calf.

The Bluebirds however were guilty of badly mis-using possession and with just Kenny Miller up-front (with Joe Mason behing) – we adopted tactics which did not fit the formation and were never likely to work. Miller was isolated completely in attack, and the midfield was far from effective. There were no ball carriers, and all fluidity seemed lost. That led to City often sending hopeless chipped balls forward – which never created any danger. There is no aerial threat from Miller and you could have understood the rationale had Gestede been playing.

The game was frigtheningly familiar to periods a few years ago when the likes of McPhail, Rae, Ledley etc were struggling. Without the spark in midfield, we resorted to hopeful long balls to the likes of Chopra, Thompson and co which served little purpose except to gift possession to the opposition in their own half.

With no ‘outlet` on Saturday, either in the form of a targetman or natural width, Cardiff City struggled badly and were unable to adapt. It seems ludicrious to suggest we are dependent on a vastly inexperienced youg player like Gestede but while Miller, Mason and even Earnshaw have clear qualities – they don`t offer that something different and unpredictable that we get when Gestede plays.

Malky Mackay will need to work hard to develop a way of changing the game without resorting to the long ball rubbish. We simply don`t have the players to make it work !