First of all, I would like to offer my congratulations to both Bournemouth and Watford who have been promoted to the Premier League this weekend. Both sides have played some wonderful football over the course of a long season and fully deserve what they have achieved. I believe that both clubs will do themselves justice in the top flight.
It was refreshing to see Bournemouth play fast, fluent football and outplay Bolton in the 3-0 win that all but guarantees the cherries promotion. (Middlesbrough need a 19 goal swing to deny Bournemouth promotion.) Eddie Howe has got his team well drilled and from the first minute they played gorgeous football and looked to attack at every opportunity. In truth, visitors Bolton were never really in the game and rarely threatened Arthur Boruc in the cherries goal.
And Watford, who have also played opposition off the park at will this season, went through a period of turmoil and confusion earlier in the season after four managers left the club within a month. But after that brief spell of turmoil, hornets boss Slavisa Jokanovic has steadied the ship and Watford have flown to the top of the league since he arrived.
When teams like Derby, Nottingham Forest and my team, Cardiff City, were being touted as title winners by fans, pundits and bookies before a ball had been kicked, Watford slipped under the radar. That is a tad surprising considering that they came third two seasons ago and boast players such as Troy Deeney and Matej Vydra up front. However, I'm sure they weren't complaining. The teams I have previously mentioned have had fairly poor seasons by their high standards while teams like Bournemouth, Watford and Wolves have all risen the table as underdogs.
Bournemouth's quick rise is a truly remarkable story reminds me of Swansea's a few seasons ago. The cherries were fighting to stay in the football league just 6 seasons ago and were living on pennies, but now will get a minimum of £90 million this time next year. Eddie Howe has done an unbelievable job to achieve two promotions in three seasons.
It could easily be said that strikers Callum Wilson and Troy Deeney make these two teams click, and that would not be a ridiculous comment, but I don't exactly agree. For Bournemouth, midfielder Harry Arter has been a revelation this season. Signed for £4000 by Eddie Howe from Woking, Arter has been one of the unsung heroes in this Bournemouth side. Arter has the unique ability of being able to pick a pass or a shot from virtually anywhere in the opposition half. He has also popped up with some wonder goals at pivotal times.
For Watford, Adlene Guedioura has been fantastic all through this campaign. His link-up play with Watford's front two is quite superb, and like Arter, he can score some wonder goals. I would be surprised if he does not shine in the Premier League next season.
Despite the fact that I recognise Bournemouth are not a huge club and I respect he fact that they have built a fantastic squad from virtually nothing, it's an untruth that they have not had cash to spend. At the start of the season they took an inspired gamble and spent £3 million on then Coventry striker Callum Wilson. Not all the teams in the championship can just find that money to spend on a then unproven championship striker. They also tabled a £6 million bid for Birmingham youngster Demari Gray, which in the end got rejected. Gray is a fantastic talent but £6 million is not exactly pennies. I'm not looking to be bitter, because I respect Bournemouth massively, but let's not be under the illusion that they work on scraps.
Although Bournemouth and Watford will no doubt remember this weekend for a long time, their focus must now turn to the final day of the season, where both of them will compete for the Championship title. Watford currently sit at the top of the table on 88 points, one point ahead of Bournemouth on 87. The hornets host Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday while Bournemouth travel to Charlton.
It's very close to call but something tells me that Watford will slip up and Bournemouth will end up being crowned league champions. We'll see...
Tuesday 28 April 2015
Monday 6 April 2015
City Shambolic As Bolton Batter The Bluebirds
At the start of today I genuinely thought that City would be extending our good run of late with a comfortable home win against Bolton Wanderers, a team that really struggle away from the Macron Stadium. How wrong could I be!
Cardiff started the game well in the South Wales sunshine and attacked from the off. We had a lot of possession, but as it has been for most of this campaign, we didn't threaten and created very few chances. We should have capitalized on our 10 minute purple patch in the first half. The reason we are where we are is because we don't create chances and kick teams whilst they are down.
Despite our early pressure, Bolton grew more confident and attacked our goal with threat.
I thought the first half was fairly even, and I still thought that City had the ability to come out in the second half and take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Bolton started the second half very well and I thought they looked the most likely out of the two sides to get the first goal. city just didn't heed the warning sign and a wonder hit from Eidar GudJohnsen gave Bolton a 0-1 lead.
Bolton then doubled the lead on the break with an arrowed shot from Wales international Craig Davies, who was fantastic throughout. And the job was complete when Davies added a wonderful curling effort to give Bolton a wonderful 0-3 win.
My Verdict
Before I start going into the negatives of Cardiff's shambolic performance, I have to say that Bolton fully deserved what they got. They came with a plan and implemented it too perfection. Players such as Barry Bannan and Adam Bogdan are quality players who have premier league experience. They all grafted hard and worked for their teammates.
However, at times City were there own worst enemy, and it was by far the worst performance of the season. We are talking about a 0-3 home defeat to a team that hadn't won away from home in 8 games. City didn't create enough chances throughout the game and it came back to bite them.
Bolton didn't have tons of chances either, bit when they had a sight of goal, they were clinical. Even a player like Emile Heskey, who is not the most glamorous striker, is a real handful and can do just as good a job as a player like Eoin Doyle.
Before the game I thought that City were turning a corner and were starting g to show that they could be a decent team next season, but today just showed that we have plenty of work to do before I can say that we can aim for a high position next year. I think it will be another season of mid table mediocrity next time around.
I guess another important question is if I want Russell Slade to be our manager next year. The answer is no, not really. I have always thought that Slade was a bit out of his depth, and results like this go a long way to proving that.
That being said, results have improved over the past few weeks, and it would be nice to have a bit of stability at the club for once!
Next up is Leeds away. I'm predicting a 1-1 draw.
Cardiff started the game well in the South Wales sunshine and attacked from the off. We had a lot of possession, but as it has been for most of this campaign, we didn't threaten and created very few chances. We should have capitalized on our 10 minute purple patch in the first half. The reason we are where we are is because we don't create chances and kick teams whilst they are down.
Despite our early pressure, Bolton grew more confident and attacked our goal with threat.
I thought the first half was fairly even, and I still thought that City had the ability to come out in the second half and take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Bolton started the second half very well and I thought they looked the most likely out of the two sides to get the first goal. city just didn't heed the warning sign and a wonder hit from Eidar GudJohnsen gave Bolton a 0-1 lead.
Bolton then doubled the lead on the break with an arrowed shot from Wales international Craig Davies, who was fantastic throughout. And the job was complete when Davies added a wonderful curling effort to give Bolton a wonderful 0-3 win.
My Verdict
Before I start going into the negatives of Cardiff's shambolic performance, I have to say that Bolton fully deserved what they got. They came with a plan and implemented it too perfection. Players such as Barry Bannan and Adam Bogdan are quality players who have premier league experience. They all grafted hard and worked for their teammates.
However, at times City were there own worst enemy, and it was by far the worst performance of the season. We are talking about a 0-3 home defeat to a team that hadn't won away from home in 8 games. City didn't create enough chances throughout the game and it came back to bite them.
Bolton didn't have tons of chances either, bit when they had a sight of goal, they were clinical. Even a player like Emile Heskey, who is not the most glamorous striker, is a real handful and can do just as good a job as a player like Eoin Doyle.
Before the game I thought that City were turning a corner and were starting g to show that they could be a decent team next season, but today just showed that we have plenty of work to do before I can say that we can aim for a high position next year. I think it will be another season of mid table mediocrity next time around.
I guess another important question is if I want Russell Slade to be our manager next year. The answer is no, not really. I have always thought that Slade was a bit out of his depth, and results like this go a long way to proving that.
That being said, results have improved over the past few weeks, and it would be nice to have a bit of stability at the club for once!
Next up is Leeds away. I'm predicting a 1-1 draw.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)