
Originally Posted by
mrfahaji
Most of what I saw on Saturday has been said already, aside from most people willing to write Cardiff off as a dreadful, lucky team rather than a team who stuck to a gameplan to which we had no answer (and hence why we didn't deserve to win, even if the ball was in their half more than ours).
Equally, no-one needs to be reminded that Shane Long was/is terrible - but there was a specific thing about his play that really bugged me. Whenever we had the ball in wide but not especially attacking positions, Long turned away from play and headed for the box/far post. The problem was, he was the only player available to support the man with the ball, and should have been coming short or at least making a run down the line. There was one time that Valery had the ball just behind the half way line, with no support other than Long. In order to pick out a cross, Valery would have had to run half the pitch and beaten three or four defenders in the process. And this happened all the time. Surely in those situations you have to make yourself available and try and keep the attack going, let someone worry about getting in the box if you can't. I don't know whether this was what he'd been instructed do, whether he misinterpreted the instructions, or whether it was just another example of him being rubbish.
It showed how important a decent front man is, without one our play was flat and lacking in ideas. I agree that Redmond didn't have his best day, but it can't be easy when you are the only person capable of making something happen.
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