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55 54 South Wales Echo Thursday,19May,2011 Thursday, 19 May, 2011 South Wales Echo Sponsored by Sponsored by Follo w all the latest sport stories on the move Get WalesOnline on your mobile phone AUDIO MOBILE Focus on football Listen to this week’s Focus on football podcast now as Jon Doel, Steve Tucker and Chris Wathan pick through the wreckage of Cardiff City’s play-off defeat. Log on to walesonline.co.uk /football FOLLOW GLAM Keep in touch with twitter Start following our cricket correspondent Gareth Griffiths on twitter for all the breaking news and live updates from Glamorgan this season. For live updates , log on to walesonline.co.uk/sport or follow Gareth on twitter @gazg2000 YOUR SAY Should Jones stay, or should he go? Should he stay or should he go? Have your say on the future of Dave Jones at walesonline.co.uk /football W a l e s C LI C K ON W HERE I T ALL WENT W R O N G LET’Sbebrutallyhonest, Blueb irdsfans.Howmanytimes haveCardif f CityREALLY play edwell thisseasonunder DaveJones? Leedsaway , withthatCraig Bellam y-ins pired4-0 Ellan dRoad triumphbackin Octob er. Swans eaat theLiberty Stadi um.Victori es overLeeds, Cove ntryandLeice sterat home. But,youknow,afterthat you proba blyhaveto searc hdeepand hardfor otherqualit y team perfo rmanc esbefittinga team capa bleof gainin g promo tion. Yes, theBluebird s won23 leagu e gamesin the2010-11 campa ignso clearl y musthave beendoingsomethin g right. Butitcanbe arg ueditwas downto thefearsomefirepow er atJones’disposal,Bellamy , Both royd,Chopra, rathe r than tacti calnous or styleof play adopt edby themanager . Someof ushave beenfearing forsome time tha tJonesmaynot becapableof takin g the Blueb irdsinto Premie r Leagu e dreamlandbecausethedanger signshavebeenthere. Youjustsensed,fromday one oftheseaso n,thesumof the star -stud dedpartsavailableto Joneswas notmatchin g up. Hehate dit whe nthe Echo, WesternMail orfans onmessage board s point edout thefailings, oftenbristli ngat post- matc h pressconfere ncesat thecriticism. Butwh atis iftheysayabou tthe truthhurting? City’ s Malay sianownersopened themoneybankandit would appea r prett y muchgavethe manag ercarte blancheto sign whohe wante dto deliv er the £90mdreamin 2011.Joneswas ableto recrui t Bellam y,the best footb allerin thedivisionfullstop. Hebrou ghtina glu tof oth erloan signin gs onPremierLeague wages.Whenhe askedforthe squadto bebolsteredfurthe r still inJanuary , hewas affor dedthe luxury. Theupshot,howev er,was a collec tionof extre melygifted indiv idual s rathe r thanthe sortof teamethicwe havewitnes sed withSwansea , Norwic hand Readin g thisseason. Onpaper,the Blueb irdslooked morethancapableof winni ngthe Championshiptitle. Inreality,theyneverappeared capa bleof doingit andno-one shoul dbetoo surpr isedby the play- offcapitula tionat thehands of Reading. Unfortunately , many ofus cou ldseeit coming . Despit e therichesat his dis pos al,itis myviewthe manag eroftengotthe balanceof histeamwrong . Thedefencecreakedformost ofthe season , withvarious combi natio nstried. Themidfield wastime andagainover-run , leavin g thebackfour expos ed. Bellam y wasn’ t pick edin the rightpositio nformost ofthe season , shun tedwide leftin that stretc hedfour-manmidfieldso Mich aelChopracouldbe chose n. Citystilltriumphedinmatch es becau setheir strik erswere able tooverwhelmopposi tion defen cesat thislevel.But gnawi ngaway atyou wasthe naggi ngfear thatwhena back fourstoodfirmandstrong,such asReading’ s theothernight,it wouldgo horrib lywrong whenit really mattered. Forthe firstthreemonthsof theseason,Jay Bothr oyd’ s brilli anceandgoal-s coring prowess,which magnificently earnedhiman Engla ndcap, paper edover someof thecracks. Aftera Blueb irdsdip inresults, thegeniusof AaronRamsey cove redup thefaultsfurtheras hefinallybroughtcontrol,tempo andbalanceto themidfieldand gotthebestoutofSeyi Olofi njana.If onlyRambohad remain edanotherfewweeks . WithRamseygone,Bellamy’ s excel lencein theclosingweeksof theseasonkept upthe promo tion prete nceas healmost single-handedlyattempted to takethe Blue birdsup. WithBellamy , yousensedthere wasalwayshope. Themomenthe wasmissingagainstReadingon Tue sdaynight,thatbubbleof optimismcompletelyburst. WhenCitywent behin dto that comed y oferrors openi nggoal, youstronglysuspec tedJones wou ldnotcomeupwitha game-p lanto getthe teamback intoit. Why?Becaus e theevidence tellsus thatwhenCity go behin d unde r Jones, theyrarelywin. Thelast 30minutesagainst Readin g waspitiful.The expen sivel y comp iledteamof starson Premie r Leaguewages resort ingto routeonerubbish. Highballslaunchedfromdeep, pump edup toJay Bothr oydand JonParkinin thehope they wou ldwina fewhea der sand someth ingwoulddrop favo urab ly insid e thepenaltybox. ItwasmeatanddrinktoMatt MillsandReadi ng’sother no-nonsensedefenders. Predic tableandeasy todefend. Wha ta contra st,itmustbe said,to thefluid,pass andmove creat ivestyle offootballadopted byBrendanRodgerson much lesserresourc es withSwansea thepreviousnightwith NottinghamForest. I’dsuggestsomeof the intell igent , pacysoccerproduce d bythe Swan s,Norwichand Readin g hasbeenlightyears awayfromwhat wehave seen fromCity. WheretheBluebirdshave appea redlopsided,thoseother promo tionseekershavelooked wond erfull y balancedthe whole season , theirthrillin g footb all back edup byfull-bac kscapable oframpagingforwardonthe overl apto getbehinddefences . Cityhadoneplayercapableof doingthat.AdamMatthews , a £4mtargetfor Manc hester Unite da yearago.The Blueb irds arereleasinghimfornothing. Bizarr ely , youcaneventrace City’ s fund ament al teamshape probl emsright backto theday theybattere dDoncaster4-0 in Bellam y’sdebutgame. Citywerebeing over -runin midfi eldthat aftern oonuntil Chop ra wasforcedoff throu gh injur y.Jonessent onChris Burk e, usedBellamyina diffe rentrole, theside lookedmorebalanced Head of Sport PAUL ABBANDONATO analyses the fallout from Cardiff City’s play-off flop and reflects upon a wasted year for Wales’ biggest football club STYLE OF FOOTBALL ■ Occasionally the Bluebirds played some thrilling stuff, mainly when they were on top in games. But far too often they resorted to route one football which was predictable for opposition centre backs and easy to deal with. 1 0 things City got wrong this term 1 0 1 THE DEFENCE ■ Your centre-backs are the rock upon which any team is built, but how many different combinatio ns did Dave Jones try out? Hudson and Keinan (above) were the best, but Hudson was bizarrely overlooke d for Reading. 2 LEE NAYLOR ■ Speaking of the defence, Jones stuck with Naylor at left back even when fans had turned against him because he was at fault with too many goals. Once he was finally ditched, he was out for good. But it should have happened earlier. 3 ADAM MATTHEWS ■ Rated at £4million by the Premier League big guns a year or so ago, so we’re told, the gifted Welsh youngste r was ignored after Jones publicly blamed him for a defeat at Ipswich, Should have been utilised far more. 4 STEPHEN BYWATER ■ You just sensed, rightly or wrongly , there was a clanger or two in the on-loan goalkeeper and it would come in a game when it really mattered. Reading’ s first goal... enough said. 5 USE OF BELLAMY ■ For far too much of the campaign, he was stuck wide in a four-man midfield, chasing back in defence when he should have been utilised further forward. At least the change came towards the end of the season. 6 PETER WHITTINGHAM ■ Boss Jones kept picking him in the centre of the midfield, but Whitts made his name as a wide man and that is where he should have remained. Playing in the middle meant the team was unbalanced. 7 BLUEBIRDS PROMOTION FAILURE THE INQU EST PRE-BORO BOOZING ■ What happened ahead of the pivotal game against Middlesbrou gh has been well documented. City’s defeat that Bank HolidayMonday knocked fans for six... and took the pressure off Norwich. 8 BALANCE OF TEAM ■ Too often the side was over-ru n in the midfield. They still won games, like Norwich and Watford, but the warning signs were there and opposition managers planned accordingly. 9 JAY BOTHROYD ■ Jones talking him up for England honours was the best, and worst, thing to happen to City. Bothroyd’s form deteriorat ed from the moment he was picked by Fabio Capello, although to be fair to Jones you can hardly blame him for that. 10 andtheysoaredtovictory. ThemomentChoprawas fit aga in,itwasbacktoan unba lancedsystem, butwiththat goalpowerstill capab le of blowi ngaway defen cesput in fro ntof the m.It wasalmo st Russi anroulette,You score,butwe’ll getmore. Final ly,intheclosing weeksof thecampaign , Bellam y wasgivena regula r runin his rightf ulpositionnext toBothroydupfront andhegaveushope again . Butin theback ofyour thoug hts,there wasthat naggin g doub t aboutJones ’ teams capitulating tow ard sthe endofa campaign. Ithad happ enedevery yea rpriortothisone.In 2011,it dulybecamejust onewininthefinalsix matches,the Bluebirds boardchoosi ngto ignore cal lsfromsomefan s in Marchforsomeoneelse to bebrou ghtinto giv e the teamnewideas, innov ation andimpetus. Notevennecessaril y in placeof Jones , butto offer ass ist anc ein abid toavoi d thetoo inevi tablecollaps e. Acollap sewhichcame crashi ngdownaroun dusat theCardiffCityStadiumon Tuesdaynight. Theboardpushedthe boat outand back edtheir manag er tothe hilt,whichcan’toften havebeensaid forBluebird s bossesdownthe years . They , andthe fans,hadevery rightto expe ctpromotionto be deliv eredin returninthis camp aign.Sadly , andtoo predi ctab lyin theeyesof many , itwasn’t,eventhoughCity possessedthe bestcropof playe rsoutsideof thePremier League. Cardi ffCity 2010-1 1 has tobe rememb ere das an opportunitymissed. GALLERIES All the action Relive the action from both play-off semi-finals with our picture galleries at walesonline.co.uk /multimedia Ed in b urg h Jerse y Glasgo w Belfast Cit y Paris Keeping Business on the move Fly from one way £ 30 99 ares areoneway includingtaxes andcharges, onlyavailableonline, subjec t toavailability. 21 day advancepurchaserequired. Headl inefaredoesn’t applyto all routes, seewebsitefor details. Operated from Cardiff airport. Flybe. Giving you a better business case from Cardiff. Ed in b urg h Jerse y Glasgo w Belfast Cit y Paris Keeping Business on the move Fly from one way £ 30 99 ares areoneway includingtaxes andcharges, onlyavailableonline, subjec t toavailability. 21 day advancepurchaserequired. Headlin efaredoesn’t applyto all routes, seewebsitefor details. Operated from Cardiff airport. Flybe. Giving you a better business case from Cardiff.
