1 week Ago By [email protected] (Glen Williams)
Just when Cardiff City fans thought they had reached the end of their tether, their despair plumbed now depths when Will Fish agonisingly turned the ball into his own net on Saturday. Just moments after Isaak Davies, at the other end of the pitch, had skied a glorious, close-range chance over the bar from just yards out, Ashley Philips appeared to handle the ball before his deflected shot cannoned into the back of the net to earn Stoke City all three points in what was a veritable relegation six-pointer. Bluebirds supporters raged en masse at full-time, having to watch this abject season lurch to yet another low ebb in a series of desperately low ebbs over the last few months.
Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here It is a squad, and by extension a club, which is performing well beneath the sum of its parts. And it has done for too long, to be frank, and this position should come as little surprise owing to the countless warning signs which have shone blindingly like emergency service sirens over recent campaigns. Many supporters are resigned to their fate already, although the facts state there are still four games left.
In truth, Cardiff shouldn't still have an opportunity to climb out of this mess, but by some miracle, they do still have an outside shot. Sheffield United are up next and are in rotten form, but Cardiff go into that one as massive underdogs. Oxford United is another enormous game in the context of the relegation battle, but as history has shown this season, those are the sort of games in which Cardiff wilt pathetically under the pressure.
A West Brom-Norwich City double-header is an unappetising double-header to finish the campaign and given how Cardiff have performed this season, if they need any sort of sizeable points total from those two, the odds on survival will be remote. Many supporters vented their fury after the match, telling the club that enough is enough and that drastic action should be taken, ejecting the manager as a first port of call. However, at time of writing, decision-maker Vincent Tan has not pulled the trigger on the under-fire manager.
No team has won fewer games than Cardiff all season - they have failed to win 33 of their 42 matches this term, a shocking number which is nowhere near the standard required. While all nine of Cardiff's wins have come under Riza, they have won just five league matches since early November and they will have to buck the trend and then some if they are to string together survival form in their last four outings. Over the course of the last 29 league matches - a fair portion - no team has been worse than Cardiff, who are bottom of the table over that period, which is seriously damning.
Cardiff - or Tan - appear to have made their bed and are now lying in it, however uncomfortably. Although with Tan the sole decision-maker at the top, nothing can ever be ruled out, even if we are rapidly approaching the first of the final four games of the season, which takes place at Bramall Lane on Good Friday. There are those inside the club who have had enough of this shocking run, and have done for some time, and want change before it really is too late and literally nothing can be done.
A last roll of the dice, even to inject a brief but potentially crucial new-manager-bounce, and to eke the most out of the players. Whether Tan believes it just may be too late to have any tangible impact, however, is the multi-million-dollar question. And quite who takes on that job and very narrow remit is another issue.
But in truth it's years of neglect and unforgivable mismanagement which has led to this position. Whether it's hubris or naivety, the unwillingness to accept more help on the football side of the operation at the top end of this club continues to baffle loyal supporters, who bang the drum louder the closer the drain is circled. Having a director of football is no silver bullet, of course, there are plenty of examples where this sort of appointment doesn't work, but it is undeniable that this club would benefit from more full-time, highly-qualified, highly-skilled, experienced, ambitious footballing people to implement a proper and sustainable plan for its first team.
So many other areas of the organisation work so well, but it's the blue-ribband product, the men's first team, which is so paramount to everything else and must be given more resource outside of the playing squad. Too much responsibility falls on too few people at Cardiff and those individuals ultimately pay the price, again and again, year after year, and lessons are never learned. WHATSAPP: Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community Supporters are understandably angry, they have every right to be.
They have gotten behind Riza and his charges brilliantly considering the shambolic campaign which has been put together, including the six-game catastrophe under Erol Bulut, from which they've never really recovered. And hard as it may be, the players and the manager will need the fans more than ever in the final four games, because though it might feel like it to some, it's not over and there are 12 points still on offer. There are big games for City's rivals upcoming, too.
Derby County, one point above Cardiff, play Luton Town, Hull City and Stoke City in three of their final four fixtures - all of which will have a drastic impact on the Bluebirds' whereabouts if they are able to pick up points of their own. The Bluebirds are one point behind the Rams - albeit they have a vastly inferior goal difference which is as good as a point - in 21st. Six points separate Cardiff in 22nd and Oxford in 17th, it's not an insurmountable task if it were taken in isolation.
But fans are jaded and have had their belief beaten out of them over the course of six months and feel the task at hand is infeasible. For the players, they have not shown up nearly enough throughout this campaign. Now, more than ever, we will see who wants to stick their hands up to become heroes.
They have just 360 minutes of football left to do so. How the table now looks 18th: Stoke City - P42 W11 D14 L17 GF43 GA54 GD-11 PTS 47 19th: Portsmouth - P42 W12 D10 L20 GF50 GA66 GD-16 PTS 46 20th: Hull City - P41 W11 D11 L19 GF40 GA49 GD-9 PTS 44 21st: Derby County - P42 W11 D10 L21 GF44 GA54 GD-10 PTS 43 22nd: Cardiff City - P42 W9 D15 L18 GF45 GA66 GD-21 PTS 42 23rd: Luton Town - P42 W10 D10 L22 GF37 GA63 GD-26 PTS 40 24th: Plymouth - P42 W9 D13 L20 GF44 GA82 GD-38 PTS 40 Fixtures left 18th: Stoke City - Sheffield Wednesday (h), Leeds United (a), Sheffield United (h), Derby County (a) 19th: Portsmouth - Norwich (a), Watford (h), Sheffield Wednesday (a), Hull City (h) 20th: Hull City - Coventry City (h), Swansea (a), Preston (h), Derby (h), Portsmouth (a) 21st: Derby County - Luton (h), West Brom (a), Hull (a), Stoke (h) 22nd: Cardiff City - Sheffield United (a), Oxford (h), West Brom (h), Norwich (a) 23rd: Luton Town - Derby (a), Bristol City (h), Coventry (h), West Brom (a) 24th: Plymouth - Middlesbrough (a), Coventry (h), Preston (a), Leeds (h).
