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Month: October 2018

Ramsey and Brooks hit form at the perfect time

Bournemouth beat Watford 4-0 at Vicarage Road on Saturday in their biggest away victory in the Premier League. David Brooks was key in Bournemouth’s victory, scoring the first goal after 14 minutes – his second goal in as many games. He was replaced on 70 minutes, but his overall contribution was magnificent; a perfect way to go into the international break with Wales.

Sam Vokes was another player to get his second in as many games in the Premier League. Burnley drew 1-1 with strugglers Huddersfield and Vokes managed the only goal for the home side with a guided header.

Aaron Ramsey was outstanding in his 25 minute cameo for Arsenal, scoring a world-class goal just 39 seconds into his appearance. He also assisted Aubameyang’s second goal for Arsenal to win 5-1. There is a slight doubt that he could miss either of Wales’ fixtures in the international break, due to his wife being very close to giving birth to twins. However, if he has a 39-second cap for Wales and does something as special as this, none of us will care!

Crystal Palace were fortunate not to concede more than one goal against Wolves on Saturday, thanks to the efforts of ex-Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey. Meanwhile, Ben Davies came on for the last few minutes in Tottenham’s 1-0 victory over Cardiff at Wembley.

Ipswich Town’s Gwion Edwards scored his second goal for the club with a header in a 3-2 win over Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. Joe Rodon, Connor Roberts and Dan James all played 90 minutes together for the first time this season for Swansea. Like Edwards, James was outstanding in his performance and at the moment, Wales are spoilt for choice with wingers. Although Declan John was called up for Wales this week, he didn’t make the match day squad. Rodon was called up for Wales after Paul Dummett withdrew on Saturday evening.

It was a slight worry to see Gareth Bale come off in the 80th minute with a precautionary injury in Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss. It will soon be seen whether he will be fit enough to face Spain on Thursday, but Bale has still travelled to Wales to meet up with the national team regardless.

Tyler Roberts and Chris Mepham played against each other in a promotion-rivals clash. It finished all square at 1-1 and both will travel to the Wales camp in good form.

Derby’s Tom Lawrence played 78 minutes in a 1-1 draw away to QPR. Harry Wilson came on in the 54th minute but couldn’t grab the winner.

Chris Gunter was brought off at 77 minutes for Reading, whilst they were 3-1 against West Brom. Hal Robson-Kanu wasn’t brought on but the game finished comfortably for the Baggies with 4 goals scored.

Neil Taylor played his first 90 minutes in a while for Aston Villa against Millwall, as James Chester was suspended for his red card in the previous Villa match. Steve Morison came on for Millwall, Tom Bradshaw was an unused sub.

Joe Allen and Ashley Williams played 90 minutes together for Stoke in their 1-0 away win against Norwich. Preston pairing, Chris Maxwell and Andrew Hughes also played the full match together in their huge 4-0 victory against Wigan. Lee Evans was an unused sub for Wigan.

In League One, Ched Evans won and converted a penalty for Fleetwood in a 4-0 away win against Doncaster. There was another 4-0 away thumping in League One; Adam Davies captained Barnsley against Peterborough and Ryan Hedges was brought on for the last 15 minutes to see out the huge win for Barnsley. Joe Jacobson also scored a penalty for Wycombe in their 2-1 win against Burton.

Matt Smith played 90 mins in FC Twente’s 1-1 away draw, while Real Union’s Alex Babos made a 10 minute appearance at the end of the match with Real Sociedad B.

Follow the blog on Twitter to receive the latest news regarding Welsh football.

Read more:
• Mitchell Clark “surprised” at not being named in the Wales U21 squad
• Ryan Giggs announces his squad for the fixtures against Spain and Rep. of Ireland 
• Wales Watch: Tyler Roberts shines again for Leeds in midweek 

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Mitchell Clark “surprised” at not being named in the Wales U21 squad

Welsh full-back, Mitchell Clark was omitted from Robert Page’s Wales U21 squad. Clark is currently on loan at Port Vale from Aston Villa and playing regularly for the League Two club. 

In an exclusive interview with Behind the Goal, Clark speaks about his current career with Port Vale and his dissatisfaction with not being included in any Wales U21 squad.

19-year-old Clark played 90 minutes at right-back on Saturday in a 1-1 home draw with Exeter, a game that Rob Page watched from the stands.

“The game against Exeter on Saturday was one of my better matches this season. It’s my first loan from Villa and I think I’ve been performing very well,” explained Clark.

“I knew after the game that Rob Page was there, but I had no contact with him at the game or after it.

Clearly frustrated by the lack of chances, “I haven’t been picked for the U21’s again, so it’s obvious the manager doesn’t fancy me and I’m not in his [Page’s] plans.”

Rob Page named 3 full-backs in his 19-man squad to face Romania and Switzerland, including Rhys Norrington-Davies, 19 (Sheff Utd), Cameron Coxe, 19 (Cardiff) and Aaron Lewis, 20 (Swansea) – none of which are playing senior football at the moment.

“I’ve got Cameron Coxe, who is suspended [for the first match against Romania] and Aaron Lewis at Swansea, who is playing really well,” said Page.

“Clark is still a young one and he’s still developing. He can play at full-back on both sides and we’ve good competition in those areas.

“He will get his opportunity but it might be with the U19’s to start with.”

Clark was left confused by Page’s decision because he has already played 8 times for Wales U19’s between 2016-2017. He was named in the 2017 squad for the Toulon Tournament, but withdrew, along with David Brooks and Rhys Norrington-Davies.

He last played for Wales U19’s in the Euro Qualifier against Turkey, where Paul Bodin was in charge. He also captained Wales U19’s last year and really wants to kick on for the U21’s.

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“I was very surprised to not be named, but I’m not disappointed because it gives me more of a chance to concentrate on club football with Port Vale now.”

When asked about his aspirations to play for the senior squad: “I played with some of the lads who are in the senior squad – Ethan Ampadu, Tyler Roberts and those boys.

“They’ve obviously gone above and made the step up, so the pathway and the chances are there for the players.”

Clark has played 9 times in Port Vale’s 11 league matches this season, who are positioned in sixteenth place in League Two. Port Vale will play Grimsby Town away on Saturday 6th October.

He has a year left on his current deal with Aston Villa, with a 12-month extension option.

Follow the blog on Twitter to receive the latest news regarding Welsh football.

Read more:
• Ryan Giggs announces his squad for the fixtures against Spain and Rep. of Ireland
• Wales Watch: Tyler Roberts shines again for Leeds in midweek 
• What needs to be done to end Cardiff’s winless campaign? 
• Three Welsh players net their first club goals this season 
• Wales Watch: Harry Wilson shows his quality in the League Cup 
• Wales Watch: Ramsey and Wilson hit form 

Ryan Giggs announces his squad for the fixtures against Spain and Rep. of Ireland

Wales manager, Ryan Giggs named his 25-man squad ahead of the friendly v Spain and Nations League match v Republic of Ireland. This announcement didn’t draw too many surprises, other than Joe Rodon’s omission after his excellent form for Swansea.

The difficulty of picking players:

“It was straightforward this time because I was happy with the last camp. Tom Lockyer and Joe Ledley are injured at the moment, so they are the two players who are left out.”

“I feel as though Joe Rodon is best to go with Rob Page because I think Jazz Richards was a better fit to this squad. I have spoken to him in last few camps and he was unlucky to miss out on the last set of matches. Picking Jazz over Joe was the only real difficulty I had because Jazz isn’t getting regular games at Cardiff.”

Friendly with Spain at the Principality Stadium:

“Every player’s motivation will be high. Playing for your country, playing against a good team and a chance to test yourself at the Principality Stadium. It will be something different for the players, but they will be ready for the challenge.

“It will be getting the balance right for the competitive and more important game against Ireland, but also the players will be desperate to be involved against a top side in Spain.

“It’s my decision to analyse our players and make a decision on who is to play for both games. It’s possible that the team picked for the Ireland game could be a lot different to the Spain team.”

“We felt this game gave us a good opportunity to play in a bigger stadium. A lot of the players haven’t played there so it will be a fantastic occasion in a stadium where I have many happy memories – my favourite being the win against Italy and coming off the pitch in an unbelievable atmosphere.”

“I recognise that we have a great record at the Cardiff City Stadium. We’re not dismissing the Liberty or the Racecourse for future games either. For every game we need to have different options looking forward.”

Aaron Ramsey’s current situation:

“Ramsey won’t be affected when he comes with us. From what I saw from him last time when he met up, he was a fantastic player and a top professional.

“I don’t expect it [the contractual negotations] to impact his performances with Wales. All I’m concentrating on is a player who comes and gives his all with fantastic qualities.”

“He’s a good player so he’d be suitable to play in any league. But at the moment he’s an Arsenal player and he will be fully concentrating on that, it’s pure speculation at the moment.”

“I haven’t spoken to him yet about his wife having a baby. I don’t like to speak to players when they have games on the weekend, but in the next couple of days or so I will be in touch with Aaron about his personal situation.”

Gareth Bale’s minor injury and game time next week:

“Gareth had a groin strain on the weekend, but the scan was clear. He expects to play on Saturday evening for Real Madrid.

“You want a good relationship with all the clubs, especially with Gareth at Madrid. Every game is huge for a club of that size – how many minutes he plays, how often he trains etc. Ideally, I want him to play every minute, but that’s not possible.”

“Gareth Bale will be presented with an honour before the game against Spain next week for becoming Wales’ highest goalscorer. Make sure you get there early!”

The game against Rep. of Ireland in Dublin:

“It’s not easy for the quick turnaround, we should be fresh after our Spain match.

“I don’t think our game against Denmark was down to fatigue – we just didn’t have the length of time to prepare like we did for Ireland.”

“I respect Martin as a manager and I expect a backlash performance. When you get beat as a player, you want to rectify that so I expect a difficult game. If we play to the level that we did in the first game we’ll be fine.”

“The reception from the fans in Cardiff against Ireland was what dreams were made of. But our last game was against Denmark and we got beat and we need to improve on a lot of things. We have to get back to what we’re good at.”

When asked about Roy’s snub at the end of the game in Cardiff: “Roy, like me, is a winner so I expect him to have some reaction and there are no hard feelings.

“I was with him last week in Cork for Liam Miller’s memorial match. We were as normal as ever.”

Ethan Ampadu’s future:

“He is getting matches at U23 level, but it’s difficult as we’ve seen with Wilson and Woodburn [at Liverpool] to see where these players will get their games.

“I was more than pleased with how he turned up in the last camps. He’s only just turned 18 so he has plenty of time at a top club in Chelsea.

“Ethan can be anything he wants to be; what a player and character to have. A manager’s dream, but again, he’s only 18.”

Andy King picked despite not playing a game for Leicester:

“He’s frustrated with not playing at Leicester. It’s about seeing how the players turn up, of course, you want players playing regularly.

“He’s a good pro and looks after himself. Whether he plays 30 mins, an hour or not at all, we’ll assess that as good as we can do.”

Attacking quality in numbers:

He jokes: “I’m impressed with Tyler [Roberts] scoring but not with Harry [Wilson] scoring [against Manchester United last week].

“Sam Vokes scored for Burnley at the weekend. We want players coming into the camp scoring goals, it brings great competition to the camp.”

“I have no concerns regarding Ben Woodburn, he’s just not getting regular games at Sheffield United currently.

“Sometimes a loan works out sometimes it doesn’t, he can come through this and be a better player. It’s up to Ben now, he’s got the quality to perform.”

“David Brooks is another player I enjoy coaching, he can do things out of the ordinary. When you get your chance, you have to take it and he has at Bournemouth.”

A future Team GB:

“Without getting into the details, in my experience in 2012, it was fantastic. Whatever the FAW have with regards to the women is up to them.”

 

I also spoke with Wales U21 manager, Robert Page. You can view what he said on the blog’s Twitter feed – www.twitter.com/behindthegoal16

Read more:
• Mitchell Clark “surprised” at not being named in the Wales U21 squad
• Wales Watch: Tyler Roberts shines again for Leeds in midweek
• What needs to be done to end Cardiff’s winless campaign? 
• Three Welsh players net their first club goals this season 
• Wales Watch: Harry Wilson shows his quality in the League Cup 
• Wales Watch: Ramsey and Wilson hit form 

Wales Watch: Tyler Roberts shines again for Leeds in midweek

Tyler Roberts scored the only goal in Leeds’ 1-0 win over Hull to take them to the top of the Championship. After not featuring for the majority of the opening fixtures, he is definitely adjusting to life in the Championship . A stunning right-footed strike from 25 yards into the bottom corner showed why he is keeping his place in the side. Roberts has netted 3 times and managed 1 assist in 5 games this season.

It was a sixth clean sheet of the season for Swansea on Tuesday night. Yet again, Joe Rodon was at the heart of defence and has become steadily accustomed to the gruelling demands of the Championship. Connor Roberts played in an advanced midfield role on the right for Swansea instead of at right-back, but couldn’t impact the scoreline. Lee Evans played the 90 mins for Wigan in the 0-0 draw and Daniel James was an unused sub for Swansea.

James Chester had a bad evening for Aston Villa and was sent off on 54 minutes for a last ditch tackle against Preston. Chris Maxwell and Andrew Hughes started together again for the away side in a game that finished 3-3 – Maxwell won the point for Preston by saving a penalty in the 96th minute!

There was Champions League action on Wednesday for Ben Davies as Spurs lost 2-4 against Barcelona at Wembley Stadium. Davies played 90 minutes at left-back in a defensive four, but couldn’t stop Lionel Messi thriving on the night.

Harry Wilson started for Derby in their 1-1 result against Norwich. Tom Lawrence and Louis Thompson came on in the second half for the home and away teams. Joe Ledley again missed the squad of 18.

Tom Bradshaw and Steve Morison were both introduced on 75 minutes to salvage a result for Millwall. The game with Nottingham Forest ended up finishing 2-2, but no goals or assists for either striker.

Elsewhere in the Championship, Chris Gunter and Chris Mepham played 90 mins for Reading and Brentford in two draws, respectively. Ashley Williams and Joe Allen played 90 mins in Stoke’s 2-0 win against Bolton and Christian Doidge made a 20 minute appearance for the away team towards the end of the match.

Gwion Edwards came on as a half-time substitute for Ipswich in their 0-2 loss against Middlesbrough and Marley Watkins was a second half introduction in Bristol City’s 0-0 draw with Rotherham.

In League One, Adam Matthews and George Thomas both got an assist each for their clubs. Barnsley’s Adam Davies and Ryan Hedges played 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw against Plymouth.

There are only five unbeaten teams left in the football league this season – Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Portsmouth and Forest Green Rovers. Liam Shephard captained FGR on Tuesday evening in their fourth win of the season over Cambridge. Seven times capped international, George Williams was an unused substitute.

Finally, a late mention for David Brooks – who missed the weekend update, but he scored a cracker against Wayne Hennessey on Monday night for Bournemouth.

Follow the blog on Twitter to receive all of the latest updates.

Read more:
• What needs to be done to end Cardiff’s winless campaign?
• Three Welsh players net their first club goals this season 
• Wales Watch: Harry Wilson shows his quality in the League Cup 
• Wales Watch: Ramsey and Wilson hit form 

What needs to be done to end Cardiff’s winless campaign?

It’s a long season in the Premier League. With 7 matches played, there are still 31 left (a total of 93 points to play for). That seems to look pretty positive on paper, but it’s becoming very difficult to see where the points are going to come from.

Last season, Southampton needed just 36 points to achieve 17th place. The 2016/17 season saw Watford finish 17th with 40 points – but 18th placed Hull only managed 34.

It would be fairly safe to say 38 points would win the club survival – 36 more for Cardiff after two draws with Newcastle (H) and Huddersfield (A).

Cardiff’s next six fixtures look like this:

Tottenham (A) – 4th
Fulham (H) – 17th
Liverpool (A) – 2nd
Leicester (H) – 7th
Brighton (H) – 15th
Everton (A) – 11th

All three away matches are very tough and it would be a bonus if any points were picked up in those. Cardiff’s home form has to change drastically and the games against Fulham, Leicester and Brighton already look like “must not lose”, if not, “must win” fixtures.

What went wrong against Burnley?

It was a very poor result on Sunday, there is no getting away from it. Brighton (15th), Southampton (16th), Fulham (17th), Newcastle (18th) and Huddersfield (20th) all lost on the weekend and it was a golden opportunity to get out of the relegation zone.

A mixture of poor defending and a lack of creativity in the final third led to another loss. The thing that was most disappointing was the woeful defensive mistakes for both goals conceded.

First goal:

I’m totally baffled as to why Sean Morrison is taking long throws in every single area of the pitch, including Cardiff’s own half, and this is what ultimately led to conceding the first goal.

Morrison takes a throw deep into the Cardiff half and it is thrown straight to a Burnley player who boots it back towards the 18-yard box. This leaves the defensive line all over the place and Cunningham is forced to clear it out for a Burnley throw in the attacking third.

 

Circled are the four defenders. In the second image, Manga is too far up the pitch to be in shot. Morrison is out of position because he was just taking the throw. Cunningham questions Etheridge on why he didn’t come out of his box, but there’s no way he could have sprinted 25 yards in 2 or 3 seconds.

 

6ft Cunningham is then up against 5ft10 Gudmundsson and the shorter player gets a full head height above the Cardiff defender. Etheridge shouldn’t have been beaten at his near post.

Second goal:

Just after a brilliant first-time finish from Josh Murphy, who was the best player on the park for Cardiff, sloppy defending cost the game yet again.

 

A simple ball over the top for Gudmundsson to chase. Morrison and Bamba are far too slow to react and Vokes connects to the cross to put Burnley 2-1 in front. Cunningham should be challenging for the ball but doesn’t make any contact again.

What needs to change?

  • Long throws can be an asset for Cardiff, but taking them in every area of the pitch is ludicrous. Burnley clearly worked on this as they knew Morrison wouldn’t be in his central position every time; a big gap in the Cardiff defence would be exploited. Keep the long throws for attacking positions only.
  • Harry Arter is comfortably the best midfield option available and he needs someone alongside him to do the same job i.e. ball winning and distributing. He was doing far too much of this on his own against Burnley and would be helped by a near-fit Aron Gunnarsson.
  • Zohore is clearly not settled this season and can’t be relied upon to start matches. Danny Ward is a far better choice to lead the line and showed his worth against Arsenal and Chelsea.
  • Cunningham was poor against a fairly average Burnley side, it would be preferred that Joe Bennett was reintroduced.
  • Neither Bamba or Morrison have looked solid at centre back this season and that has become a massive worry after doing so well in the promotion season. It might be time to give Richards a run in on the right side so Manga can come in to play alongside Morrison.
  • Murphy needs to start every game when he is match fit. He is by far the best attacking option at hand and looked much brighter than Hoilett and Mendez-Laing have done this season. It might be an option to bring Bobby Reid back into the side and play him on the other flank.

What is the best formation?

Screen Shot 2018-10-01 at 13.24.47

I think that could be the best team that can be put out for now, but it’s very hard to tell as performances have been mostly poor.

What I like about this is Camarasa and Reid can swap positions when necessary, but three are still kept in midfield. Richards is far better on the ball than Bamba and Manga is safer on the ball in his more natural central position. Murphy is a dangerous attacking option and Ward has shown in recent times that he is the best option to play as a no.9.

Hopefully, Neil Warnock has realised playing route one for 90 minutes does more damage for this team than good.

Follow the blog on Twitter to receive all of the latest updates.

Read more:
• Three Welsh players net their first club goals this season
• Wales Watch: Harry Wilson shows his quality in the League Cup 
• Wales Watch: Ramsey and Wilson hit form