Cardiff vs Derby- The Preview

[Daniel Creedon]

Cardiff go into the match with a club legends Danny Gabbidon and Scott Young taking charge after the resignation of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. After three defeats in their last four games, Solskjaer decided to leave his post on Thursday meaning that the ex-City duo will now take charge in Derby. The Bluebirds currently sit 17th place in the Championship table, the lowest point they've been in over three years. Derby on the other hand won their last match 3-2 away at Blackburn and are bordering the play-offs, in a respectable 7th place. The last time the sides faced each other, both teams took a point, with a 1-1 draw at the Ipro stadium.
Cardiff go into the fixture only missing Ben Turner, who is out for a long period of time with an ankle problem. Craig Noone seems likely to be back in action, after playing a part in the development sides 2-1 victory over local rivals Swansea.
Sean Morrison is also back in action after missing the Boro game, he had picked up a knock against Norwich so wasn't risked in the match. So besides Turner, Gabbidon and Young will have a full strength squad to pick from for their one game in charge. Derby however will have all of their 25 man squad available, as Jake Buxton's suspension is now expired and Leon Best is also back following an injury. This could leave Steve McClaren with a selection headache as their inform squad will all want a place in the line up.
Cardiff's line up may for the first time in a long while, may be a bit easier to predict. I would imagine that a 4-4-2 formation will be played with a target man and poacher type style being used.
My predicted line up is-
01- Marshall
02- Brayford
05- Ecule-Manga
36- Morrison
12- John
07- Whittingham
18- Adeyemi
11- Noone
19- Pilkington
09- Jones
22- Guerra

My predicted Derby line up is-
01- Grant
02- Christie
05- Buxton
06- Keogh
17- Whitbread
04- Bryson
08- Hendrick
14- Eustace
19- Hughes
09- Martin
11- Russell

My prediction for this game is a 1-1 draw, however after recent performances, anything respectable would be seen as a step in the right direction coming up against a solid Derby team.

 

[Rammy]

An absolute travesty that we didn't win this game. 75% possession, but we lost our concentration for 5 minutes and paid the price.
Disappointed despite coming from 2-0 behind to draw the game.

 

[Daniel Creedon]

I'm not going to lie, I was amazed at the fact when we went 2-0 up, but even at that point I still wasn't confident that we would hold on to the lead. Our defense is shockingly bad this season, no matter who plays in it, we seem to get the same result. But I suppose picking up a point in the iPro isn't something to complain about.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Shocked at the lack of interest from Cardiff last night in the league cup, both sides made a raft of changes but our changes actually wanted to state their case for league starts, Cardiff's side looked like they couldn't be bothered, it was a cake walk.

 

[Saddlerrad]

I thought Cardiff would want to make a point after getting rid of Ole, clearly not! Tan just wants promotion and will probably pay and do a lot of things to earn it.

 

[Daniel Creedon]

I'm not going to lie Mark, that was the worst performance from a City team I have seen in a long, long while! We didn't look interested at any point! The introduction of Mats Daehli definitely helped, but apart from him nobody seemed up for it! appalling!

 

[Matt]

I'm not going to lie Mark, that was the worst performance from a City team I have seen in a long, long while! We didn't look interested at any point! The introduction of Mats Daehli definitely helped, but apart from him nobody seemed up for it! appalling!

One of Derby's best this season, we've hit form now