Nottingham Forest - Cardiff City

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

To be played on Saturday 30th November.

At The World Famous City Ground.

Kick Off: 3pm.

[Paplane]

Always look forward to games, but this has got to be one of the least attractive games of the season.

[Username]

It’s still November Sniffer unless I missed my Christmas presents ;)

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

It’s still November Sniffer unless I missed my Christmas presents ;)

Oh yeah. Well spotted. I'll change it  :)

[Frochy1977]

We should do these. They are not the Cardiff of old.

[Username]

Only Middlesbrough have drawn more games than Cardiff, they are not a terrible team but not brilliant either.

I think it will be tight but fancy us getting something from it.

[zicorice]

1-1 probably

[Duncan Mckenzie]

1-1 probably

I can't see Cardiff scoring.

I'll go 1-0 to the famous team.

[the jock]

in typical millwall style neil harris has been giving madine a chance. dirty physical b*stard.

they have hoilett and mendez laing that can pose a threat with pace but i really dont rate them at all as a team.

[Mcforest]

Nottingham Forest take on Cardiff this weekend with both teams going into this fixture of the back of wins. Cardiff have a relatively new manager at the helm who is still to get his ideas into the team it makes it a difficult one to review.

What we can do however is take the last few games and identify that Cardiff have so far continued to play the 4-2-3-1 formation which they adopted at the start of the season however the 2 wide players of the 3 advanced midfield have become more narrow in resent games that previously played. Harris as set his team up to try to be more controlling of the ball in the middle of the park in the oppositions half and look to stop teams creating space and movement centrally.

Without the ball Cardiff like to play a high defensive line, flood the central midfield and carry out a fast early press into order to force the opposition into playing higher longer passes as the do dominate aerial duals and second balls. As you would expect Cardiff players are strong in tackles and will look to rob players of the ball often rather than slow down the attacking team by standing off.

With the ball Cardiff, do possess some good wide players who will look to take their man on when presented with a chance. Switching play from one side to the other to create 1v1’s has been a promenade part of their game plan as they do encourage the wide players keep chalk on their boots ready for the quick long pass once the oppositions has been pulled across to the side currently with the ball.

Cardiff like to take shots from distance often with most shots coming either centrally or from left hand side of the pitch and do create a high volume of big chances.

Cardiff’s top performer this season is currently Adam Flint (DC) however, it is Joe Ralls who has caught my eye in recent games. This central midfielder player is Cardiff’s main enforcer when it comes to stopping the opposition attacking. Strong in the tackle with a win rating of 2.5 and has good positional awareness to make very telling interceptions for the team. The player is also Cardiff’s top goal scorer showing he is very effective in all areas of the pitch.

How do you get at them?

I don’t think I need to talk in any depth what forest need to do defensively. It is very much keep going as they are. As Cardiff do play a high risk, longer passing style they do suffer from losing possession regularly and a real weakness has been individual errors through panic. Only thing Forest need to keep an eye on is that they aren’t sucked to one side and leave 1v1’s or empty space on the other side of the pitch. In addition, they need to be strong aerially and man mark at set plays.

When Forest do have the ball, they should look to drive/dribble forward as often as possible for two reasons. Firstly Cardiff prefer to tackle rather than contain which means if you can use skill to bypass the first tackle players will find themselves in plenty of space due to lack of time for players to position themselves to cover. Secondly, Cardiff give anyway a high % of free kicks in dangerous areas against those who run at the back line. Forest might even get a penalty this game.

A note on the Cardiff keeper I have noticed that the keeper does seem to take a few more seconds than most to set himself for a shot. So early strike rather than having the extra touch to control could be beneficial.

Score prediction: Very much one of those tough games where players are going to come away battered, brusied and shattered as they will be worked hard mentally. Forest have eyes on the prize at the moment and think we are going to come away 1-0 winners.

[Username]

I wonder if he’ll play Ribeiro or Robinson?

[Sausage Roll]

Wouldn't have thought Ribeiro will be fit.