Cardiff City made it three defeats in four in 2024, as they were easily beat by Plymouth Argyle at Home Park.
Cariff started the better of the two sides with some nice free flowing football. They made the most of it as Perry Ng gave The Bluebirds the lead after ten minutes, following a scramble in the box from a corner.
Cardiff cotninued to put the pressure on the hosts as Ryan Wintle won the ball high up the field, but his effort was deflected wide of Hazard's goal.
After half an hour, Plymouth were back level through Ryan Hardie, yet again a scramble in the box that fell perfectly for Plymouth's number nine.
The hosts cam eout of the blocks the quickest for the second half, and repaed the rewards not long after the restart as Hardie scored his and Plymouth's second of the afternoon, as he hit a powerful striker past Jak Alnwick at his near post.
The Bluebirds should've been level around half an hour later. Subsitute Josh Bowler was denied by Connor Hazard twice in the Plymouth box, and the Jamilu Collins had a looping effort tipped over the bar from the Plymouth shot-stopper.
Two minutes later, Plymouth ran down the other end of the field and made it three through Morgan Whittaker. And that's all she wrote, another defeat for Erol Bulut's men.
Player Ratings:
Jak Alnwick (5) - Made a couple of decent stops. However, Hardie's second is kicked directly at him, so thaht knocks his rating down a bit.
Perry Ng (6.5) MOTM - Took his goal well. Felt he delt with Miller relitavely well. Considering he played three or four positions in the space of 90 minutes, on a whole I thought he was decent.
Dimitrios Goutas (4) - Hardie had him on toast. Doesn't get tight enough to Hardie for his first or second, almost just ball-watching. A shadow of the Goutas we know we have.
Mark McGuinness (4) - Struggled as much against Hardie and Whittaker. Not quite sure why he leaves Hardie for their first to run to the line. Second he has to win that ball quicker. An all too familiar story of the back four struggling.
Jamilu Collins (6.5) - Probably one of the better performances he's had in recent times. Got up and down well. Made a couple of key challenges.
Ollie Tanner (5) - Apparently Tanner was playing at left wing back, however, watching the game it was hard to see that. Was bypassed by Mumba and Whittaker far too easy. Left JC vulnerable. Didn't offer a great deal offensively either.
Ryan Wintle (5) - He ran the show in the first twenty minutes, linking play and putting pressure on Plymouth. However, after Plymouth's first that stopped. He became anounymous. Set piece delivery was also poor.
Andy Rinomhota (6) - For a first Championship start of the season, I think he was ok. You know what you're going to get when you see his name on the team sheet, and we got it. A hard worker who's there to annoy the opposition. We saw that in the first half, faded out in the second.
Rubin Colwill (6) - Tried his hardest to make things happen, just didn't fall for him. Another who was forced to play a few different roles, thought he was ok.
Yakou Meite (6) - You can't deny Meite's effort and work rate. He worked the Plymouth back line really well, he just had no one supporting him.
Karlan Grant (5.5) - Pretty anounymous for the game. When he did get the ball, he got forward relitavely well, but that wasn't very often. Marked out of the game really, meaning he was forced to drop very deep to get the ball, something that doesn't suit him.
Subs:
Mahlon Romeo (6) - Romeo was ok. Going forward he was surprsingly better than I've seen for a long time. Did struggle defensively.
Kion Etete (5) - Etete was brought on in the graveyard shift. Failed to put himself about and was very quiet in the final third.
Josh Bowler (5) - I don't think anyone would've been surprised had Bowler come off that pitch with the match ball after scoring a hatrick, however his finishing was poor. Found himself in some great positions but couldn't execute.
Summary:
A very tough watch. The board have to give this manager what he wants. Ollie Tanner playing at left wing back is just one of many things that are showing we need players, Tanner isn't a left wing back, but, Bulut has no choice at the moment.
Change is needed ahead of one of the most important weeks in years for Cardiff City.
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