Saturday 11th January
15:00
Cardiff City Stadium
Cardiff City vs West Ham United
Analysis
Having followed the lead of the West Ham management and players, I've enjoyed a nice rest over the Christmas period and am now back and ready for action. I've not written about a 'performance' since the Manchester United game pre-Christmas, so we'll have a quick recap.
We were rubbish.
Does that do? Good. Let's talk about Cardiff.
It's difficult to know what we will come against tomorrow afternoon. Ole Gunnar Solskaer is yet to take charge of this side in a league game, and the potential impact of his arrival is not yet known.
What we do know about Cardiff though, is that they are a side, similar to us, who are struggling in the division, but who possess one or two very talented individuals, maybe not so much like us then...
One player who has made the step up to Premier League football more comfortably than many, myself included, would have expected, is midfield craftsman Peter Whittingham. Whittingham has been in South Wales for some time now, creating a truck load of chances and scoring plenty of goals in the Championship. And this season, he has simply carried on where he left off.
Whittingham has created 35 chances for his team mates this season, bagging four assists along the way. On top of that, he has contributed a couple of goals to the sides cause too.
In the recent 3-1 defeat at Anfield, Whittingham was, arguably, at his creative best. The Englishman made 6 chances for his team mates that day, as you can see below.
Another player to have impressed this season is midfielder Jordan Mutch.
The Englishman has created just 13 chances in his 19 appearances this season, but has managed to accumulate 3 assists already. What has really stood out though, is his desire to get forward and trouble the scoresheet.
Mutch has scored four goals from midfield for the Bluebirds, and is not afraid to have a pop on goal. In fact, only Whittingham (24) has had more attempts on goal than Mutch (23) for Cardiff this season. But Mutch has also managed an impressed 48% shooting accuracy, better than any Cardiff player with more than 10 attempts this season (Whittingham is back on 38%).
The final player that has really impressed me this season is Steven Caulker. Caulker was a surprise, big money move from Spurs in the summer, and has been a revelation in the Welsh capital since then.
The England defender has made a whopping 179 clearances - bettered only by defensive colleague Ben Turner's 195, he's also made 27 interceptions - third best in the Cardiff side. On top of that, Caulker has blocked an incredible 32 shots - double that of second place Turner, completed 74% of his passes, scored two goals, and created 8 chances for team mates.
Perhaps most impressive though is his 56% duel success.Caulker has completed 19 out of his 32 attempted tackles, and 68 of his 121 headed duels.
The last few weeks as a West Ham fan have been awful. We can hope for a sudden, miraculous return to form, but the club is in dire straights.
I've been a big supporter of Sam Allardyce during his time at the club, but my patience is certainly starting the wain. I want to believe that he can turn it around, but I'm starting to go over to the dark side...
Head to Head
19% Head to Head Win % 53%
11 Won 30
16 Drawn 16
30 Lost 11
56 Goals Scored 93
93 Goals Conceded 56
Recent Form
W L L D L W Last 6 L L D L L L
6 Goals Scored 6
11 Goals Conceded 22
W D L W L D Home/Away Form L W L L L L
6 Goals Scored 5
10 Goals Conceded 21
Form Player (Last 6 League)
Steven Caulker - Mark Noble
6 Appearances 6
540 Minutes Played 482
104 Sum Squawka Performance Score 64
17 Average Squawka Performance Rating 11
196 Passes Attempted 246
135 Completed 204
69% Success Rate 83%
3 Chances Created 7
0 Assists 0
9 Attempts on Goal 4
2 On Target 1
0 Goals 0
0 Take Ons Attempted 5
0 Successful Take Ons 4
0% Success Rate 80%
11 Tackles Made 24
6 Successful Tackles 5
55% Success Rate 21%
10 Interceptions 15
57 Clearances 4
8 Blocks 6
13 Defensive Actions Per Game 4
36 Aerial Duels 4
24 Won 3
67% Success Rate 75%
0 Defensive Errors 1
0 Leading to a Goal 0
Last Meeting
24 September 2013
1-0 Ravel Morrison 1'
2-0 Matt Jarvis 8'
2-1 Craig Noone 45'
2-2 Peter Odemwingie 76'
3-2 Ricardo Vâz Te 88'
4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-4-2
Adrian San Miguel - Joe Lewis
Leo Chambers - (46') John Brayford
James Tomkins - Mark /Hudson
James Collins - Matthew Connolly
George McCartney (82') - Declan John
Jack Collison - Peter Odemwingie
Matthew Taylor - Don Cowie
Ravel Morrison (58') - Jordan Mutch
Ricardo Vâz Te - Craig Noone
Matt Jarvis - (90') Nicky Maynard
Modibo Maïga (46') - (56') Joe Mason
Subs
Stephen Henderson - Simon Moore
Rǎzvan Raţ (82') - (46') Kevin McNaughton
Pelly Ruddock - Kadeem Harris
George Moncur - Simon Lappin
Mohamed Diamé (58') - (90') Rudy Gestede
Kevin Nolan - Rhys Healey
Mladen Petrić (46') - (56') Tommy Smith
Absentees
Injured/Doubtful
Cardiff City: Kevin Theophile-Catherine, Andrew Taylor, Jordan Mutch, Craig Bellamy
West Ham United: James Collins, Winston Reid, James Tomkins, Mark Noble, Ricardo Vâz Te, Andy Carroll
Suspensions
Cardiff City: n/a
West Ham United: Kevin Nolan
Opposition Last Time Out:
vs Newcastle United
Goals Scored: 2
Goals Conceded: 1
Starting Formation: 4-4-2
David Marshall
Kevin McNaughton Ben Turner Mark Hudson Declan John
Don Cowie Kim Bo-Kyung (79') Aron Gunnarsson Peter Whittingham
Peter Odemwingie (72') Andreas Cornelius (60')
subs:
Joe Lewis
John Brayford
Steven Caulker
Craig Conway
Craig Noone (72')
Fraizer Campbell (60')
Tommy Smith (79')
Top 5's (Min 5 Apps)
Goals Scored
Jordon Mutch 4 - 3 Carlton Cole
Fraizer Campbell 4 - 3 Joe Cole
Peter Whittingham 2 - 3 Ravel Morrison
Steven Caulker 2 - 2 Ricardo Vâz Te
Peter Odemwingie 1 - 2 Kevin Nolan
Assists
Peter Whittingham 4 - 4 Kevin Nolan
Jordon Mutch 3 - 2 Modibo Maïga
Don Cowie 2 - 2 Ravel Morrison
Craig Noone 1 - 2 Matthew Jarvis
Craig Bellamy 1 - 1 Jussi Jääskeläinen
Passing Accuracy
Gary Medel 89% - 87% Ravel Morrison
Nicky Maynard 84% - 84% Mark Noble
Craig Bellamy 84% - 82% Jack Collison
Kim Bo-Kyung 83% - 82% Stewart Downing
Don Cowie 83% - 81% Joe Cole
Chances Created per game
Peter Whittingham 1.8 - 2 Stewart Downing
Craig Noone 1 - 1.7 Mark Noble
Fraizer Campbell 0.7 - 1.2 Matt Jarvis
Jordon Mutch 0.7 - 0.9 Kevin Nolan
Don Cowie 0.6 - 0.9 Modibo Maïga
Successful Dribbles per game
Craig Noone 1.6 - 2.2 Mohamed Diamé
Peter Odemwingie 1.3 - 2.2 Ravel Morrison
Kim Bo-Kyung 1.2 - 1.5 Mark Noble
Jordon Mutch 1.2 - 0.9 Stewart Downing
Kevin Theophile-Catherine 0.9 - 0.9 Guy Demel
Tackles per game
Kevin Theophile-Catherine 2.8 - 2.5 Mohamed Diamé
Gary Medel 2.3 - 2.4 Mark Noble
Peter Whittingham 1.8 - 2.4 James Collins
Craig Bellamy 1.5 - 2 Winston Reid
Aron Gunnarsson 1.5 - 1.8 Kevin Nolan
Aerial Duels Won per game
Ben Turner 4.2 - 5.9 Modibo Maïga
Steven Caulker 3.4 - 4.5 James Tomkins
Kevin Theophile-Catherine 2 - 3.6 James Collins
Fraizer Campbell 1.9 - 3.2 Winston Reid
Jordon Mutch 1.5 - 2.2 Carlton Cole
Manager
Ole Gunnar Solskaer - Sam Allardyce
100% Current Club Win % 39.8%
1 Won 47
0 Drawn 31
0 Lost 40
55.5% Managerial Career Win % 39.7%
70 Won 341
25 Drawn 230
31 Lost 287
2 League Titles 2
1 Cup Wins 0
No comments:
Post a Comment