A tough loss but given how well Cardiff played, not that unexpected. Before the season started I suspected playing a promoted side so early in the season was dangerous and so it proved. At half time I tweeted:
There's a big team going to lose at Cardiff this season. Hope it's not us today #mcfc
— David Lamb (@dlamb75) August 25, 2013
Sadly I was right. Cardiff is going to be a tough place to visit.
A few observations on how City played:
- Garcia isn't good enough at centre back. Sadly with Kompany injured, and Nastasic not fully fit we were down to only one fit centre back. Garcia did play there in pre-season but he lacks pace and doesn't have the experience or instincts needed to compensate for this.
- We've switched from Zonal to Man marking at corners. Is it possible that the two goals conceded from corners are due to the players still getting used to this? On Sky on Monday night, Jamie Carragher made the excellent point that had those goals been conceded when we were using zonal marking, the system would have been blamed. As it was man-marking, Hart and Zabaleta were blamed. Cardiff's delivery at the corners was superb though, so it's possible neither system would have worked.
- At times the game was a return to many games over the last couple of years. Cardiff retreated into the final third and got 10 men behind the ball. The quick passing and movement we showed against Newcastle were less effective here and its in games like this were we will need to show a lot more patience.
- We showed signs of a weakness from last season - being too narrow. Navas should be an important option in games like this but he drifted inside too much.
- Cardiff did take every opportunity to attack though. This is not something most teams do when they sit back and defend against us.
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