TALKING POINTS FROM THE SEVERNSIDE DERBY
HARSH LESSON FOR BOGLE OMAR Bogle had just made it two goals in two Bluebirds games when he learned a harsh football lesson.
Fresh from his excellent strike in the win over Ipswich, Bogle rounded off good work from Junior Hoilett to cancel out Callum O’Dowda’s opener and level for Cardiff at Ashton Gate.
But just when his game should have gone to another level again, he saw red in every sense.
Bogle was angered when he went down under a challenge and referee Mike Jones didn’t stop play. Bristol striker Bobby Reid tried to haul him up, Bogle angrily waved him away, the home fans were baying.
What happened next may be the biggest lesson Bogle has in football. He lost his rag, lunged crudely at Marlon Pack shown a red card.
Whether the referee should have stopped play earlier and enabled Bogle to have treatment is a moot point. But the fact is he didn’t and by acting in the manner he did, Bogle let down his team-mates. WHY NO TOMLIN? LEE Tomlin arrived as Cardiff’s blue riband summer signing, but has barely featured thus far.
After his excellent showing in the 3-1 win over Ipswich, most Bluebirds fans just assumed he would carry on in the same vein against his old club Bristol City.
But Neil Warnock may always have wanted a more combative looking midfield for an away derby like this one, where there was always going to be plenty of rough and tumble. The deciding factor for the manager, however, was the fact that Tomlin was in court on Friday. “His mind was confused,” explained Warnock, who intended to bring on Tomlin early in the second-half.
Those plans went out of the window once Bogle was sent off and Cardiff had to make enforced alterations in other areas. PATERSON IS A LIVEWIRE WHILE Bogle’s red card ultimately hamstrung the Bluebirds, one player who appeared to actually improve when the visitors went down to 10-men was the Duracell bunny that is Callum Paterson.
Neil Warnock joked that the Scot ‘needed a lung transplant’ after playing his first 90 minutes in almost 11 months against Ipswich in midweek, after recovering from a long-standing ACL injury. The boss even suggested Paterson might not be 100 per cent fit to start this game, such was his battle for fitness. Well it certainly didn’t look that way. The former Hearts man started at wing-back and then, nominally, shifted to an orthodox right back after the break as Sol Bamba shifted into midfield and Cardiff played a flat back four.
It didn’t seem to matter which position he was in, Paterson had a big impact. His long throws are an asset and he seemed to win everything in the air. IS THIS THE END OF WINGBACKS? THE system that Paul Trollope favoured at Cardiff hasn’t been so popular under Neil Warnock, but that’s not to say the veteran manager has been afraid to deploy it from time to time.
At Ashton Gate he began with three centre-backs but Cardiff were soon exploited by the impressive Bristol City winger’s Callum O’Dowda and Joe Bryan.
O’Dowda in particular was able to run beyond Lee Peltier and drag Sol Bamba out of position, while Bruno Manga didn’t look at ease with the running of Bobby Reid and Bryan on the other side.
It’s not the first time a three-man defence has failed Cardiff. Warnock started with the system this season at Burton before ditching it, it had little effect against Millwall too.
Cardiff were looking good in the second half with a flat back four before Bogle’s red card.