Cardiff City V Everton
Saturday 31 August, 2013 – Kick-Off: 15:00 GMT
It is likely to be some atmosphere in Wales this weekend. Cardiff, on the back of their sensational result last weekend when they claimed the mammoth scalp of big-spending Man City, will welcome an Everton side still without a win in this season’s league campaign to the Cardiff City Stadium – and it goes without saying that there will probably be an air of expectancy around the ground now prior to kick-off.
Bookmakers had Malky Mackay’s men priced at around the 8/1 mark for an unlikely maiden Premier League win at home to Man City last week. That price will have rocketed upwards shortly after half-time as soon as Edin Dzeko fired the visitors into a 1-0 lead. So it truly was a monumental achievement to escape from what was a formidable-looking fixture as 3-2 victors, defying all odds it seems. However, I for one am not getting overzealous.
Credit to a cautious Cardiff
Straight to it then. There were several aspects about Cardiff’s performance last week which alarm me ahead of another testing encounter, this time with Everton. I’ll begin with their overly cautious approach initially, which was all too similar to their opening 90 minutes in the Premier League at Upton Park on the opening day of the season in which they merely rolled over in a bitterly disappointing 2-0 loss.
The Bluebirds failed to create a single chance of note away to West Ham on the opening day, opting for men behind the ball, an approach they mirrored for the first 45 minutes of last week’s contest. I won’t deny that it didn’t work, as Man City created very little until Dzeko took aim from the best part of 25-yards. It wasn’t until they went a goal down that Cardiff threw caution to the wind and ditched their offensive inhibitions.
Cardiff’s very first Premier League goal was very well worked actually, with Fraizer Campbell bringing a decent save from Joe Hart initially, with Aron Gunnarsson capitalising on the rebound. Although, it was to be their only goal from open-play. Some truly haphazard Man City defending from two corners allowed one of the smallest players on the pitch in Fraizer Campbell to head home on two separate occasions and put the home side into an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Credit to Cardiff for putting numbers in the box for both corners. And you have to credit the goalscorer on the both occasions for his tenacity. However, we shouldn’t disregard a few important factors. Like the fact Man City were without the hugely influential presence of captain Vincent Kompany in the heart of defence. Moreover, Manuel Pellegrini has seemingly adopted a man-marking style of defending set-plays, as opposed to the zonal system the players were so familiar with under the previous regime.
Those same spaces, and uncertainties within the ranks, simply won’t be evident against Everton, or at least they shouldn’t be. This is an Everton side boasting an abundance of height and are a side not known for their set-play vulnerabilities. So Cardiff will have to get creative on Saturday. Which I’m not sure bodes well on the evidence of what I’ve seen so far.
Harsh critic?
Perhaps I’m not giving Cardiff the credit they truly deserve? Perhaps. And it is possible that their scalp of a star-studded Man City team will provide them with a platform now to really push on and play with some new-found vigor and confidence. It’s very much possible. The fans will be buzzing, that’s for sure. Even so, I can’t help but think Everton will have their number.
And speaking of numbers; Everton have had twice as many attempts at goal than Cardiff (42 V 21), with 26 of those arriving inside the box compared with Cardiff’s 10.So creativity, evidently, isn’t a problem area for an Everton side that can consider themselves more than a little unfortunate to only have a couple points on the board.
Where Man City went wrong was with their lack of penetration; Jesus Navas was brought in to provide serious width with his blistering pace, but he was so ineffective that he was replaced at half-time. As a result, Pellegrini’s men were forced to play through the middle, which was all too easy for a well-drilled Cardiff defence. Only Dzeko’s speculative effort denied them what seemed like an inevitable clean sheet at the time, even with the best part of 30 minutes still to play.
Everton shouldn’t encounter the same resistance, not with their formidable wide pairings. Kevin Mirallas has looked a livewire in his new position out on the right-wing of a front-three without really producing the goods in terms of goals and assists, but that appears only a matter of time. The key to unlocking a stubborn Cardiff rearguard, however, could rest in the Toffee’s formidable full-back pairing of Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman. The duo lead the way in chances created for defenders (5 and 3 respectively), and their desire to overlap and link-up with the attackers should lead to chances aplenty once more.
The worry for Everton backers, like myself, is the absence of a confident hitman up top. Neither Jelavic nor Kone has excelled so far, so the goals may well have to arrive from other avenues, as was the case at Norwich on the opening weekend when goals from Ross Barkley and Seamus Coleman were unfortunately not enough to reward the team with what would have been a thoroughly deserved victory at Carrow Road.
Of course, there is only one set of numbers that truly matters in this sport and that’s points amassed. Cardiff lead the way here with 3 to Everton’s 2, but Roberto Martinez must surely be closing in on his first league win as Everton boss. His enterprising team have shown so much potential in the final third in the opening two games to have me believing that so long as their defence isn’t as generous as Man City’s – and there have been no indications that it will be, then the Cardiff City Stadium could be braced for another first: a Roberto Martinez victory as Everton manager.
Betting Tip: Everton to WIN @ 13/10 with BetVictor
