FA “Referee” Lee Probert 1-0 Cardiff City

By: Martyn | November 9th, 2008

Cardiff City were robbed of taking anything from a game they were never out of by some farcical and diabolical refereeing decisions. The Bluebirds had been forced to play(/toil) with 10 men for the bulk of the match and then 9 for the closing stages, were denied an absolute clear-as-Volvic-or-Evian penalty kick midway through the second period, before being given just TWO minutes of injury time at the end of the game to salvage something in spite of the numerous substitutions, several injuries and the prolonged sending-off of Commingues. Add to that the fact every 50/50 decision went the way of the Hoops and Lee Probert ensured that he capped off a memorable day that will linger long in the minds of City fans for all the wrong reasons. Now this may sound like sour grapes and I’ll admit to having my view of the Queen’s Park Rangers tainted by the childish goading and charging of their fans as we left the stadium at the end. But on the pitch we were always in the game and looked destined to score sooner or later before Purse’s extremely harsh ordering off. Equally, QPR did not impress me one iota. Never has the phrase ‘team game’ been so out of context or totally unrequired for descriptive purpose. I said before he came on and scored the winner that Rangers had missed Gavin Mahon to provide that necessary bite in the centre of the park. Well and truly rued…

Anyhow, Loftus Road is one of my favourite grounds – Its compact nature makes for a cracking atmosphere (when the home fans can be arsed contributing) and its location ensures that you have all the amenities any hungry and thirsty football fan can need pre-match. Even if yesterday involved having to spend two hours in one of the hideous Walkabout chain pubs, but hey – beggars can’t be choosers. It is a shame for the Loftus Road small-fortune-every-week paying band that they don’t have a team to match their grand and stylish stadium, chairmen and ambitions. Damiano Tommasi – once of Italy and Roma fame and Scudetto-winning glory – was woeful and clearly displayed why he no longer pulls on the famous giallorossi strip. The attackers were impotent and seemed to have had some alien system thrust upon them in which they were then told to strut their stuff and work things out for themselves. As a result, they became easy for our defence to pick up and offered little. In fact, the goal they scored was one of only two efforts that I can remember all match. One of those days indeed.

Their most impressive player by a country mile was throw-in taking centre back Fitz Hall. He didn’t just have Eddie Johnson in his pocket, he’d taken him back to his house, put him in some comfortable clothing, given him a pipe and slippers and got Mrs Hall to cook him dinner. Cardiff tried and tried despite the bias of the ref and despite having five players stricken with illness up until the day of the game (Roger Johnson, Darren Purse, Gabor Gyepes, Joe Ledley and Gavin Rae). Looking at it from this perspective, any other team could have put five past us. But fair play to Jones because after the sending off of Purse everyone expected him to haul off the flawed Yank and go 4-4-1. However, Ledley was instead given the chance to keep Purse company in the showers and we adopted a 4-3-2 formation which went beyond hinting at our intentions and obvious chance of winning the game. This tactical setup was clearly designed not to isolate and frustrate our goal threat Michael Chora on his debut but unfortunately the strikers were marooned for large parts of the game simply because of the wastefulness of our midfielders and full-backs when they were on the ball. If this had been even more than 10% sharper I would have been sat here slamming the keys on my laptop in praise of a heroic victory in the face of strong adversity. Correspondingly, had a certain Scot been playing I might also be in an entirely contrasting mood. Michael Chopra and Eddie Johnson understandably failed to forge a link in their first outing together having only met two days ago and this also proved to be a primary shortcoming. Mind you, I don’t think Eddie Johnson’s own brain and body have linked up yet so perhaps we should learn to walk before we contemplate taking on Usain Bolt.

Johnson and Chopra is never set to be the full-time partnership hogging two columns on the team-sheet, and the onus is on whether McCormack and Chopra (for those of you less well informed, the difference between the pair is the difference between Coke and Pepsi – very, very minimal to the point of being identical) can play in the same team. Before seeing it in motion and action, I’ll say that it can’t work. We’d essentially end up with a forward-less formation, no focal point for the side and two players fighting to be the same talisman and occpying too many of the same AMF positions rather than feeding on the scraps. If Dave Jones finds a system that can accomodate and suit their playing needs and abilities, yet a system that ensures we have two strikers at the same time, I will be impressed and eagerly anticipating seeing us fans and the team reaping the rewards! The easy option will probably be benching the least fit or prolific of the pair and pairing the other with Bothroyd. Only time (or McCormack’s return and Chopra’s goal return before then) will tell.

Our perfomers in rank order.

1. Roger Johnson – Considering that he had been suffering with the Leon Trotsky’s in the week and hours preceding the game RJ gave the performance of a lifetime. He put every last ounce of energy in him into this game and to lose after conceding from a set-piece – something we would not have done had we had an extra man in the box, but thanks for that Mr Probert – was a blow to the cocky young centre-back more than anyone. Regardless, I couldn’t find a single flaw in his performance yesterday and even though McPhail shares captain duties with Purse, performances like this justify Johnson’s cause emphatically.

2. Gabor Gyepes – Slotted in straight away and didn’t put a foot wrong. Relished using his physicality against strikers who weren’t accustomed to roughing it up. Once again, Dave Jones continues his incredible feat of buying phenomenal centre-backs for mere pennies. If he could buy strikers of equal ability we would be in the Champions League! If the same finesse and Midas-touch applied to buying midfielders too, we’d be winning La Orejona!

3. Paul Parry – Came off the bench with a point to prove having been neglected in midfield and up front in favour of Whittingham/Ledley and Eddie Johnson respectively. Parry showed a willingness to run at defenders with the ball, something that many had expected Chopra to do and something that brutally failed to materialise. Chopra was forced to feed off the scarce scraps that Eddie Johnson managed to win in the air and so our main defence pant-browning was utilized entirely ineffectively. To be fair, Chopra would not have been able to drop back so deep because of the fact that we decided to put the American international in the side and he needed a sidekick, so seeing Parry come on and strike some much-needed waves of fear into the opposition’s defence was a relief. Whittingham was shackled in the centre of midfield so the long ball had become the order of the day. It may have been ugly to watch but given the circumstances – and uselessness/lack of creativity in the CM – it was probably tactically necessary. I like what Dave Jones is doing at the moment (even if I disagree wholeheartedly with his reluctance to drop Ledley) by constantly switching between Parry and Whittingham for bench and first team duty. It’s keeping the pair of them on their toes and gently oozing the best out of them.

4. Michael Chopra – In my last post I penned a long list of strikers I considered possible loan signings. I didn’t consider Chops as I thought his stubborness to cement himself as a part of the EPL furniture would deny any Championship club the chance of his signature. So what a pleasant surprise it was to see the former City favourite return and pats on the back to those at the club responsible for his return – at last, some ambition to actually clamber out of this league!! Chopra looked jaded and not up to the demands of a 90 minute game up-and-at-’em FLC game, but that was to be expected. He didn’t shy away from the challenge though and his penchant for tearing down the wing with the ball glued to his feet kept us travelling fans wishing and believing for the duration of the rain-soaked game. Although Chopra is a player who scores in spells and then endures frustratingly arduous spells of not scoring, there’s no doubt that he will become an integral part of this side over the course of the next two months and I’m confident he’ll net us at least 3 goals. Which will be more than Eddie Johnson would manage if he played in this league for the rest of his career.

5. Peter Whittingham – His stinging creativity was stifled after being forced to tuck in with a 3-man centre-midfield, and his delivery was pretty much cack. However, Whittingham had one of our better chances, a blistering strike that whistled over but skimmed the bar, and played his part in our best give-and-go move of the game. The move in question involved he, McPhail and Rae, and it was Whittingham’s movement and pinpoint passing that set the eventual (but McPhail squandered) chance up. Clever passages of play like this were evidenced at times, hence how Whitingham’s performance bordered on the respectable.

6. Darren Purse – Looked at ease before his ludicrous sending off. Way back in 1960, Helenio Herrera told an assembled press thong at Birmingham Airport, “You in England are playing in the style we continentals used so many years ago, with much physical strength, but no method, no technique”. A harsh but very true appraisal (?) that still resonates today. Now having been raised in Britain and therefore exposed from a young age to the famed physical side of the British game, I’d like to think I understand it and appreciate it to an extent. Nevertheless, I’ve always had a soft spot for the more glamorous and intelligent side of the game and have regularly watched La Liga and Serie A games and marvelled and enjoyed the differing styles of play a lot more than one can when watching British football. However, bonehead/bonebreaker or not, Darren Purse’s beefy tackle on Lee Cook was not a sending off offence. It was the type of challenge that epitomised the point Herrera was making – an attempt to halt (not half) their pacy and creative winger. But many similar challenges go unpunished in English, Spanish and Italian league games week in, week out. Every bald-headed centre-half needs to personally say hello to the opposition’s main outlet as soon as they can and the challenge didn’t border on the brutal. Mr Lee Probert however clearly interprets the game differently to the rest of the world.

7. Gavin Rae – One of the players taken ill during the week, Rae actually gave a better performance than he does when spending the week before a game in perfect health: Perhaps being rudimentary is the way to find the player the Scottish Ranrs shelled out money for! Praise – looked to support the attack, got stuck in, boundless energy – aside, Rae’s maor flaws were still on display far too much for my or anyone other City fan’s liking: Second to most loose balls, not alert to impending threats or where the ball might fall, and he and McPhail still looking like they’ve never met.

8. Joe Ledley – Hauled off before he had the chance to make any real mistakes, Ledley veered between linking up and supporting the attack in a mature and penetrative manner, and giving the ball away cheaply.

9. Kevin McNaughton – Some absolutely shocking passing blighted what was otherwise an alright performance. It didn’t matter where he was on the pitch, his passing was atrocious.

10. Miguel Comminges – The less said about his performance the better: It was the usual sloppy and deer-in-the-headlights tripe. Eventually sent off for two yellow cards, the second of which proved to be the icing on the cake for Probert’s showing. Gesturing innocuously towards the linesman in French was enough to get Comminges his marching orders. Such is the consistency of ref’s in this country, the likes of John Terry and Steven Gerrard remain on the pitch every week despite trying to referee the game themselves; let alone gesturing and swearing at the officials in English! In his post-match interview, Dave Jones tried to avoid laying into the referee as he knew it would land him a fine and touchline ban. He skirted around the issue despite the interviewer trying to goad him into releasing the perfect soundbite. As the interview dragged on, fireworks began filling the London night-sky behind interviewer and interviewee. With perfect comic timing, Jones noted that they weren’t fireworks, the noise was actually the ref being shot. As hilarious a quip this was, a suspension (not a demotion, never understood those – why he inflict him on a lower league?!) for Probert would suffice!

11. Stephen McPhail – His shooting is so bad, I quite often feel like gouging my eyes out just so I don’t have to witness ever again one of his astonishing attempts. He must have the worst goal-scoring record for a player in his position that association football has beared witness to. Hopeless trigger-feet aren’t the only blotch on his copy-book – sloppy passing and being overrun are more pressing and drop-worthy negatives.

12. Eddie Johnson – Utter garbage.

13. Tom Heaton – Didn’t have a save of note to make so only called into action when it involved kicking. Oh Lord, have mercy on us City followers… Has now wasted almost 100 kicks for us this season. Needs to be heavily fined until this improves because he is costing us goals at both ends.