Spyin' Kop: Cardiff (H) Carling Cup - 31/10/07

Posted by Rhi on October 30, 2007, 05:12:20 pm

A welcome break from the pressures of the league and Europe or an annoying distraction from our main focus? The same debate rages on, year after year, about the Carling Cup. But personally, I’m quite looking forward to what promises to be a bit of an occasion, what with the return of Fowler on Halloween night to his spiritual home. Of course even without the added spice of Robbie’s return, a tie with Cardiff was always appealing after many a booze-fuelled final in the Welsh capital, but instead of a chance to relive some of the fun times, we get the chance to repay their hospitality at Anfield.

It’s been a long wait for this tie – the last one being a 4-0 defeat back in 1959! Infact, in our last five meetings – Cardiff have beaten us 5 times! There aren’t many teams out there that can boast that sort of record! So let’s hope that we turn that record around on Wednesday night and the team give us a bit of a treat (sorry).


Liverpool v Cardiff City
Wednesday the 31st of October   
Anfield, Liverpool
K.O. 8pm
Referee: TBC

Founded: 1899
Stadium: Ninian Park, Cardiff
Capacity: 20,376
Nickname(s): Bluebirds
Home Kit Colours: All Blue with White Trim
Away Kit Colours: Yellow & Blue
Manager: Dave Jones (Liverpool born, ex-Everton defender)

Honours
FA Cup Winners – 1927
FA Cup Finalists – 1925
FA Charity Shield Winners – 1927

Division 1 Runners Up – 1924
Division 2 Runners Up – 1921, 1952, 1960
Division 3 Champions – 1947
Division 3 Runners Up – 1976, 1983

Welsh Cup Winners – 1912, 1920, 1922, 1923,
1927, 1928, 1930, 1956, 1959, 1964, 1965,
1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974,
1976, 1988, 1992, 1993


I visited www.ninianpark.com/fans for some banter and opinions on the upcoming match! Thanks to chris_ccfc, bakedalasker, Clive Bristol Bluebird, BlueBird Courtney, Vic Parker and bobbankbadboy for their quick replies!

How has the season been shaping up so far?

chris: Dissapointing and frustrating to say the least

bakedalasker: Confusing. We now have a good squad with legendary players like Robbie and JFH. We are actually playing well but the results have been disappointing.

Clive: Extremely disapointing....to say the least!

Courtney: Disappointing to say the least. Playing well but not winning or winning but not playing well. Sounds stupid but it seems like we have had bad luck in more or less every match we have played.

Vic Parker: Stuttering start, only good away form keeping us off bottom. Awaiting the return of Ricky.

bobbankbadboy: very poorly! we just do not look like winning games, conceeding too easily

What are your expectations for this season? Have they changed from day one?

chris: Mid table, thought we could have made the play-offs at the start of the season but now i cant see it happening

bakedalasker: I will be happy with mid table. I thought at the start of the season mid table would be easy with possible play off position.

Clive: I was hoping to reach the play-offs, would settle for mid-table obscurity right now

Courtney: I would be happy with mid table this year and then a big push when the finances are stronger. At the start having looked at the squad I was thinking play offs.

Vic Parker: Top six is achieveable but on current form mid table.

bobbankbadboy: i did hope we could get play-offs, but now itll probly be bottom half disapointment again!

Who do you think is your most important player(s)?

chris: Roger Johnson

bakedalasker: Difficult to point out just one but what I feel is important is the fact we have had a number of our players scoring unlike last season where it was all down to Chopra.

Clive: McPhail (when on song)

Courtney: Hmm. Hard to say really as they have all been inconsistent. I would say Fowler though, controversial I know but without his goals the draws would be losses etc.

Vic Parker: Pursie

bobbankbadboy: ledley atm because he plays with some heart! sinclair makes things hapen aswell mind

Your worst player(s)?

chris: McPhail

bakedalasker: Defence.

Clive: McPhail (when not on song) *stirring smilie*

Vic Parker: He's at Swansea scoring lots of goals *stirring smilie*

bobbankbadboy: Thers a few! lol

Are there any young, up and coming players in the squad that we might not know about?

chris: Darcy Blake, Aaron Ramsey, Chris Gunter

bakedalasker: We have a number of young players who will benefit from the likes of Robbies and JFH experience.

Clive: Darcy, Ramsey, Gunter and oh yes....a young lad called Fowler

Courtney: Chris Gunter, Aaron Ramsey (You might know about him though), Darcy Blake.

Vic Parker: Ramsey, Blake & Gunter

bobbankbadboy: Ramsey looked good

What sort of line-up will be put out against us?

chris: A defending one with two slow veterans up font

bakedalasker: We need to get our defence sorted out and that does not look promising at the moment.

Clive: Our first team and hopefully all 5 subs!!

Courtney: Full strength and hopefully changed from our last game. Would like to see Ledley in the middle instead of McPhail.

bobbankbadboy: our strongest team im guessin!

Do you have any favourite/best chant(s) and perhaps any that require an explanation?

chris: City till i die, no explanation needed

Clive: Men of Harlech (which is hummed, lol) and 'You are my Cardiff, my only Cardiff'

Courtney: None that require explaining really. Sure you will hear them all on Wednesday.

Vic Parker: 'I'll be there' (adopted mining song) & 'You are my Cardiff'

bobbankbadboy: men of harlech!! we should sing the words instead of hummin tho!

Which Liverpool player will you fear the most?

chris: Gerrard

bakedalasker: Got to be Steve Gerrard

Clive:  Stevie Gerrard

Courtney: I will be scared everytime any Liverpool player has the ball. All quality players but I'd have to say Gerrard

Vic Parker: Roger Hunt!! . . . ok . . Peter Crouch

bobbankbadboy: gerrard if he plays, i can see crouchie n kewel causin problems too

From having a look around your forum it seems that there are a lot of Cardiff fans who follow Liverpool too. Why do you think that is?

chris: Because a lot of people in south wales would rather support a succesfull team than their local team, sad really. For the cardiff fans who like liverpool as their second team could be down to supporting liverpool as a child or influenced by their family members

bakedalasker: Liverpool is a great club and thats why.

Clive: Speaking from experience it was because we sold Toshack to you back in 1970, was a ledgend down here;

Courtney: Great club, great history, great fans. I know some people who follow Liverpool now since meeting some Liverpool fans in Cardiff.

Vic Parker: Easy option to follow a successful team I guess.

bobbankbadboy: im a big liverpool fan too! my dad suported them and as a kid i just watched them on telly and stuff!

Liverpool fans love Cardiff, after many a trip down for various finals! What was it like for a neutral in Cardiff when the Liverpool boys were in town?

chris: Good atmosphere

bakedalasker: Never been to Cardiff when Liverpool are in town but I would love to experience the scousers invasion of our beloved city.

Clive: I actually went to the West ham Cup Final, the Birmingham 'League' Cup final and the Charity Shield when you beat Man Utd......fantastic occassions and all wins too!

Courtney: Great atmosphere, very friendly.

Vic Parker: Normally a great atmosphere in the city because of the close location to the pubs but found it better with the northern fans.

I picked up a sense of annoyance at ticketing arrangements for this match – could you outline the problems you had? If anyone can sympathise with bad ticketing procedures – it’s us!

chris: Ambassadors* get first choice, lots of fans were not happy with that but thats how its been for the last few years

Clive: As previously explained, but why shouldn't it be that way?

Courtney: Well there was annoyance and I feel sorry for the ambassadors who didn't get tickets. But anyone who isn't an ambassador shouldn't really complain IMO. I was fine as I'm an ambassador and got a ticket for Wednesday.

Vic Parker: Well I still think we could've filled the Anfield Rd End, but rules are rules for both sets of supporters. Naturally there will be some disappointed fans but most understand the situation with ticket allocation limits.

bobbankbadboy: No because im an ambassador so got my tikets!

*Ambassadors are those who pay a bit more for their season tickets, as far as I can tell, and they were offered tickets first with no loyalty system, a lot of "normal" season ticket holders were annoyed - Ed

And of course I have to ask about Robbie! How has he done for you? Good signing? Would you tip him to bag one against us?

chris: Im going to be honest here and say he has been dissapointing, he has scored a few goals and his flicks and touches off the ball are quality, but he looks very lazy in a lot of the games and is knackerd after 60mins

bakedalasker: Although he has scored some goals this season for us his performances have been questioned. He is a great lad and a true scouser and it will be special for us taffs to see him score one against the club that made him.

Clive: One of my all time heroes, i was like a kid in a sweet shop when he signed, just a shame that he's lost that burst of pace. Would have been intersting watching him play with Jerome or Chopra

Courtney: If you looked at his record he's done well. I think he's scored 6 goals in 7 games or something like that recently, which is what he was brought here to do really. But his actual performances have left a lot to be desired, he doesn't seem very fit or willing to hassle players. I'm sure you know about his finishing and he seems to be taking the pens for us so hopefully he will get a few.

Vic Parker: Gerrard has promised him a penalty in the 91st minute alledgedly.

bobbankbadboy: He was my boyhood hero but ive got to admit hes been a little disapointing so far, hes bound to score tho!

And finally, care to predict the score?

chris: 3-0 liverpool

bakedalasker: Heart says a 1-0 victory for Cardiff with our defence holding out to a dominating Liverpool attack force. My head...2-1 victory to a Liverpool team in 2nd gear.

Clive: I really hope we can 'nick' it, but i think it'll be 2 or 3 - 0 to Liverpool.

Courtney: Hoping for a City win, 2-1 maybe but you can never predict a Liverpool score nowadays 'cause you don't know what sort of team they will put out. If the Liverpool team is near full strength then anything below 2 goals will be a good result for us.

Vic Parker: 3-1 to the Pool.

bobbankbadboy: 4-3 cardiff, robbie hattrik!


Thanks very much once again to ninianpark.com/fans.


© Rhi, 2007

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