In the first home match of the 2018/19 Premier League season, Cardiff City were held to a 0-0 draw by Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle United.
When you save a last minute penalty, you’ve got to be thankful to be coming away with a point. But, on reflection, Cardiff did enough to deserve all three points here.
What can we take from the 0-0 draw? Our man Scott Salter analyses the match and reflects on what went right and what went wrong for Neil Warnock’s City.
STOP! Have you checked out Terry Phillips’ match report and player ratings? Okay, good. You may continue.
Systems
As usual, Cardiff City lined up in a 4-3-3 system (4-5-1 without the ball). It’s been Warnock’s tried and trusted system for a while now and the players seem comfortable playing in it.
MATCHDAY | Breaking #CARNEW Team News!#CityAsOne ?⚽️?⚽️ pic.twitter.com/8n1i7ps435
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) August 18, 2018
The big talking points in terms of Cardiff’s line-up was Bruno Manga playing at right-back ahead of Jazz Richards and Lee Peltier. Manga’s naturally a centre-back, so operating on the right naturally stifled Cardiff’s attacking intent on that flank.
It did mean that Cardiff had extra height and defensive solidity on that side, against a potentially tricky winger in Kenedy.
The other talking point came in the centre of the park, with new boys Harry Arter and Victor Camarasa joining Joe Ralls as the central three. Warnock usually favours a combative midfielder (think Gunnarsson, Damour or Bryson last year) so this is possibly the most cultured midfield trio we’ve seen from the Yorkshireman.
Newcastle seemed to line-up in a 4-2-3-1 system, with a trio of Matt Ritchie, Ayoze Perez and Kenedy lining up behind lone striker Joselu. The sitting midfield two of Mo Diame and Jonjo Shelvey are key to how Newcastle operate, with Diame breaking up play and Shelvey looking to start attacks with his impressive range of passing.
TEAM NEWS: Here’s how Newcastle United will line up against @CardiffCityFC this afternoon. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/jC5sWw33ZB
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) August 18, 2018
What the stats say
When was the last time you remember Cardiff dominating the ball? It can’t have happened too many times under Warnock! But that’s exactly what happened on Saturday, with the majority of possession and more passes than Newcastle United.
The worrying stat is the shots. Despite both sides registering 12 shots on goal, Cardiff only managed to get one on target, compared to Newcastle’s six. This must improve if City are to score the goals needed to survive in this league.
Camarasa & Arter push wide
It was clear throughout the game that Cardiff wanted to create an overload out-wide. Right-back Javier Manquillo was particularly a weak point for Newcatle and Warnock targeted that.
One thing of note was the way that Victor Camarasa and Harry Arter – who both played in advance of Joe Ralls, who sat at the bottom of the midfield – carried the ball out wide to create an overload with our winger against the opposition full-backs.
In the instance above, Camarasa has won the ball and instead of carrying it centrally, he has arced his run towards the touchline to try and create an overload with Junior Hoilett against left-back Paul Dummett.
It was a theme throughout the game and it’ll be interesting to see how often we see it this season.
Intense pressing from Cardiff
Another theme that developed throughout the game was the intense pressing from Cardiff’s front five. Often led by Arter from the centre of the pitch, the man on loan from Bournemouth was instrumental in setting the pace of our press.
The example above is a perfect example of City’s pressing of the Newcastle back line on Saturday. Harry Arter has pressed Jonjo Shelvey and Kenneth Zohore has pressed the centre-back and goalkeeper, forcing a rushed pass out to the left-back.
We then see Junior Hoilett press him, win the ball back and drive at goal. Sadly, we didn’t make the most of this opportunity but it was evident that Warnock wanted to win the ball back high up the pitch.
Arter man-marks Shelvey
On Cardiff’s pressing, one of the key components was the way that Harry Arter man-marked Jonjo Shelvey.
For former Swan is absolutely crucial to the way that Newcastle play, dictating the tempo from deep and using his range of passing to spread the ball from deep. We saw how dangerous this can be when his long-ball to the back post created a clear cut chance for Ayoze Perez.
Thankfully, this was one of the only times Shelvey was able to use his long-passing to create an opportunity on goal, largely thanks to the hard-work of Harry Arter.
Everywhere that Shelvey went, Arter was there to put pressure on him. In the example above, Arter has pressured Shelvey into a mistake and wins Cardiff a free-kick in an advanced position.
Warnock’s use of traditional wingers
We all know how much Warnock loves a winger. He played there himself as a player and throughout his managerial career, he’s operated with fast wingers in his sides.
Last season, he favoured the use of inverted wingers, with Junior Hoilett often cutting in from the left-hand side onto his right foot to curl a ball into the far corner.
Against Newcastle, Warnock operated with traditional wingers. The left-footed Murphy operated on the left-hand-side, whilst the right-footed Hoilett played on the right.
This meant that Cardiff were able to stretch the pitch as wide as it can get and hit the touchline to get a ball into the box. While Hoilett was quiet (it remains to be seen whether he can be as effective on the right), Murphy was arguably Cardiff’s best player (only Arter can challenge him).
The former Norwich man constantly hugged his line, giving him the space to constantly beat his man. He gave Javier Manquillo and Isaac Hayden a horrid day, getting the latter sent off and the former close to it!
