Best home performance under Russell Slade’s management so far?

5 Responses to Best home performance under Russell Slade’s management so far?

1. Geoff Lewis says:

   August 23, 2015 at 2:13 pm

   Thanks Paul,
   As usual a great report on the game. I really enjoyed the game not because we won, but there seemed more determination and commitment by the players. Best match for a long long time, despite the heavy rain falling down. They all played well, but my man of the match from where I was sitting was Joe Ralls, he never stopped, created many chances, defended well, even if he lost the ball, he would chase back to try and get it. A solid performance, sheer class.
   Regards
   Geoff
2. Anthony O'Brien says:

   August 23, 2015 at 6:48 pm

   Wonderful to see a Cardiff win – BUT a game which in many ways left me somewhat concerned for the future. What did Cardiff actually create? How much pressure did they put on the Wolves defence? A good LEFT-FOOTED cross on the run from Fabio and a brave header from Kenwyne Jones for his goal, but the keeper was clearly at fault. Jones was less and less eager to close defenders down as the match progressed, and the opponents were consistently given time and space to clear their lines. In the latter stages almost every clearances from the Cardiff defence and midfield came straight back – there was no genuine hold-up play from the front – apart from Ameobi who showed the value of a turn of speed and more aggressive forward running when he came on. Whittingham seemed to go missing on several occasions but showed he can still hit beautiful passes, even if nothing came of them. Our defence was generally OK though Edwards on other occasions might well have scored for Wolves. And Fabio’s energy and enthusiasm was good to see. Ralls, too, did well. Above all, we absolutely and desperately need more speed and aggressive running from the frontmen (as demonstrated yesterday, for example, by Wilson of Bournemouth who was the best striker of his type – strong, quick, forceful and mobile – I saw at Cardiff in the whole of last season). Never mind, three points gained and hopefully more to come.
3. The other Bob Wilson says:

   August 24, 2015 at 2:55 pm

   Thank you both for your replies. Geoff, I mentioned that Fabio was my City man of the match, but Joe Ralls ran him close – I’ve seen four out of the five competitive matches we’ve played so far and he’s been our most consistent player.
   Anthony, I can remember Russell Slade singing Wilson’s praises at a press conference (probably before we played Bournemouth last season) and I got the distinct impression he would have put in a bid for him if he had been at a club with a good transfer kitty at the time Coventry sold him. It’s ironic that Bournemouth signed Wilson as a replacement for the man Ole bid for last summer, Lewis Grabban, who has done okay, but no more than that, at Norwich. We could have gone after Wilson last summer and I’d say we probably would have been favourites to get him if we had done – another one that got away for a club that I sometimes think has a philosophy of “why spend £2 million, when you can spend £5 million” when a new “sugar daddy” comes along.
4. Cecil says:

   August 25, 2015 at 2:53 pm

   Paul,
   Thanks for an entertaining blog.
   I seem to recall your Mr Woosnam picking Wilson as his main striker in his Championship “team of the season” for 2014-15, and you not picking him in yours …Callum Wilson, I mean…not Dai.
   And another couple of things Mr Woosnam bangs on about have recently loomed large in my thinking every time I see football on TV.
   First is the totally unnecessary back-pass, as demonstrated by Lee Peltier the other week (when he should have banged it high into touch). And second is that his repeated point about a scandalous waste of millions by Mackay and Solskjaer on the likes of the Danish nobody, Steven Caulker and Adam Le Fondre, is really made manifest by the fact that the star turn in the new Premiership season is Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez.
   He cost only £400,000. Under one twentieth of what the absurdly overpriced Caulker cost.
   City were lucky to get their money back there.
5. The other Bob Wilson says:

   August 25, 2015 at 4:45 pm

   Welcome Cecil. I’ve got to defend myself a bit here – if I remember rightly, I made a point of not picking any of the players Dai did. I thought Wilson was a bit of a diver when he played down here for Bournemouth in March, but, that apart, I was impressed by him. From memory, I think he might have been going through something of a scoring drought at the time, but you would never have thought it because he looked full of confidence.
   Regarding Caulker, it’ll be interesting to see how he does at Southampton because he’s landed on his feet there after two seasons playing for the sides which finished last in the Premier League. I see he’s played the full ninety minutes in their last two games, so Koeman obviously sees something in him – I’ve got more time for him than you or Dai, but I agree we should be grateful that we got our money back on him.
   As for Mahrez, we just don’t seem to make signings like that – as I said, why spend £2 million when we can spend £5 million?

Comments are closed.