What on earth does he say to them at half time?

11 Responses to What on earth does he say to them at half time?

1. Anthony O'Brien says:

   December 30, 2015 at 10:38 am

   In a belated contribution to the 27th December comments I, like you Paul, made a semi-serious reference to Mr Slade’s half-time tactical or pep talk as a factor in Cardiff’s poor second half displays. More seriously, though, after seeing last night’s game, I have grave and continued doubts about the players’ level of skill. They all are deficient in “touch” – which means that under pressure (or not even under pressure on many occasions) lacked the skill to bring the ball under immediate control or to pass it with precision and speed. It was not the weather or the pitch to blame for this, since Johnnie Williams – as one example – displayed exemplary touch during his time on the field. I am bound to ask – is it “nature or nurture”? In other words, are Cardiff players inherently poor at controlling the ball, or are they not being trained to do so? No guesses for what I think.

   And while I’m on the subject, how does Kenwyne Jones continue to (not) lead the line? Are Cardiff so deficient in forward planning that they have – throughout this season and previously – failed to find someone capable of replacing him? In all senses of the term it is “forward non-planning”.

   Grumpiness over. Happy New Year to everyone – and roll on next Saturday.
2. Colin Phillips says:

   December 30, 2015 at 10:57 am

   Excellent and accurate report, Paul.

   The second-half performances are going from bad to badder.

   I would love to be a fly on the wall in the City dressing-room at half-time, should be good for a laugh.

   Must mention Manga from last night, after a bit of a rusty start he played imperiously.

   How the hell is he playing for us???

   Col
3. Barry cole says:

   December 30, 2015 at 12:47 pm

   Enough said Paul so I hope that we are given the pleasure of a new manager for the new year. Tan may have his excuse now in getting slade to look for another job rather than sack him and lose face.
   He must see through all his bluster that he is totally out of his depth, hasn’t the gumption to change when opponents are seen to alter tactics and still continues to play ameobi even when we all know it’s at lost cause.
4. Geoff Lewis says:

   December 30, 2015 at 1:17 pm

   Thanks Paul,
   Due to where I live, I did not risk travelling in my car to the game last night. Thank God, I made the right decision. I did say in my last reply that some players lacked skill, and that was apparent last night.
   It is time I think for Mr Slade and his support staff and some of last night’s players to depart our beloved club and politely go away.
   Paul you are correct we do need another 6 players in January and in those six, bring back some of our youngsters who are out on loan (probably do a better job than the ones we got)
   Lastly one of our better players towards the end of last season a Mr Kennedy does not get a look in.
   I will try and make the game against Blackburn on Saturday.
   Happy New Year to everyone
   Best Regards
   Geoff
5. Adrian Lloyd Pickrell says:

   December 30, 2015 at 5:09 pm

   An oustanding report Paul. Many thanks.
   I have just flown home from the Forest game and, as I am so rarely “live” at a game I enjoy the experience very much when I am there. You mention sarcasm and there were some very amusing comments from my neighbours in the CCS last night (all in that wonderful dry Cardiff accent) concerning Kanwyne and his boundless enthusiasm. As for the second half, well my German wife tagged along last night (she enjoys occasional football game but cannot fathom my other two great sporting loves of rugby and cricket) but she did make the following comment late in the second half. She remarked…
   “Cardiff are a very sociable and friendly team. When City attack, they halt at the opponents penalty area and pass the ball from left to right whilst waiting for the players in red to all get back and defend. This is very sporting of them and very fair. Are they supposed to do this ?”

   However, despite a lot of time wasting by Forest and them seeming to be happy with the draw, they missed an absolute sitter in the last seconds and considering how many late goals we have conceded in the last few games we can all be grateful that they blew it. Another goal conceded so late and I will really start to believe that supernatural powers are at work.

   I agree with Barry, Manga performed well last night, after a shaky start he he got his act together really well.

   I too wish you all a very, happy and healthy new year.

   Best
   Adrian
6. Dai Woosnam says:

   December 30, 2015 at 6:54 pm

   Oh dear…I hope Tony Watt is not already thinking that he has done enough to ensure his name is on a Cardiff City contract?

   Nice droll joke from Adrian’s German wife.
   And yet, from all the above contributions, it was Adrian who succeeded in shocking me to the core.
   I rubbed my eyes in disbelief.
   Our dear Barry PRAISING somebody?
   Surely not?
   For are not all Barry’s waking minutes FILLED with thoughts of only one thing: how to remove what he sees as the grossly incompetent manager?
   I quickly scrolled back up this webpage to witness with my own eyes this Damascene conversion to becoming a boringly balanced soul like me.
   (Ha! That will make Graham and some of you others laugh!)
   And guess what?
   It turned out to be Colin who was praising the man who the game before could not “imperiously” head the ball into touch, not Barry…!!
   Never mind. Let us see what 2016 brings.
   And I leave you with this thought…
   “If Russell Slade had the passion of Barry Cole, he would be a much better manager.
   For one thing, he would have read the riot act to Kenwyne ages ago, and made him train with the kids”.

   Kindest, to you all,
   Dai.
7. Anthony O'Brien says:

   December 30, 2015 at 6:56 pm

   Adrian’s wife has made absolutely “die besten Kommentar” on Cardiff’s shortcomings. Incidentally, although the name “Kanwyne” may be a typo, all it needs is a missing “t” to be perfectly accurate.
8. Richard Holt says:

   December 30, 2015 at 6:59 pm

   As ever Paul your write-ups are the next best thing to being there – or maybe somewhat better on too many occasions in recent seasons. Thanks for all of them and have a great new year. Incidentally my own geeky stat brain has worked out that we’ve now gone 133 league games since we last scored more than three in a league game (Blackburn away in December 2012) – the longest such run in the club’s history.
9. MIKE HOPE says:

   December 30, 2015 at 10:56 pm

   Paul,the headline of your excellent report combined with your reference to sarcasm[not thinking of me I hope] is fascinating. I recall that when Mr Slade first joined us, his previous Chairman, Barry Hearn, [no shrinking violet himself] referred to his motivational team talks as ‘legendary’.At the time I assumed that this was meant as a compliment.He wasn’t being sarcastic was he?
   Tuesday was yet another frustrating night at the CCS .Apart from the goal we conceded[I hope that Dai Woosnam stayed at home in Cleethorpes and no-one tells him about the cross field pass in our own half that set it up]our football through most of the first half was excellent and we could and should have scored at least two more goals.From my point of view the main reason why we did not and also why we ran out of ideas in the second half was that the spearhead of our attack was blunt.I am talking of course about Kenwyne and Tony Watt.Kenwyne was Kenwyne, and Tony, for whatever reason did not look fit.Right from the start he did not seem as sharp as usual and apart from a brief flurry early in the second half I had to keep checking that he was still on the pitch.He is obviously a talented lad and I hope it was a case of too many games and knocks in a short time after his spell out of the game rather than a stamina problem.
   As far as Kenwne is concerned I am surprised that we seem to be keen to negotiate a new contract.He will always provide a few good moments and the occasional good game but I don’t think he is what we need.He is an expensive and unaffordable luxury-a bit like the Trident nuclear weapon!
   . On the subject of the fitness of the team in general, if the manager is right in saying that we have risen to 8th in the rankings, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that we can’t get into the top 6 play off position.
   I may be wrong but I think fitness is measured by the metres covered by the players per game.I still see these figures being published for premier league games but not for the Championship.If Slade has access to these figures it would be interesting to see them-both to compare them with other teams and to compare our own players.
   By the way is there any truth in the rumour that when it was suggested that Mr Slade was a candidate for the Luton job Mr Tan immediately offered his private jet and limo to bring the Luton chairman to the CCS and Barry Cole agreed to pay for an eat what you like lunch at the nearby Subway?
10. Dai Woosnam says:

    December 31, 2015 at 5:55 am

    Neat joke from Mike there, re yours truly.
    I can take it, butty.
    I’m impervious to any insult more subtle than GBH.
    Ha!
    Seriously though…I have just watched all 94 minutes of the Sunderland-Liverpool game: time I will never get back. Dreadful.
    Yes, Sunderland did a Forest and parked their bus. And Liverpool like Cardiff played square passes in the vain hope that they could draw defenders out.
    God help us if that is modern football, that is all I can say.
    And to think I thought this chap Klopp had attacking flair!
    Adelante! The call of the great Real Madrid side 1955-60. Now that should be the call of footballers worldwide.
    But it ain’t.
    I think I shall give up watching football.
    Or rather, it is a case of football (as I knew it) giving up on me.
    Oh by the way Mike: I note you suggest I am an adopted Meggie* these days, but I am actually very much living in Grimbarian territory!

    * the word “Meggie” is explained in this rather jaundiced – but stimulating – piece:

    http://www.ilivehere.co.uk/grimsby-cleethorpes.html

    Happy New Year to Paul and all his crew,

    Kindest,
    Dai.
11. The other Bob Wilson says:

    December 31, 2015 at 6:37 am

    As usual, an incisive and thought provoking set of replies. I have to say that I firmly believe that the blog has gone up a notch during 2015 and it’s all been due to the increased quantity and continued high quality of the responses my scribblings receive – thank you all for your contributions throughout the year.
    As has become the norm lately, this reply would be about three times the size of one of my match pieces it I replied fully to each individual point you all have made, so I’ll stick to a few comments on things that took my eye;-
    1. AMO, if City are doing less work with the football in training than other clubs, it does seem as if it is not because there is more work being done on fitness levels!
    2. Colin, you are right, I should have mentioned Manga. If he was, understandably, rusty at MK Dons, there were few signs of it on Tuesday (I can remember him being caught out by Blackstock in front of me in the first half, but he recovered and used a strength that isn’t always apparent in his game to dump the Forest player on his backside and come away with the ball) – he was still playing well long after some of those who had started so impressively had faded into anonymity.
    3. Barry, not a great night for our manager. I’m not as anti him as you are, but I see no signs whatsoever of his managerial skills developing as he gets more used to working at a higher level than he has been used to – the best he seems to be able to offer at Championship level is “okay”, but we need much more than that.
    4. Geoff, maybe Kennedy is injured (I believe he’s been missing from recent Under 21 games)? If that’s not the case, then I can only think that his almost complete absence from the first team squad this season is for non footballing reasons – given how he did last season, it makes no sense otherwise.
    5. Adrian, sorry the second half was such poor viewing, but we did play well in the first half I thought – you saw a microcosm of our season, as far from just providing performance levels which vary wildly from match to match, we find it hard to maintain them from one minute to the next! Tell your wife she is very perceptive – it took her about eighty minutes to forgive out what Russell Slade hasn’t in nearly fifteen months!
    6. Dai, similar thoughts to yours about Tony Watt crossed my mind – I’ll be watching how he fares against Blackburn on Saturday with interest. One poor game out of seven is a perfectly acceptable ratio as far as I’m concerned, but I can’t help thinking about some of the Charlton fans’ comments I’ve read about him.
    7. Richard, there was a time when the game was about a quarter completed and Forest just couldn’t lift the siege on their goal when I thought “we’re going to win this 4-1”, but, then I remembered who I was watching and quickly changed my mind to thinking “if we do win, it will be by 2-1”. It’s not all this manager’s fault by any means that we have become a team that seems to think their attacking task is completed once they’ve scored twice, but there are a couple of things which have happened under Russell Slade’s management which I find pertinent in this respect. The first is that match with Reading last season. In other dressing rooms you could imagine the manager’s instructions at half time being something like “don’t be stupid, but, with a bit of patience and some nous, we can get four or five here and do our goal difference a power of good” – judging by the way we played in the second half though, I think “we’ve won the game already, keep things tight – 2-0 is enough”, or something similar, was far more likely to be have been said.
    The other thing that springs to mind is the way we took the ball to the corners in added time in the match with Huddersfield this season. Notwithstanding our recent problems with 2-0 leads, Huddersfield had given up on the game and were just waiting for the final whistle, yet we still played as if we were fearful of them escaping with a point – rather than chase a third goal, we were happy to sit on what we had. Since then I’ve watched how other sides approach situations like that and, invariably, the team who are couple of goals clear look to add to their lead rather than preserve it.
    I often say that Russell Slade seems to have a safety first mentality which is down to him not being fully convinced himself that he has it in him to succeed at this level, but, on the other hand, it could be just as likely, if not more so, that he’d get stick off City fans for being reckless in chasing more goals!
    8. Mike, you’ve mentioned something there that I was going to include in my piece until I realised that I’d be heading off into 3,000 word plus territory if I had done so. Russell Slade’s Wikipedia entry;-
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Slade
    mentions those “legendary team talks”. Being fair, if our manager is going to criticised for what he says or doesn’t say at half time, then shouldn’t he be given some credit for the way we have started home games recently (especially on Tuesday)?
    Thanks for the possible explanation as to how “fitness” is measured.

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