' Who is new Cardiff City signing? '

Who is Stuart O'Keefe? Cardiff City signed, him but here's everything else you need to know about the Crystal Palace man
Tues 27th Jan 2015

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=150707

Russell Slade is on the brink of brining Crystal Palace midfielder Stuart O'Keefe to Cardiff City. But who is he and, more importantly, how good is he? Here we take a look


So what are the basic facts?
Stuart O’Keefe comes from Eye, a small market town in Suffolk, 28 miles north of Ipswich.

He is 23 years old, stands at 5ft 8ins tall and has previously played for Southend United, Crystal Palace and Blackpool (loan).

He has made a total of 68 first team appearances and scored one goal.


What sort of player is he?
Russell Slade reckons O’Keefe is a hard working, energetic, athletic midfield player. He has been highly rated at Crystal Palace, but is not in current manager Alan Pardew’s plans.


Any Premier League experience?
Yes. He played 12 times for Crystal Palace in 2013-14 - and scored his solitary League goal to date in a 3-1 home win against Sunderland.

That was a first Palace triumph of the season and O’Keefe scored with a curling 20-yard shot after going on as a substitute.

Produced an outstanding midfield performance for Palace against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge during December 2013. Palace were edged out 2-1, but O’Keefe inspired his team after going on for Kagisho Dikgacoi after only 26 minutes.

Also made two Premier League appearances this season, going on briefly against Arsenal and starting a 3-1 loss to West Ham.


What happened then?
O’Keefe didn’t feature again for Palace, so was sent on loan to Blackpool in November after been left out of Neil Warnock’s 25-man Premier League squad.

He made four Championship appearances for Blackpool, with mixed results.

The Seasiders won 1-0 against Birmingham, drew against Charlton and Rotherham, but crashed 6-1 at home to Bournemouth. O’Keefe started that game and went off at half-time.


And since then?
He did play in Palace’s 4-0 FA Cup third round win over Dover under Alan Pardew, but again hasn’t been involved since.


What’s his football background?
Began his career at Ipswich before being released in 2007. Joined Southend, making his debut against Telford United in an FA Cup tie during 2008. His first League match was against Leyton Orient in a 1-1 draw the following year.

He was signed by Palace from Southend by then manager Dougie Freedman on a free transfer.

Has he featured against Cardiff before?
Yes. He played for 90 minutes when Malky Mackay's Bluebirds heroically came from behind to win 2-1 at Selhurst Park on the final day of the 2011/12 season storming into the play-offs in the process.

Wilfried Zaha fired Palace in front that day, while a Peter Whittingham free kick and Don Cowie wondergoal fired the Bluebirds into the top six.

O'Keefe was an important player in the Palace team which reached the League Cup semi-finals, playing 120 minutes during their 2-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

But he was an unused sub against Cardiff in the semi-final first leg and was not in the Palace match-day squad in the second leg in the Welsh capital.

He did play a key role for Palace in their 1-0 Championship play-off final win against Watford at Wembley in 2013, going on for the injured Kagisho Dikgacoi after 17 minutes. Kevin Phillips scored the Palace winner in extra time.

Can Cardiff expect better from O’Keefe than they had from his Palace colleague Zaha?
He doesn’t have Zaha’s natural ability, of course, but Slade believes O’Keefe can bring some dynamism and drive to the floundering midfield.

Cardiff keep being over run in that area, with Aron Gunnarsson and Peter Whittingham failing to control matches. Slade is hoping O’Keefe brings that control and gets the Bluebirds more on the front foot.

Cheers, can't say in familiar with the lad so thanks for the info!

After coming on for Dikgachoi, probably the last game Dikgachoi played

Totally underwhelming but probably the standard we can expect from now on. At best we are going to be a bottom third championship side.

Let's judge him on how he plays, at least he is at a good age.

Cheers mason good post as usual from you
keep them coming

Cheers mason good post as usual from you
keep them coming

Agreed

Cheers Mason, enjoyed reading that and learning a bit about O'Keefe

Cheers Mason, enjoyed reading that and learning a bit about O'Keefe

Cheers mason good post as usual from you
keep them coming

Agreed

Cheers

Palace fan here

I really like Stuart Okeefe, he is what I would call a defensive but alround midfielder.

He'd isnt the biggest build, Id say he's more 5'10" than 5'8" but he is like a terrier in the middle, also good on the ball and likes to get forward a bit too.

The problem is he seems to be a bit of an adrenaline based player, in the big games he is fantastic, we beat Man utd away a few years back in the league cup a few years back and he was the best player on the park, in the play off final he was again our best player and Chelsea away last season he came on at half time and really took the game to Chelsea, he nearly single handedly got us a point, but he will then play against Barnsley or whoever in the league cup and although he always puts in a shift he doesnt seem to have that same spark.

He's strong but maybe for the premiership he's need to put a bit more muscle on.

He could be a diamond if he can deliver his top game or he could be medicore, reminds me a little bit like a young Mark Noble.

Palace fan here

I really like Stuart Okeefe, he is what I would call a defensive but alround midfielder.

He'd isnt the biggest build, Id say he's more 5'10" than 5'8" but he is like a terrier in the middle, also good on the ball and likes to get forward a bit too.

The problem is he seems to be a bit of an adrenaline based player, in the big games he is fantastic, we beat Man utd away a few years back in the league cup a few years back and he was the best player on the park, in the play off final he was again our best player and Chelsea away last season he came on at half time and really took the game to Chelsea, he nearly single handedly got us a point, but he will then play against Barnsley or whoever in the league cup and although he always puts in a shift he doesnt seem to have that same spark.

He's strong but maybe for the premiership he's need to put a bit more muscle on.

He could be a diamond if he can deliver his top game or he could be medicore, reminds me a little bit like a young Mark Noble.

Cheers

Palace fan here

I really like Stuart Okeefe, he is what I would call a defensive but alround midfielder.

He'd isnt the biggest build, Id say he's more 5'10" than 5'8" but he is like a terrier in the middle, also good on the ball and likes to get forward a bit too.

The problem is he seems to be a bit of an adrenaline based player, in the big games he is fantastic, we beat Man utd away a few years back in the league cup a few years back and he was the best player on the park, in the play off final he was again our best player and Chelsea away last season he came on at half time and really took the game to Chelsea, he nearly single handedly got us a point, but he will then play against Barnsley or whoever in the league cup and although he always puts in a shift he doesnt seem to have that same spark.

He's strong but maybe for the premiership he's need to put a bit more muscle on.

He could be a diamond if he can deliver his top game or he could be medicore, reminds me a little bit like a young Mark Noble.

Cheers mate, sounds a bit like our Craig Noone in the sense he turns it on against the big clubs but can quite find the magic other times!