Whittingham set to return

PETER Whittingham is set to return in tomorrow’s Championship crunch clash at Watford.

The Cardiff City playmaker was rested from the 3-0 home win against Blackburn on Easter Monday but manager Malky Mackay could now tweak the formation.

Six-goal striker Fraizer Campbell is doubtful with an ankle problem and, if ruled out at Vicarage Road, Mackay could opt for a 4-5-1 system.

Jordon Mutch and Aron Gunnarsson were outstanding for City in the easy win over Blackburn and would be joined by Whittingham in a central three with Craig Conway and Kim Bo-Kyung featuring out wide. That would see captain Craig Bellamy lead the attack on his own with support getting forward from deep.
Joe Mason, Rudy Gestede and Heidar Helguson would provide the attacking options from the bench. Whittingham and Gunnarsson – City’s top scorers with eight goals apiece – scored in the 2-1 home win against Watford back in October. But it was a contest marred by controversy as Watford had Daniel Pudil and Nathaniel Chalobah sent off in the second half.

Watford (possible): Bond; Doyley, Ekstrand, Cassetti; Anya, Chalobah, Abdi, Battocchio, Briggs; Deeney, Forestieri.
Subs: Bonham (gk), Hall, Pudil, Vydra, Buaben, Yeates, Geijo.

Cardiff City: (possible): Marshall; Connolly, Turner, Barnett, Taylor; Conway, Gunnarsson, Mutch, Whittingham, Kim; Bellamy (capt).
Subs: (from) Lewis (gk), McNaughton, Lappin, Nugent, Cowie, Noone, Gestede, Mason, Helguson.

More than 2,600 fans – Cardiff’s biggest away following of the season – will be at Vicarage Road.


http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballna ... -33118131/

Unchanged team for me with an unchanged bench. Resting Whitts for 1 game is not really 'resting' him is it? No players deserve to be dropped after Monday's display.

Unchanged team for me with an unchanged bench. Resting Whitts for 1 game is not really 'resting' him is it? No players deserve to be dropped after Monday's display.

If he plays that team, nobody will be getting dropped. Whitts would play as Fraizer would be injured and the formation would have a re-jig.

Got to say he shouldnt get back in the side after the performance from the team on Monday, doesnt really deserve it with his perfomances recently. Keep the same side for me

Edit: just saw now that they have put Bellamy upfront. I think he will bring in mason or Helguson for Campbell if he isnt fit

Got to say he shouldnt get back in the side after the performance from the team on Monday, doesnt really deserve it with his perfomances recently. Keep the same side for me

Edit: just saw now that they have put Bellamy upfront. I think he will bring in mason or Helguson for Campbell if he isnt fit

I hope the same as you've said happens, and he brings in Mason for Fraizer for a straight swap rather than changing the formation.

Bellamy up front would be a disaster he's not that sort of striker.

Unchanged team for me with an unchanged bench. Resting Whitts for 1 game is not really 'resting' him is it? No players deserve to be dropped after Monday's display.

If he plays that team, nobody will be getting dropped. Whitts would play as Fraizer would be injured and the formation would have a re-jig.

True, but Kim was man of the match for me against Blackburn, so why would Malky move Kim out wide where he will get less of the ball? We were playing some great, creative, free flowing football Monday with Kim being involved with everything. If we are going to put Whitts in the middle with Kim wasted out wide, we will then be going back to our slow, static, ponderous build up play which will be easy for Watford to defend against.

The short, quick, creative passing with runners from deep worked a treat on Monday and I really think we need to keep Kim in the middle for us to keep playing like this. Whitts slows the play down too much, he can't make runs forwards like Mutch, he gets played too deep and has now been sussed out and is very ineffective. The Kim, Mutch and Gunnarsson trio in the centre needs to be kept together, if it ain't broke don't fix it! It's very simple for me, if Campbell is injured, Mason should replace him. He will be high on confidence after his goal and the football we played against Blackburn will suit Mason to a tee.

Unchanged team for me with an unchanged bench. Resting Whitts for 1 game is not really 'resting' him is it? No players deserve to be dropped after Monday's display.

If he plays that team, nobody will be getting dropped. Whitts would play as Fraizer would be injured and the formation would have a re-jig.

True, but Kim was man of the match for me against Blackburn, so why would Malky move Kim out wide where he will get less of the ball? We were playing some great, creative, free flowing football Monday with Kim being involved with everything. If we are going to put Whitts in the middle with Kim wasted out wide, we will then be going back to our slow, static, ponderous build up play which will be easy for Watford to defend against.

The short, quick, creative passing with runners from deep worked a treat on Monday and I really think we need to keep Kim in the middle for us to keep playing like this. Whitts slows the play down too much, he can't make runs forwards like Mutch, he gets played too deep and has now been sussed out and is very ineffective. The Kim, Mutch and Gunnarsson trio in the centre needs to be kept together, if it ain't broke don't fix it! It's very simple for me, if Campbell is injured, Mason should replace him. He will be high on confidence after his goal and the football we played against Blackburn will suit Mason to a tee.

Spot on. I would very much like Malky to do a like-for-like swap with Mason coming in for Fraizer. That's if Fraizer is actually out for the game as Malky in his interview did not say he was.

Unchanged team for me with an unchanged bench. Resting Whitts for 1 game is not really 'resting' him is it? No players deserve to be dropped after Monday's display.

If he plays that team, nobody will be getting dropped. Whitts would play as Fraizer would be injured and the formation would have a re-jig.

True, but Kim was man of the match for me against Blackburn, so why would Malky move Kim out wide where he will get less of the ball? We were playing some great, creative, free flowing football Monday with Kim being involved with everything. If we are going to put Whitts in the middle with Kim wasted out wide, we will then be going back to our slow, static, ponderous build up play which will be easy for Watford to defend against.

The short, quick, creative passing with runners from deep worked a treat on Monday and I really think we need to keep Kim in the middle for us to keep playing like this. Whitts slows the play down too much, he can't make runs forwards like Mutch, he gets played too deep and has now been sussed out and is very ineffective. The Kim, Mutch and Gunnarsson trio in the centre needs to be kept together, if it ain't broke don't fix it! It's very simple for me, if Campbell is injured, Mason should replace him. He will be high on confidence after his goal and the football we played against Blackburn will suit Mason to a tee.

Spot on. I would very much like Malky to do a like-for-like swap with Mason coming in for Fraizer. That's if Fraizer is actually out for the game as Malky in his interview did not say he was.

Hopefully Fraizer will play and we can keep an unchanged team. If Fraizer is fit, it will be very harsh for Malky to drop someone to accomodate Whitts. If Malky did that, I would for the first time since he took charge, criticise him for playing his favourites, as none of the team against Blackburn deserves to be dropped. Blackburn for me is definitely in our top 3 performances of the season, only our home wins against Wolves and Blackpool can rival Blackburn's performance in my opinion.

As long as we don't lose Saturday, I will be happy. If Watford beat us, I can see them using that momentum as a catalyst to give them a Reading style finish last season and dare I say, pip us to the title.

Unchanged team for me with an unchanged bench. Resting Whitts for 1 game is not really 'resting' him is it? No players deserve to be dropped after Monday's display.

If he plays that team, nobody will be getting dropped. Whitts would play as Fraizer would be injured and the formation would have a re-jig.

True, but Kim was man of the match for me against Blackburn, so why would Malky move Kim out wide where he will get less of the ball? We were playing some great, creative, free flowing football Monday with Kim being involved with everything. If we are going to put Whitts in the middle with Kim wasted out wide, we will then be going back to our slow, static, ponderous build up play which will be easy for Watford to defend against.

The short, quick, creative passing with runners from deep worked a treat on Monday and I really think we need to keep Kim in the middle for us to keep playing like this. Whitts slows the play down too much, he can't make runs forwards like Mutch, he gets played too deep and has now been sussed out and is very ineffective. The Kim, Mutch and Gunnarsson trio in the centre needs to be kept together, if it ain't broke don't fix it! It's very simple for me, if Campbell is injured, Mason should replace him. He will be high on confidence after his goal and the football we played against Blackburn will suit Mason to a tee.

Spot on. I would very much like Malky to do a like-for-like swap with Mason coming in for Fraizer. That's if Fraizer is actually out for the game as Malky in his interview did not say he was.

Hopefully Fraizer will play and we can keep an unchanged team. If Fraizer is fit, it will be very harsh for Malky to drop someone to accomodate Whitts. If Malky did that, I would for the first time since he took charge, criticise him for playing his favourites, as none of the team against Blackburn deserves to be dropped. Blackburn for me is definitely in our top 3 performances of the season, only our home wins against Wolves and Blackpool can rival Blackburn's performance in my opinion.

As long as we don't lose Saturday, I will be happy. If Watford beat us, I can see them using that momentum as a catalyst to give them a Reading style finish last season and dare I say, pip us to the title.

I agree with everything other than Watford winning the title. I don't feel this would set us back if we lost (which I don't think we will) and we would go on to win the title.

Unchanged team for me with an unchanged bench. Resting Whitts for 1 game is not really 'resting' him is it? No players deserve to be dropped after Monday's display.

If he plays that team, nobody will be getting dropped. Whitts would play as Fraizer would be injured and the formation would have a re-jig.

True, but Kim was man of the match for me against Blackburn, so why would Malky move Kim out wide where he will get less of the ball? We were playing some great, creative, free flowing football Monday with Kim being involved with everything. If we are going to put Whitts in the middle with Kim wasted out wide, we will then be going back to our slow, static, ponderous build up play which will be easy for Watford to defend against.

The short, quick, creative passing with runners from deep worked a treat on Monday and I really think we need to keep Kim in the middle for us to keep playing like this. Whitts slows the play down too much, he can't make runs forwards like Mutch, he gets played too deep and has now been sussed out and is very ineffective. The Kim, Mutch and Gunnarsson trio in the centre needs to be kept together, if it ain't broke don't fix it! It's very simple for me, if Campbell is injured, Mason should replace him. He will be high on confidence after his goal and the football we played against Blackburn will suit Mason to a tee.

Spot on. I would very much like Malky to do a like-for-like swap with Mason coming in for Fraizer. That's if Fraizer is actually out for the game as Malky in his interview did not say he was.

Hopefully Fraizer will play and we can keep an unchanged team. If Fraizer is fit, it will be very harsh for Malky to drop someone to accomodate Whitts. If Malky did that, I would for the first time since he took charge, criticise him for playing his favourites, as none of the team against Blackburn deserves to be dropped. Blackburn for me is definitely in our top 3 performances of the season, only our home wins against Wolves and Blackpool can rival Blackburn's performance in my opinion.

As long as we don't lose Saturday, I will be happy. If Watford beat us, I can see them using that momentum as a catalyst to give them a Reading style finish last season and dare I say, pip us to the title.

I agree with everything other than Watford winning the title. I don't feel this would set us back if we lost (which I don't think we will) and we would go on to win the title.

To be honest I will be disappointed if we only go up in 2nd place now. We have been top since November haven't we? We all know what happens when teams put a few results together and go on a run mind. Imagine how Watford will feel if they manage to beat Hull and ourselves in successive games? Their players will cannot wait for their next game where we might get the jitters. Hopefully that won't happen and I really can't see us blowing it now. But if Watford beat us and the gap slowly starts closing, our previous failures will be at the back of all our minds, hence my "dare I say" comment!

To be honest I will be disappointed if we only go up in 2nd place now. We have been top since November haven't we? We all know what happens when teams put a few results together and go on a run mind. Imagine how Watford will feel if they manage to beat Hull and ourselves in successive games? Their players will cannot wait for their next game where we might get the jitters. Hopefully that won't happen and I really can't see us blowing it now. But if Watford beat us and the gap slowly starts closing, our previous failures will be at the back of all our minds, hence my "dare I say" comment!

I'm still trying to look at being champions as a bonus so it wouldn't hurt if we finished 2nd.

Unless Malky is planning on using Whitts in an attacking role then he should remain on the bench.

Id only bring whitts back if he was given jordan mutches role from monday

surely joey masons chance to shine and a staright swop for campbell

Unless Malky is planning on using Whitts in an attacking role then he should remain on the bench.

Agree with that. Mutch was a far bigger threat than Whittingham has been since November. When he came on he was looking to pass the ball back rather than go forward.