' OLE ADMITS HE TOOK A RISK TODAY '
Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:35 pm
Saturday 1st Feb 2014
Media Wales
After replacing Peter Whittingham with Wilfried Zaha on 37 minutes, Bluebirds boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted the bold move was a risk.
Cardiff City boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted he took a risk against Norwich, but saw it rewarded with three vital points.
The 2-1 victory moved the Bluebirds off the bottom of the table and just a point from safety ahead of their big South Wales Derby trip to arch-rivals Swansea City next Saturday.
Goals within almost a minute of each other from Craig Bellamy and new signing Kenwyne Jones earned the victory after the home side had fallen behind within five minutes thanks to a goal from the Canaries Robert Snodgrass.
But it was Solskjaer’s decision to take off Peter Whittingham and replace him with another new arrival, Wilfried Zaha, on 37 minutes which had a profound effect on the match.
The electric wideman, on loan until the end of the season from Manchester United, gave the Bluebirds fresh impetus and he set-up Bellamy for the leveller. Solskjaer admitted the substitution had been unorthodox.
“Sometimes you just have to make decisions and do what you think is right,” said Solskjaer.
“I felt it was right to bring Wilf on, it lifted the crowd and the players. We needed a lift. It could have been anyone I took off. I didn’t have too many doubts.
“It maybe frightened the Norwich defenders because he is such a great and exciting talent. Going forward, he is one of the best I’ve seen. Defensively, I’ll got a few hours teaching ahead of me. But he’s a young lad and you want him to give us what he can do.
That’s what he can do, lift us like he did here. It was a great debut.”
Solskjaer also paid tribute to Bellamy who made history by scoring against Norwich. The 34-year-old became the first player in history to score for seven different clubs in the Premier League. And Solskjaer compared Bellamy to some of the legendary figures he had played along-side during his time at Manchester United.
“Craig is an amazing player,” said Solskjaer.
“Like Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs he does not just demand 100 per cent from himself every day, he demands it of every one around him too. He is a big presence in out dressing room. He’s one of the leaders.
“The goal came from a fantastic weighted pass from Wilf and a great timed run by Bellars and he slotted it home nicely. He has a record as the first player to score for seven different clubs in the Premier League. It’s a great achievement. But he won’t get it for an eighth. He’s going to stay here until he packs it in.”
The winner came from new signing Jones who arrived from Stoke and scored his first goal in more than year on his debut. Solskjaer said the striker brought a new aspect to his side.
“He’s a big target-man, he gives us something different and it took us half an hour to realise what we can use him for,” said the Cardiff manager.
“He gave us a foothold up top. Like Andy Carroll for West Ham. We played too much nice football in the beginning. Sometimes direct football is better.”
After a first win in eight games Solskjaer said he was relieved to register his first points as Cardiff manager particularly on a weekend when their fellow strugglers also picked up points. And the Cardiff boss said the aim now was to keep the upward momentum going starting in the big clash at Swansea next weekend.
“I was sat there watching the West Ham game and I saw the Sunderland result so that made it even more important for us to get three points,” added Solskjaer.
“We wanted a fresh, bright start against Norwich, but we didn’t get that. We started slowly. Maybe I should give my half-time team talk before the game.
“When I came in to the club I’d like to have been in the top 15. That’s what we are aiming for. We have a chance because it’s so tight in there. We went to end ahead of Swansea so next weekend will be a big game for us.”
Media Wales
After replacing Peter Whittingham with Wilfried Zaha on 37 minutes, Bluebirds boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted the bold move was a risk.
Cardiff City boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted he took a risk against Norwich, but saw it rewarded with three vital points.
The 2-1 victory moved the Bluebirds off the bottom of the table and just a point from safety ahead of their big South Wales Derby trip to arch-rivals Swansea City next Saturday.
Goals within almost a minute of each other from Craig Bellamy and new signing Kenwyne Jones earned the victory after the home side had fallen behind within five minutes thanks to a goal from the Canaries Robert Snodgrass.
But it was Solskjaer’s decision to take off Peter Whittingham and replace him with another new arrival, Wilfried Zaha, on 37 minutes which had a profound effect on the match.
The electric wideman, on loan until the end of the season from Manchester United, gave the Bluebirds fresh impetus and he set-up Bellamy for the leveller. Solskjaer admitted the substitution had been unorthodox.
“Sometimes you just have to make decisions and do what you think is right,” said Solskjaer.
“I felt it was right to bring Wilf on, it lifted the crowd and the players. We needed a lift. It could have been anyone I took off. I didn’t have too many doubts.
“It maybe frightened the Norwich defenders because he is such a great and exciting talent. Going forward, he is one of the best I’ve seen. Defensively, I’ll got a few hours teaching ahead of me. But he’s a young lad and you want him to give us what he can do.
That’s what he can do, lift us like he did here. It was a great debut.”
Solskjaer also paid tribute to Bellamy who made history by scoring against Norwich. The 34-year-old became the first player in history to score for seven different clubs in the Premier League. And Solskjaer compared Bellamy to some of the legendary figures he had played along-side during his time at Manchester United.
“Craig is an amazing player,” said Solskjaer.
“Like Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs he does not just demand 100 per cent from himself every day, he demands it of every one around him too. He is a big presence in out dressing room. He’s one of the leaders.
“The goal came from a fantastic weighted pass from Wilf and a great timed run by Bellars and he slotted it home nicely. He has a record as the first player to score for seven different clubs in the Premier League. It’s a great achievement. But he won’t get it for an eighth. He’s going to stay here until he packs it in.”
The winner came from new signing Jones who arrived from Stoke and scored his first goal in more than year on his debut. Solskjaer said the striker brought a new aspect to his side.
“He’s a big target-man, he gives us something different and it took us half an hour to realise what we can use him for,” said the Cardiff manager.
“He gave us a foothold up top. Like Andy Carroll for West Ham. We played too much nice football in the beginning. Sometimes direct football is better.”
After a first win in eight games Solskjaer said he was relieved to register his first points as Cardiff manager particularly on a weekend when their fellow strugglers also picked up points. And the Cardiff boss said the aim now was to keep the upward momentum going starting in the big clash at Swansea next weekend.
“I was sat there watching the West Ham game and I saw the Sunderland result so that made it even more important for us to get three points,” added Solskjaer.
“We wanted a fresh, bright start against Norwich, but we didn’t get that. We started slowly. Maybe I should give my half-time team talk before the game.
“When I came in to the club I’d like to have been in the top 15. That’s what we are aiming for. We have a chance because it’s so tight in there. We went to end ahead of Swansea so next weekend will be a big game for us.”
Re: OLE ADMITS HE TOOK A RISK
Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:51 pm
carlccfc wrote:
“He gave us a foothold up top. Like Andy Carroll for West Ham. We played too much nice football in the beginning. Sometimes direct football is better.”
He's not suggesting Turner hoofball is he?
Re: OLE ADMITS HE TOOK A RISK
Sat Feb 01, 2014 7:53 pm
Nice to see he's aware of a team needing a Plan B.
Re: OLE ADMITS HE TOOK A RISK TODAY
Sat Feb 01, 2014 9:42 pm
I think Ole Was guilty of poor man management today. Whitts' confidence is low, and to replace him after a relatively short time would have been humiliating, particularly the ironic cheering as he went off. Zaha should have started and Whitts "rested" to allow him to save face.
Re: OLE ADMITS HE TOOK A RISK TODAY
Sat Feb 01, 2014 10:03 pm
Cardiff dyskinesia wrote:I think Ole Was guilty of poor man management today. Whitts' confidence is low, and to replace him after a relatively short time would have been humiliating, particularly the ironic cheering as he went off. Zaha should have started and Whitts "rested" to allow him to save face.
Woah woah woah, it won us the game, whitts didn't deserve the reaction but don't call that sub "poor man management"
Re: OLE ADMITS HE TOOK A RISK TODAY
Sat Feb 01, 2014 10:09 pm
Cardiff dyskinesia wrote:I think Ole Was guilty of poor man management today. Whitts' confidence is low, and to replace him after a relatively short time would have been humiliating, particularly the ironic cheering as he went off. Zaha should have started and Whitts "rested" to allow him to save face.
Wrong. there was close to a quarter hour before half time. Of course it would be sensible to
change things to try and score an equaliser better than going in 1-0 down.
Re: OLE ADMITS HE TOOK A RISK TODAY
Sat Feb 01, 2014 10:17 pm
larsanstrum wrote:Cardiff dyskinesia wrote:I think Ole Was guilty of poor man management today. Whitts' confidence is low, and to replace him after a relatively short time would have been humiliating, particularly the ironic cheering as he went off. Zaha should have started and Whitts "rested" to allow him to save face.
Wrong. there was close to a quarter hour before half time. Of course it would be sensible to
change things to try and score an equaliser better than going in 1-0 down.
Would you have started with Whitts or Zaha ? If it's the latter then you must believe Ole made an error starting the chronically out of form Whittingham. I'm not knocking the substitution, but the need didn't need to have arisen.