' Wilfried Zaha & Fraizer Campbell ? '

Scott Johnson: Why playing Wilfried Zaha behind Fraizer Campbell is the key to Cardiff City's survival bid
Tuesday Mar 25, 2014

BY SCOTTJOHNSON


Scott Johnson says Cardiff City need to invest their confidence in Wilfried Zaha

A lack of cutting edge has defined Cardiff City's season and the loan signing of Wilfried Zaha in January looked like addressing a glaring weakness, but his impact has been minimal thus far.

He has always been a divisive character, with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses.

His natural tendency to go to ground at the first sign of contact has made him unpopular up and down the country. He also offers no defensive cover on his flank, which is a problem when the left back is Declan John, an 18-year-old rookie.

He is also a confidence player that appears to have lost his swagger at Manchester United.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision to loan Zaha back to Crystal Palace last season appeared wise at the time and resulted in Crystal Palace’s promotion.

But in hindsight, he would have benefited from those six months acclimatising to the step up from The Championship and imposing surroundings at Old Trafford, with Ferguson still around to integrate him.

David Moyes does not appear to rate or trust him and his future at United is already in doubt.



Be that as it may, with very little between the sides at the foot of the Premier League, Cardiff are the only ones that have a £15m England international on their bench and it is time to put their faith in him.

His time at the club is almost certainly temporary, therefore he has little riding on Cardiff retaining their top flight status, but he has a lot at stake in terms of his immediate career prospects.

Firstly, he has an outside chance of making the England squad for the forthcoming World Cup and Roy Hodgson has already conceded that Zaha is in his thoughts.

He also has plenty to prove to Moyes and any potential suitors that may be monitoring his progress.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to have settled on a 3-5-2 formation with a multitude of midfielders at his disposal to facilitate these systems.

Zaha has thus far been stationed wide, where his lack of tactical discipline has had more of an impact than any end product.

Therefore a move to a more central, free role, just off Fraizer Campbell may be the secret to finally knitting together Cardiff’s midfield and attack.

Blessed with wonderful close control, vision and the arrogance you need to succeed as a top attacking midfielder, Cardiff have invested plenty of money in Zaha, it is now time to invest their trust in him to.

He may be out of form, low on confidence and short of match fitness, but that will only change with more playing time. He is the most technically gifted player in the squad and even the briefest flash of inspiration could be the difference between a draw and a loss, one point or all three.

It is time to give Zaha creative control and let him do his thing.

He may be out of form, low on confidence and short of match fitness


Says all that then says to forget all that and chuck him in...

Zaha is a lazy player, it showed against Hull. Surely with his confidence shot, and little match fittest everything leads to him being out of the team?

Put on here two weeks ago he should be up front. Hes got the skill and pace together with a good shot. West Brom os make or break get him up there!

Against Liverpool, Zaha was tracking back and providing good cover. But that was for just 15mins at the end of the game. I think he will come on as a substitute in a lot of the remaining games. If Ole is chasing the points then I can see Zaha starting against Palace (who he should want to prove himself against) and Stoke.
In my opinion, he will have one remarkable game before the end of the season. For him, the carrot is going to the world cup.