" Russell Slade faces a dilemma "

" Russell Slade faces a dilemma "

' Cardiff City set to be without Anthony Pilkington for Bolton Wanderers clash '
Monday Nov 03, 2014

By Simon Gaskell

Pilkington has not travelled with the squad ahead of the match at the Macron Stadium

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=149913

Russell Slade faces a dilemma over whether to unleash Cardiff City’s creative midfield forces against Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night - with Anthony Pilkington set to be ruled out with illness.

Pilkington hasn’t travelled to Lancashire with the squad due to a virus, opening up a berth in the Bluebirds’ midfield.

Slade could turn to mercurial loan man Ravel Morrison or little maestro Mats Moller Daehli as the Bluebirds chase a first away win since April against the struggling Trotters.

Also in contention is Joe Ralls, who has already made five appearances this season and may offer a steadier presence.

Slade’s hand has been forced after naming an unchanged line-up for the last three games against Ipswich Town, Millwall and Leeds United.

He revealed Pilkington would, in all likelihood, miss the Bolton clash despite having what he described as an ‘outside chance’ of making the squad.

The Bluebirds are also without Kenwyne Jones after he flew home to Trinidad to comfort relatives after the tragic death of two cousins in an alleged shooting.

Speaking on Monday, Slade said: “Anthony has a virus and almost certainly won’t be ready to play at Bolton.


"He hasn’t travelled with the group, but there is an outside chance he could make the trip on Tuesday if he feels a lot better.

“My feeling is, though, that he will miss the Bolton match and we will see how he is for this Saturday at Birmingham.

“It’s a blow if we are without Anthony and Kenwyne Jones, but we have a strong squad and we will go to Bolton looking to win the match.”

The Bluebirds will be looking to end a run of wretched form on the road which hasn’t seen them taste victory away from the Cardiff City Stadium since defeating Southampton at St Mary’s in the Premier League on April 12.

Bolton have endured a torrid start to their campaign - they lie second-bottom of the Championship after picking up 11 points from 15 games.

Marshall
Brayford
Morrison
Manga
Fabio
Noone
Whittlingham
Gunnarson
Ralls
Le Fondre
Macheda

Subs
Moore
Gabbidon
Connolly
Kim
Daehli
Maynard
Morrison

Is what I expect then?

This team has started each of the Bluebirds’ previous three matches, with ten of the players also beginning Slade’s first game in charge.

The midfield quartet are vastly experienced at Championship level, having made 535 starts between them in the second tier of English football.

Anthony Pilkington, Aron Gunnarsson, Peter Whittingham and Craig Noone have managed an impressive total of 89 goals and 96 assists from these matches.

Federico Macheda has been in terrific form lately, finding the net in three of the last four Cardiff games.

Those are numbers that simply cannot be ignored, so the former Manchester United man has to be a good bet to open the scoring at the Reebok Stadium.

http://www.kickoff.co.uk/29073/slade-to ... wanderers/?

This team has started each of the Bluebirds’ previous three matches, with ten of the players also beginning Slade’s first game in charge.

The midfield quartet are vastly experienced at Championship level, having made 535 starts between them in the second tier of English football.

Anthony Pilkington, Aron Gunnarsson, Peter Whittingham and Craig Noone have managed an impressive total of 89 goals and 96 assists from these matches.

Federico Macheda has been in terrific form lately, finding the net in three of the last four Cardiff games.

Those are numbers that simply cannot be ignored, so the former Manchester United man has to be a good bet to open the scoring at the Reebok Stadium.

http://www.kickoff.co.uk/29073/slade-to ... wanderers/?

Which average the impressive number of 0,16 goals pr game and 0,17 assists between them

Marshall
Brayford
Morrison
Manga
Fabio
Noone
Whittlingham
Gunnarson
Ralls
Le Fondre
Macheda

Subs
Moore
Gabbidon
Connolly
Kim
Daehli
Maynard
Morrison

Is what I expect then?

I agree - except that he may bring Guerra in from the cold for this one (instead of Kim or Daehli).

Terry Phillips said Guerra was in the 'group of 20' at (I think) Millwall, and is not out of contention (like Eikrem, Burgstaller, Cala etc). Kim has already made the bench. Slade seems to be working with a match-day squad of 20 from which he selects his 11 + 7, and a few of the fringe players (and those returning from injury) have been involved on match-days without being named in the starting 11 or bench. I'm sure Turner was on the pitch in the warm up on Saturday! With Kenwyne out of the picture for the next few matches, and Slade wanting to stick with 4-4-2 it might just be Guerra's chance to get his foot in the door?

Marshall
Brayford
Morrison
Manga
Fabio
Noone
Whittlingham
Gunnarson
Ralls
Le Fondre
Macheda

Subs
Moore
Gabbidon
Connolly
Kim
Daehli
Maynard
Morrison

Is what I expect then?

I agree - except that he may bring Guerra in from the cold for this one (instead of Kim or Daehli).

Terry Phillips said Guerra was in the 'group of 20' at (I think) Millwall, and is not out of contention (like Eikrem, Burgstaller, Cala etc). Kim has already made the bench. Slade seems to be working with a match-day squad of 20 from which he selects his 11 + 7, and a few of the fringe players (and those returning from injury) have been involved on match-days without being named in the starting 11 or bench. I'm sure Turner was on the pitch in the warm up on Saturday! With Kenwyne out of the picture for the next few matches, and Slade wanting to stick with 4-4-2 it might just be Guerra's chance to get his foot in the door?

I would love to see Guerra back in the squad, I fail to understand the need for both Connolly & Gabbidon, definitely room for Guerra and I would rather see Declan John on the bench as he could be used further up the field as a wide option with pace?

Marshall
Brayford
Morrison
Manga
Fabio
Noone
Whittlingham
Gunnarson
Ralls
Le Fondre
Macheda

Subs
Moore
Gabbidon
Connolly
Kim
Daehli
Maynard
Morrison

Is what I expect then?

I agree - except that he may bring Guerra in from the cold for this one (instead of Kim or Daehli).

Terry Phillips said Guerra was in the 'group of 20' at (I think) Millwall, and is not out of contention (like Eikrem, Burgstaller, Cala etc). Kim has already made the bench. Slade seems to be working with a match-day squad of 20 from which he selects his 11 + 7, and a few of the fringe players (and those returning from injury) have been involved on match-days without being named in the starting 11 or bench. I'm sure Turner was on the pitch in the warm up on Saturday! With Kenwyne out of the picture for the next few matches, and Slade wanting to stick with 4-4-2 it might just be Guerra's chance to get his foot in the door?

Hope so

Bolton are without both Kevin McNaughton and Joe Mason against the duo's parent club Cardiff.

Full-back McNaughton is struggling with a groin problem anyway and missed Friday night's loss at Norwich, a contest for which Mason was an unused substitute.

David Wheater could be back on the bench after returning to full training following a back problem, while Liam Trotter (hamstring) may be drafted in for his first start under Neil Lennon.

Goalkeeper Adam Bogdan (fingers) might not return until the other side of the international break, while full-back Marc Tierney (broken leg) is another long-term absentee.

Cardiff will be without striker Kenwyne Jones when they make the trip north.
The former Sunderland forward, who stepped off the bench to score the third goal in Saturday's 3-1 win over Leeds, has flown back to Trinidad after a family tragedy and will not be involved against the Trotters.

Russell Slade could name the same line-up that picked up all three points on Saturday but he does have a number of options if he decides to shuffle his pack with Joe Ralls, Ravel Morrison and Nicky Maynard all hoping for the nod.

Ben Turner is pushing for his first appearance of the season after recovering from an ankle problem.

Team i hope for.

Marshall
Bradford
Morrison
Manga
Fabio
Gunner
Whitts
Noone
Ravel
Daehli
Macheda

Guerra on bench hopefully.

Bolton are poor, we should go at them with the creativity of noone, ravel and daehli in my opinion. Don't think RS will tho. Think ralls will come in for AP in only change

It's not a dilemma he has better players than pilks on the bench.
Time for slade to be bold and start Ravel!
Throw daehli on when noone tires and get them him and ravel on the pitch together for some fluid football.
Bolton are poor we should go at them with our best creative players.


Of course slade will probably choose the safe option joe ralls,but heres to hoping !

http://www.shoot.co.uk/category/team/ci ... day-blues/

If the game had been at home it is possible (though unlikely) that we may have seen Ravel or Mats.

As it's away I'll bet anything that Joe Ralls will be given the nod.

dilemma or calamity?

dilemma or calamity?

The latter, The fact that I and many others named virtually the team & bench bar Turner (don't think anybody saw that coming) shows how predictable Slade is after half a dozen or so games.
If we can second guess the team & know the formation, you can bet your last pound the likes of Lennon will. It kind of makes playing us a lot easier.