' Russell Slade Wont Admit it '

Saturday 31st January 2015

By Chris Wathan's

Cardiff City spiralling in the wrong direction... Even if Russell Slade won't admit it - Chris Wathan's verdict

Russell Slade watched his team slump to their fourth consecutive defeat as they were booed off at the Cardiff City Stadium

Better – and still nowhere near good enough.

That’s the stark reality for Cardiff City right now as the danger of free-falling into a fight to stay in the second-tier becomes increasingly obvious to everyone.

All bar Russell Slade, perhaps.

The Bluebirds boss was understandably unmoved when it was pointed to him that they are now seven points from the bottom three after a losing stretch of four successive games , a sequence not endured even in last year’s miserable fight for Premier League survival.

At least he appears to have conceded that his original aim of making the play-offs – now some 13 points away – is beginning to become an unrealistic one.

But his confidence that he and his side have what it takes to not be concerned to become the latest side to be dragged down and down again after slipping out of the top-flight will not have been shared by many at Cardiff City Stadium.

The fans, as fed-up with the football they are seeing as the results it is earning, voiced their concerns - those that remained at any rate as the game dragged towards its inevitable conclusion after a Scott Malone own goal and a Chris Martin header won it for Derby in the first-half.

It remains to be seen what owner Vincent Tan thought given he was again absent from the ground after initial suggestions he would attend the first game of the season. Slade, who admitted he has spoken to the man who appointed him twice in the last 24 hours, was not going to comment on conversations between him and the owner when asked whether Tan would be all too enamoured with what is happening.

Yet it is the opinions of others that Slade should be wary of, given they can see a slide that the manager won’t publicly admit to.

Understandably perhaps and there is plenty of traffic between Cardiff and the bottom three, but one win in nine Championship games tells a story. The tale will be a tragic one if such a trend continues for the remaining 18 fixtures.

In many ways it is tough on Slade. Even if he had – or should have had – his eyes wide open when he took on the job, the wage-cutting he has apparently been asked to oversee and still produce a competitive side is no easy task for any manager. He inherited an unbalanced squad and the turnover has not been healthy – there were only three players from the recognised Cardiff side that featured in the Premier League that started here – so there must be an element of sympathy.

Yet the fact remains this team are a pretty sorry state right now, one devoid of ideas, confidence, tempo and the merest hint of creativity.

He has maintained he is trying to rebuild, but there is increasing fear of what is it exactly he is building.

Because even when there were positives to cling to here - and Slade did his best to clutch to every slightest suggestion of one when discussing the game afterwards – they were still nowhere near enough to stop Derby winning this in second gear.

The Rams are justifiably level on points at the top as one of the best sides in the Championship, a side of patience and movement built on a solid defence, but they only hinted at such attributes here.

Such as when some superb interplay brought their first goal, the brilliance of the quick-passing build-up matched by the fortune of the deflection off Malone when Jamie Ward delivered a driven 23rd minute cross.

Having seen Simon Moore save superbly from a 10th minute Martin penalty, the space afforded to the visitors and the influential Will Hughes was always eventually going to see him concede a second. That it came in first-half injury time – when, after a free run of Derby passes back and forth, Martin headed Cyrus Christie’s cross with comfort – it wrapped the game up.

There has to be some credit and the far better balance to the Bluebirds may have played a part in disrupting Derby playing their third game of the week. The ditching of the diamond and opting for a 4-2-3-1 at least offers hope of a corner being turned with Cardiff finally able to keep the ball.

Unfortunately, and this has to come back to Slade, what they did with it was depressing as they went long the moment they approached the half-way line.

It created nothing, Alex Revell big on effort but low on quality and doing nothing to vindicate Slade’s decision to drop top scorer Kenwyne Jones.

Placed on a bench that appeared to have some stronger players than those on the pitch, Jones immediately caused Cardiff’s first problems to the Derby defence when he belatedly appeared 64 minutes in, bringing out an excellent reaction save from Lee Grant as he met a Craig Noone cross.

Slade denied he had preferred Jones to Revell but then went on to say that the man from Rotherham effectively was a harder worker. Cardiff need more than just that.

Yet while recent weeks haven’t provided a high benchmark, it was better and there was hope in a system that stopped Cardiff being completely overrun and offered some opportunity with width.

Producing more in the final third, better crosses, speeding up their passing and at least supporting a front man if they are going long may provide a result and a spark to end this worrying form.

Lee Peltier at least offered a bit of doggedness even if Slade was suffering from hyperbole when he called his positive contribution ‘outstanding’.

But there were far too many anonymous appearances that allowed Derby to coast and leave Steve McClaren angry they had not grabbed a third.

Normally opposition managers talk up their opponents, regardless of their predicament, but the former England manager did little to lighten the mood at Leckwith.

“In this league, if you’re not careful as a lot of good teams have proven, you can slip out,” he said. “It’s a relentless league and once you have that spiral down it’s difficult to stop.”

Don’t Cardiff know it.

i have been pretty lenient with Slade up to now, but i am sick of losing every game. We are shit and RS needs to admit that and bring in some decent players unlike the shit we have signed so far.

What very little credit he did have when he arrived at our club he has totally lost. In fact, with his latest ramblings regarding reaching the play offs, he has not only been shown to be totally out of touch, but also totally ignorant of our league position, which only goes to show him up for what he really is, a lower league, & a very below average manager.

Is it any wonder then that the players, given also the back room staff set up, are not responding to his management?

There were those who said it would be better to be in the third tier as long as there was a return to blue. That's all very well, but the pride of seing the players in the proper colours now is ebbing as nobody wants The Bluebirds playing like this surely!

It is simply not good enough. The players look jaded before they start and there is no spark of the 'Fire and Passion'. I prefer to see 100% commitment rather than sticking to a predictable, boring gameplan. Derby didn't even play their best game yesterday.

It's a long way back now to where the team was the last time Championship football was at Cardiff.