He's been given enough time and Watford's rise shows us why

Cardiff City boss Russell Slade has been given enough time and Watford's Premier League rise shows us exactly why

By Gareth Rogers

Russell Slade and Slavisa Jokanovic both started work in the same week. On November 28 the Bluebirds boss was smiling but today, his Watford counterpart is celebrating Premier League promotion

Russell Slade claims Cardiff City are a work-in-progress and that fans need to be patient during this time of transition. but if you want evidence of why that's not necessarily the case just look at Watford.

What has happened at Vicarage Road since the start of December proves that football is not about waiting for your manager to stumble upon the right formula, it's about getting the right man, even if that upsets people.

When former Chelsea player Slavisa Jokanovic was given the Watford job, the day after Slade took over at Cardiff, fans were furious as former youth coach Billy McKinlay, who had guided the team to four matches unbeaten, had been elbowed out of the way.

Jokanovic's start was terrible and the low point, ironically, was the home defeat against Slade's resurgent Cardiff on November 29.

The Bluebirds ended their away hoodoo with a 1-0 at Watford, a result that hauled the Bluebirds level with the Hornets on 29 points, placing them on the edge of the Championship play-offs.

Excited Slade doffed his cap to the delighted travelling Cardiff fans while his Vicarage Road counterpart Slavisa Jokanovic, a Serbian, was booed off before being grilled by the media about changing his team's system to a continental style 3-5-2.

Of the two managers, who started their jobs less than 24 hours apart, Slade sat smugly claiming: "The group's coming together now. We're working hard for each other. I saw some really good qualities," while the other looked destined for the exit door.

Jokanovic was apologetic after the game as he told Watford fans: “This is not our level. It is a complicated and bad situation for us and we must be strong.

“We need the supporters to help us. They will be here longer than us.

"I apologise because we didn't produce the level they expect of us today.”

What happened next...
It turns out Jokanovic was right and Slade was wrong. Subsequent events and results prove Cardiff were anything but "coming together".

Since that 1-0 Cardiff win on November 29, the fortunes of the two clubs could not have been more contrasting. Under Slade, the Bluebirds reacord reads: Played 26, Won 7, Drew 9, Lost 10. They have dropped to 13th in the table.

Under Jokanovic, Watford's record reads: Played 26, Won 19, Drew 2, Lost 5. They have roared into the Premier League and this weekend go for the Championship title, currently in top spot.

Cardiff have barely mustered a goal a game and conceded more. Watford have smashed home almost 60 goals and become the great entertainers of the division.

The turnaround was pretty instant. As December began, Cardiff descended into chaos, even with their trusted 4-4-2 while Watford's transformation under their new system was little short of stunning.

After their win at Watford, the Bluebirds were unimpressive as they drew 0-0 at home to Rotherham and were well beaten by Bournemouth and Brentford.

They picked up a 1-1 draw at Charlton on Boxing Day before meeting the Hornets again on December 28. Anybody who was there will remember Watford won 4-2 at the Cardiff City Stadium.

In the meantime, the resurgent Hornets settled into Jokanovic's 3-5-2 formation and won 5-0 at Fulham, 2-1 against Wigan and 1-0 at Reading before losing at home to Wolves on Boxing Day.

By the close of play on December 28, Watford had risen to fifth in the Championship, with 41 points, 10 above Slade's Cardiff, who were in 11th.

What else did Jokanovic change?
As well as the controversial continental formation, Jokanovic knew he had to change things behind the scenes.

The Serb, who had picked up English during his two years as a player at Chelsea, found communicating with his players and staff difficult, especially as he had inherited a team of European coaches from previous managers.

He said: "I need a native English voice in training if something isn’t 100% clear. It will help us have better communication with my team," and in January former Tottenham defender Dean Austin was brought in to assist him.

Austin's arrival, combined with the excellent form of former Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes, saw an upsurge in clean sheets as striker Odion Ighalo suddenly hit the goal trail and has scored more per game this year than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Slade made a similar move at Cardiff by bringing in Paul Trollope in February and while things did improve after his arrival, especially defensively, the damage had been done.

Another thing Watford fans give Jokanovic credit for is making masterful substitutions, which is shown in the rotation of Ighalo and his fellow free-scoring strikers Troy Deeney and Matej Vydra.

The gutsy manager is also happy to change the formation when needed, as he did after half an hour at Brighton on Saturday, when he switched his 3-5-2 to 4-4-2, bringing on Daniel Tozser on 25 minutes with the score locked at 0-0.

Three minutes later, the Hornets took the lead and the Hungarian ran the midfield as they ended up comfortable 2-0 winners. The rest is history.

What about January signings?
Both managers missed out on the summer transfer window so you would think they had lost of work to do in Junuary.

But the Serb seemed quite happy with the squad he inherited as the only player he brought in was Ben Watson, from Wigan, who joined for an undlsclosed fee.

He's since brought in two players on loan, who appear to be master strokes, for differing reasons.

Adlène Guedioura has shone in his 13 appearances on loan from Crystal Palace and Watford have won 77% of their games with him on the pitch.

If you think he's a lucky charm, what about Matt Connolly, who was controversially signed on loan from Slade's own Bluebirds with the finish line in sight.

On Saturday, the Cardiff fans' favourite celebrated his fourth Premier League promotion.... this time with Jokanovic's Watford.

Slade was clearly less happy with what he was left by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He signed Scott Malone, Alex Revell, Lee Peltier, Stuart O'Keefe, Eoin Doyle, Matt Kennedy and Conor McAleny in the window, while a staggering nine players left the club.

Whatever the reasons, ultimately it was Watford who were wildly celebrating Premier League promotion while the Cardiff squad had to settle for a tame walk around the pitch in front of the few hundred fans who had bothered to stay and applaud them.

How did they Jokanovic get the best out of his unfancied squad?
Troy Deeney has been at Watford since Malky Mackay signed him 2010 and has been a fixture up front for them ever since.

He thrived in Jokanovic's system and has now scored 20 goals or more in each of the last three seasons. He was named as the only Watford player in the Championship team of the year.

Alongside him Odion Ighalo, who had previously struggled to hit a barn door, has been prolific.

Having started the season slowly, the new boss has released his scoring potential and the Nigerian has enjoyed a better goal to game ratio than Cristiano Ronaldo this year. The 25-year-old has scored 20 goals so far this season.

Between the pair, they have scored 41 of their team's 90 goals this season, while third striker Matej Vydra has scored chipped in with another 15.

The trio have thrived on the chances that have been created for them by the incisive midfield which makes the most of the passing talents of Watson and Almen Guedioura and the pace of Ikechi Anya.

So while Jokanovic was working on uniting a team of unfancied players into an unstoppable unit, Slade made change after change as he failed to get the best out of proven stars at Championship level like Mats Daehli, Javi Guerra, Peter Whittingham, Kenwyne Jones, Adam Le Fondre, Federico Macheda and Fabio.

This is the reason why Watford will be playing in the Premier League next season and Cardiff City will have another scrap on their hands to be competitive at Championship level.

Cardiff City boss Russell Slade has been given enough time and Watford's Premier League rise shows us exactly why

By Gareth Rogers

Russell Slade and Slavisa Jokanovic both started work in the same week. On November 28 the Bluebirds boss was smiling but today, his Watford counterpart is celebrating Premier League promotion

Russell Slade claims Cardiff City are a work-in-progress and that fans need to be patient during this time of transition. but if you want evidence of why that's not necessarily the case just look at Watford.

What has happened at Vicarage Road since the start of December proves that football is not about waiting for your manager to stumble upon the right formula, it's about getting the right man, even if that upsets people.

When former Chelsea player Slavisa Jokanovic was given the Watford job, the day after Slade took over at Cardiff, fans were furious as former youth coach Billy McKinlay, who had guided the team to four matches unbeaten, had been elbowed out of the way.

Jokanovic's start was terrible and the low point, ironically, was the home defeat against Slade's resurgent Cardiff on November 29.

The Bluebirds ended their away hoodoo with a 1-0 at Watford, a result that hauled the Bluebirds level with the Hornets on 29 points, placing them on the edge of the Championship play-offs.

Excited Slade doffed his cap to the delighted travelling Cardiff fans while his Vicarage Road counterpart Slavisa Jokanovic, a Serbian, was booed off before being grilled by the media about changing his team's system to a continental style 3-5-2.

Of the two managers, who started their jobs less than 24 hours apart, Slade sat smugly claiming: "The group's coming together now. We're working hard for each other. I saw some really good qualities," while the other looked destined for the exit door.

Jokanovic was apologetic after the game as he told Watford fans: “This is not our level. It is a complicated and bad situation for us and we must be strong.

“We need the supporters to help us. They will be here longer than us.

"I apologise because we didn't produce the level they expect of us today.”

What happened next...
It turns out Jokanovic was right and Slade was wrong. Subsequent events and results prove Cardiff were anything but "coming together".

Since that 1-0 Cardiff win on November 29, the fortunes of the two clubs could not have been more contrasting. Under Slade, the Bluebirds reacord reads: Played 26, Won 7, Drew 9, Lost 10. They have dropped to 13th in the table.

Under Jokanovic, Watford's record reads: Played 26, Won 19, Drew 2, Lost 5. They have roared into the Premier League and this weekend go for the Championship title, currently in top spot.

Cardiff have barely mustered a goal a game and conceded more. Watford have smashed home almost 60 goals and become the great entertainers of the division.

The turnaround was pretty instant. As December began, Cardiff descended into chaos, even with their trusted 4-4-2 while Watford's transformation under their new system was little short of stunning.

After their win at Watford, the Bluebirds were unimpressive as they drew 0-0 at home to Rotherham and were well beaten by Bournemouth and Brentford.

They picked up a 1-1 draw at Charlton on Boxing Day before meeting the Hornets again on December 28. Anybody who was there will remember Watford won 4-2 at the Cardiff City Stadium.

In the meantime, the resurgent Hornets settled into Jokanovic's 3-5-2 formation and won 5-0 at Fulham, 2-1 against Wigan and 1-0 at Reading before losing at home to Wolves on Boxing Day.

By the close of play on December 28, Watford had risen to fifth in the Championship, with 41 points, 10 above Slade's Cardiff, who were in 11th.

What else did Jokanovic change?
As well as the controversial continental formation, Jokanovic knew he had to change things behind the scenes.

The Serb, who had picked up English during his two years as a player at Chelsea, found communicating with his players and staff difficult, especially as he had inherited a team of European coaches from previous managers.

He said: "I need a native English voice in training if something isn’t 100% clear. It will help us have better communication with my team," and in January former Tottenham defender Dean Austin was brought in to assist him.

Austin's arrival, combined with the excellent form of former Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes, saw an upsurge in clean sheets as striker Odion Ighalo suddenly hit the goal trail and has scored more per game this year than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Slade made a similar move at Cardiff by bringing in Paul Trollope in February and while things did improve after his arrival, especially defensively, the damage had been done.

Another thing Watford fans give Jokanovic credit for is making masterful substitutions, which is shown in the rotation of Ighalo and his fellow free-scoring strikers Troy Deeney and Matej Vydra.

The gutsy manager is also happy to change the formation when needed, as he did after half an hour at Brighton on Saturday, when he switched his 3-5-2 to 4-4-2, bringing on Daniel Tozser on 25 minutes with the score locked at 0-0.

Three minutes later, the Hornets took the lead and the Hungarian ran the midfield as they ended up comfortable 2-0 winners. The rest is history.

What about January signings?
Both managers missed out on the summer transfer window so you would think they had lost of work to do in Junuary.

But the Serb seemed quite happy with the squad he inherited as the only player he brought in was Ben Watson, from Wigan, who joined for an undlsclosed fee.

He's since brought in two players on loan, who appear to be master strokes, for differing reasons.

Adlène Guedioura has shone in his 13 appearances on loan from Crystal Palace and Watford have won 77% of their games with him on the pitch.

If you think he's a lucky charm, what about Matt Connolly, who was controversially signed on loan from Slade's own Bluebirds with the finish line in sight.

On Saturday, the Cardiff fans' favourite celebrated his fourth Premier League promotion.... this time with Jokanovic's Watford.

Slade was clearly less happy with what he was left by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He signed Scott Malone, Alex Revell, Lee Peltier, Stuart O'Keefe, Eoin Doyle, Matt Kennedy and Conor McAleny in the window, while a staggering nine players left the club.

Whatever the reasons, ultimately it was Watford who were wildly celebrating Premier League promotion while the Cardiff squad had to settle for a tame walk around the pitch in front of the few hundred fans who had bothered to stay and applaud them.

How did they Jokanovic get the best out of his unfancied squad?
Troy Deeney has been at Watford since Malky Mackay signed him 2010 and has been a fixture up front for them ever since.

He thrived in Jokanovic's system and has now scored 20 goals or more in each of the last three seasons. He was named as the only Watford player in the Championship team of the year.

Alongside him Odion Ighalo, who had previously struggled to hit a barn door, has been prolific.

Having started the season slowly, the new boss has released his scoring potential and the Nigerian has enjoyed a better goal to game ratio than Cristiano Ronaldo this year. The 25-year-old has scored 20 goals so far this season.

Between the pair, they have scored 41 of their team's 90 goals this season, while third striker Matej Vydra has scored chipped in with another 15.

The trio have thrived on the chances that have been created for them by the incisive midfield which makes the most of the passing talents of Watson and Almen Guedioura and the pace of Ikechi Anya.

So while Jokanovic was working on uniting a team of unfancied players into an unstoppable unit, Slade made change after change as he failed to get the best out of proven stars at Championship level like Mats Daehli, Javi Guerra, Peter Whittingham, Kenwyne Jones, Adam Le Fondre, Federico Macheda and Fabio.

This is the reason why Watford will be playing in the Premier League next season and Cardiff City will have another scrap on their hands to be competitive at Championship level.

Well firstly Watford did not cut there wage bill by 12 million did they
They didn't have to rely on a midfield of gunnerson and whitts did they
And proven stars in the championship Delhi and guerra had not played in the championship
Le fondre did not want to play for us as he's stated
Jones has scored 13 goals for us and was highly rated by Eddie Howe as he took him on loan
Let's see how many of those who allegedly he can't get the best out of are here next season
IMO this is just another knock slade thread at all costs
I don't know who Gareth Roberts is but you post just like abbodanatto of the echo

Another load of shit from the Echo takes no account of the squads inherited from the previous management or the fact that Slade was instructed to get rid of players and reduce the wage bill no wonderI sstopped buying the rag

Cardiff City boss Russell Slade has been given enough time and Watford's Premier League rise shows us exactly why

By Gareth Rogers

Russell Slade and Slavisa Jokanovic both started work in the same week. On November 28 the Bluebirds boss was smiling but today, his Watford counterpart is celebrating Premier League promotion

Russell Slade claims Cardiff City are a work-in-progress and that fans need to be patient during this time of transition. but if you want evidence of why that's not necessarily the case just look at Watford.

What has happened at Vicarage Road since the start of December proves that football is not about waiting for your manager to stumble upon the right formula, it's about getting the right man, even if that upsets people.

When former Chelsea player Slavisa Jokanovic was given the Watford job, the day after Slade took over at Cardiff, fans were furious as former youth coach Billy McKinlay, who had guided the team to four matches unbeaten, had been elbowed out of the way.

Jokanovic's start was terrible and the low point, ironically, was the home defeat against Slade's resurgent Cardiff on November 29.

The Bluebirds ended their away hoodoo with a 1-0 at Watford, a result that hauled the Bluebirds level with the Hornets on 29 points, placing them on the edge of the Championship play-offs.

Excited Slade doffed his cap to the delighted travelling Cardiff fans while his Vicarage Road counterpart Slavisa Jokanovic, a Serbian, was booed off before being grilled by the media about changing his team's system to a continental style 3-5-2.

Of the two managers, who started their jobs less than 24 hours apart, Slade sat smugly claiming: "The group's coming together now. We're working hard for each other. I saw some really good qualities," while the other looked destined for the exit door.

Jokanovic was apologetic after the game as he told Watford fans: “This is not our level. It is a complicated and bad situation for us and we must be strong.

“We need the supporters to help us. They will be here longer than us.

"I apologise because we didn't produce the level they expect of us today.”

What happened next...
It turns out Jokanovic was right and Slade was wrong. Subsequent events and results prove Cardiff were anything but "coming together".

Since that 1-0 Cardiff win on November 29, the fortunes of the two clubs could not have been more contrasting. Under Slade, the Bluebirds reacord reads: Played 26, Won 7, Drew 9, Lost 10. They have dropped to 13th in the table.

Under Jokanovic, Watford's record reads: Played 26, Won 19, Drew 2, Lost 5. They have roared into the Premier League and this weekend go for the Championship title, currently in top spot.

Cardiff have barely mustered a goal a game and conceded more. Watford have smashed home almost 60 goals and become the great entertainers of the division.

The turnaround was pretty instant. As December began, Cardiff descended into chaos, even with their trusted 4-4-2 while Watford's transformation under their new system was little short of stunning.

After their win at Watford, the Bluebirds were unimpressive as they drew 0-0 at home to Rotherham and were well beaten by Bournemouth and Brentford.

They picked up a 1-1 draw at Charlton on Boxing Day before meeting the Hornets again on December 28. Anybody who was there will remember Watford won 4-2 at the Cardiff City Stadium.

In the meantime, the resurgent Hornets settled into Jokanovic's 3-5-2 formation and won 5-0 at Fulham, 2-1 against Wigan and 1-0 at Reading before losing at home to Wolves on Boxing Day.

By the close of play on December 28, Watford had risen to fifth in the Championship, with 41 points, 10 above Slade's Cardiff, who were in 11th.

What else did Jokanovic change?
As well as the controversial continental formation, Jokanovic knew he had to change things behind the scenes.

The Serb, who had picked up English during his two years as a player at Chelsea, found communicating with his players and staff difficult, especially as he had inherited a team of European coaches from previous managers.

He said: "I need a native English voice in training if something isn’t 100% clear. It will help us have better communication with my team," and in January former Tottenham defender Dean Austin was brought in to assist him.

Austin's arrival, combined with the excellent form of former Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes, saw an upsurge in clean sheets as striker Odion Ighalo suddenly hit the goal trail and has scored more per game this year than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Slade made a similar move at Cardiff by bringing in Paul Trollope in February and while things did improve after his arrival, especially defensively, the damage had been done.

Another thing Watford fans give Jokanovic credit for is making masterful substitutions, which is shown in the rotation of Ighalo and his fellow free-scoring strikers Troy Deeney and Matej Vydra.

The gutsy manager is also happy to change the formation when needed, as he did after half an hour at Brighton on Saturday, when he switched his 3-5-2 to 4-4-2, bringing on Daniel Tozser on 25 minutes with the score locked at 0-0.

Three minutes later, the Hornets took the lead and the Hungarian ran the midfield as they ended up comfortable 2-0 winners. The rest is history.

What about January signings?
Both managers missed out on the summer transfer window so you would think they had lost of work to do in Junuary.

But the Serb seemed quite happy with the squad he inherited as the only player he brought in was Ben Watson, from Wigan, who joined for an undlsclosed fee.

He's since brought in two players on loan, who appear to be master strokes, for differing reasons.

Adlène Guedioura has shone in his 13 appearances on loan from Crystal Palace and Watford have won 77% of their games with him on the pitch.

If you think he's a lucky charm, what about Matt Connolly, who was controversially signed on loan from Slade's own Bluebirds with the finish line in sight.

On Saturday, the Cardiff fans' favourite celebrated his fourth Premier League promotion.... this time with Jokanovic's Watford.

Slade was clearly less happy with what he was left by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

He signed Scott Malone, Alex Revell, Lee Peltier, Stuart O'Keefe, Eoin Doyle, Matt Kennedy and Conor McAleny in the window, while a staggering nine players left the club.

Whatever the reasons, ultimately it was Watford who were wildly celebrating Premier League promotion while the Cardiff squad had to settle for a tame walk around the pitch in front of the few hundred fans who had bothered to stay and applaud them.

How did they Jokanovic get the best out of his unfancied squad?
Troy Deeney has been at Watford since Malky Mackay signed him 2010 and has been a fixture up front for them ever since.

He thrived in Jokanovic's system and has now scored 20 goals or more in each of the last three seasons. He was named as the only Watford player in the Championship team of the year.

Alongside him Odion Ighalo, who had previously struggled to hit a barn door, has been prolific.

Having started the season slowly, the new boss has released his scoring potential and the Nigerian has enjoyed a better goal to game ratio than Cristiano Ronaldo this year. The 25-year-old has scored 20 goals so far this season.

Between the pair, they have scored 41 of their team's 90 goals this season, while third striker Matej Vydra has scored chipped in with another 15.

The trio have thrived on the chances that have been created for them by the incisive midfield which makes the most of the passing talents of Watson and Almen Guedioura and the pace of Ikechi Anya.

So while Jokanovic was working on uniting a team of unfancied players into an unstoppable unit, Slade made change after change as he failed to get the best out of proven stars at Championship level like Mats Daehli, Javi Guerra, Peter Whittingham, Kenwyne Jones, Adam Le Fondre, Federico Macheda and Fabio.

This is the reason why Watford will be playing in the Premier League next season and Cardiff City will have another scrap on their hands to be competitive at Championship level.

Well firstly Watford did not cut there wage bill by 12 million did they
They didn't have to rely on a midfield of gunnerson and whitts did they
And proven stars in the championship Delhi and guerra had not played in the championship
Le fondre did not want to play for us as he's stated
Jones has scored 13 goals for us and was highly rated by Eddie Howe as he took him on loan
Let's see how many of those who allegedly he can't get the best out of are here next season
IMO this is just another knock slade thread at all costs
I don't know who Gareth Roberts is but you post just like abbodanatto of the echo

Rely on a midfield of Gunnarsson and Whitts you make it sound like we had no one else to call to, we clearly did

And Daehli & Guerra did play in the championship.

Another poor excuse from troobloo again

[quote="Steve Zodiak"]And Daehli & Guerra did play in the championship.[/quote
they were NOTproven stars of the championship
if your going to make comments get it right ffs

Another poor excuse from troobloo again

what poor exscuse
the thread is total garbage

Another poor excuse from troobloo again

what poor exscuse
the thread is total garbage

trouble is lots on here dont need excuse to deride club! this post is like a lot recently making out how great other teams are but failing to take into consideration all the upheavals and player exits? yes slade may not be up to job but hazard guess 99%of non premier managers would fail to gain promotion in circumstances!

Another poor excuse from troobloo again

what poor exscuse
the thread is total garbage

trouble is lots on here dont need excuse to deride club! this post is like a lot recently making out how great other teams are but failing to take into consideration all the upheavals and player exits? yes slade may not be up to job but hazard guess 99%of non premier managers would fail to gain promotion in circumstances!

I think most of us know that Slade is very limited and there's no point in making excuses for him! His managerial record speaks for itself doesn't it? Buts he's our manager so let's all give him our support while he is! You never know he just might surprise us all next season

They didn't have to rely on a midfield of gunnerson and whitts did they

It's slade choice to play them.
He could play ralls or Adeyemi or his own signing O'Kieff

And Daehli & Guerra did play in the championship.

they were NOTproven stars of the championship
if your going to make comments get it right ffs

[/quote]
Quote by you: Daehli & Guerra had not played in the championship. I just replied to what you said. One of us is wrong. I said they had played in the championship, if they haven't I hold my hands up and admit I am wrong. Will let you decide.

And Daehli & Guerra did play in the championship.

they were NOTproven stars of the championship
if your going to make comments get it right ffs

Quote by you: Daehli & Guerra had not played in the championship. I just replied to what you said. One of us is wrong. I said they had played in the championship, if they haven't I hold my hands up and admit I am wrong. Will let you decide.[/quote]
I was responding to ignition all thread that said they were proven in the championship ,Delhi joined us and played in the premier league and guerra played in cup games and very little in the championship

A hatchet job if I ever saw one.Given the choice Jokanovic would not have taken the city job anyway.Just putting the boot in to give some supposed city fans a hard on.

One example of it working, what about the 20 or so where it doesn't work! Absolute garbage!