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Cardiff City's mystery striker Idriss Saadi to make surprise debut today

13 OCT 2015

BY STEVE TUCKER

The 23-year-old striker is set to play 60 minutes as a Bluebirds side travel to take on Portsmouth for a friendly match



Cardiff City signing Idriss Saadi

Striker Idriss Saadi will finally make his Cardiff City debut today.

The 23-year-old striker is set to play 60 minutes as a Bluebirds side travel to take on Portsmouth for a friendly match which kicks-off at lunchtime.

Saadi signed for the Bluebirds at the end of August after impressing at French Second Division club Clermont.

But there had been concerns about his fitness. Back in January the French under-19 international, who is of Algerian descent, ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament writing off the second half of Clermont’s last campaign.

shame the club dont mention this in advance. im off today and would have gone and watched something like this to pass time.
im lookig forward to seeing Saadi play

Saadi To Make Pompey Debut?

13/10/2015

Vital Football

It's being reported that summer signing Idriss Saadi could make his non competitive Cardiff debut today as we face Portsmouth in a behind closed doors friendly.

The 23 year old is pencilled in for today's lunchtime (now) kick off against the Fratton Park outfit and the plan is to give him an hour under his belt to bring on his fitness levels more following his arrival.

Wales Online carry the report and have manager Russell Slade quoted as saying that the player is pretty much where we thought he'd be after our initial assessments, but the hour, if he can get it, should bring him on nicely.

'Idriss has been on our list of possibles for a good while, watched and watched. We sent people to watch him and it is clear he is that typical number nine, strong, powerful, technically good. He can also nick a goal and has a bit of pace to play off the shoulder of defenders. It was difficult while we were assessing Idriss because he was injured at the end of last season and it was important we were certain he is okay. Our checks have been in-depth, we left nothing out. Our medical people identified that he needs a little time to reach the fitness standards we set our players. That work has already started, but he won`t be thrown in at the deep end until he is ready.'

Slade went on to repeat that the concerns over his knee injury didn't factor in his lack of match action yet, it was purely fitness and making sure he was at the level where when he did play he could really get something from it and make an impact hopefully to grow his confidence further.

It's unlikely we will see the French Under 19 international for a while yet though, but at least he's on the right road now and reaching the stage where he can get an hour, it shouldn't be long before he has a full game and more in his tank.

Am told he is making good progress but won't be ready for first team action until end of October, can he play? Not a clue but have seen him doing shuttles and he's explosive

Can't wait to see him.

Blues triumph 2-1 in friendly



Pompey secured a comfortable 2-1 victory over Cardiff’s development side in a friendly at their Copnor training base.




First half strikes from Conor Chaplin and Kal Naismith put the Welsh side to the sword before the visitors grabbed a late consolation.




The match also saw the first appearance of loan signing Caolan Lavery, who came off the bench just past the hour mark.




Chaplin opened the scoring midway through the first half after the Blues had started brightly without creating any clear-cut openings.




He got an instinctive touch on Naismith’s threaded pass to send the ball past Cardiff keeper Luke O’Reilly and into the far corner.




Naismith’s effort to double the hosts’ advantage just before the break came from a move that was started by Ben Tollitt.




He delivered a peach of a cross that somehow evaded everyone, but Brandon Haunstrup picked up the loose ball and teed-up Naismith for a fine volleyed finish.




Chaplin also had a goal ruled out for offside, while in the second half, shots from Brandon Joseph-Buadi and Liam Sayers drew smart saves.




Cardiff then reduced the deficit right at the death when Dylan Rees bundled home from a few yards out, despite the best efforts of Alex Bass to keep the ball out.




Pompey: Murphy (Bass 61); C.Davies (Lavery 61), Webster, Hollands, Haunstrup (Haitham 76); May, Atangana (Sayers 76); Tollitt (Joseph-Buadi 61), Boco, Naismith; Chaplin (Oxlade-Chamberlain 76)




Cardiff: O’Reilly; Baker, Watkins, Blasie, Rees; Southam, Burridge, Veale, Roache; Noor, Saadi

Subs: James, Patten, Phipps




Referee: Alex James

Looking forward to seeing this guy in action. Think Slade is doing the right thing by keeping him quiet, not rushing him into the first team and risking further injury.

Anyone know how he did yesterday?