' There are No Excuses '

‘Slade has built a good squad but now there are no excuses’

Inside Cardiff City

3rd Feb 2016

by Jamie Kemble


‘Slade has built a good squad but now there are no excuses’

Cardiff may have spent nothing this season but with the loans brought it, the squad still has good enough players to beat the majority of teams in this division. By the end of February, Cardiff will have played five of the top eight away and at home they should fear no one with a very good record at the Cardiff City Stadium.




Russell Slade has done very well to add to his squad with some seemingly quality signings but now he has no excuses for missing out on the Championship play-offs come May. The former Orient boss’ contract expires in the summer.

Despite being placed under a transfer embargo, Cardiff managed to secure three loan signings during the January window with Kenneth Zohore, Lex Immers and Tom Lawrence signing up for the Bluebirds’ promotion push.


The Bluebirds are currently four points off the play-offs with seventeen games remaining. There are fifty-one points left up for grabs this season so you might say, Cardiff are well and truly in the mix as we approach the last third of the season.

The signings Russell Slade has made don’t necessarily make your eyes light-up when you see them on the team sheet but they do add quality and they do create a very high level of competition in the current Cardiff City squad.

Earlier on in the season when Craig Noone was struggling or when Peter Whittingham looked on the brink, you found yourself looking at the bench and scratching your head because there wasn’t much competition, meaning there wasn’t a player to replace the out-of-sorts ‘starters’.


Now, it’s difficult to pick a starting XI but for the right reasons unlike last season when you were reluctant to say most names when a friend asked you what you wanted the team-sheet to read on Saturday.



Due to the uplift in form from a number of players and the quality of those coming in on loan, the starting XI is now a difficult one to pick. All three of the new signings could potentially play as a striker with two of them more likely to play as an attacking midfielder.

Anthony Pilkington’s current form makes him difficult to drop, even if you wanted to move him out of the front-line, which is probably inevitable, then you would surely have to put him out wide with Craig Noone on the other side but then with Lex Immers looking like a much-needed spark in attacking midfield where do you put Tom Lawrence? Is he a good enough striker?

Peter Whittingham is another in fine form and with Stuart O’Keefe currently making it impossible to drop him, is there a place for Joe Ralls in the starting line-up? and where does Aron Gunnarsson fit in to all this?

Those are just some of the headaches Russell Slade now faces and he has to approach them right, after all, can he really drop many players from a team which has taken seven points from their last nine?

Currently, it’s difficult to drop many players but players like Tom Lawrence will have been promised game-time as he looks to cement his place in Chris Coleman’s Euro 2016 plans for the summer.

These questions may create a problem but most managers will describe them as ‘nice sort of problems’ so you won’t hear Russell Slade complaining over the next few months.

Russell Slade now has a good and solid squad under his control, there’s no doubt about that so he will now be expected to book a place in the play-off’s come the end of the season and there can be no excuses because this squad is now good enough.



Cardiff may have spent nothing this season but with the loans brought it, the squad still has good enough players to beat the majority of teams in this division. By the end of February, Cardiff will have played five of the top eight away and at home they should fear no one with a very good record at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The most defining fixture of Cardiff’s season in the near future could be the Brighton home clash in just over two weeks. Brighton are currently fourth, only six points above Cardiff so a home win would pull the Bluebirds right up into the mix with some good results before that fixture.

Russell Slade has done a very good job in trimming the squad and financially cleansing the club while keeping the team in the mix for the Play-offs but with the squad at his disposal now, if he doesn’t achieve a top six finish then he will make it difficult for the board to award him a contract extension when his expires at the end of the season.

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Can't wait for Saturday

It's been a while since I said that!

Can't wait for Saturday

It's been a while since I said that!

I feel exactly the same

Hate the cliché but Saturday is a must win game.

We have to go on a winning consistent run.

I am not for or against Slade, and I think he has his limitations. One thing is for certain though, and that is he has had to work in difficult conditions with a very tight budget available and had been forced to get rid of quite a few his playing squad. Taking everything into account, he is doing much better than I thought he would, and my personal opinion is that we don't have a strong enough team to make a serious push for promotion at the moment. Think we have done well to stay so close to the play off places, and we should certainly get three points this weekend. Slade has done as well as can be expected.

I am buzzing for Saturday!! I want to See Saudi and Fabio play with Zamora up front!!!

Can't wait for Saturday

It's been a while since I said that!

I feel exactly the same

Yes, we suddenly appear to have re-found the 'spirit' and that is all we ever asked for!

Zahore up front lol!!!

I am not for or against Slade, and I think he has his limitations. One thing is for certain though, and that is he has had to work in difficult conditions with a very tight budget available and had been forced to get rid of quite a few his playing squad. Taking everything into account, he is doing much better than I thought he would, and my personal opinion is that we don't have a strong enough team to make a serious push for promotion at the moment. Think we have done well to stay so close to the play off places, and we should certainly get three points this weekend. Slade has done as well as can be expected.

That's why if we did go up IMO RS should be offered some other job within the club, bloke has other strong points that can prove fruitful

Buzzing, get Fabio in, get Zahore up front, get Tom Laurencekirk to come on as sub and spark us!!!

Laurencekirk!!?? LAWRENCE!!!

Buzzing, get Fabio in, get Zahore up front, get Tom Laurencekirk to come on as sub and spark us!!!

And Saadi.

Need to get some decent results before Boro away.
Some of the teams around us are finding a bit of form and we can't let the gap get to 7-9 points with 10 games to go and 3 places or more outside the play offs.

Laurencekirk!!?? LAWRENCE!!!

It's like having Joe Kinnear on here

Cant wait for Saturday either and it will be warmer than last Saturday . Lawrence hatrick will do.