' A Cardiff City striker who proves he CAN score '

A Cardiff City striker who proves he CAN score... and against a Uefa Champions League team, too!


Tuesday 30th August 2016


BY PAUL ABBANDONATO


Idriss Saadi bags double against champions Club Brugge for Vincent Tan's Belgian team as Bluebirds seek to build up his confidence, fitness and goal tally


Idriss Saadi has played six games for Vincent Tan's Belgian club.

Cardiff City are hoping they already have the answer to their goal problems on their books - in the shape of striker Idriss Saadi.

The bustling front-man, tipped for big things by the Bluebirds, has been sent on loan to Vincent Tan's Belgian club KV Kortrijk to regain confidence and his goal touch.

And the French youth international has already begun to make his mark after firing a brace of goals in a 2-0 triumph over reigning champions Club Brugge.

No mean opponents to break his Belgian duck against, given Brugge are about to join the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus by taking part in the Uefa Champions League.

The game marked Saadi's first start as a Kortrijk player and he also appeared in the 2-1 victory over St Truiden at the weekend.

Cardiff's hierarchy are hoping Saadi builds up his confidence and fitness with more goals and appearances.

The plan is for him then to return one day to Championship football with his stock high and fire the goals Paul Trollope's shot-shy Bluebirds so desperately require.


Questions inevitably will be raised about the respective standards of the Belgium First Division and the English second tier and which is easier to score in.

But the irony of a Bluebirds player netting two goals against a team about to mix it with the elite of Europe won't be lost on Cardiff fans, who are desperate for goals from their own team.

Saadi's first goal was a poacher's effort, coming off his thigh, but a perfect example of a centre-forward being in the right place at the right time.

His second again seemed to be the type a natural striker scores, Saadi pouncing in the box to touch home from a cross.

It is exactly the type of penalty box presence Trollope's Bluebirds lacked as they went down 0-1 to Reading at home on Saturday.

In fact, Cardiff have failed to score in four of their six games this season and are seeking a new front-man on loan, with Norwich's Northern Ireland hit-man Kyle Lafferty amongst those linked.


However, Cardiff still have high hopes of Saadi with club chief executive Ken Choo saying: "His two goals the other day weren't just against anybody, but the defending champions.

"We want to build up Idriss, get his confidence and goalscoring record going and then hopefully he comes back to Cardiff and shines for us here too.

"We still have a lot of belief in his ability."

Saadi has played six games for Tan's Belgian club, having moved to Kortrijk last month, but four of them were brief appearances as a substitute.

However, he seems to have pushed his way into the first-team pecking order as a result of impressing against Brugge.


The defending champions won the league title by four clear points last season and have been drawn against Premier League winners Leicester, FC Porto and FC Copenhagen in the Champions League group stages.

Saadi was described by former Bluebirds boss Russell Slade as a 'big, strong, powerful, technically good' centre-forward when he signed for the south Wales club from French football a year ago.

But he was injured early on and first made a cameo appearance as a substitute in a 2-0 home win over Reading in November, Saadi doing enough to offer hope to Cardiff fans.

Saadi was injured again and only had another brief substitute's appearance to his name against Fulham before heading out to Belgium.

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Call him back, Give them Le Fondre!

I liked the look and sound of saadi when we signed him, but lets be realistic about these goals and his overall ability/injury problems - I'll quote a post I made on another thread:

Let's not get too excited here.

The first goal was an accident. It took a deflection from his knee as a team mate got the header in from a corner. Pure luck - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pkhwm

The second goal was a decent poachers goal, right place right time and a bit of a tap in, even that he appeared to scuff a bit., he wouldn't get that kind of space here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbF2eghCIs

I liked the look and sound of saadi when we signed him, but lets be realistic about these goals and his overall ability/injury problems - I'll quote a post I made on another thread:

Let's not get too excited here.

The first goal was an accident. It took a deflection from his knee as a team mate got the header in from a corner. Pure luck - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pkhwm

The second goal was a decent poachers goal, right place right time and a bit of a tap in, even that he appeared to scuff a bit., he wouldn't get that kind of space here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbF2eghCIs

Mate, so more utter bullshit from city.

I liked the look and sound of saadi when we signed him, but lets be realistic about these goals and his overall ability/injury problems - I'll quote a post I made on another thread:

Let's not get too excited here.

The first goal was an accident. It took a deflection from his knee as a team mate got the header in from a corner. Pure luck - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pkhwm

The second goal was a decent poachers goal, right place right time and a bit of a tap in, even that he appeared to scuff a bit., he wouldn't get that kind of space here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbF2eghCIs

A striker is a striker and can either score or not. It doesn't matter if it's a 'worldy' or a 'Sally Gunnell', they all count and Idriss Saadi is now two more goals to the good by being in the right place at the right time and finishing his job!

Most Cardiff City fans would settle for those type of goals right now!

The mainly temporary Wales supporters (many of who are Cardiff City fans) and the media lauded the "great" goal from Hal Robson-Kanu which was effectively 'scuffed' (as you put it) but it counted!

Have a pop at club and Saadi but fans need to be consistent and I bet the 'not so good and marketable as he thought' Kanu wishes he was somewhere/anywhere 'scuffing' goals right now!

I liked the look and sound of saadi when we signed him, but lets be realistic about these goals and his overall ability/injury problems - I'll quote a post I made on another thread:

Let's not get too excited here.

The first goal was an accident. It took a deflection from his knee as a team mate got the header in from a corner. Pure luck - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pkhwm

The second goal was a decent poachers goal, right place right time and a bit of a tap in, even that he appeared to scuff a bit., he wouldn't get that kind of space here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbF2eghCIs

A striker is a striker and can either score or not. It doesn't matter if it's a 'worldy' or a 'Sally Gunnell', they all count and Idriss Saadi is now two more goals to the good by being in the right place at the right time and finishing his job!

Most Cardiff City fans would settle for those type of goals right now!

The mainly temporary Wales supporters (many of who are Cardiff City fans) and the media lauded the "great" goal from Hal Robson-Kanu which was effectively 'scuffed' (as you put it) but it counted!

Have a pop at club and Saadi but fans need to be consistent and I bet the 'not so good and marketable as he thought' Kanu wishes he was somewhere/anywhere 'scuffing' goals right now!

My point was that a few underwhelming goals in one game out of how many performances he hasn't scored, does not make him anywhere near our answer. A goal is a goal, yes, but why cherry pick one game where he got lucky and ignore the many, many games he has not made an impact, and been so easily injured despite being a big strong lad.

I've always said that I see something in Saadi, I think he can come good and be our main striker - ahead of both fred and zohore, but now is not the right time to bring him back when the pressure and expectation would be far above what he is capable of delivering.

I liked the look and sound of saadi when we signed him, but lets be realistic about these goals and his overall ability/injury problems - I'll quote a post I made on another thread:

Let's not get too excited here.

The first goal was an accident. It took a deflection from his knee as a team mate got the header in from a corner. Pure luck - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pkhwm

The second goal was a decent poachers goal, right place right time and a bit of a tap in, even that he appeared to scuff a bit., he wouldn't get that kind of space here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbF2eghCIs

A striker is a striker and can either score or not. It doesn't matter if it's a 'worldy' or a 'Sally Gunnell', they all count and Idriss Saadi is now two more goals to the good by being in the right place at the right time and finishing his job!

Most Cardiff City fans would settle for those type of goals right now!

The mainly temporary Wales supporters (many of who are Cardiff City fans) and the media lauded the "great" goal from Hal Robson-Kanu which was effectively 'scuffed' (as you put it) but it counted!

Have a pop at club and Saadi but fans need to be consistent and I bet the 'not so good and marketable as he thought' Kanu wishes he was somewhere/anywhere 'scuffing' goals right now!

My point was that a few underwhelming goals in one game out of how many performances he hasn't scored, does not make him anywhere near our answer. A goal is a goal, yes, but why cherry pick one game where he got lucky and ignore the many, many games he has not made an impact, and been so easily injured despite being a big strong lad.

I've always said that I see something in Saadi, I think he can come good and be our main striker - ahead of both fred and zohore, but now is not the right time to bring him back when the pressure and expectation would be far above what he is capable of delivering.

I knew where you were coming from and it is a point but a goal is a goal and we'd be happy to take them in any fashion right now. I'm with you on Saadi being one for the future

I liked the look and sound of saadi when we signed him, but lets be realistic about these goals and his overall ability/injury problems - I'll quote a post I made on another thread:

Let's not get too excited here.

The first goal was an accident. It took a deflection from his knee as a team mate got the header in from a corner. Pure luck - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pkhwm

The second goal was a decent poachers goal, right place right time and a bit of a tap in, even that he appeared to scuff a bit., he wouldn't get that kind of space here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbF2eghCIs

A striker is a striker and can either score or not. It doesn't matter if it's a 'worldy' or a 'Sally Gunnell', they all count and Idriss Saadi is now two more goals to the good by being in the right place at the right time and finishing his job!

Most Cardiff City fans would settle for those type of goals right now!

The mainly temporary Wales supporters (many of who are Cardiff City fans) and the media lauded the "great" goal from Hal Robson-Kanu which was effectively 'scuffed' (as you put it) but it counted!

Have a pop at club and Saadi but fans need to be consistent and I bet the 'not so good and marketable as he thought' Kanu wishes he was somewhere/anywhere 'scuffing' goals right now!

Thin is Chris with the clubs track record of bringing in strikers from abroad who just arnt good enough speaks for itself.

I hope Saadi does come good, but like Fred, valikonja, Zahore etc. He's prob just guna be out of his depth.

Hopefully saadi keeps up the good work keeps fit and keeps scoring. Does anyone know if we could call him back at anytime this season? Or will he be in belgium all season now?

I liked the look and sound of saadi when we signed him, but lets be realistic about these goals and his overall ability/injury problems - I'll quote a post I made on another thread:

Let's not get too excited here.

The first goal was an accident. It took a deflection from his knee as a team mate got the header in from a corner. Pure luck - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pkhwm

The second goal was a decent poachers goal, right place right time and a bit of a tap in, even that he appeared to scuff a bit., he wouldn't get that kind of space here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BbF2eghCIs

A striker is a striker and can either score or not. It doesn't matter if it's a 'worldy' or a 'Sally Gunnell', they all count and Idriss Saadi is now two more goals to the good by being in the right place at the right time and finishing his job!

Most Cardiff City fans would settle for those type of goals right now!

The mainly temporary Wales supporters (many of who are Cardiff City fans) and the media lauded the "great" goal from Hal Robson-Kanu which was effectively 'scuffed' (as you put it) but it counted!

Have a pop at club and Saadi but fans need to be consistent and I bet the 'not so good and marketable as he thought' Kanu wishes he was somewhere/anywhere 'scuffing' goals right now!

Thin is Chris with the clubs track record of bringing in strikers from abroad who just arnt good enough speaks for itself.

I hope Saadi does come good, but like Fred, valikonja, Zahore etc. He's prob just guna be out of his depth.

I'm ever the optimist, mate. The Law of Averages says we got to get one right eventually!

Sven let's hope it's the next one we sign who ever it maybe

Bring him back Iv'e always said he was a good striker.