Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:47 am
How four of our new players performed last night
Saturday 15th July 2017
Here’s how they performed last night;
By Jamie Kemble
Loic Damour
The Frenchman enjoyed the best first 45 minutes of the new signings to appear in the first half.
Damour looked sharp in the midfield, playing some very well-measured balls wide and into the box, perhaps being directed by the boss to take on the role of the departed Peter Whittingham.
He may have been a surprise signing – but on this evidence – he could be a very good one, especially with the Bluebirds looking to replace the almost irreplaceable deliveries of Whittingham.
Danny Ward
The forward delivered a steady performance for the Bluebirds in the first half, but looked like he needs some minutes under his belt.
As a striker, it can be difficult to find your touch early in pre-season, and Ward probably felt that way this evening.
However, a handful of decent half-efforts on goal and some glimpses of quality mean he won’t be too disappointed – more to come from Ward for sure.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing
Mendez-Laing didn’t look too sharp this evening and he’s another will need to get plenty of pre-season minutes under his belt.
Having said that, he clearly has a very decent touch and a bit of trickery in his locker, he just needs some time on the pitch to develop confidence.
It’s going to be a tough season for him, and it won’t be easy making the starting XI regularly having made the step up from League One, but he looks to be a good squad player on tonight’s limited evidence.
Neil Etheridge
Very little to do for the debutant goalkeeper against lesser opposition.
Etheridge did what he was supposed to when he managed to get touched on the ball, and commanded his back-line well despite them being relatively new faces to him.
Unlike his fellow debutants, Etheridge remained on for some of the second half, but he didn’t get any busier and can be pleased with a quiet start to his Cardiff City career.