Wed Jan 30, 2019 3:26 pm
Can Niasse and Reid lead the way?
Wednesday 30th January 2019
By Dominic Booth
Warnock wanted Cardiff to play for Sala, that much was clear.
"We spoke about it before kick off that we ought to, for Emiliano, put in a performance in," he said , emotionally, after the game.
And so it was fitting that Cardiff's two strikers, playing where Sala might have played, were among their best performers against the Gunners.
Nothing can help the Bluebirds come to terms with the loss of the Argentinian from a human perspective, nor from a footballing one either.
But they do need their front-men to start getting goals.
Warnock's system at the Emirates, which at times appeared as a 3-5-2 with wing-backs Callum Paterson and Joe Bennett surging forward to help the front two of Reid and Oumar Niasse, was something he'd been planning for some time.
He'd imagined Sala at the apex, the prolific striker from Ligue 1 who seemed destined to shine in the Premier League.
Niasse and Reid were a credit to the club and themselves.
The on-loan Everton star held off the Arsenal tackles time after time while Reid was busy and bustling in the pocket, creating a hatful of chances.
Cardiff will hope - after the transfer admission Warnock has made about no new striker coming in - that the pair can battle manfully together until the end of the season.