Cardiff City boss Neil Harris gives key Lee Tomlin injury update ahead of Leeds United opener and outlines his tactics for play-off push
Harris' Bluebirds have nine Championship matches left as they chase the Premier League dream and there appears to be some good news about their talisman Tomlin ahead of return to action against Leeds
CARDIFF CITY FC:
Sunday 6th June 2020
Cardiff City boss Neil Harris says Lee Tomlin has a 'twinkle in his eye' as he seeks to get him back to full fitness in time for the Bluebirds planned play-off charge.
Bluebirds talisman Tomlin has produced his best football at the club since Harris took over and made him the kingpin of the side, but thought his season was over after wrecking his knee in training back in February.
But Tomlin, and the Bluebirds, are unexpected beneficiaries of the enforced break and he is back doing training drills with his team-mates ahead of Cardiff's return to action against Leeds on the weekend of June 20.
Harris stressed Tomlin still needs to go through the final stage of 'trusting his body' in a full-on game.
But he is arranging behind closed doors friendlies with local teams to prepare City for their remaining nine Championship fixtures and expects Tomlin to feature.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, another Cardiff star who thought his season was over because of a hamstring problem, will also play in those matches.
If they come through unscathed, the cutting edge and different strengths Tomlin and Mendez-Laing offer will provide the Bluebirds with a huge and unexpected double boost as they seek to soar from ninth place up into the top six by the end of the season.
Harris appears to have lost striker Isaac Vassell though, who has had a setback on a quad injury.
However, Harris still possesses a depth of squad Cardiff's play-off rivals can only look upon with envy and the manager outlined how he plans to utilise that advantage as the games come thick and fast.
On Tomlin, Harris told the club's website:
NEIL HARRIS:
"Yes he and the players have a twinkle in the eye. Those who thought they might not play a lot of football certainly see this as a bonus.
"Tommo is infectious, a great character, very good trainer. Hence why he got injured in the first place. That's what we want, our senior players to show our younger ones the way.
"He has been out a while, has to get over hurdles, mental as well as physical ones, get out onto pitch, trust your body.
"He's doing that final stage at the moment, which is one of the hardest parts you can have.
"But he's also taken part in a lot of functional drills we're doing. Tactically he's taken part, picked up messages. We have to make sure we progress him at his pace - and his pace might be slightly different, say, to someone like Gavin Whyte, who is a few years younger.
"He's back in the group and doing the majority of the work. We're hoping to get him some minutes in the friendly fixtures coming up with local sides, which is a positive."
If Cardiff can get Tomlin fit for Leeds it will be a massive plus. His mercurial brilliance in scoring one goal and impishly setting up another with a back-flick for Robert Glatzel saw the Bluebirds come back from 3-0 down at Elland Road to draw 3-3 earlier in the season.
Promotion-chasing Leeds will certainly be wary of the Tomlin factor when they head to Cardiff City Stadium for the behind closed doors return clash.
Harris also says that Mendez-Laing is getting "more minutes and miles in the legs" and will take part in the friendly XI v XI games to prepare the team properly for Leeds.
The Bluebirds are two points off Preston in sixth place and fancy their chances of a promotion charge to the Premier League via the play-offs in the coming weeks.
Crucially they have matters in their own hands, with games looming against direct play-off rivals Preston, Blackburn, Bristol City and Derby.
There is an argument for saying a number of sides above Cardiff - Nottingham Forest, Preston, Bristol City and Millwall - have punched above their weight this season, while the Bluebirds have punched below theirs.
The same can perhaps be said for Blackburn and Swansea, two other sides with the play-offs in their sights who would have been written off at the start of the campaign.
Cardiff, on the other hand, were firmly expected to mount a promotion challenge, but faltered under Neil Warnock and have yet to click properly under Harris.
However, they are hoping the unexpected stalling of the season has given them the chance to reboot, rest key players, get others fit again and hand the opportunity to utilise their bigger squad in the remaining matches.
That will involve using five quality substitutes during early games and also making wholesale changes to the starting line-up at times, ensuring fresh personnel as matches come at a relentless pace.
Outlining how he is preparing for the restart, and the team selection methods he will deploy in the unique situation, Harris said: "We'll get niggles, as every club will. It's like a pre-season period, we're trying to limit those knocks as much as we can, but also pushing the players as hard as we can.
"There is risk and reward to it. You take a little bit of risk by pushing players, but get reward at end of it with them being fitter, which will hopefully give us one or two per cent on our opponents.
"We saw with the Bundesliga the first couple of games were quite slow, with an impact from substitutes coming on and scoring goals.
"We have to get our head around it quickly, make sure we have the right productivity from players on the pitch, get the timing of the substitutions right.
"I think we'll be able to name nine people on the bench and use five of them, which we'll do, especially in the first few weeks with so much to play for, the tempo of the league and how it's so unbelievably tight at the top and the bottom.
"We'll have to be adaptable in games, so many coming in a short space of time. The squad is going to be key.
"We're talking about nine games in a five week period. That might not sound a lot, given we've been through every Saturday and midweek in the Championship. But we've just had three months off and only a three-week build-in.
"It's going to be crazy at times. I will pick a team to win a game, and then maybe change it three days after for the next one. People say Neil Harris very rarely changes a winning team, or one that has put in a good performance, but I'm going to have to adapt myself."
But he stressed: "We're really excited about what's coming up," a mood that also seems to be sweeping through the players at the club.
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