Neil Harris: "I wanted to play slightly different, a little"
Sun Nov 29, 2020 10:15 am
Neil Harris:"I wanted to play slightly different, a little more direct."
It might have been perceived something of a gamble putting Mark Harris upfront on his first start for Neil Harris with so much pressure on this game, certainly with the manager admitting ahead of the match he felt like he was playing for his job, but the Bluebirds boss praised the City tyro for waiting patiently for his chance and converting just when it mattered most.
NEIL HARRIS:
"Mark has done extremely well," Harris said after the 4-0 triumph.
"He has been patient for his opportunity."
"He has got Kieffer Moore, who is held in extremely high regard in this part of the world and in our dressing room, and Robert Glatzel who has searched for a bit of form.
"We have had opportunities for Kieffer and Glatzel to play together before and done extremely well, i.e. against Barnsley and elements in games when I've changed it to a 4-4-2.
"Just felt today I wanted to play slightly different and Sparky deserved an opportunity. Not based on what he has done in training, or what I have seen in glimpses at times, but how I wanted to play and what I wanted from the team."
"If we wanted to play a little more direct and stretch the game then Mark has that in abundance.
"Mark has got a lot to learn about the game, a young striker, but ultimately, he will stretch the play and be a threat in the box.
"We have worked really hard with him for a year now and he has got his reward today."
The spotlight was firmly on the manager heading into the clash with the Hatters, but his players responded with their performance in what was quite possibly their best performance of the campaign to date.
And City manager Harris was understandably pleased with what he saw at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon, a cohesive Bluebirds display.
"I thought it was a dominant display," Harris said. "We ran over the top of Luton, in the nicest possible sense, physically, it was cohesive.
"We played forward, ran forward. When we passed it, everyone knew we were passing it and when we played direct, everyone knew it was direct.
"It's a game plan we had in place and credit to the players for delivering it. It might have been more last-season-like, in terms of possession. We got just about every element of the game right
"Today I saw a very passionate performance from my dressing room."
Cardiff are not out of the woods just yet, though, and a display so commanding has to be backed up when Huddersfield come to town on Tuesday.
And Harris knows that all too well.
"I know my relationship with my players and the respect that goes both ways," Harris added. "That's for other people to make assumptions from the outside.
"The spotlight is on me, rightly so, it always falls on the manager.
"But what we have had today is a top performance and top result, but it's about following it up on Tuesday."
It might have been perceived something of a gamble putting Mark Harris upfront on his first start for Neil Harris with so much pressure on this game, certainly with the manager admitting ahead of the match he felt like he was playing for his job, but the Bluebirds boss praised the City tyro for waiting patiently for his chance and converting just when it mattered most.
NEIL HARRIS:
"Mark has done extremely well," Harris said after the 4-0 triumph.
"He has been patient for his opportunity."
"He has got Kieffer Moore, who is held in extremely high regard in this part of the world and in our dressing room, and Robert Glatzel who has searched for a bit of form.
"We have had opportunities for Kieffer and Glatzel to play together before and done extremely well, i.e. against Barnsley and elements in games when I've changed it to a 4-4-2.
"Just felt today I wanted to play slightly different and Sparky deserved an opportunity. Not based on what he has done in training, or what I have seen in glimpses at times, but how I wanted to play and what I wanted from the team."
"If we wanted to play a little more direct and stretch the game then Mark has that in abundance.
"Mark has got a lot to learn about the game, a young striker, but ultimately, he will stretch the play and be a threat in the box.
"We have worked really hard with him for a year now and he has got his reward today."
The spotlight was firmly on the manager heading into the clash with the Hatters, but his players responded with their performance in what was quite possibly their best performance of the campaign to date.
And City manager Harris was understandably pleased with what he saw at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon, a cohesive Bluebirds display.
"I thought it was a dominant display," Harris said. "We ran over the top of Luton, in the nicest possible sense, physically, it was cohesive.
"We played forward, ran forward. When we passed it, everyone knew we were passing it and when we played direct, everyone knew it was direct.
"It's a game plan we had in place and credit to the players for delivering it. It might have been more last-season-like, in terms of possession. We got just about every element of the game right
"Today I saw a very passionate performance from my dressing room."
Cardiff are not out of the woods just yet, though, and a display so commanding has to be backed up when Huddersfield come to town on Tuesday.
And Harris knows that all too well.
"I know my relationship with my players and the respect that goes both ways," Harris added. "That's for other people to make assumptions from the outside.
"The spotlight is on me, rightly so, it always falls on the manager.
"But what we have had today is a top performance and top result, but it's about following it up on Tuesday."
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Re: Neil Harris: "I wanted to play slightly different, a lit
Sun Nov 29, 2020 3:19 pm
I don't understand why Harris thought it was a gamble putting Mark Harris up front to start. He had nothing to lose, we've been playing terrible for most of the season and we were beginning to wonder where our next win was coming from. Fantastic result though and let's hope we keep it going for Tuesday. 
Re: Neil Harris: "I wanted to play slightly different, a lit
Sun Nov 29, 2020 3:57 pm
i am excited to see how we fare with the Terriers, be great if we could get another three points, 2 wins on the bounce 
Re: Neil Harris: "I wanted to play slightly different, a lit
Sun Nov 29, 2020 4:08 pm
Don Keydick wrote:I don't understand why Harris thought it was a gamble putting Mark Harris up front to start. He had nothing to lose, we've been playing terrible for most of the season and we were beginning to wonder where our next win was coming from. Fantastic result though and let's hope we keep it going for Tuesday.
The commentators on the EFL show said something like Glatzel has scored one goal in his last 16 games so why on earth shouldn't he be replaced by Harris.
Re: Neil Harris: "I wanted to play slightly different, a lit
Sun Nov 29, 2020 4:31 pm
I just hope we go for it, like that from now on . We really have nothing to lose. When we play defensive hoping to Nick a goal , we are always on the back foot . Warnock trained the players to go from back to front as quick as possible. Harris seems to think we are Man City playing out from the back.
Harris hopefully will not go back to type , like he did after the Barnsley game.
Harris hopefully will not go back to type , like he did after the Barnsley game.