This would not be happening under Russell Slade

” This would not be happening under Russell Slade ”

By Ross Bowden

http://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=177387

I will probably get slated for this, but I believe we would be nowhere near this bad if we still had Slade. If any game this season shows Trollope is out of his depth, this was it. Trollope waited until we were 2-0 down before throwing on an extra striker, and at 1-0 down, we all could see what was going to happen, except Trollope.

Lambert’s legs have gone and he was left isolated. His hold up play and link up play was good, but he doesn’t even seem to have the legs to burst into the box to get on the end of the cross, or maybe that’s because we don’t even have any player entering the final third with the way Trollope sets us up? We lacked pace until Kadeem Harris came on, Harris needs to start ahead of Noone next game, Noone was garbage again.

Under Slade, we stuck with 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1, but at least we were organised and difficult to beat at home and our attacking play when Immers and Pilkington linked up together was impressive for the second half of the season. We fell away because of a lack of strength in depth, but we were making steady progress and it would have been interesting to see if Slade could have improved us again this season.

Instead, Trollope has come in with his own fresh ideas, changed the system, signed an average full back who refuses to do the ayatollah, appointed a captain who thinks it’s funny to take a dump in the street and urinate in a fountain, played a young keeper totally out of his depth, continues to play Ralls who simply isn’t good enough for a top Championship team and he’s shown today he’s incapable of making the correct substitutions and tactical changes at the correct times.

At least under Slade’s 4-4-2, we could have seen a bit of link up play and attacking threat in the final third. We hit the post twice from 2 set pieces, but take away the quality of Whittingham’s set pieces and did we even look close to scoring in open play? We offered nothing going forward and Trollope at 1-0 down with Leeds dominating refused to throw on another striker and switch to a more attacking formation.

Usually with new managers, I’m patient and like to give them a bit of time to settle in and get their ideas across. This is different with Trollope. We are sinking without trace, there are no positives to take from our recent displays, we can’t break teams down at home. The opposition effortlessly deal with the very little we throw at them and then take control in the second half and score. Trollope has shown no signs of turning this around and I think the majority of us can already see Trollope can’t improve us. If a new manager isn’t brought in, we are going down.