Just read this quote from Slade about Watt. "He’s got goals at Charlton and they were not creating so many chances, if we can create more chances we believe Tony could do some real damage for us at Cardiff.” Maybe I'm missing something here, but the real problem is in the middle of that sentence (and on the pitch) and is being completely ignored. For all Mason's failings like poor first touch and a bit lightweight, he could easily have notched a lot more goals with an improved service. Ralls excepted, our midfield has been piss poor this season and failed to even reach average levels in games I've watched. There's been no drive, pace, nor pin point passing down the channels from the players and system that Slade has used. This area has not been addressed and until this is sorted it'll be route one to Jones every time. I hope Watt can reverse our poor scoring record on his own, but I fear it may be another case of ineffective management, system and tactics that are the fundamental problems - and they are still there.
For Tony, you could easily substitute Adam, Federico, Eoin, Joe, Alex..... Not saying that any of them are world beaters, but who knows, with better service they all might be capable of scoring plenty (most have at other clubs).
I've tried to avoid the "slag off Slade" comments until recently but having read the remark Sparks quoted I'm more and more convinced Slade is in cloud cuckoo land. Or as Rick Wakeman once said about Jon Anderson (used to be keyboard player and lead singer with Yes for those who don't know), "He wants to change this planet whilst living on another one!!!" A similar quote could be applied to Slade. He's living in an absolute dream world if he thinks the midfield he selected last Saturday has a hope in hell of creating more chances for Watt or any other striker. We know it, the opposition every week know it, why doesn't Slade? We are the most boring, uncreative side in the division and now have the stadium with the most empty seats compared to our capacity. Does he not understand why? I'm not saying if we had signed Bridcutt he would have added directly to our creativity but he would certainly have made us a lot more competitive in the middle of the park thus freeing up those with more ability and vision. I wouldn't be surprised if Adeyemi's game with Leeds now improved with Bridcutt doing the hard graft and nasty bits in front of the back four. Just think, we used to give MacPhail, Rae and, to a certain extent, Don Cowie a hard time. What would we pay for a midfield including one or two of those three now?
It's no good Slade saying "if we can create more chances", the bloke has got to do something positive about it. It's his responsibility as manager to rectify problem areas wherever they lie, and he's patently failed to come up with solutions to our midfield issues. That manifests itself in the system, tactics and personnel he uses. I have no confidence (and haven't for quite some time) that he has the ability to take this club anywhere but downwards. That means in terms of league status, footballing entertainment and supporter atmosphere in general. If Tan has any interest at all in this club, the Slade/Young/Trollope setup has to be scrapped and PDQ as well.
with the strikers we've had through the doors in the last couple seasons, 'if we created more chances' they'd have all scored reasonable numbers. The old adage of build from the back. We seem to have got the back 5 in a reasonable shape. Now sort out the midfield, THEN worry about the strikers. Get to the position where an average striker is scoring a few, then will be the time for a sharp shooter. We've said it before, you need bullets in the chamber BEFORE you can pull the trigger.
