OLE EXCITED TO START THE SEASON
Ole Gunnar Solskjær is looking forward to the season’s opening Sky Bet Championship fixture against Blackburn Rovers on Friday, having seen his squad take plenty of positives from a gritty Cardiff City Stadium performance against high quality Bundesliga outfit VfL Wolfsburg.
“It was a good game of football,” he said. “I think the crowd enjoyed it, there were chances at both ends, some quality players on show, with some cracking goals. It was a good workout.
“Obviously we don’t want to concede three goals. The first goal Matt (Connolly) slices a clearance, which is just an individual error. The second is a fantastic strike from a great player who has a great career ahead of him. The third came from a cross, which we either should stop at the source or block the man finishing. They are margins and details that we will improve on, and they didn’t create too many other chances.”
The Cardiff City manager, however was happy with the spirit shown by his team to come back from two goals down against the top-flight German visitors, saying, “I was pleased with the way we defended as a team and the way we sorted ourselves out after the first fifteen to twenty minutes. We didn’t get out of the blocks quick enough and they pegged us back and it could have been a different scoreline if the players hadn’t shown the character that they did.”
WATCH MATCH REACTION, HIGHLIGHTS ON CARDIFF CITY PLAYER NOW. WE ALSO HAVE THE FULL MATCH TO ENJOY
Having given pitch time to five of his front line options against Wolfsburg, Ole will no doubt have a selection headache ahead of him when City travel to Ewood Park on Friday night.
“It's a great problem to have,” he said. “I believe all our strikers compliment each other in different ways. Kenwyne is a different type, even the two little ones Javi and Alfie have played together. Nicky Maynard and Alfie have played together, Macheda and Javi have played together and I have some great options from the start and to come on off the bench.”
Ahead of what’s bound to be a long and gruelling season in the Championship, Ole then gave his views on the need to adapt to each game as it comes, while stating his desire to see the Bluebirds play the right brand of attacking football.
“The tactics will depend on the opposition and the conditions,” he explained. “We have our style of play and we want the style to come through and shine, but we also have to defend as well.
“We want to create a problem for the opposition by the way that we play; it might be new to some of the Championship teams and hopefully we can give them problems. We will also have to deal with what they give us. We played against a good three at the back today, with rotation in midfield and wing backs flying forward and we coped well after the first twenty minutes and played really well.”
After his first pre-season in charge Ole is happy with the way his new squad is shaping up, saying,“That’s my team out there, I can see a team there. I can see a team that enjoy playing that way, enjoying getting the ball, moving the ball and creating chances. I’m excited about the league starting now.”
WATCH MATCH REACTION, HIGHLIGHTS ON CARDIFF CITY PLAYER NOW. WE ALSO HAVE THE FULL MATCH TO ENJOY
