ALF AIMING FOR GOALS AGAINST HIS FORMER CLUB
Club News
5th December
Cardiff City striker Adam le Fondre will take on another of his former clubs at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon, just as he did the last time the Bluebirds were at home.
It’s been a good week for le Fondre, who scored his first goal in a Cardiff shirt at Watford last weekend, before celebrating his twenty-eighth birthday on Tuesday. The win at Vicarage Road saw le Fondre partnered with Kenwyne Jones at the heart of the City attack, and the frontman was glowing about his strike partner in Friday morning’s press conference.
“The Gaffer wanted more of a physical presence in attack and nobody provides that better than Kenwyne,” Adam said. “There isn’t a centre-half in Championship football who can dominate him.
“There is not a better player in our league who is better at holding the ball up and he is brilliant in the air. Kenwyne did a tremendous job against Watford and I am buzzing to play alongside him because I know he is going to get up and create chances for me.
“For me he is the Didier Drogba of Championship football.”
Jones’ successful return to the side once again highlighted the wealth of attacking options available to Cardiff City manager Russell Slade, with Federico Macheda having enjoyed an extended spell in the side before him. Le Fondre extended the praise to the former Birmingham City and Manchester United forward.
“Federico and I struck up a good partnership, we were playing well together and I enjoy playing alongside him, but when the gaffer wanted to add that extra physical edge Kenwyne was the ideal choice.
“Scoring at Vicarage Road came as a relief for me,” le Fondre explained. “I love scoring goals and haven’t been doing that. I set myself high standards and have been missing chances I expect to take. It felt good to score a little flukey tap-in. Kenwyne did a brilliant job to set that one up.
“It wasn’t bothering me that I hadn’t scored because I have been playing reasonably well in terms of holding the ball up and my all-round performance. Hopefully, though, this is the start of something good. I have scored goals all my life and I know I will keep scoring goals.
“All strikers go through spells when they don’t come, but when that happens it is important to make sure you come out of that mentally stronger for the experience. I know I will score goals no matter what level I play at. That’s the way I am.
“Clearly, I wasn’t happy that I hadn’t scored, but if a striker isn’t scoring he needs to contribute and I was doing that. It’s true that personally I’d rather play poorly and score, but that’s just me.
“The most important factor is that Cardiff City are winning and when that happens I won’t worry too much if I’m not among the scorers.”
Having had a tremendously successful spell with the Millers between 2009 and 2011, le Fondre had kind words to say concerning Rotherham United, and congratulated Steve Evans’ side on their recent success: the Millers were promoted to the Championship last season via the League 1 Play-Offs.
“Rotherham are a brilliant club and I can’t thank them enough for the way they helped me progress my career," he said. “A lot of their players have changed and it’s not really a chance to get one over my old mates, but it is a former club and I would love to score.
“I scored a lot of goals for Rotherham and my only regret from that time if that I couldn’t help them earn promotion.
“It’s great to see that they have had two really successful seasons under Steve Evans, their manager and have been promoted twice. Their chairman has been fantastic. He had so much drive to help Rotherham get into the Championship. They are there now and he is relishing it.”
