Jamie Flipping Ward

[Santos]

Great player but was I the only one who thought 'whats the point' when they saw his name on the teamsheet? Blackwell's been harping on all week playing the bookie giving odds on him being fit and saying if he was going to play he would be only 70% fit.

Blackwell We have bugger all to play for this season, don't flipping play clearly injured or unfit players!!! Yes he gives us an option but we're not solely relient on him. Cresswell and Henderson can 'do a job' (yes we're back to this now!) with Yeates and Little on the wings.

Don't play Jamie Ward all season and let him and other players get properly fit before playing.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

In hind sight saving him for the pigs game would have been sesible but we've a manager under pressure fighting to keep his job and a beating by Barnsley might have taken away Blackies chance to play Wardy at the sty. So what does he do?

Dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Also, 6 wins out of 6 would have likely seen us scrape into the play-offs. Makes sense that he would try to put his strongest team out.

I think we'll need 2 teams currently in the playoffs to go into meltdown (either by results or point deductions) AND we need to win all five games for us to have a chance now.

 

[cooperblade]

I think there has to be some responsibility with the player to say he isn't fit to play as well.

Unfortunately, I think this is going to be a common recurrance with Wardy. He had a lot of hamstring injuries at Chesterfield and it's carried on at the Lane.

Don't think he's every going to be a 40 game a season player. Makes it all the more crucial that we add pace to the squad over the summer.

 

[Santos]

In hind sight saving him for the pigs game would have been sesible but we've a manager under pressure fighting to keep his job and a beating by Barnsley might have taken away Blackies chance to play Wardy at the sty. So what does he do?

Dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't.

Not at all, I don't think any fans would damn him for not playing clearly injured/unfit players.

What dos he do? He waits till he is fully fit then plays him, be it yesterday, against Wednesday or the start of next season.

 

[Santos]

Also, 6 wins out of 6 would have likely seen us scrape into the play-offs. Makes sense that he would try to put his strongest team out.

I think we'll need 2 teams currently in the playoffs to go into meltdown (either by results or point deductions) AND we need to win all five games for us to have a chance now.

I admire your optimism but I'm afraid you're clutching at straws. There is no way whatsoever this team will win the remaining 5 games, plus I'm not even sure if we were to do that we'd even make the playoffs. The reality is we're not as consistant, stable or as good as any of the current lot in the playoffs.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

'Not at all, I don't think any fans would damn him for not playing clearly injured/unfit players.'

The fans don't/won't know how fit he really was. Maybe he passed a fitness test [I'd be suprised if he didn't] and it was close. Blackie felt the risk was worth it to help keep his job?

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Well Swansea and leicester are in a worse run of form than us

http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/D1/oform.html


And there's also the chance that cardiff could get docked points.

The annoying thing is, that faced with these factors we still can't motivate ourselves to go and get the points.

 

[Santos]

'Not at all, I don't think any fans would damn him for not playing clearly injured/unfit players.'

The fans don't/won't know how fit he really was. Maybe he passed a fitness test [I'd be suprised if he didn't] and it was close. Blackie felt the risk was worth it to help keep his job?

Blackwell said if he played he would be at best 70% fit. I don't know a great deal about injuries but is it fair to say if you're coming back from a hamstring injury, if you come back too early you are at a higher risk of injurying it again?

I don't really think the board would have made a decision either way on keeping Blackwell based on yesterday. A win wouldn't have saved his bacon and a loss wouldn't have got him the boot either.

For me, I couldn't have really given a toss what happened yesterday, I'd have preferred him to say he would write X Y & Z off for the rest of the season in the hope of getting them right for next season.

 

[Santos]

Well Swansea and leicester are in a worse run of form than us

http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/D1/oform.html


And there's also the chance that cardiff could get docked points.

The annoying thing is, that faced with these factors we still can't motivate ourselves to go and get the points.

I don't really think it is about motivation to be honest. I think the players are motivated and go out to put 110% in and win every game. Players like Morgan, Monty, Quinn, Cresswell et al are if nothing else genuine players who will give their all

The problem is a mixture of about 10 Jonny Loanee's, players playing unfit, players not really knowing eachother, players playing injured and the management.

 

[DazBlade88]

I also thought it was a silly decision to play him from the start. You can't afford to rush players back with hamstring injuries.

If he wanted to give him a run he should have put him on the bench and brought him on to try and spark something for the last 10-15 minutes. It's not as if we didn't have the players available to make do without him yesterday, albeit lacking pace.

And as for hoping for the playoffs, it's highly unlikely that we'd make it anyway, and it's also pointless. We're not good enough to be in them and the club as a whole is not in a good enough situation to compete if we miraculously managed to get promoted. We'd be an absolute laughing stock, similar to Derby's levels the other year.

We should forget about this season, and think about how we're going to rebuild for next.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I'd tend to agree but then again I'm not in Blackwells situation.

 

[Toronto Blade]

I don't think Blackwell can be blamed for wanting to win or the player wanting to play . The medical staff declare these players fit the manager has to act on their say so.The training coaches and medical staff are on the hook for some of this.
As Cooperblade points out Ward has an injury history with his hamstring this also should have been taken into consideration before he was signed.One reason Ward might be safe from being sold on is his injury record ,how many games will he be fit for in a season.
There are alot of the injury prone drawing wages. Recruitment ,the training methods ,coaches all need a good examination.

I think there has to be some responsibility with the player to say he isn't fit to play as well.

Unfortunately, I think this is going to be a common recurrance with Wardy. He had a lot of hamstring injuries at Chesterfield and it's carried on at the Lane.

Don't think he's every going to be a 40 game a season player. Makes it all the more crucial that we add pace to the squad over the summer.

 

[DazBlade88]

"Jamie Ward is perhaps the closest to being in the frame and, whilst he is desperate to play, he is still only at 70%.

"We saw what happened last week with Camara what can happen if people come back too early and the last thing we want with two games in three days coming up is to set anybody back again."

I don't think he is 100% to blame, but if he said this before the game, why didn't he consider his own thought?

 

[Santos]

I don't think he is 100% to blame, but if he said this before the game, why didn't he consider his own thought?

That's it in a nutshell. I know it's very easy to be a fan and criticise after the game and in Blackwell's shoes i may have played him, i just hope that after Camara and Ward's injuries Blackwell learns from this.

 

[jpblade]

That's it in a nutshell. I know it's very easy to be a fan and criticise after the game and in Blackwell's shoes i may have played him, i just hope that after Camara and Ward's injuries Blackwell learns from this.

Unfortunately Blackwell is too arrogant to learn from anyone or anything. The man is always right.

 

[mattbianco1]

Great player but was I the only one who thought 'whats the point' when they saw his name on the teamsheet?

I was really excited that he was back and we looked a whole lot better as a team until he got injured. It just goes to show that whatever Blackwell does, it won't be appreciated by some fans.