After a period on the bench having seen his position filled by Joe Ralls and a rotation of Aron Gunnarsson, Kagisho Dikgacoi and Stuart O’Keefe, Peter Whittingham was recalled to the starting line-up for the game against Rotherham and kept his place in the first eleven for the game at Huddersfield Town.
The Peter Whittingham debate amongst Cardiff City fans will always rumble on—should he or shouldn’t he start? Based on his performance in the 3-2 away victory at Huddersfield Town, the opinion has swayed more towards Whittingham starting for the Bluebirds.
Having picked up a central role since Malky Mackay’s reign, Whittingham has slowly become less effective for large periods in games, after being used as a left-sided player when he was signed by Dave Jones from Aston Villa for £350,000 in the summer of 2007.
Bluebirds fans had been accustomed to Whittingham’s free kick ability. He curled in some memorable free kicks such as the one against Leicester in the play-off semi-finals in 2010. Set pieces have been shared over the last couple of seasons, meaning his goals have dried up until his beautiful curling free-kick against Huddersfield which ended up in the top corner with pin-point precision, as the majority of his free-kicks have done.
The free-kick was his second goal of the game which had put Cardiff 3-1 up at that point after Whittingham had scored his first on 37 minutes after a cross from Sammy Ameobi on the right-hand side—which was missed by three defenders—landed straight on Whittingham’s right boot which he rolled into the net under keeper Jed Steer. The lead lasted just three minutes after Nahki Wells made some space just outside the penalty area and rolled in an accurate shot into the right hand corner.
After a one-two with Fabio, Ameobi again fired a low across into the Huddersfield penalty area, this time finding the unmarked Lex Immers to score on his full debut for Cardiff City. Harry Bunn grabbed a late consolation in the 92nd minute after Whittingham’s free kick, taking on a through ball with a fantastic first touch to take Bruno Ecuele Manga out of the game to come one-on-one with David Marshall, finishing with a great strike past the keeper’s right hand side.
It’s clear that Cardiff City are playing with far more fluidity after Russell Slade had become severely criticised for his boring tactics in recent weeks. The Bluebirds have now scored eight goals in their last three league matches, winning two and drawing one.
Cardiff welcome Milton Keynes Dons to the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday 6th February, a team who have already beaten the Bluebirds twice this season after knocking them out of the League Cup first round and winning the reverse fixture on Boxing Day—both by a 2-1 scoreline.
