Cardiff City is off to its worst start to a league season for 12 years. Change is needed after one win in seven league attempts.
Four Immediate Changes for Cardiff City
Although transition was expected following Russell Slade’s departure. Not many would have believed the Bluebirds to be occupying the final relegation spot, seven games in to the EFL Championship campaign. The transition appears to be too much and taking its toll on the football club. Drastic changes have been implemented since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer departed in September 2014.
The arrival of Russell Slade clearly took place to rebuild and steady the ship by immediately ceasing the squad spending. It is fair to say the Slade would have left in the Summer of 2016 for Charlton Athletic successfully achieving those targets. The spending in 2013-2014 was over £30 million, in 2014-2015 it was £6 million—a large sum for the Championship at the time.
During Slade’s tenure, the spending was just under £1 million whilst recovering just over £28 million from previous tenure spending. Credited also for slashing the wage bill in half yet still achieving finishes in 11th and 8th positions – during a transition and rebuilding period.
With Paul Trollope‘s appointment, it is less clear as to his goal, which is a contrast to his predecessor, Slade. An overhaul in the playing style and formation is one area Trollope has made changes. Something Cardiff fans called for during Slade’s tenure. However, supporters are now united in opinion – the 5-3-2 formation is not working.
Based on the player’s lack of desire – something you rarely fault Cardiff players for – also seem against the formation. The only person who seems undeterred is the manager.
Formation
The formation has to be the first area Trollope has to change. A 5-3-2 has worked for Wales but it isn’t working for Cardiff City. It was tried, tested and failed so Trollope has to move on and change the formation. A 4-5-1 could be better suited. With Cardiff leaking 12 goals in seven matches, an extra defender to shore up the defence would be beneficial.
With Lee Peltier, Matthew Connolly, Sean Morrison and Declan John as a back-four, it allows Kadeem Harris to take a more advanced role on the right of midfield. Harris is far better suited to attacking than he is to defending in the current formation. Having a right-back behind him would certainly suit his style.
In midfield alongside Harris, Peter Whittingham, Aron Gunnarsson and Joe Ralls would produce strong central midfield partnerships. Anthony Pilkington and Craig Noone could battle for the left midfield spot and provide Rickie Lambert up-front with much needed support.
Starting Peter Whittingham
Fans have cried for a few years for Whittingham to return to his best. In the limited opportunities he has had this season, he has shown to still possess that class supporters crave for. Lex Immers has not had the best campaign after a bright loan spell so dropping him would be an option.
Lambert has yet to score in two appearances for City and has had very poor service thus far. With two creative central midfielders in Ralls and Whittingham, along with the dogged attitude from Gunnarsson, the flair and pace of Pilkington, Noone and Harris on the wings, Lambert would get far better service and more opportunities to score.
Starting Ben Amos
It has been a difficult start to the season between the posts for Ben Wilson. Replacing David Marshall was always going to be a tall order. Wilson has shown promise but has made too many mistakes. To prevent him from losing confidence, perhaps Trollope should start Amos who has more experience in goal at this level having had a season with Bolton Wanderers.
Captaincy and attitude
It was a surprise that Sean Morrison was made the Captain of the football club after David Marshall’s exit. Matthew Connolly has been the most consistent central defender since former Captain, Mark Hudson left for Huddersfield Town. Connolly is certainly the most vocal on the pitch so a change of Captain and leadership on the pitch could help City’s cause in fighting – what appears to be – a tough season towards the lower end of the table.
Cardiff City never give up, that was shown in the 3-2 defeat at promotion favourites Norwich City. Despite being 2-0 upon 80 minutes, the Bluebirds almost snatched a point. However at Deepdale, as soon as half-time came at 2-0, the game was up and finished 3-0. Away from home Cardiff City have not scored in the first half, but have gone behind in the first half for two of those four matches.
Starting and settling quickly away from home is going to be key to taking any points away from home and rebuilding from a poor start. That will avoid playing catch-up during spirited second-half performances such as that at Carrow Road.
At home, Cardiff have had the better of the first-halves against QPR, Blackburn and Reading. The Bluebirds went on to win just one of those, thanks to two own-goals from Shane Duffy in the win against Blackburn Rovers. They failed to score against QPR and Reading, with both teams rallying in the second-half to take points. At home Cardiff need to make their dominance count in goals.
With Trollope apologising he must make immediate changes and with the four suggested above, it could assist in boosting a poor start to the season.
Cardiff City face Leeds United at the Cardiff City Stadium at 12:30 on Saturday 17th September.
Main image credit:
