Saturday was special. You don’t get to experience too many perfect performances, so drink it in. Remember everything about it and store it away for a rainy day, of which there will be plenty. This is Cardiff City after all.
When Cardiff meet Swansea, plates shift. Reputations are made and careers are affected. Managers often don’t survive defeats and whole seasons can be derailed. As is often the case, both sides limped into this derby. Cardiff were on a bit of an unbeaten run, but their league position was still perilous, while Swansea were positioned further up the table, but are having a streaky campaign.
The game started in familiar fashion, with a frantic opening giving way to a period of sustained Swansea possession, but this was not the same old timid Cardiff.
Earlier in the season, Cardiff took a point from the reverse fixture, but it was a bit of a smash and grab. Callum Robinson scored from an Ollie Tanner assist, but they were only brought on for the final 20 minutes. It took Cardiff a long time to get going and Omer Riza, who undertook media duties for Sky Sports after the game in place of Erol Bulut, explained that not laying a glove on their opponent was by design. That Cardiff set out to absorb in the first half and hit back in the second. It kind of worked, but was viewed as rather cowardly and I wonder if that informed Riza’s approach this time round.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere was no sitting back this time, with Cardiff on the front foot throughout, never allowing Swansea to settle. It’s the approach that Cardiff supporters have been crying out for over a period of games that have included eight defeats in 12 encounters. It’s easier said than done though because they’ve tried this in the past and it was death by a thousand cuts, as Swansea, bobbed and weaved, passed and moved, before knocking out their shattered opponent.
As good as Cardiff were, this is also not the Swansea of old. They no longer boast the individual brilliance of recent years. They still sometimes look like Swansea on the surface, but it’s a diluted, uninspired impersonation. Cardiff beat them at home last season too, but this was a hammering. This was like the day when you finally stand up to your bully.
Callum Chambers led the charge and his 2025 glow up is as unexpected as it has been welcome. The first time I saw him play was for Southampton against Cardiff in the 2013/14 Premier League season. All the talk was of Luke Shaw at left back, but it was Chambers at right back that impressed. Such is the cyclical nature of football, there was actually a protest against Vincent Tan at that game too, after his very public falling out with Malky Mackay.
Embed from Getty ImagesChambers then moved to Arsenal and the centre of their defence. Having spent his whole career in the top flight, he dropped a level to join Cardiff in the summer and it was viewed as a statement signing. Sadly, his performances were largely underwhelming, with a few high-profile errors, but since Riza repurposed him as a central midfielder, he has been a revelation.
On Saturday, he was everywhere, and in a good way. He swarmed all over Swansea and never gave them a moment’s peace, but he was still only Cardiff’s second best player. Their top performer was Andy Rinomhota, another Riza restoration project. Blacklisted by Bulut, despite a need for the ferocity and intensity he offers, he had at least one foot out of the door. Since deputising at right back, he has made the position his own and is currently keeping back-to-back Player of the Year Perry Ng out of the side.
Rinomhota snapped into challenges, rampaged up and down the right flank and led from the front, rattling Swansea at every opportunity. When you consider that Cian Ashford was also on that wing ahead of him, another player that Riza brought in from the cold, it felt like the culmination of the rookie manager’s time in charge to date.
Embed from Getty ImagesRiza was in a vulnerable position heading into this game. He may have a deal through to the end of the season, but we all know that’s not really worth the paper it’s written on. Things can change quickly and for some, he still has the whiff of an elevated assistant. A defeat may have been a stain that would have proven impossible to wash out, but he instead nailed the occasion. His selection and approach were spot on. After a well-documented difficult week, the players, who are evidently very fond of him, would have been very fired up, but it was channelled in a controlled way. Until he briefly lost his head on the touchline, but that won’t do his cred any harm at all.
There was a passage of play with 10 minutes remaining where Tanner and Callum Robinson were about to be withdrawn. They both wandered to the other side of the pitch, so that when the board went up with their numbers, they had more pitch to trudge across and more clock to run down. Under the circumstances, you would expect Swansea to be livid, but they instead just stood there, heads bowed. Their spirit had been crushed and there would be no late rally. They were a beaten side and the beast had finally been slayed.
Cardiff fans deserved this day. After a tough few years, often with very little light at the end of the tunnel, they ploughed on regardless. Crowds were starting to thin out and social media was getting increasingly toxic, but this was a perfect day, with 100% positivity and no notes. After dominating the derby for far too long, Swansea finally got a taste of their own medicine.