There is an ongoing blame game amongst Cardiff fans, as they attempt to explain away yet another difficult season. Omer Riza’s credentials are often questioned, or the lack of leaders and experience. There is a prevailing sense that you can only circle the toilet bowl so many times before you finally get flushed down to League One and it feels increasingly likely that Cardiff won’t escape this time, despite only being a point away from safety.
The reason they currently trail Derby, despite having the same number of points, is due to their dreadful goal difference, so not scoring or preventing enough goals is a good place to start. The issues up front have been partly addressed by the January signing of Yousef Salech, but for the first half of the season, they looked blunt and failing to reinforce the attack was a clear oversight.
That was not the case with the defence though.
It was a weak area of the squad and it was beefed up with high profile arrivals. Callum Chambers is a seasoned Premier League performer that Cardiff convinced to drop down a level for regular first-team football. Jesper Daland, who has the air of former favourite Glenn Loovens, arrived from Belgian side Cercle Brugge, for a reasonable sum. With Vincent Tan owning a team in that division, it’s a surprise that Cardiff have not made greater use of that market, but it was an exciting addition. Highly regarded prospect Will Fish was also acquired. A signing in the mould of Mark McGuinness, he had graduated through the ranks at a big club, but his career trajectory at Manchester United had reached its natural end and he was in search of senior football.
The trio joined Dimitrios Goutas, the remaining senior centre back, who had excelled in his first season. All four looked like strong options, but competition for places is a double-edged sword. Having strength in depth is great, especially in the brutal churn of a Championship campaign, but there needs to be a hierarchy of sorts. When all four will likely expect to start, your strength can soon become a weakness.
Chambers and Goutas began the season, but Cardiff’s catastrophic form probably tainted their pairing. Daland came into the side and impressed, but then got injured. Chambers was eventually moved into midfield and Fish felt like a forgotten man for a long time, but eventually made it into the side and has frequently featured since. When you look at minutes played, Chambers has the most in the whole squad with 3157, but that accounts for two different roles and Goutas is not far behind with 2922. Daland has 1294 and Fish 920, so the numbers suggest a hierarchy, but the reality is that we are no nearer knowing who the first-choice pairing is.
Riza has tried every possible permutation, and when you also factor in both Perry Ng and Joel Bagan, you’re talking about a lot of combinations. When you’re up near the top of the table, rotation is viewed as good man management and playing the long game, but when you’re near the bottom, its deemed unsettling and looks like you don’t know what you’re doing. With Cardiff conceding roughly two goals a game, they’re evidently not receiving the expected return on their investment.
The nagging suspicion is they would have been better off signing two centre halve instead, narrowing the potential combinations and allowing stronger bonds to form. They could have then signed a striker instead and would have likely fared far better, at both ends of the pitch.
At Preston on Tuesday, Cardiff lined up with three centre backs, but somehow still managed to play like they only had two out there. They were occupying each others space and it offered no additional solidity. The idea was scrapped at half-time with Cardiff trailing, as one was sacrificed in favour of a winger, who promptly scored and added fuel to the idea that Cardiff’s approach had been overly cautious.
Cardiff face a pivotal game against Stoke tomorrow and nobody knows who will feature in the heart of the defence, or who should. The manager’s apparent uncertainty is now shared by supporters, as none of the candidates have managed to make themselves essential. In an area of the pitch where continuity and stability benefits the whole side, Cardiff’s incessant tinkering has instead unstabilised both their performances on the pitch and their chances of retaining their Championship status. They’re now in urgent need of some continuity and the show of faith that comes with it.