Opposition Preview - Cardiff City

Blog written by ad_wilkin
Published: 1st September 2023 9:55

Town will play their second home game in as many weeks on Saturday as Erol Bulut’s Cardiff City visit Portman Road.

Bulut is a bit of an unknown to the league having spent all of his management career until now in Turkey. He took over at a newly-promoted Yeni Malatyaspor in his first role as manager and comfortably kept them in the top division, taking them to the semi-finals of the Turkish Cup along the way.

He then went one step further in his next role at Alanyaspor seeing them all the way to the final. Spells at Fenerbahce and Gaziantep followed.

He takes over a Cardiff side which narrowly avoid relegation last season and have had to rely on loans and free transfers in the transfer market but still look to have build a solid, competitive side that will be looking to avoid being dragged into a relegation battle this year.

They started the season strongly, going 2-0 up against Town’s last league opponents Leeds, but then crumbled after half-time and conceded an equaliser in the 95th minute to draw 2-2.

This was followed by another collapse in the Carabao Cup against Colchester, going from 2-0 up to 2-2 again. However, this time they won the tie on penalties.

Subsequently, the Bluebirds lost 2-1 to QPR and Leicester before beating bottom of the table Sheffield Wednesday by the same scoreline last weekend. They’re also in the hat for round three of the Carabao Cup, beating Birmingham 3-1 with a much-changed side in midweek.

Bulut appears to have set up the team with a solid defence and midfield and the ability to counter with pace. It’s only a small sample size but he looks to have made small tweaks to Sabri Lamouchi’s side from last year trying to hold on to the ball a bit more and work opportunities in the box rather than shooting from range.

<h1>Goalkeepers </h1>

Jak Alnwick will start the season as Bluebirds' number one due to an injury to last year's main keeper Ryan Allsop. One of the many goalkeepers to have come off the Newcastle United production line, Alnwick's career has taken him to nine clubs so far.

He joined Cardiff from St Mirren in July 2022 and spent most of the season on the bench before Allsop got injured and he ended up playing the last three games of the season. He’s made a solid start to this season but will hope to improve his form to fend off Allsop when he returns.

To compete with Alnwick, Cardiff have completed the loan signing of Arsenal keeper Runar Alex Runarsson. Runarsson is now 28 and has had a career that has taken in seven countries. His longest spell of appearances was at Nordsjaelland (62) while he also made 45 and 32 at Dijon and Alanyaspor respectively. The latter was where he first linked up with Bulut, but featuring in only one game during their time together.

He made his first appearance for the Bluebirds in round two of the Carabao Cup, putting in a solid performance.

This means that Rohan Luthra, who started the season on the bench, has been pushed back down to third-choice. The 21-year-old signed from Crystal Palace in July 2021 and has made his one and only appearance when Alnwick was sent off against Preston last season.

<h1>Full-Backs </h1>

At right-back is Perry Ng, a player that Town were rumoured to be interest in after good form at Crewe, they instead turned to Kane Vincent-Young when Ng chose to move to Cardiff.

Since then he’s nailed down that right-back spot and has made 107 appearances for the Bluebirds. Ng has the versatility to play right wing-back, right-back or right centre-back and was also one of Cardiff's set-piece takers last year, scoring from one of his seven free-kick attempts.

When Cardiff went to a back five last season, Ng moved across to the right centre-back role and it was Mahlon Romeo who came in at wing-back.

Anitguan, Romeo signed from Millwall on a free transfer in July 2022 and has plenty of Championship experience from his time there. He picked up four assists from 33 appearances last season playing high and wide down the right wing, but with Bulut seeming to prefer a back four, Romeo might struggle for game time more this season. He was sent off against Leicester for two quick yellows, the first for a foul and the second for arguing with the ref.

On the left side is Callum O’Dowda. Signed from Bristol City on a free in July 2022, the Irishman has spent most of his career playing as a winger either on the left or the right, but since joining Cardiff he has been converted into a flying wing-back.

He already has one assist so far this season, getting in behind to pull the ball back for Ike Ugbo for a consolation goal against QPR, but has looked shaky defensively at times. In the later games this has seen him moved forward onto the left wing which is his more natural position.

Also in the squad is Nigerian international Jamilu Collins. Collins has 26 caps for Nigeria but has only made eight appearances for Cardiff so far having spent the beginning of his career in Slovenia, Croatia and Germany, making 137 appearances for SC Paderborn before moving to Wales. Since O’Dowda’s move forward he has started the last two games at left-back and performed well defensively.

<h1>Centre-Backs </h1>

A familiar face in the Cardiff backline will be Mark McGuinness. The 22-year-old made 25 appearances for Town scoring one goal in the 2020/21 season on loan from Arsenal, before then making the permanent move to Cardiff in July 2021.

The Irish international played 34 games for Cardiff that season before dropping back to League One again last season with a loan to Sheffield Wednesday.

His success with the Owls earnt him a recall and he has now well and truly cemented himself in that centre-back spot for Cardiff with a series of impressive performances that helped keep the Bluebirds in the Championship.

His partner so far this season has been Dimitris Goutas. The 29-year-old Greek was signed this summer on a free transfer following his release by Sivasspor where he put in a string of good performances in both the Turkish league and the Europa Conference League.

So far it looks like he’s still getting up to speed with the pace and physicality of the Championship but the partnership with McGuinness is growing.

There’s not too much more depth in that defence currently with 19-year-old Xavier Benjamin making his debut alongside Jack Simpson in the Carabao Cup first round. Neither player has much experience with Simpson at 26 having only made 71 appearances over his career with 23 of those coming in cup competitions.

There was something of a mishmash of players operating out of position in round two with Romeo, Ng and Adams all filling in at centre-back.

<h1>Central Midfield </h1>

Where Cardiff do have a lot of depth is central midfield. Starting with Ryan Wintle, who was an ever-present last season. A solid all-round midfielder his mixes ball winning ability with the ability to play a key pass and is crucial to Cardiff’s midfield.

His partner for the majority of last season was Joe Ralls, who statistically is a very similar statistical profile to Wintle doing well in the tackle and interception areas whilst also being able to pick a pass.

Ralls was injured 31 minutes into the first game of the season against Leeds but made his comeback against Leicester and started against Sheffield Wednesday, so is in contention for this one.

Replacing him against the Whites and in the team for a couple of games after was Ebou Adams. A former Canary, Adams never made the break at Carrow Road and arrives in Cardiff following spells at Ebbsfleet and Forest Green Rovers.

He was released by them and didn’t have a team all of last season before Cardiff picked him up on a free this summer. However he’s not looked out of his depth in any game so far, including filling in at centre-back in the Carabao Cup.

All three of those options are more combative defensive midfielders. Romaine Sawyers provides a different option. The 31-year-old will be a familiar face in the Championship with 231 appearances in spells at Brentford, West Brom, Stoke and Cardiff. Sawyers provides more attacking thrust with his close ball control and passing, although both his goal and assist numbers have dropped off in recent years. He’s had to make do with cup starts so far

The romantic transfer of the summer was the return of Aaron Ramsey to his boyhood club. The 32-year-old has taken his time to warm-up in that number 10 role but scored an absolute screamer against Leicester, cutting across the ball with his right foot and finding the top corner.

The Wales international has played at the highest level at Arsenal, Juventus and Nice and if he can stay fit then he will be the major focus and a real gamechanger in this Cardiff team.

Stepping in for Ramsey in the cup games has been Rubin Colwill. The 21-year-old is also a Wales international with eight caps and will be looking to learn from and emulate Ramsey. He’s started the season well, netting against Colchester and getting a goal and an assist against Birmingham.

The latest addition to this Cardiff midfield is 29-year-old Greek, Manolis Siopis. He’s a player Bulut will know well having spent time with him at Alanyaspor. Siopi is another defensive midfielder who’s only scored one goal in his career but should settle nicely in the squad with his Turkish league connections.

He came into the squad against Sheffield Wednesday which allowed Ralls to push further forward. He’s won 50 per cent of his duels but Ipswich could target him with the press as he’s lost possession 7.5 times per game in only two appearances.

<h1>Front Three </h1>

Cardiff started the season deploying a capable front three of Josh Bowler, Karlan Grant and Ugbo.

Bowler made his breakthrough at Hull City before moving to Blackpool and continuing that form. That earned him a big £2 million pound move to Nottingham Forest. However, he is yet to start for the Reds and in his time at the club has been spent on loan at Oympiacos, back to Blackpool and now to Cardiff.

He has 13 goals and 9 assists in 99 Championship appearances and is currently providing a threat down the right, scoring Cardiff's first goal of the season against Leeds with a nice finish having been in the right place at the right time in the box. He’s been out of the squad with an injury for the last couple of games so is unlikely to start this one.

On the other side is Grant, another man with plenty of Championship appearance, whose form at Huddersfield saw West Brom spend more than £15 million to sign him.

He’s another one who knows where the net is with 41 goals in 143 Championship appearances and looks to cut in off the left onto his favoured right foot.

A slow start to the season has seen him dropped to the subs bench so he’ll come into this one with a point to prove having acquitted himself well filling in at left wing-back in the Carabao Cup.

Perhaps their best attacking player so far this season has been Ike Ugbo. More of an unknown compared to the other two, the former Chelsea youngster signed on loan from Troyes. He only started nine matches for them in Ligue 1 last season and his heatmap is heavily focused on the centre spot. Hopefully, he’ll be kicking off a lot in this one too!

His start in the Championship has been far better, however, with his strong running and pressing and ability to find spaces in the box have seen him score three goals and assist one is his first four games. Bulut started him as the main striker in the first three but trialed him out on the right against Sheffield Wednesday with Bowler injured.

Taking on the striker's mantle in that one was Yakou Meite. The Ivory Coast international was picked up on a free when his Reading contract expired last season. He played 27 games for the Royals scoring four goals.

Meite has high-level pedigree, starting his career in the PSG youth set-up before moving to Reading where he scored 42 goals in 159 Championship appearances. The majority of those came in between 2018 and 2021 (12,13 and 12). He’ll be looking to rediscover that form for Cardiff.

That is where the depth ends with three 21 year-olds rotating into those positions against Colchester.

On the left was Ollie Tanner, making his debut for the club after a loan spell at York last season. On the right was Kieron Evans who had a small run of games in 21/22 before a loan spell at Torquay and up top was Kion Etete.

Etete was a bit part player last season, scoring three goals in 28 appearances (12 starts) and got off the mark in the cup in his first start of this season as well and followed that up with another against Birmingham.

<h1>The Teams </h1>

For Town, a lot depends on fitness. I’ve gone unchanged as it is. I think Kayden Jackson's pace could cause the Cardiff backline problems again and even if George Hirst is fit it might make sense to ease him back in off of the bench. New signing Dane Scarlett will also be looking to get action there and could have an impact later on.

Brandon Williams has had a tough start and still looks to be getting used to his tactical instructions so Harry Clarke and Leif Davis retain their places. The only other area where there could be a change is Jack Taylor in for Massimo Luongo after a solid performance from the former against Reading but again I think the consistent pairing will stay.

For Cardiff a lot could also depend on injuries. The back five of Alnwick, Ng, Goutas, McGuinness and Collins should remain the same.

In midfield it’s likely to be Siopsis and Ralls, with the other options Wintle and Adams having played in the cup game. The front four is also likely to remain unchanged from the last league game unless Bowler recovers from his injury.

<h1>Action areas </h1>

Aaron Ramsey is arguably one of the best players in the division and there is no doubt Sam Morsy will have strict instructions to keep a very close eye on him to blunt his quality as much as possible.

The other area I can see Town threatening is on the counter against what looks like a slow backline. Jackson won’t have as much space to run into as against Leeds with Bulut's team tending to sit deeper but should still look to exploit the space where it’s available. Davis’s match-up with Ng could also be an interesting one to watch.

On paper Town look to have the stronger team on paper than Cardiff, but coming off of back-to-back wins, the Bluebirds will be full of confidence, I think this one could be nip and tuck and I'm going for a 1-1.

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