Cardiff City need to Stretch the Ipswich defence
By Chris Wathan
Monday 30th October 2017
To argue that opposition teams have wised up to Cardiff’s fast, direct style would be a simplistic summary — even if it contains a kernel of truth — and it would overlook a glaring difference between the way Cardiff started the season and the fashion in which they’ve played in recent weeks.
Junior Hoilett and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing began the campaign in sparkling form and though they’re by no means performing poorly, they’re not hitting the sky-high levels they had reached in August and September.
Ratings: Sol Bamba and Mendez-Laing impress on a frustrating day for Cardiff City against Millwall
A number of valid reasons can be attributed to this slight decline, but one must be how they've stopped sprinting to the byline and getting in behind defences.
Instead of using their pace to stride into unmarked territory, the wingers have too often been picking up the ball in their own half and attempting to dribble through traffic — rather than run off the ball and receive it beyond a defence.
The 2-0 win over Sheffield United in August — which looks more impressive every week given the Blades sit on the summit — was an illustration of Cardiff's off-the-ball running. Warnock sussed out the Blades’ gameplan early on and astutely responded by instructing his wingers to find pockets of space behind the full-backs and they duly reaped the rewards.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.