FOR ONCE I AGREE WITH GLEN WILLIAMS / MORE HONESTY LIKE THIS.
Cardiff's quartet of Max Watters, Mark Harris, James Collins and Isaak Davies have precious few goals in the bank in a blue shirt.
They have just 14 goals in a combined 128 appearances
It is glaringly clear that Cardiff need goals in this squad for the start of the season. One look at the players in situ at the minute shows just how few goals there actually are in this current group.
By Glen Williams (junior reporter)
Cardiff had Kieffer Moore and missed him last season, he will be hard to replace.
The Bluebirds lost Kieffer Moore in January, with the Wales striker proving his worth at the end of the season with Bournemouth, scoring four goals in three games for the Cherries as he secured them automatic promotion back to the Premier League.
Other areas of the squad need surgery, too, central midfield needs a few more experienced and quality players, make no mistake about that. But the importance of having a real goalscorer will make all the difference. Cardiff were crying out for a player to find the back of the net for a decade or so, since the days of Jay Bothroyd, Ross McCormack and Michael Chopra, until they found Moore, they cannot wait that long again.
The recruitment in that department has to be spot on.
Take Swansea City just down the road, for example, a £1million outlay on Joel Piroe paid dividends, with the Dutchman netting 24 times in all competitions for Russell Martin, who, it is said, now values the player at somewhere between £10m and £20m.
While Jordan Hugill and Uche Ikpeazu were both signed on loan by Cardiff in January, both of whom did solid jobs during their stay in the Welsh capital, neither of them looked to be out-and-out goalscorers. No doubt Morison and his recruitment team will be scouring their network to find the best goalscorer, or two, to fit into and complement the system they have designs on implementing in earnest next season.
Because if you look at the four forwards currently at the club, a problem quickly leaps out at you. While three of the four are still relatively Championship rookies, Cardiff's quartet of Max Watters, Mark Harris, James Collins and Isaak Davies have precious few goals in the bank in a blue shirt.
They have just 14 goals in a combined 128 appearances — the breakdown is as follows; Collins three in 30 games, Davies three in 30 games, Harris seven in 57 games and Watters one in 11 games — and everyone is in agreeance that ratio simply has to be better if Cardiff are going to make a better fist of it next term.
It was hoped Collins would have contributed more, considering his past record in the Football League. Given he was bombed out of the squad all together after the January window, you have to wonder what his future holds heading into the off-season.
Davies looks as though he could be more dangerous in a wide area, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he featured more as a winger next season with Morison hoping to be more flexible with his formations. Similarly with Harris, too, Cardiff are certainly expecting a better goal output if they give him the opportunity next season.
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