Wed Sep 07, 2022 3:41 pm
Defending – And it's not all about the ball, Cardiff are actually one of the top-performing sides at the other end of the pitch.
Only Norwich City and Sheffield United have a better expected goals (xG) per game against average than Cardiff (0.90). That means they concede fewer clear-cut chances than 21 teams in the Championship. A pretty telling statistic of how impressive their defence has been, despite recent set-piece troubles, which you can read about here.
Only four teams concede fewer shots per game on goal than Cardiff (10.1) and just three concede fewer shots on target than the Bluebirds (2.8) per 90 minutes.
Cardiff only allow an average 10.8 passes against them per defensive action, too, a number which is bettered by just three teams, meaning they are extremely robust and difficult to break down.
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Patience is a virtue, of course, and a precious commodity in what is increasingly becoming a knee-jerk world of immediacy and intolerance. But there really is a confidence within the club, informed by the above, that they are very close to getting this all right.
Goals are the issue, make no mistake about that, but Cardiff are cultivating a system and a team which is trending in the right direction. The trouble is they are basically conceding their expected xG against (eight goals in eight games) and are not converting at the same right for their xG for. That's the crux of it.
But with possession, tricky flair players who are winning their 1v1s, good passing statistics and a new striker in Callum Robinson, there should be some positivity that the direction of travel will change and Cardiff will start pushing their way up that table sooner rather than later.
Fans will have to stick with it all and there is a general acceptance that this is a season of transition, but one which will hopefully set City on a route to eventual success. With Hull City home next up this weekend, Steve Morison and his staff will hope the aforementioned positive statistics finally start to manifest into three points more regularly than they have done in recent weeks.