Cardiff City facing fixture chaos and travel nightmare as likely Rotherham United return date causes havoc
The Bluebirds already have a packed April and did not need another trip to Yorkshire in the middle of it all
Sabri Lamouchi has himself said he has a big squad to pick from and can rotate and the majority of the players have now a two rest.
Thursday 23rd March 2023
Cardiff City's fight for Championship survival will be tested to its limits with the ridiculous April schedule that likely awaits them after the international break.
The last Bluebirds game before the international break saw referee Oliver Langford, having sought guidance from the EFL, make the controversial call to postpone the match after a circa 20-minute downfall of rain at half-time in Yorkshire.
Cardiff are incensed by the course of events which took place at the New York Stadium, chiefly the lack of urgency with which the ground staff were attempting to clear the surface water, and have lodged a complaint with the League.
They await the outcome of that complaint, but either way that doesn't help them a great deal in terms of navigating the choppy waters of a relegation battle as the games come thick and fast in the closing weeks of the season.
It is understood Cardiff have made the case for the match to be restarted at 1-0 given the circumstances of what happened, the lead they were given through Jaden Philogene's expertly taken first-half goal.
The likelihood is League bosses will not agree to that and will rearrange the game from scratch at a midweek date to be determined in April.
That in itself presents an enormous challenge as the Bluebirds already have a hectic April of seven league matches, starting with the Welsh derby against Swansea City on the first day of the month.
They follow that with Easter games against Blackpool (April 7) and Sunderland (April 10), followed by a trip to Sheffield United, a midweek game away to Watford and then a home clash with Stoke City on April 22.
That is already six key matches in a gruelling 22-day period, which will test Sabri Lamouchi's squad to the full.
The only plausible window for a Rotherham rearrangement, it would seem, would be four days before Cardiff's penultimate home clash with Huddersfield.
If so, that would leave Cardiff playing relegation rivals Rotherham and Huddersfield back-to-back, before winding up the season away to Burnley on May 8.
The League could in theory demand the Rotherham game is replayed ahead of Easter on Tuesday, April 4, as insurance in case there are further postponements for whatever reason.
But that would mean four matches within a 10-day period over Easter and Cardiff could claim it would be dangerous to their players, leaving them susceptible to injuries.
Then we have to take into consideration the travel considerations. Being the second-most westerly team in the division, behind Swansea, most games are a pretty serious undertaking for Cardiff. Another away match in the middle of all this will be even more cause for concern when it comes to player fitness and fatigue levels.
That means in the space of 37 days, Cardiff will have to play nine games and travel almost 2,000 miles (1,976 to be precise) in a bid for Championship survival.
As you can see below, that is considerably more than any other Championship club. With Rotherham, the team directly above the Bluebirds, having to travel less than half the distance in their remaining nine games.
Wigan - 708 miles
Blackpool - 1,212 miles
Huddersfield Town - 1,570 miles
Cardiff City - 1,976 miles
Rotherham United - 949.6 miles
QPR - 1,452 miles
Reading - 1,215 miles
Cardiff's journey to Rotherham last weekend was less than ideal, too. There was a problem with their plane at Cardiff airport and they had to source another one in order to get up to Yorkshire on the Friday, which took hours.
It meant that instead of them arriving early afternoon the day before the game, they eventually checked into their accommodation in the evening. It was hardly the perfect preparation. But, of course, it was a bizarre 24 hours in almost every sense.
With so much travelling to be packed into such a short space of time, the coming weeks have the potential to be incredibly frenetic from a Bluebirds standpoint. They must almost engender a siege mentality in order to scrap their way out of the trouble they find themselves in.
Not only is the travel onerous on the teams, but, perhaps just as importantly, it is a huge undertaking for the fans. When you're club is in a relegation scrap, the supporters are the ones you need behind you, just as they were in full volume at the New York Stadium last weekend, to give you that extra five percent.
In the current cost-of-living crisis, another schlepp up to Rotherham, almost certainly in midweek, is another blow to City and a point which has been made by more than one insider in the camp since the game's postponement.
Perhaps the only morsel of positivity is that it is another game in which strikers Callum Robinson and Connor Wickham will be fully fit. Having your top scorer and a former Premier League marksman available is certainly a boost.
However, the club still await the outcome of Kion Etete's injury after he was taken off before the break during the curtailed clash with the Millers.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.