Cardiff City Concede 13 From Previous 6 Games

Cardiff City have conceded an alarming 13 goals in the previous 6 league fixtures at an average of over two goals per game. I would suspect that no team promoted from the Championship has ever maintained such a run over a long period and while the wins over Leeds and Watford were welcome and deserved – such defensive form simply cannot continue.

The Bluebirds clearly set-out with a view to outscoring teams. That is a perfectly valid strategy but we fail to make that job immeasurably easier by defending properly. Last season’s defence was shaky, but we failed to address those problems save for bringing in the injury-ravaged Chris Riggott and the under-pressure Lee Naylor. We also lost Anthony Gerrard out on loan !

The midfield balance is clearly not right, and with Olofinjana’s lack of movement and Peter Whittingham’s enforced switch to the middle – we often leave enourmous gaps for opponents to exploit.

It would be expected that the concession of 13 in 6 games would be biased towards one enourmously heavy defeat, but thats not the case. Yes Watford put 4 on us, and Bristol City three but we conceded in every game, and have kept one clean sheet in the last fifteen games. That’s pathetic.

Dave Jones has not spoken of this, instead content to rely on the fact we are still picking up points – despite a very disappointing run. Whilst the record itself is worrying, the managerial silence on this obvious problem is more so.

The above statistics are even more worrying given our next opponents are bitter rivals Swansea City. The Swans are in great form, and are built around a solid defensive platform. Scoring goals has always been their weakness, but they have worked on it and will surely be confident of netting at home, against our woeful defensive record.

A clean sheet is desperately needed for the Bluebirds to restore some confidence and pride. There would be no better place to get a clean sheet than against the Jacks and if we are able to defend properly – we can be confident that matters at the other end will take care of themselves more often than not. Gotta start somewhere, might as well be at the Liberty on Sunday….