Cardiff City Miss Matthews, But Recall Unlikely

Cardiff City re-called Scotsman Paul Quinn to the line-up for Sunday`s defeat against Newcastle United meaning a re-call for Tony Capaldi at left-back. Neither man was called upon to any great extent at the back but failed to make any impression in attack with Quinn rarely getting behind his marker, or not receiving possession. Capaldi on the other hand barely ventured past half-way and contributed nothing to our forward game – though he is afforded very little protection by Whittingham and is regularly left exposed.

With the Toon crowding the midfield and pressing at every opportunity, we were crying out for some width and with 5 across the Newcastle midfield – that meant full-backs supporting the attack and getting ahead of the widemen. That didn`t happen and we paid the price with our attacking play laboured and relatively scarce.

As it happens, that is one area which Dave Jones does favour – and one which has been working well this season. Quinn has linked up well on the whole, while teenager Adam Matthews has done superbly and loves to get forward – he has the right to feel extremely aggrieved to miss out after performing very well when called upon.

Whilst Matthews will be hoping for a re-call, that option seems unlikely and not in Dave Jones` mind at the moment. Quinn looked anything but comfortable on the left, and looks set to continue on the right. While speaking of prospective changes to his line-up, Dave Jones specifically mentioned the names of Gyepes, Taiwo, Scimeca, McPhail and Mark Kennedy as pushing particularly hard. The likes of Matthews and Comminges were not mentioned.

Dave Jones is a big believer in protecting youngsters from the rigours of Championship football and is very keen not to hinder development by over-playing or shattering confidence. The likes of Chris Gunter and Aaron Ramsey found it difficult to get gametime even when others were under-performing and Matthews has a number of players ahead of him in the right-back position. Whilst his temperament, confidence and quality have been extremely impressive thus far, form alone will not always get you in the side.