Cardiff City Recall For Ben Turner

Cardiff City may turn to central defender Ben Turner to shore up the defence after conceding three goals away at Nottingham Forest this weekend. Turner has been unable to regain his place in the side since suffering a foot injury and the former Coventry City man is yet to concede a goal all season after playing out two clean sheets in our opening two fixtures.

Turner was a revelation last season, but Malky Mackay rightly stuck by the cultured Matthew Connelly who stepped in to good effect since joining from QPR. Connelly’s partnership with Hudson has progressed well, but is not so well developed as Hudson/Turner with the left/right combo also giving City a good balance.

Connolly cannot be singled out as culpable for the 3-1 defeat. However, the Ayala header, and Billy Sharp strike in particular were caused by some slack defending and we cannot afford such lapses at crucial moments.

Centre-half is a position whereby rotation is not common, managers prefer to identify a partnership (rather than individuals) and stick with it. That was a problem encountered by Anthony Gerrard, a good defender at this level but one who did not gel well with Hudson and struggled to become first choice.

There have been concerns of complacency amongst the City squad, I doubt that completely but Malky ability to recall Turner at any point is a major positive and with the rotational options available in midfield a complete shake-up is always a possibility.