Cardiff City manager Dave Jones had the luxury of 4 fit and hungry strikers to choose from for the midweek clash against Reading. Bothroyd and McCormack returned from hamstring injuries while loan pair Eddie Johnson and Michael Chopra were both hoping to start.
Conversely, injuries to Parry, Ledley and Whittingham left Cardiff City well short of fit wingers with only new loan recruit Wayne Routledge a natural wideman. Dave Jones’ solution was to include one of his attackers in a wide left role – that man to be Ross McCormack – City’s top scorer by a country mile with 11 goals to his name this season.
Of the 4 strikers, only McCormack could really thrive in a wider role with Bothroyd more of a target man while Chopra plays on the shoulder of the defenders. Indeed, McCormack had spent time at previous club Mortherwell on the wide position of a front three and has considerable hunger for possession as he frequently tracks back.
McCormack’s consolation goal against Birmingham this season was a superb individual goal and from a wide position as he cut inside to good effect and curled past Maik Taylor to give us a chance.
Some fans thought however it was a waste to have the top scorer and consistently our most potent goal threat – in a midfield role. McCormack is pacy and has the skill and urgency to trouble defenders but would be unable to attack from a deeper position.
Personally I think McCormack in midfield is a worthwhile experiment to look at. Although we had little joy against Reading – it was through no fault of McCormack as he received scant service and was forced to watch balls flying over his head. He was given no space by his team-mates in which to run and Reading were forced to sit deep after the sending off further restricting McCormack’s opportunities.
What do you think of McCormack in midfield? Should we use Kennedy / Blake in midfield or persist with Ross attacking from deeper? Let us know!
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Worth a go for sure. He is the only striker of the four who is capable of playing wing – as you stated. Give it a game or two and if it doesn’t work out then put him back as striker. At the moment, we need wingers, and he is more than a worthwhile experiement. But does he have the pace?
looked ok last week. i find Jay is not afraid to go and get the ball and drifted wide on a few occasions giving ross the chance to get in the box. hopefully with 3 strikers on the pitch who have all scored this season we should be able to win confortably by scoring more than 2 goals! lets hope
I think he does have the pace, not the usual look for a fast player but his acceleration and anticipation is very good – useful to have another option for sure
of course the more optrions we have the better as for me the midfield has been our weakest area this season. i think ledley has been in the stars moist games not the joe of last season. however the goal he scored the other game may now spur on his performances.
whitts is on and off altho now injured and the same with parry and dont even get me started on rae and mcphail in the centre. their performances for me have been the difference between us drawing and winning most games. they are NOT good enough together. the partnership must be broken DJ!!!!! try scimeca blake or scimeca rae just drop mcphail never liked him!!!
all fans seem to say the about McPhail. WHY CANT DJ SEE IT