The Opposition View: Cardiff

Jack May gets the inside track on tomorrow's visit to the Welsh capital.

This Saturday 3000+ of the green army make  the relatively-short-for-Argyle trip to the Welsh capital to take on struggling Cardiff City.

Wayne Rooney and his players will be hoping for a first away win of the campaign against the former Premier League side, currently rooted to the bottom of the Championship. 

My task of drawing answers from an opposition fan was made very easy this week as TomasTaylor4 on X took us for a real deep dive into Cardiff’s poor start, how (if) it can turn around, and just why they may still be confident of picking up 3 points against us this weekend.

You’ve had a tough start to the season so far. Rock bottom with only one win and five points. After a decent 12th place finish last season, what’s going wrong?

It’s been a disaster, to put it lightly. The strength of the schedule for us was up there with the worst it could’ve possibly been having to play sides like Sunderland, Burnley, and Leeds so early, but the football has been woeful too. For most of the season we’ve looked completely devoid of any style or identity, and it’s just been boring to watch. Against Sunderland and Burnley at least we were actually trying to create chances, but as the season’s gone on that’s faded. And as soon as results start to go south and the atmosphere starts to sour, you’re creating the perfect storm to end up in a horrible place. I knew the start of the season had the potential to be bad given the teams we had to play, but I never thought in my wildest dreams it would be this bad. Granted, we’ve picked up 4 points from our last two games and there’s been a bit of improvement, but it’s still looking far from great.

What were your expectations at the start of the season? And what are you expecting now from the rest of the campaign? 

I personally thought we would finish in the playoffs, which now looks laughable. I was really impressed with the kind of signings we were making and our pre-season, and I really did think that Erol Bulut was starting to make the team his own a bit. It looked as if we were going to try and adopt a possession-based passing style of play, but it just hasn’t materialised. Given how the season has started, my ambitions for the rest of the season have changed drastically. I don’t think that we’re in a relegation fight just yet, as I think there has been some improvement since Bulut has left and I think we will have enough to get us to perhaps the lower end of mid-table, but if we’re in the same situation come November’s international break then I think we’ll 100% end up in a relegation dogfight.

You’ve had six permanent managers since the end of the Warnock era in 2019. Who’s been the highlight in recent years?

For me, Neil Harris has been our best manager since Warnock left. He completely overachieved with a squad that lacked confidence having just come down, and managed to get us to a playoff place through a brilliant run of performances and results after football started up again during the Covid-19 lockdown. I think he was the only one who’s had any real long-term vision or idea for the team, and I thought it was a shame to see him go. He brought a bit of excitement back to supporting Cardiff in a time where we all needed a morale boost, and I’ll always be grateful for that.

What about Erol Bulut? Sacked last month. What did the fans think of him? 

It was the right call, but I can’t help but feel sad that it never really worked out for Erol. The initial run we went on after he was appointed gave us hope that we were actually working towards something exciting, and there were times last year where we got wins that we wouldn’t have in years gone by (the 100th minute winner against Ipswich at home springs to mind). But when it was bad, it was woeful. Creating and finishing chances was a real problem under most of Bulut’s time in charge, and you simply can’t afford that in the Championship. There’s no hard feelings from me towards Bulut because I honestly think he tried his best, and we’ll always have last year’s wins against Swansea and Bristol.

Who would you like to see take over now?

I was really hoping we’d have found a new manager over the international break, but here we are in the same position as a few weeks ago. The next appointment is absolutely crucial, because if we get it wrong then I genuinely believe we’ll finish bottom and go down. I wish the board shared the same feeling of urgency as the fanbase, because it feels like we’re in the dark completely. I haven’t seen anything too concrete in terms of a manager coming in, apart from Omer Riza (the current interim) getting the job full time, which I think would be the wrong call. My first choice would be Steven Schumacher, but I’d happily take Ryan Lowe as well. Whatever the decision is going to be the board needs to make it soon, because constant ongoing speculation only keeps the club in the dark for even longer.

You finished 5th and 8th in your first two seasons after relegation for the Premier League back in 18/19, looking as if you may get yourselves back up there at some point. Since then it’s been 18th, 21st, and 12th. Does the board have ambition of taking you back to the top flight? 

Any success we’ve had (or will have in future) so long as this current board is in charge will come despite them, not because of them. The promotions came from the squads that Malky MacKay and Neil Warnock built, and the 5th place finish came from Neil Harris overachieving. To give Vincent Tan his due, he has written off a great deal of the club’s debt, but neither him nor the board are football people. They see the club as nothing other than a business that’s losing them a great deal of money as is, and football clubs need to be run fundamentally differently than a majority of other businesses. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Tan’s other teams are failing, and so long as we don’t get football people involved in the club then we will carry on down the path of self-destruction.

Why the sudden drop off? 8th to 18th over the course of one season is quite dramatic. 

I think the drop-off was inevitable given the board’s inability to commit to any sort of long term project. Mick McCarthy did great initially to get us to finish 8th a few years ago after he got the job mid-season, but the complete collapse at the start 2021/22 where we lost 8 league games in a row condemned us for the rest of that season. Our revolving door approach to managers since the Neil Harris sacking has killed any approach of a vision for the club being built, and such a high turnover of personnel in one of the most important roles in the club is beyond worrying. 

Let’s talk positives… Highlight of the season so far?

There’s been next to no positives, but Callum Robinson’s goal against Swansea stands out to me. We usually get embarrassed every time we play down West, so for us to not lose there and for our fans to have a bit of a nice day out is probably the highlight of the season so far.

How was the off-season for you? Any big signings, in or out?

Our off season was quite productive, and we once again saw a lot of names come in. I’ve been really impressed with what I’ve seen from Jesper Daland so far and I think Alex Robertson will be a great player. If Robertson can link up with Rubin Colwill and Ollie Tanner the way that the latter two linked with each other in the Bristol City game, I think there’s a foundation for a very strong attack for us 

Where do you think you can cause us some problems on Saturday?

I hinted at it a bit in the last answer, but I think if Colwill and Tanner can link up again like they did against Bristol then that could be where the biggest problems come from. I think Colwill is at the start of his breakout in a Cardiff City shirt, and Tanner played incredibly well in the Severnside Derby. We need to be more clinical and more threatening when we attack, and at the moment I think those two pose the biggest threat for us going forward.

What about weak areas? Where should we be looking to exploit?

I think you could cause us problems if you attack at us with pace. Our defence has looked sloppy and has gone missing on more than one occasion this season, and whenever we try and play too defensively it works against us. We tried to shut up shop from the first whistle against Leeds where we lost 2-0, and didn’t have a shot until around the 85th minute. It’s also what cost us 2 points at Bristol City. We were getting into a strong attacking flow from the start of the second half at Ashton Gate, but Riza made some defensive substitutions which completely killed our momentum and let Bristol back into it.

What’s your view on Plymouth Argyle at home at this current stage? Are you aiming for three points here?

We have to aim for 3 points on Saturday, but it’s very much a game we could lose. I’m surprised with how well Argyle have started, as I initially thought you guys could be in trouble this season. I wasn’t mad about Wayne Rooney getting the job given how things went at Birmingham, and I thought the game against Sheffield Wednesday would be an indicator for how the rest of the season would go, but I’ve been proven completely wrong. It’s not going to be easy by any stretch, but even at this early stage of the season it’s so important we get a win on Saturday.

Score prediction?

It’s going to be tough, but I’ll say Cardiff will win 2-1 with Rubin Colwill and Anwar El Ghazi scoring.

If an Argyle fix isn’t enough, you can also find Jack on

Plymouth Sporting News

where he covers sporting developments on all things Plymouth.