F365 Says: Cardiff paying heavy price for ‘missing’ firepower

Ian Watson

With six weeks of the transfer window remaining and four deals already in the bag, Neil Warnock acknowledged where his priority laid before the start of the season: “I’d want to get a striker as well – that’s the missing piece.”

Warnock’s urgency didn’t match the importance of such a deal. “We think there will be four, maybe five, players that we would take and we only have to come out with one of them.”

Two months later and seven games into their Premier League campaign, Cardiff are winless and are probably rueing being so blasé about their striker search. Warnock entered the season with Championship forwards and without a major upturn in form or fortunes, those attackers will be back in their natural habitat next season.

His centre-forwards were hardly prolific at Championship level so their struggle in stepping up a level cannot have taken Warnock by surprise. Only Callum Paterson managed to break double figures in the league and he arrived at the start of last season from Hearts as a right-back. Kenneth Zohore, Danny Ward, Gary Madine and Omar Bogle chucked in 16 goals between them from 77 appearances, of which 45 came from the start.

The Bluebirds are certainly suffering for their recruitment failure and Warnock’s prediction that a striker could be “the missing piece” is now sadly prophetic for the Cardiff boss. That lack of quality in attack was especially evident against Burnley, who came to south Wales offering their hosts perhaps their best opportunity to grab their first win of the season.

Unsurprisingly, it was a chance wasted. No team in the Premier League have faced more shots on their goal than Burnley (144 – 19 more than Fulham, the second-most generous defence) and they turned up at the Cardiff City Stadium in no less stingy mood.

Sean Dyche’s defence was further weakened with the loss of James Tarkowski in the first half, but still Cardiff failed to capitalise. They are trying their luck – six teams have created fewer chances or taken fewer shots – but Warnock’s men have the worst shooting accuracy in the Premier League, having hit the target with only 31 per cent of their attempts. The ability to carve out clear chances was lacking once more with none of their 19 shots classified by Opta as a ‘big chance’, while only five of those efforts were on target.

Warnock attempted to improve his side’s creativity with the signings of Josh Murphy and Victor Camarasa. Murphy was back in the side following a hamstring injury while on-loan midfielder Camarasa has settled well into English football. Between them, Murphy and Camarasa will create opportunities, aside from the set-piece chances that Warnock is so reliant upon.

Whatever creativity Cardiff can muster, however, only looks likely to be wasted. At present, they have sub-standard strikers toiling for the most part to make the best of half-chances. The winter transfer window cannot come quick enough but Warnock can only hope that the damage is still repairable by the time three more months and 13 more matches have passed.

Two of their three goals this season have come from set-plays and Route One is Warnock’s quickest road to a temporary solution. Burnley found themselves peppered with Sean Morrison’s long-throws but the visitors stood firm in the face of a barrage, the scale of which is best highlighted by the fact Burnley forward Sam Vokes had almost twice as many touches within the width of the goalposts in his own box than he managed in the Cardiff penalty area.

When the chances came, Vokes and Burnley displayed the ruthlessness required at the highest level. They showed little else in an attacking sense, managing just three shots all afternoon. But once again, as they did against Newcastle and Huddersfield, Cardiff failed to make their dominance count and while that missing piece leaves a gaping hole in Warnock’s jigsaw, little is likely to change.

Ian Watson