Hello darkness, my old friend.
These things move in cycles, but supporting Cardiff is not much fun at the moment. After four defeats in the last five, the natives are already getting restless, as warning signs have started to flash wherever you look.
Cardiff are currently 10th in the table, one win from fifth and one defeat from Swansea near the bottom, such are the small margins after only eight games. Far too early to get carried away, but recent defeats against Coventry and Bournemouth have garnered awful reviews, ahead of what looks like a challenging October.
Blackburn, West Brom, Reading, Swansea, Fulham, Middlesbrough and Stoke await, after Cardiff’s relatively gentle opening didn’t prove to be quite so gentle after all.
For what it's worth, I didn’t think last couple of games were as bad as some have suggested, I just thought it was all a bit boring. Seeing as some are saying that it was the worst they’ve ever seen Cardiff, maybe they just haven’t been watching for very long.
There was admittedly very little craft or inspiration, but I think that was largely down to the absence of Ryan Giles, Cardiff’s only remaining winger and creator in chief. There was no lack of effort or inexplicable mistakes, which has not always been the case in recent years. This year’s defeat at Coventry failed to plumb the depths of last year’s, for example.
If you were to accentuate the positives, then you would focus on the fact that Kieffer Moore is still here. If you think that morale is low on the terraces at the moment, picture the scene if Moore had departed on deadline day. Also, the pathway from the academy to the first team is now firmly established.
The problem is that even the positives have caveats and strings attached. Moore remains, but he is not yet the Moore of old. There could be any number of reasons for that. He is probably seeing less of the ball this year and, as Mick McCarthy said on Friday morning, Covid appears to have taken its toll on him, too.
READ MORE: Mick McCarthy explains what's up with Kieffer Moore
Moore has had Covid and seems to be feeling the effects of that still, plus the transfer speculation may have unsettled him. He currently cuts a similar figure to Tottenham’s talisman Harry Kane, who has also yet to find his groove after a challenging summer.
There are plenty of youngsters finally coming through, which is wonderful to see, but is that a sign of strength or weakness? Are these players being fast tracked because they are too good to hold back or because Cardiff are short of numbers and funds? That may depend on how you care to view the wider picture.
There is also a perceived lack of warmth from McCarthy, and the club in general to be fair. Mick is not one to pump his fist and does not appear to particularly enjoy facing the media, but there is very little interaction will supporters, in general.
Neil Warnock soothed and Neil Harris was keen as mustard, where Mick broods and is so long in the tooth now that he just shrugs it all off. The bond between the club and its supporters, certainly needs work.
The biggest problem though, by far, is Cardiff’s style of play. A recurring theme that is like a dormant volcano that erupts every so often. It’s tolerated when Cardiff are winning and the first thing people point at when things start to go wrong.
READ MORE: Cardiff City fan's impassioned plea for his beloved Bluebirds to be more exciting to watch
Cardiff play in such a way that when they’re bad, they’re very bad. If you’re almost completely reliant on set-piece delivery for your creativity, when that is sub-par, as was the case against Bristol City, you offer next to no threat. When results take a turn for the worse, Cardiff tend to go a little longer with their long balls and start to hit and hope. They go from being direct to crude.
It’s a state of mind with no quick fix, but it feels like a disservice to the players.
They’re better than this because we’ve seen them play better than this. We’ve seen clips of the academy and they knock it about. They must wonder what happened to all that fancy stuff when they reach the first team.
Occasionally you catch a glimpse of what Cardiff could be. The winning goal at Nottingham Forest featured a first-time pass forward from Perry Ng, a flick by Moore into Rubin Colwill, who received possession and took a touch to steady himself before finding the bottom corner and securing the win.
It was quick, incisive, hard to defend against and deadly. The scales fell from your eyes as they deservedly put Forest to the sword. They’ve got it in them, they just sometimes keep it well hidden.
This is how Cardiff need to play if they intend to make their mark on this division. If they want to incorporate the cream of the academy, they need to create an environment in which they can thrive. Colwill won’t enjoy the ball being banged over his head all day. He needs it to feet, facing in the right direction.
Some supporters tend to say that they could take losing if Cardiff played in the ‘right’ way. I suspect that is untrue because patience is always in short supply and there is no right way to play either. It’s safe to say that they would be more forgiving though.
The problem is that if you’re playing badly, in every sense, it's like there is a layer of shame on top of the disappointment and it turns people off.
This is the Cardiff curse and it makes the bad times worse. It may be the path of least resistance, but sometimes you also want to enjoy the ride.
