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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Elliott Jackson

Cardiff City's stark dilemma pinpointed as Bristol City tactic sums it up

Sky Sports pundit Keith Andrews has insisted Neil Warnock must solve his striking dilemma to give Cardiff City a chance of promotion this season.

The Bluebirds have only scored 23 goals in 16 matches this season, with their top goal-scorer being midfielder Joe Ralls on five goals.

Throughout the season, Warnock has tinkered with his central striker and has persisted with the 4-3-3 system that he has used for most of his time in the Welsh capital.

Robert Glatzel , Danny Ward, Isaac Vassell and Omar Bogle have all had varying degrees of success when deputising as Cardiff's focal point.

Ward has been the most successful in terms of goals, with four this term, although his red card against Birmingham City left him suspended for the visit of Bristol City.

Bogle was entrusted with the centre-forward shirt against the Robins but endured a frustrating afternoon as they lost 1-0 at home.

The 26-year-old looked to be suffering from a lack of confidence after struggling for first-team minutes and Andrews believe the striking headache Warnock has is one he needs to solve sooner rather than later.

"I think it's understandable with the limited game-time he's had. He never really looked like he was going to finish that, you talk about conviction," he told Sky Sports after Cardiff's 1-0 defeat to Bristol City.

"It was one of the few attacking moves we saw from Cardiff where they carved open Bristol City. In terms of the service he gets, it's going to be difficult.

"They've got an array of different strikers, all with different qualities. They're struggling to find the right one at the moment. I agree on the whole, the deliveries and service, whether it's from the wide areas or a cross, little slides down the sides of centre-halves which Bogle relishes.

"I thought the Bristol City back-three dealt with them comfortably. Their starting positions, they didn't leave much space in behind. They sat a little bit deeper, more astute in terms of how they set up which made it difficult for Cardiff to break down.

"We touched on it in the match stats, Cardiff don't normally have that amount of possession which shows they were comfortable letting Cardiff having it."

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