The truth about Cardiff City's form with and without captain Sean Morrison
The significant factor here is how many efforts were on target. With Morrison in the side, just 25% of the opposition’s shots were on target. Meanwhile, without Morrison, there was a sharp increase on that percentage at 40.81%.
Monday 18th February 2019
Cardiff City have been without influential captain Sean Morrison since mid-January, after he underwent an emergency operation for a burst appendix.
But how have Neil Warnock’s men coped without their skipper on the pitch?
In the four league matches since his absence, Cardiff have faced Southampton, Bournemouth, Arsenal and Newcastle. In that time, Warnock has relied predominantly on a flat back four consisting of Lee Peltier, Sol Bamba, Bruno Ecuele Manga and Joe Bennett.
There was a slight variation to this against the Saints, when he switched to a defensive back three consisting of Bamba, Manga and Peltier - most likely to try to nullify Southampton’s attacking two of Shane Long and Nathan Redmond.
Cardiff picked up an important six points from a possible 12 in those matches. However, how did the defence hold up when statistically compared to the four games prior to Morrison’s untimely absence?
Those four fixtures were against Huddersfield, Tottenham, Leicester and Crystal Palace. In terms of shots faced, the opposition attempted 68 shots, which is high in comparison to the rest of the league.
Surprisingly, with Morrison out of the side, they have faced just 49 shots.
However the significant factor here is how many of those efforts were on target. With Morrison in the side, just 25% of the opposition’s shots were on target. Meanwhile, without Morrison, there was a sharp increase on that percentage at 40.81%.
In terms of goals, City conceded six in their four matches minus the skipper. That amount does seems justified through their expected goals (xG) conceded total of 6.41 across those four games.
However, in the four matches prior to that, notably with Morrison in the heart of the defence, they conceded just three goals. Additionally, all three of those goals came against Tottenham on New Year's Day.
In those four games with Morrison, there was also a notable reduction in the xG conceded total at 5.46, suggesting Cardiff were much sturdier in limiting the opposition’s opportunities to score.
Therefore it would seem despite the adequate results without their skipper, the defence is strikingly weaker without Morrison.
As the battle for safety enters the final third of the season, it will be important for Warnock to get his leader back on the pitch - and leading his defence again as soon as possible.