Cardiff City's timid strikers need to start showing aggression and break the back of the netBy Nathan BlakeThe Bluebirds have scored only six goals but conceded 11 so far this seasonCardiff City currently have five strikers and they are all extremely short of confidence at the moment.
Robert Glatzel, Omar Bogle, Isaac Vassell, Danny Ward and Gary Madine have two goals between them so far this season, which tells me something is wrong.
It has been a very, very long time since we have had a striker who has scored 20-plus goals in a season, so you have to wonder why that is.
Take this season and this batch of strikers. Is it the way Cardiff play that won't allow them to get 20 goals or 25 goals in a season? Or is it because they keep missing chances and their confidence is a bit low?
At the moment, I would probably say it's a bit of both, because they are getting chances but they are snatching at them.
I'm not saying they should rip the ball, because obviously they've got to hit the target, but finish with a bit of aggression. Finish with a frown on your face.
If the goalkeeper manages to get down and save it, fair enough. But the softer ones, the ones you don't commit to when you're down on confidence, are the ones that play back in your mind.
Robert Glatzel is without a goal in his four Cardiff City appearances (Image: Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Right now, all hands to the pump, when that opportunity comes, these strikers need to be putting their laces through it, or even side-footing it, and trying to break the back of the net. Finish with aggression.
Then, when you have one or two goals under your belt, then you can show everyone the tools you have in your bag. Right now, I feel the problem is that they are a bit light in the head.
Glatzel was the £5.5million signing this summer and, as I said last week, I can tell he is a good footballer. That's why you have to hold him to a higher standard.
You wouldn't say the three or four chances Glatzel has had have been clear cut. They've been difficult chances but a striker of his quality should be doing better.
There is Glatzel, then you've got Gary Madine — together they have 24 appearances between them with no goals — so clearly there is a problem somewhere. None of them have hit the ground and put a marker down, although in Glatzel's case it is still very early days.
From the outside looking in, as a former striker, I think Glatzel is thinking, at best, he is getting one, maybe two chances per game. It doesn't help that he is being brought off after 60 minutes, either.
After 60 minutes, that's our bread and butter, when the defenders are shattered Glatzel wants to be left on so he can perhaps nick a goal in injury time.
Neil Warnock has said that Glatzel was tired and that's why he was pulled against Blackburn, but I felt for him, and Lee Tomlin, because that's when he could have been dangerous.
But let's wait to see what happens with Fulham, it can be that sort of game that provides the catalyst to build momentum and confidence. If Cardiff beat Fulham convincingly, the fans will get excited and can stew in that optimism over the international break.
Conversely, however, if City lose, that's two weeks sitting on another poor result, staring at clubs around you near the bottom of the table.
So, either way, it will have an effect, but let's hope it's the positive outcome and the start of a run of results.
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