Our Current Squad ( Cardiff City )

The transfer window has closed, so lets look at our current first team squad for the remainder of this season:

Goalkeepers - Alnwick, Horvath
For me, this is a position which needs upgrading. Horvath was correctly dropped for making several blunders and although I have no major concerns with Alnwick, I think he's nothing more than an average goalkeeper at this level. Previously, we've been blessed with 2 good goalkeepers fighting for the number 1 spot. I think back to Etheridge and Smithies or Marshall and Heaton. We have nowhere near that quality currently and I would like us to sign a new number 1 goalkeeper in the summer. Alnwick will be fine as a backup.

Centre Backs - Goutas, Daland, Fish
I haven't included Chambers among the centre backs as he's proven to be far more effective in midfield and we need to keep playing him there. That only leaves us with Goutas, Daland and Fish though, which although I think is fairly decent, I still think we needed one more centre back to provide depth and improve us further. I feel we need to add an experienced leader to this position, as we lack leaders in the squad. When comparing to our previous centre back options of Bamba, Manga and Morrison, I feel we need to improve this position further to reach those levels again.

Left back - Bagan, Collins
I haven't included O'Dowda, as he should never be playing left back. O'Dowda is our most consistent, dependable winger for producing performances, goals and assists and he's completely wasted at left back. I like Bagan, I've always thought he had a lot of talent and potential. He's continually developing and this season, I think he has grown into more aggressive and solid left back. I think Bagan should keep starting at left back for O'Dowda to be pushed up to the wing. I don't have a clue what's happened with Collins, it looked like he was leaving but he hasn't, so Riza needs to manage him well now. Riza needs to tell Collins to knuckle down, show what he can do for the rest of the season and that will put him in a better position to move on in the summer.

Right back - NG, Rinomhota
NG has been so disappointing this season and was correctly dropped for Rinomhota. I think Rinomhota has been a breath of fresh air since stepping into the team, with his attitude, professionalism and consistant performances. NG could learn a thing or two from Rinomhota, who just quietly gets on with the game and does his job, without getting involved with off the ball shenanigans. Hopefully, NG will knuckle down and find his old form again, otherwise we should start looking at bringing in another right back.

Defensive midfielders - Chambers, Mannsverk
This could be our strongest area of the team now, I'm looking forward to seeing Chambers and Mannswerk playing together and I hope we can start controlling the midfield more. The switch with Chambers to centre midfield has been a masterstroke and from the little I've seen of Mannsverk, he seems a composed, technical midfielder.

Box to box midfielder - Ralls
Ralls is our only midfielder who I would class as box to box. Ralls has been a great servant and always gives his best, but it seems he will only be a bit part player now and we need to think about replacing him. It saddens me I can only list Ralls as a box to box midfielder within our current squad, as that highlights our weakness in centre midfield - we lack energy and mobility and Leeds drastically exposed this recently. We desperately need to add more energy to our centre midfield, so we can play at a higher press with a greater intensity. When Siopis used to charge up the field to try and press, that left us so open down the middle, with nobody able to get back and cover.

Creative midfielders - Robertson, Colwill, Turnbull and Ramsey
I'm happy with Robertson and I hope he's with us for many more seasons to continually develop and become the player we all hope he can be. Colwill, after playing out of his skin to break into the team, has gone massively backwards. I always stuck up for him, but I agree with Worcester with his very fair critical analysis on Colwill's performances. He's turned into a luxury player and he lacks pace, mobility and fitness. It's a worry as he's still very young. Will Colwill ever improve to play at a higher, consistant level? I think one thing we can all agree on is Colwill needs consistant games, which will probably only happen getting loaned to a League 1 club. Unfortunately, as Turnbull and Ramsey are injured, it was probably too risky to let Colwill leave this transfer window.

Wingers - O'Dowda, Ashford, Willock, El Ghazi, Tanner and Alves
I think we are looking strong in this area now. I'm reading lots of good reports on Alves. O'Dowda is a class winger at this level. Ashford is turning into a gem. Willock can beat a man and score and create, but needs to work harder defensively. El Ghazi is finally improving and Tanner is a fantastic team player with his work rate and tracking back, locking up the wing. I have high hopes for Tanner over the next few seasons. When we signed him, he had to adapt to professional football, training every day, getting fitter. He was a player who was skillful running with the ball and taking players on when we signed him. Currently, he's become a more rounded player who does so much work defensively, we perhaps don't see as much from him going forwards, although he still chips in with the odd goal and assist. I think there's more to come from Tanner and I hope we see him put everything together over the next few seasons.

Strikers - Robinson, Salech, Meite, Davies
Meite and Davies could be classed more as wingers, but we are so short of strikers. Robinson is good on his day, but can be so frustrating with his attitude. I'm still unsure if we can consistently rely on Robinson. I'm hoping we can get to a safe position and then we can give Salech a run of games to see what he can do. It's the only way Salech is going to properly learn and develop further, by playing regularly. In the future, Salech is the striker we need to build our team around, he will be the focal point of our attacks. Hopefully, Davies soon returns and he can have a run of games towards the end of the season, maybe playing off Salech. I would still like one more quality striker to be added though to give us sufficient depth and options. Wrexham just added Jay Rodriguez to go with Mullin, Fletcher, Palmer and Marriot. We need similar depth and competition to get certain players out of the comfort zone, to push on to the next level.

Apologies if I've missed anyone out, that's all my brain can think of at this time of the night! What are your thoughts? What areas would you like us to strengthen further?

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A really well written and thought out post.

For me a LB is the main priority at the moment.

We have brought in a striker and a winger and are now well stocked up front.

Good post

Definitely bring in a left back we do not have a championship quality player on our books.

And someone needs to get in Darlands ear - and coach him on the dark arts of CB in the championship

That's the squad We have to see Us out to the end of the season - and keep Us Up

The transfer window has closed, so lets look at our current first team squad for the remainder of this season:

Goalkeepers - Alnwick, Horvath
For me, this is a position which needs upgrading. Horvath was correctly dropped for making several blunders and although I have no major concerns with Alnwick, I think he's nothing more than an average goalkeeper at this level. Previously, we've been blessed with 2 good goalkeepers fighting for the number 1 spot. I think back to Etheridge and Smithies or Marshall and Heaton. We have nowhere near that quality currently and I would like us to sign a new number 1 goalkeeper in the summer. Alnwick will be fine as a backup.

Centre Backs - Goutas, Daland, Fish
I haven't included Chambers among the centre backs as he's proven to be far more effective in midfield and we need to keep playing him there. That only leaves us with Goutas, Daland and Fish though, which although I think is fairly decent, I still think we needed one more centre back to provide depth and improve us further. I feel we need to add an experienced leader to this position, as we lack leaders in the squad. When comparing to our previous centre back options of Bamba, Manga and Morrison, I feel we need to improve this position further to reach those levels again.

Left back - Bagan, Collins
I haven't included O'Dowda, as he should never be playing left back. O'Dowda is our most consistent, dependable winger for producing performances, goals and assists and he's completely wasted at left back. I like Bagan, I've always thought he had a lot of talent and potential. He's continually developing and this season, I think he has grown into more aggressive and solid left back. I think Bagan should keep starting at left back for O'Dowda to be pushed up to the wing. I don't have a clue what's happened with Collins, it looked like he was leaving but he hasn't, so Riza needs to manage him well now. Riza needs to tell Collins to knuckle down, show what he can do for the rest of the season and that will put him in a better position to move on in the summer.

Right back - NG, Rinomhota
NG has been so disappointing this season and was correctly dropped for Rinomhota. I think Rinomhota has been a breath of fresh air since stepping into the team, with his attitude, professionalism and consistant performances. NG could learn a thing or two from Rinomhota, who just quietly gets on with the game and does his job, without getting involved with off the ball shenanigans. Hopefully, NG will knuckle down and find his old form again, otherwise we should start looking at bringing in another right back.

Defensive midfielders - Chambers, Mannsverk
This could be our strongest area of the team now, I'm looking forward to seeing Chambers and Mannswerk playing together and I hope we can start controlling the midfield more. The switch with Chambers to centre midfield has been a masterstroke and from the little I've seen of Mannsverk, he seems a composed, technical midfielder.

Box to box midfielder - Ralls
Ralls is our only midfielder who I would class as box to box. Ralls has been a great servant and always gives his best, but it seems he will only be a bit part player now and we need to think about replacing him. It saddens me I can only list Ralls as a box to box midfielder within our current squad, as that highlights our weakness in centre midfield - we lack energy and mobility and Leeds drastically exposed this recently. We desperately need to add more energy to our centre midfield, so we can play at a higher press with a greater intensity. When Siopis used to charge up the field to try and press, that left us so open down the middle, with nobody able to get back and cover.

Creative midfielders - Robertson, Colwill, Turnbull and Ramsey
I'm happy with Robertson and I hope he's with us for many more seasons to continually develop and become the player we all hope he can be. Colwill, after playing out of his skin to break into the team, has gone massively backwards. I always stuck up for him, but I agree with Worcester with his very fair critical analysis on Colwill's performances. He's turned into a luxury player and he lacks pace, mobility and fitness. It's a worry as he's still very young. Will Colwill ever improve to play at a higher, consistant level? I think one thing we can all agree on is Colwill needs consistant games, which will probably only happen getting loaned to a League 1 club. Unfortunately, as Turnbull and Ramsey are injured, it was probably too risky to let Colwill leave this transfer window.

Wingers - O'Dowda, Ashford, Willock, El Ghazi, Tanner and Alves
I think we are looking strong in this area now. I'm reading lots of good reports on Alves. O'Dowda is a class winger at this level. Ashford is turning into a gem. Willock can beat a man and score and create, but needs to work harder defensively. El Ghazi is finally improving and Tanner is a fantastic team player with his work rate and tracking back, locking up the wing. I have high hopes for Tanner over the next few seasons. When we signed him, he had to adapt to professional football, training every day, getting fitter. He was a player who was skillful running with the ball and taking players on when we signed him. Currently, he's become a more rounded player who does so much work defensively, we perhaps don't see as much from him going forwards, although he still chips in with the odd goal and assist. I think there's more to come from Tanner and I hope we see him put everything together over the next few seasons.

Strikers - Robinson, Salech, Meite, Davies
Meite and Davies could be classed more as wingers, but we are so short of strikers. Robinson is good on his day, but can be so frustrating with his attitude. I'm still unsure if we can consistently rely on Robinson. I'm hoping we can get to a safe position and then we can give Salech a run of games to see what he can do. It's the only way Salech is going to properly learn and develop further, by playing regularly. In the future, Salech is the striker we need to build our team around, he will be the focal point of our attacks. Hopefully, Davies soon returns and he can have a run of games towards the end of the season, maybe playing off Salech. I would still like one more quality striker to be added though to give us sufficient depth and options. Wrexham just added Jay Rodriguez to go with Mullin, Fletcher, Palmer and Marriot. We need similar depth and competition to get certain players out of the comfort zone, to push on to the next level.

Apologies if I've missed anyone out, that's all my brain can think of at this time of the night! What are your thoughts? What areas would you like us to strengthen further?

Good post

It's a good squad, we shouldn't be near the relegation zone by the end of the season, 11th to 15th should be where we finish.

Fantastic post, I completely agree with this breakdown. A mixed bag of potential talent and much-needed improvement across the squad. Another question mark would be Roko Šimić, he seemed to get a bit of U-21s game time the other day. Could he help bolster our CF options? Or will he end up going back out on loan?

Great OP.

I feel O'Dowda is a left back in Riza's eyes. In modern systems, he doesn't fit. He is an old school "11" a left midfield in a 442. I feel his best position in modern systems is wingback but i don't think Riza wants three centre halfs. I read Riza hasn't got around to his preferred system which is a 433 with a single pivot, so i sitter and two "8"'s, a centre forward and two wide forwards. O'Dowda doesn't do any of those roles, so he is a left back.

Heart ruling my head i'd love those 2 wide players to be Ashford and Davies with a big lad in the middle.

I'd love Rubin to be one of the 8's but I don't think he can athletically which is a shame, we have his bro back next season and Robertson

Bagan,fish and Daland, christ it's a far younger team than i can remember for years

Good post m8 ,got to say Ashford looks a really good prospect for us