Cardiff City’s season so far

‘ Our Season So Far ‘

By Gary Field
After the completion of the game yesterday we currently stand 8th in the Championship table with 20pts out of the 36 available, this is the lowest league position we have held in the last 10 seasons at this level having gained 20 points at this stage. In season 2009/10 20 points was good enough to see us in 3rd position so our currently position tells you just how close things are this season at the top of the championship.

At the start of this season expectation levels were not exactly high amongst our fans, despite that ALL talk at the club has been about reaching the top 6 after 46 games, so how has our start placed us against that target? The answer is simple we are right in the mix to achieve a top 6 finish, indeed only once in the last 10 seasons have we failed to reach the top 6 having won 20 points or more at this stage of the season. Given another summer of cost cutting at the club I believe Russell Slade, his backroom team and of course the players deserve a HUGE well done for getting us in this great position.

To put greater perspective on our start, during the past 10 seasons 5 clubs have gone on to be Champions having won 20 points or less after 12 games.

So after the completion of 25% of our games and to fully appreciate our current position it is worth looking at the official league statistics covering the areas which not only identify performance, but how effective the team is against key performance criteria. The following is a comparison of our season against the average performance of the team since the club returned to the Championship. The comparison is I think very interesting;
Wins %: 42% – 43%
Draw %: 42% – 43%
Loss %: 17% – 28%

Average Goals Scored: 1.25 – 1.51
Goal For Conversion Rate: 9.77 – 7.92
Failed To Score%: 15% – 11%

Average Goals Conceded: 1.35 – 0.97
Goals Against Conversion Rate: 15 – 10
Clean Sheets %: 33% – 29%

Possession 48% – 51%

Points Won: 20 – 19

Currently we have the 13th ranked attack in the Championship with only 15 goals scored (exactly the same as last season), with an average of 1.25 goals per game, averaging 11 attempts at goal per game and scoring on average every 9 attempts, (again exactly the same as last season). Indeed 15 goals in the first 12 games is the equal lowest total in the last 10 seasons.
However our defensive performance so far this season has been the biggest area of improvement over previous seasons. Currently we have the 6th ranked defensive record in the championship with 11 goals conceded, which has been beaten only once in the last 10 seasons (9 in 2006-07). Although our opponents are having on average 14 attempts at our goal each game they, again on average, are taking 15 attempts to score which is the highest average required to score against us in any of the last 10 seasons.

So few surprises for anyone there because I think we all know we are not a free scoring team but we are very organised, difficult to score against and as a result grinding out results where for instance last season we probably would have lost.

One interesting stat is the number of bookings we have had this season, 25, which is the highest total over any of the last 10 seasons, and 9 more than our average of 16. With Fabio already having served a suspension will this be a concern as the season moves on?

All of this, in my opinion, are clear indications of the togetherness within the team and great credit goes to Russell Slade, his backroom team and of course the players

So we are right in the mix to achieve the target of a top 6 finish and to stay there history tells us we need to have more than 37 points after 23 games. The organisation and determination the team are displaying makes that achievable, in my opinion, indeed even automatic promotion is on the cards. That may surprise some but at this stage last season Bournemouth had 18 points so anything is possible.

So far the only disappointment for me has been the attendances at home matches and I believe Russell Slade, his backroom team and of course the players deserve better. As Delia Smith would say to the missing thousands “Where are you”.