How Cardiff are expected to line up at Sunderland with Aston Villa prospect finding form

The Bluebirds started the season with Steve Morrison in charge but are now being led by interim boss Mark Hudson and are 18th in the table.

To find out more, we caught up with Glen Williams from Wales Online on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast.

You can listen to the full episode here

How would you assess Cardiff’s start to the season?

GW: “We have to rewind a little bit to the summer where 15 players left Cardiff and they brought 17 players in and entrusted Steve Morrison to do that. It was a pretty big job.

“For him to be sacked so early in the season I think caught a lot of people by surprise. I expected him to be given a decent crack to get it right.

“It’s been a bit of a crazy start to the season really.”

What’s the view on Hudson so far?

GW: “The big thing with Huds is that he has massive credit in the bank because he was club captain here and a legend in his playing days.

“He started really well and they were undefeated in his first three, two wins and a draw.

“Then to be fair they had three games where they just didn’t get the rub of the green. They had a disallowed goal against Coventry which cost them a point, then the two games after that against QPR and Swansea they had a player sent off in the 19th minute against QPR and 7th minute against Swansea.

“They lost to Watford on Tuesday night but actually looked pretty decent for the most part.”

How will Cardiff approach the game at Sunderland?

GW: “Its been a hard slog in front of goal, they came into the season a striker short and started with Max Watters as a lone striker for the first eight games. He’s done well elsewhere but it hasn’t worked.

“They brought in Callum Robinson and he looked a really good signing and then got sent off against Swansea and is serving a three-game ban and won’t be available for Sunderland.

“They have looked ok at the back but from set-pieces they are really vulnerable. It used to be the land of the giants at Cardiff but they have such a small squad now.”

Who are Cardiff’s key players?

GW: “They have a weapon at the minute in Jaden Philogene (on loan from Aston Villa) who has come out of nowhere to produce two back-to-back man of the match performances for Cardiff. Fans were really frustrated by his lack of end product at the start of the season but against Rotherham and Watford he’s been the best player in a Cardiff shirt.

“Callum O'Dowda, the other winger, has probably been the most consistent forward player this season. He started like a house on fire after coming from Bristol City in the summer and is really direct with his running and is deceptively good in the air.”

What’s your predicted line-up?

GW: “Allsop; Romeo, Ng, Kipre, Nkounkou; Wintle, Rinomhota, Ralls; Philogene, Harris, O'Dowda.”