00:00Cardiff City had a good mid-week. They of course beat promotion contenders Sheffield
00:07United, albeit it wasn't a championship fixture, it was in the FA Cup third round. Still though,
00:12a good scalp for them this season given how poor their season's been in the championship
00:17to get a good win in the FA Cup just shows that they can do it and they can compete.
00:23Of course, it's not been easy for them this season, as I say, so things do need to improve
00:27going on in the championship. And so how do they go about it? How do they avoid relegation
00:32this season? Because a return to League One after so many years away from it would be
00:37disastrous for them as a club. And obviously, no supporter wants that, the board won't want
00:43that, no one wants that, the players won't want that. It'll be tough to come back from.
00:47So they need to improve drastically in the second half of the season and they've shown
00:51in that game, albeit, yes, both sides rotate players and change the teams, but they've
00:57got enough quality to stay within the league, but they're just not showing up on a consistent
01:01enough basis. Is it just a case of being more consistent?
01:04Yeah, I think 100% it is. I mean, Ethan Horvath, the goalkeeper away at Sheffield United, got
01:12man of the match, a rare clean sheet for Cardiff City as well. I mean, they will be probably
01:19more frustrated that it wasn't a championship game and three points were up for grabs. I
01:24mean, an amazing performance from him and Cardiff as a whole were fantastic, resolute.
01:29They went there and they really did well to progress in the FA Cup. But unfortunately,
01:35for a side that struggled so hard, the FA Cup doesn't become a priority. I mean, they've
01:39drawn Stoke City in the next round, which is obviously another winnable tie. So they
01:43could actually find themselves in the fifth round of the FA Cup, just like that. And then,
01:49who knows from there? But they are going to certainly, Omar Issa is going to certainly
01:53express to his players and the fans and the hierarchy of the club who have got things
01:57wrong over the last few years. They are sort of digging themselves out of this mess. He's
02:03going to express to them that, yes, the FA Cup is fantastic for the club in terms of
02:06revenue and in terms of the FA Cup journey for the fans is brilliant. But the onus and
02:13the priority has to be on the league. And how they do that, I think, is more clean sheets,
02:17more fantastic defensive displays. They have got goals throughout the side. They've got
02:22young talent. They've got young Welsh international talent as well. So it's been pleasing to see
02:28them progress. But I think the way they have to really attack it now is clean sheets, putting
02:36more defensive displays where people at the back, goalkeepers, centre-backs, defenders
02:42get man-of-the-match displays. And they need to make sure they're doing that. They've got
02:45real tough games coming up in the Championship and they get thick and fast Saturday, Tuesday,
02:51Saturday, Tuesday. And it is sort of relentless. So they've got to make sure they are keeping
02:56these clean sheets before it's too late for them.
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