Cardiff City Must Change Formation Without Jay

Cardiff City have been unable to strengthen due to financial difficulties which means that there is STILL no back-up for key striker Jay Bothroyd. The influential forward is hugely important to our play and we always struggle without him. Not only is his strength, and aerial presence important, his distribution and ball holding-up is integral to our system.

Jay was forced off against Newcastle and may miss out tonight against Posh. With promising youngster Josh Magennis out with a broken tibia, only Warren Feeney and Ross McCormack are available to partner Michael Chopra in attack. Neither is a natural foil for Chops however, and with Chopra/Rosco as a forward pair, we look toothless and seem unable to maintain posession, or create space to exploit their obvious pace.

Feeney therefore is a more likely option, but he is not powerful, or a natural foil either. Feeney tries tremendously hard, and probably deserves a chance. His work-rate aside, Feeney has shown a lack of creativity and is very much a bit-part player for the Bluebirds.

What Cardiff City can do is to change the formation, unusual for Dave Jones but plausible in this case. Despite a lack of central midfield cover, a trio of Whittingham, McPhail and a more aggressive player such as Darcy Blake or possibly Aaron Wildig could be the answer. That adds creativity in the centre and allows Ross McCormack (left) and Chris Burke (right) to play in more advanced roles to support the lone striker Chopra.

In this system, the added bodies in midfield would help our short passing game and distribution, while in McCormack and Burke we have gifted runners capable of carrying the ball - this is key in the absence of Bothroyd. The return of McPhail would also present Chopra with his opportunities to break the defensive line, and by drifting between the two centre-backs - this system could be ideally suited to our depleted squad.

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