For the lowdown on tomorrow's visitors Cardiff City and their new manager Neil Harris we turned to the guys at the Three Little Birds blog.
How do you assess Cardiff's season so far?
It’s obviously been very disappointing with results being very hot and cold. Some changes will be needed in January in order to keep things fresh.
League results so far…
Wigan 3-2 Cardiff (Jacobs 59, Windass 63, Evans 75 — Ralls 20, Bogle 70)
Cardiff 2-1 Luton (Flint 52, Vassell 90 — Pearson 86)
Reading 3-0 Cardiff (Puskas 25, 40, Swift 83)
Cardiff 2-1 Huddersfield (Ralls 42, Hoilett 88 — Chalobah 50)
Blackburn 0-0 Cardiff
Cardiff 1-1 Fulham (Murphy 42 — Mitrovic 45)
Derby 1-1 Cardiff (Malone 6 — Glatzel 19)
Cardiff 1-0 Middlesbrough (Fletcher og 2)
Hull 2-2 Cardiff (Grosicki 44, De Wijs 89 — Glatzel 55, Ward 90)
Cardiff 3-0 QPR (Morrison 11, Pack 42, Paterson 72)
West Brom 4-2 Cardiff (Pereira 20, Diangana 42, Austin 71, Sawyers 90 - Ward 75, 86)
Cardiff 1-1 Sheff Wed (Tomlin 89 - Borner 19)
Millwall 2-2 Cardiff (Bradshaw 45, 77 — Ward 12, Hoilett 57)
Swansea 1-0 Cardiff (Wilmot 24)
Cardiff 4-2 Birmingham (Ralls pen 30, 69, pen 90, Nelson 38 - Petersen 3, Sunjic 87)
Cardiff 0-1 Bristol City (Brownhill 67)
Neil Harris appointed manager
Charlton 2-2 Cardiff (Gallagher 12, Leko 42 — Mendez Laing 52, Tomlin 73)
Cardiff 1-0 Stoke (Bacuna 11)
Forest 0-1 Cardiff (Mendez-Laing 14)
Cardiff 3-2 Barnsley (Flint 20, Ward 68, Tomlin 90 — Chapin 17, Peltier og 48)
Brentford 2-1 Cardiff (Mbeumo 25, Watkins 46 — Pack 64)
Leeds 3-3 Cardiff (Costa 6, Bamford 8, pen 52 — Tomlin 60, Morrison 82, Glatzel 88)
Cardiff 0-0 Preston
Cardiff 1-1 Millwall (Flint 59 — Wallace 63)
Sheff Wed 1-2 Cardiff (Lees 19 - Glatzel 5, Hoilett 8)
One season too many for Neil Warnock? How do you feel about him leaving?
Hats off to Warnock for staying to try and get us back into the Premier League, but I think we could’ve done with a fresh face after relegation. However, his tenure here will always be reflected upon positively by Cardiff fans after the promotion in 2018.
Can't say I'd have been overly thrilled with Neil Harris in your situation - what did you make of the appointment?
Harris has started well, with just one loss to a very strong Brentford side. However, some of the performances have been worrying and I think he needs to change the squad a bit in January.
How's he done so far, what's he changed?
Although the performances haven’t been amazing, it’s clear to see that Harris is trying to implement his own style. We’re slowly moving away from Warnock’s hoof-ball, to more along-the-ground passing.
Any January activity expected/rumoured?
There’s not too many rumours floating about at the moment, however, I’m sure Harris is keeping his cards close to his chest in order to not give anything away. The likes of Josh Murphy could be angling for a move away.
Ins: Robert Glatzel, 25, CF, Heidenheim, £5.4m >>> Aden Flint, 30, CB, Middlesbrough, £4m >>> Will Vaulks, 25, CM, Rotherham, £2m >>> Gavin Whyte, 25, RW, Oxford, £2m >>> Marlon Pack, 28, CM, Bristol City, £700k >>> Isaac Vassell, 25, CF, Birmingham, Undisclosed >>> Aaron Bolger, 19, CM, Shamrock Rovers, Undisclosed >>> Joe Day, 28 GK, Newport, Free >>> Curtis Nelson, 26, CB, Oxford, Free
Outs: Kenneth Zohore, 25, CF, West Brom, £8m >>> Bruno Manga, 31, CB, £1.8m, Dijon >>> Aron Gunnarsson, 30, CM, Al Arabi, Free >>> Jack Mckay, 22, CF, Chesterfield, Free >>> Stuart O’Keefe, 28, CM, Gillingham, Free >>> Kadeem Harris, 26, RB, Sheff Wed, Free >>> Paul Mackay, 22, CB, Airdrieonians, Free >>> Rhys Healey, 24, CF, MK Dons, Undisclosed >>> Greg Cunningham, 28, LB, Blackburn, Loan >>> Bobby Reid, 26, CF, Fulham, Loan
Stand out players and weak links in the team?
Joe Bennett has had an underwhelming season so far at left back, along with Josh Murphy - who hasn’t looked interested. Lee Tomlin has been electric recently and he’ll be hard to stop if he’s on top form.
One of the promotion favourites to start with but hasn't quite worked out like that so far - what are your expectations for the rest of the season now?
I think it’s best to stay realistic and assume we’ll have a bit of a nothing-season. However, the Championship is unexpected and with a run of good results and some new faces in January, who knows where we could finish.
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