Cardiff City drew 0-0 last night with newly-promoted Port Vale. As favourites for a Championship return next season, the Bluebirds struggled to impress against Darren Moore’s side.
Brian Barry-Murphy, who took charge of just his second professional match with the Welsh club, highlighted some important talking points in a post-match interview. The first notable inclusion in questioning, revolved around loanee and debutant Nathan Trott, who moved to Cardiff from Copenhagen just this week:
“I think the players put their bodies on the line to make blocks for him. This ground is not an easy one to come to, so for him to experience that and to get that reward of the clean sheet – and really just start to understand the way we want to play – will be big for us.”
Port Vale looked to be a formidable opponent for Barry-Murphy’s side, despite the Bluebirds simply outclassing Peterborough United on the opening weekend, while Moore’s side struggled in the first half of a 2-1 defeat to Rotherham United.
The former Manchester City coach addressed this issue of complacency elements and inability to break certain teams down:
“The test that Port Vale provided was in ways, similar to our pre-season match at Notts County, where we played at someone’s home ground in front of their support.
“So, for the players to experience the same situation today was important to understand, and it’s my job to educate the players on the solutions we need to find for that challenge. As we go through the season, we’ll definitely do that.”
In terms of general performance, the new head coach seemed positive with the point, offering a few takeaways that will spur on his Bluebirds outfit:
“Obviously there were large parts of the performance that we would like to be better, especially in front of an incredible traveling support. But overall, we have no complaints about the result of the game. I thought we were lucky to get a point based on how well Port Vale played. There are elements of our performance that need to improve, but we’ll take the point and the clean sheet.
“I think the overall character of the players to defend the goal was pleasing; they made good blocks and to preserve Nathan’s clean sheet on his debut for the Club was important.
“The players have shown an amazing humility and a work rate in training since the first day I’ve come into the Club.”
Writer’s View
A brilliant mindset is important for a coach, especially in such a gruelling league as League One. Barry-Murphy is clearly not phased by the 0-0 draw with Vale, seeing it more as an anomaly rather than a concern.
Cardiff will have to start fitting the pieces together however, with teams starting strong and looking great on match day one. Nevertheless, it is early doors and 45 matches remaining will see an exceptional amount of change in every club.
