Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy says ‘it doesn’t make any sense’ that his team will be forced to play their second EFL Trophy Group Stage match against Newport County tomorrow night.
The Bluebirds host their fellow Welsh side at the Cardiff City Stadium without a host of first team players. This is due to the current international break, which led to this coming weekend’s clash with Barnsley to be postponed.
Despite that, those that have cancelled their upcoming league fixture will still contest in tomorrow’s Vertu Trophy games, with the competition widely regarded as one that allows teams to rotate their squads. However, Cardiff are a unique case, having had no less than 10 players called up by their respective countries.
Barry-Murphy Perplexed By EFL Trophy Outing
Cardiff will have used this fixture to give some of their fringe players an opportunity, although some of those that would have featured will not be available. Dakarai Mafico and Tanatswa Nyakuhwa are amongst those that would have enjoyed a rare start but the pair will instead join up with the Wales under-21 squad. Speaking about the predicament, Barry-Murphy offered his thoughts:
“It is a unique situation. I have a lot of experience of this competition and I have been a big advocate of the benefits of it.
“But I would say for me it doesn’t make any sense that we are playing this game when the players who really would benefit from it – Dak Mafico, Tanatswa Nyakuhwa – are on international duty.
“Even the players below that in the [Cardiff] under-21s… we have loads of players with Wales Under-19s and Under-18s who cannot play. We have to assess who we have available and pick a team.”
Although Cardiff will have a heavily depleted squad, they will still be heavy favourites to pick up a win against a team who currently sit bottom of League Two. Three points would all-but-confirm the Bluebirds’ passage into the knockout stages after they won 1-0 away at Exeter City in their first Group Stage game.
Writer’s View
Barry-Murphy has a valid argument to say that this fixture should have been rearranged, although it is a case of when. It could have been switched to last week though, with last Tuesday playing host to the first half of EFL Trophy fixtures. However, it’s worth noting that Cardiff are somewhat of a special case in this tournament. A League One side having 10 players called up for international duty is somewhat unprecedented, but you do have to sympathise with the Bluebirds.
