The opening month of the 2016/17 Sky Bet Championship season has seen Paul Trollope and his Cardiff City side experience the club's worst start to a league campaign in over 12 years.

The club have struggled to get results in their first eight games - the latest of which a 2-0 defeat at home to Leeds United on Saturday.

Expectations of pushing on from last season's failed play-off push have quickly been re-adjusted, with the Bluebirds having only secured one win from eight matches - only two draws are preventing their start from being even more disastrous.

Criticism has been heaped on Trollope's side, but a lot of discontent has also been aimed at owner Vincent Tan, chairman Mehmet Dalman, and CEO Ken Choo for the negative manner in which a large percentage of the fans feel they have handled managing the club at board level.

However, there are still a lot of problems that have to be put at the door of Trollope.

Here, FootballLeagueWorld writer Steve Day identifies THREE key things that the Cardiff City head coach has got wrong at the club so far this season...

Selling and Failing to Replace David Marshall

Undoubtedly, the biggest disruption to Cardiff City's early season preparations was the departure of club captain and Scotland international goalkeeper David Marshall to Premier League club Hull City.

Marshall's departure from the club had long been anticipated, with the player turning in impressive performances in the Bluebirds net week in, week out.

The club had admittedly fended off interest from big clubs previously, but stated that it was unfair to keep Marshall at the club against his wishes.

Unfortunately, the club had failed to possess the foresight to see Marshall's potential departure.

Just weeks before, they sold back-up keeper Simon Moore to League One side Sheffield United, leaving Trollope with development keeper Ben Wilson as his only pair of gloves available.

The panicked purchase of Bolton's Ben Amos and 33-year-old Portsmouth veteran Brian Murphy did little to help matters.

Some have blamed the board for the Marshall sale, but suggestions that Trollope was happy to back the decision without the club arranging a replacement smacks of idiocy on the head coach's part.

3-5-2 – Square Pegs In Round Holes

Upon his appointment as head coach at Cardiff City, Trollope stated that he wanted to introduce more of a Welsh atmosphere to the club in an effort to bridge the gap that had materialised between the club and its fans in the aftermath of the controversial re-brand episode.

This started well, with Trollope bringing Welsh youth talent Declan John back into the first team fold, and signing Welsh internationals Jazz Richards and Emyr Huws.

Sadly, Trollope's fantasy that Cardiff City could replicate the effective 3-5-2 formation that Wales adopted during their successful 2016 European Championship campaign now looks nothing short of deluded ambition.

The lack of players possessing the defensive organisational skills of Ashley Williams, the passing range of Joe Allen, the creative spark of Aaron Ramsey, and the world class edge of Gareth Bale immediately makes it a flawed system to be used with this Bluebirds squad.

Attempts to force players to play roles that they are not comfortable playing and thus cannot maximise their potential whilst playing have led to slow and abject performances.

Despite being in possession of three dangerous and creative wingers in the shape of Anthony Pilkington, Craig Noone, and Kadeem Harris, Trollope has made the decision to play without wingers.

The decision to play with two strikers when Rickie Lambert appears to be the only player with any clue about where the goal is within the City squad is also mind-boggling.

Failing to Address the Striker Issue

Last season, a lack of clinical finishing in front of goal was blamed as being the difference between the Bluebirds reaching the play-offs and failing to reach the play-offs.

It was the main problem from last season and it was something that Trollope openly admitted the club needed to rectify coming into this season.

However, Trollope's method of dealing with the issue was to get rid of strikers Eoin Doyle, Kenwyne Jones, Etien Velikonja, Federico Macheda, Idriss Saadi, Rhys Healey, and Adam Le Fondre, and then only replace them with the unknown quantities of Benin international Frederic Gounongbe, 22-year-old Dane Kenneth Zohore, and 34-year-old Rickie Lambert.

Now, admittedly, the players that departed hadn't done the business for the club, but to only make moves for those three strikers when attack was an obvious weakness is nothing short of incompetent.

This is even more baffling when rival clubs such as Bristol City and Burton Albion have signed the likes of Tammy Abraham and Jackson Irvine respectively on a budget with stunning results.

Naïve player recruitment at best from Trollope.

Cardiff City fans... do you agree? Are there any other big things that Trollope has got wrong so far this season? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!