Viktor Gyokeres proved to be the difference last night as Cardiff City suffered a 1-0 defeat to Coventry City in the East Midlands, consigning Mick McCarthy's side to their second league defeat of the season.

After seemingly putting their Severnside derby defeat to Bristol City behind them with a 2-1 win at struggling side Nottingham Forest on Sunday, they were poor in front of goal against the Sky Blues and ultimately paid the price in the 15th minute when Gyokeres scored the only goal of the game.

This result means they drop down to ninth place going into this weekend's tie against AFC Bournemouth, who will pose a considerable challenge to Mick McCarthy's side after climbing into the automatic promotion spots.

 

 

Their 2-1 victory against fellow promotion rivals Queens Park Rangers show how dangerous they can be - and the Bluebirds will need to pick themselves up quickly if they have any chance of taking anything from this game at the Cardiff City Stadium.

There are a few lessons they need to learn from last night's defeat before they can look ahead though and with this, we have taken a look at three things we learnt about the second-tier side from Coventry.

They need something different going forward

Soccer - England - Carabao Cup Second Round - Cardiff City v Brighton & Hove Albion - Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Britain - August 24, 2021 Cardiff City's Josh Murphy in action with Brighton & Hove Albion's Haydon Roberts Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
Soccer - England - Carabao Cup Second Round - Cardiff City v Brighton & Hove Albion - Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff, Britain - August 24, 2021 Cardiff City's Josh Murphy in action with Brighton & Hove Albion's Haydon Roberts Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cardiff City may have had ten shots on goal at the CBS Arena, but they failed to create many genuine goalscoring opportunities and that proved to be their downfall against a Coventry City side that failed to build on their 1-0 lead throughout the game.

Although the Bluebirds operate with five at the back, this is no real excuse for a lack of creativity, though a change in system may be needed to shake things up after such a poor performance in the West Midlands.

19-year-old Rubin Colwill may be a rising star having already made multiple appearances for the senior Wales national team and scoring a brace at the weekend, but they can't rely on him to come up with the goods consistently as a teenager.

You have to look at the club's decision to let Josh Murphy go out on loan to Championship rivals Preston North End. Despite obviously being in Mick McCarthy's plans this term, he could have been the difference with Coventry's inability to kill the game.

Last night was a missed opportunity to steal a point - and Mick McCarthy will know that.

Kieffer Moore can't do it all on his own

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 - Round of 16 - Wales v Denmark - Johan Cruijff ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands - June 26, 2021 Wales' Kieffer Moore Pool via REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After making an impact as a substitute against Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon, despite not being able to get on the scoresheet himself, Kieffer Moore was given the opportunity to start against Mark Robins' side last night.

He was ruled out of Wales' World Cup qualifying matches because he came into close contact with Adam Davies who had tested positive for Covid-19, so he was expected to come back fresh and ready to make a real impact for his domestic side.

Fresh or not, there was little chance of him doing much yesterday evening due to the sheer lack of creativity from his team, although internal competitor James Collins should have done a lot better with the one opportunity the Bluebirds did have in Coventry.

That miss just shows they need an alternative to Moore when he's not 'on it', with the Welshman only scoring once in seven league appearances after bagging 20 in the previous campaign.

Were they too reliant on him and Harry Wilson in the summer?

Their summer transfer strategy can be questioned

Soccer Football - Championship - Nottingham Forest v Cardiff City - The City Ground, Nottingham, Britain - September 12, 2021 Cardiff City manager Mick McCarthy applauds the fans after the match Action Images/Ed Sykes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This may be a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to how poor the performance was, but this result just makes you wonder if they did enough in the summer transfer market to retain their eighth-place finish from last term, let alone push for the play-offs.

That finish gave them a real platform to go on and push for a play-off spot this season - but you couldn't say they vastly improved their squad in the previous transfer window.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Ryan Giles (loan) and former Luton Town goalscorer James Collins proved to be eye-catching additions - but the loss of Harry Wilson on the expiration of his loan deal is a big blow after seeing him record 19 goal contributions in 37 games last term - and it showed tonight.

After firing a blank tonight, is this a potential sign of things to come without the Welsh international? They didn't exactly do a lot before Rubin Colwill's introduction on Sunday, so it could be.