It won’t be pretty, but Warnock’s Cardiff have what it takes to survive

Neil Warnock’s Cardiff won promotion playing an unpopular, defensive style of soccer. Will it be enough to keep them in the Premier League?

You could be forgiven for forgetting about Cardiff in the buildup to the new Premier League season. While the other newly-promoted sides have made a splash in the transfer market, signing the likes of Jean Michael Seri and Joao Moutinho, the Bluebirds’ big arrivals have been Josh Murphy, a winger from Norwich, and Bobby Reid, an attacking midfielder from Bristol City. Combined, they cost less than Seri.

And so it’s probably worth pointing out Neil Warnock’s side finished above Fulham in the Championship last season. Not that you would know it based on the contrasting coverage the two teams have received. That contrast, however, didn’t come from nothing.

Cardiff are, first and foremost, a difficult side to beat, and received plenty of criticism for their style of play last season — excessively rugged, direct and defensive. Then there’s Warnock, a prickly character not afraid to make enemies, and certainly not one to apologize for his tactics, especially when they’ve proven so successful.

The Welsh side kept less possession last season than all but three teams in the Championship. They completed the fewest passes of any side in the division. They also conceded only 39 goals in 46 matches, the joint best mark in the league along with the champions, Wolves.

And in some ways this might bode well. Sides like Wolves and Fulham, accustomed to keeping the ball, often struggle to make the jump to the Premier League, where they find themselves having to adopt a very different style against higher quality opposition.

This won’t be the case for Cardiff. They will adopt the same physical, direct approach they did in the Championship. The first question is whether the defense can hold up against Premier League sides, who almost all have game-changing attackers. The second is whether they have enough going forward to eke out the points they need.

In recent seasons, newly-promoted sides who have adopted a defensive approach have had mixed success. Burnley were relegated in 2014-15 having scored only 28 goals, while Middlesbrough went down with 27 goals in 2016-17. The Clarets learned from their mistakes when they returned to the Premier League in 2016-17, scoring 39 times on the way to a 16th-place finish. Brighton finished a relatively comfortable 15th last season with 34 goals scored, while Huddersfield just about scraped by with 28. If Cardiff are to be successful, these are the teams they will have to emulate.

While they haven’t had a busy summer, the team that won promotion feature plenty of talented players. Arguably the two key players, Sean Morrison and Sol Bamba, have formed a very strong center-back partnership that will be tested against Premier League-caliber attacks.

One of the best signings in the Championship last year was Cardiff’s capture of former Hearts player Callum Paterson. Paterson came to the Welsh side as a defender, but Warnock quickly converted him to a central midfielder after identifying the Scotland international’s attacking talent, and perhaps also his lack of defensive nous.

The conversion worked wonders for Cardiff, as Paterson notched 10 goals as a box-to-box midfielder and finished as the team’s top scorer in the Championship. Joe Ralls and Icelandic international Aron Gunnarsson will also be key players in the middle of the park for the Bluebirds.

Up front, the likes of Kenneth Zohore, Junior Hoilett, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Murphy and Reid will all play big roles over the course of the season. They’re unlikely to see many chances given the way the team play, but they’ll need to be clinical.

What Cardiff definitely lack is experience at this level. The squad is unrecognizable from the one that spent a season in the top flight back in 2013-14. Hoilett is one very few players with Premier League experience, meaning they’re going to have to rely heavily on Warnock’s know-how.

The 69-year-old has led QPR, Crystal Palace and Sheffield United in the top flight. None of those spells, however, has been particularly successful. Warnock was relegated with the Blades, and failed to last a full season with the other two.

Cardiff are expected to go straight back down to the Championship, but this resilient, well-organized team, built by a man with a point to prove in the Premier League, have what it takes to maintain their place in the top flight.