On the outside looking in
WHY BLUEBIRDS BIG-HITTERS LIKE LEE TOMLIN FACE A STRUGGLE TO PLAY PART IN PROMOTION PUSH
CARDIFF City are set to welcome back a few big players after the international break.
All of Lee Tomlin, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Curtis Nelson are likely to be pushing for a starting spot, even as soon as the first game back against Nottingham Forest on Friday night.
Depending on how their rehabilitation goes over the coming week, the trio could be sticking their hand up for a place in the side next weekend. If not, they are all still expected to be fit again before the season’s end.
Not so long ago, all three would have been considered shoo-ins, but they could all be consigned to the bench for the play-off run-in.
Here, we take a closer look at their situations...
Lee Tomlin
The playmaker’s season has been fraught with excruciating pain, agonising frustration and an everlengthening road to full fitness.
Mick McCarthy has insisted in recent weeks that Tomlin is still not up to speed in terms of the level of fitness he expects from his players to adopt that unrelenting pressing game.
The player, who added so much stardust to City’s season last year, has been limited to only five games in a Bluebirds shirt this term, starting just once against Blackburn Rovers in which he got sent off. He has not played since October after undergoing groin surgery.
But he has been a regular fixture for Steve Morison’s under-23s over the last six weeks in a bid to work his way up to full health.
These two weeks could do him a world of good in terms of proving his fitness to McCarthy and the firstteam staff on the training ground. Whether that will be enough to convince them he is ready to make a return is yet to be seen.
But it will be unlikely that Tomlin will be the preferred option. Harry Wilson has the shirt and will be nailedon first choice, while McCarthy appears to be a huge admirer of Leandro Bacuna.
And the manager is also a big fan of Jonny Williams from his time at Ipswich, plus he would not have bought him in January if he had no intention of crowbarring him into his plans this season and beyond.
We all know the magic Tomlin can produce, but whether he can convince McCarthy in the remaining eight games that he deserves a shot above the aforementioned three seems like a tough ask.
Jordi Osei-Tutu
The Arsenal loanee looked a brilliant acquisition until his hamstring injury back in October.
He has been missing for six months now and although he is back in the building at Cardiff, Arsenal remain cautious about his return to action.
The right-back missed last week’s under-23s game at Birmingham City, despite McCarthy having earmarked that as one of Osei-Tutu’s two games before a return to the first-team fold.
Quite where he sits in terms of his recovery is not entirely clear, but he cannot be a million miles away from a return.
The downside for him, though, is
that January signing Perry Ng has been nothing short of outstanding. He has nailed his spot down at wing-back in front of him.
Osei-Tutu’s only saving grace is that Ng has been deployed at left-back owing to the injury crisis the Bluebirds have over there, but Tom Sang has been just as impressive at right-back.
McCarthy will be loyal to the players doing the business for him and it would appear extremely harsh for him to take Sang out of the line-up now, especially after his magnificent display in the South Wales derby.
Osei-Tutu will have to get in front of both Ng and Sang if he is to get his shot before the season is through. Curtis Nelson
This is one of those 50-50 calls, because Curtis Nelson has been terrific since McCarthy came in.
He loves defending, his aerial game is ridiculously underrated and his athleticism is a key component of the pendulum back three Cardiff currently operate.
McCarthy is a big fan of Ciaron Brown, he recalled him from Livingston following a strong recommendation from a good friend and chief scout, and the Northern Ireland international has been solid enough.
Whether Nelson’s previous form is enough to oust Brown is the decision which has to be made.
McCarthy said before the international break that Nelson, who is recovering from a calf strain, could be available for the first game back against Forest, if not the following match against Sheffield Wednesday.
Nelson is a crucial part of the defence, adding a bit more of a dynamism to it, while Brown’s distribution and composure on the ball is lacking at times.
But Brown did well against Swansea and McCarthy would be more than happy to play him again, one would think. This will be an interesting one to monitor as we enter the back end of the campaign.