The Pressure Cooker

With just three wins all season, and five successive defeats coming before the international break, Mick McCarthy is hanging on to his job as Cardiff City manager.

The Bluebirds had been expected to challenge for the top six this season after a strong finish to the last campaign after McCarthy's appointment in the second-half of the campaign. They started the season relatively well in August, but it is fair to say that a collapse has ensued.

What has gone wrong

Five successive defeats and a dramatic slide down the table between one international break to another would be indicative of some fundamental problems. It is especially damaging and damning when a few of those defeats have been heavy ones. Their 5-1 loss against Blackburn was followed up by a 4-0 defeat at home to West Brom just a few days later.

A lack of tactical cohesion has been apparent with very little in the way of pre-set attacking patterns of play. That is something McCarthy has addressed himself: 

©Getty / Simon Galloway - PA Images

“Let me tell you, when we train we don’t just practice hitting long and hopeful balls, that’s for sure. The other night, there were loads of moans and groans and that was fully understandable, because that was some really poor football we produced.”

Whilst an acknowledgment and apparent understanding of what is going wrong on-the-field is admirable and encouraging, it may also concern supporters who may be left asking "If that isn’t what is practiced in training then why isn’t the manager capable of implementing his training methods to in-game situations?"

A lack of summer transfer business may have harmed Cardiff because, whilst it was a positive end to the season last year, McCarthy has touched upon the fact that he has “pretty much the same squad of players that was there when I arrived.”

This would be indicative of a side standing still in a fast-moving league with a lot of seriously ambitious clubs and owners.

In favour of McCarthy 

The benefits of McCarthy in situ stem from an abundance of experience that should be suited to his current squad of players. If McCarthy can find a way of impacting upon his players like he did in the second-half of last season then Cardiff should be able to steady themselves and rise back up the table.

©Stu Forster / Getty Images

His job at Ipswich Town in his first two seasons in charge was a good example of an underperforming squad of players following quite simple instructions to rise up the table. This is a squad of players that have been built in that sort of tactical image over recent years under McCarthy’s predecessors Neil Harris and Neil Warnock.

Coming up

The South Wales derby. One of the fiercest rivalries in British football. Not the type of game you want to be going into if you are feeling a bit fragile, but that is what will greet Mick McCarthy this weekend. A defeat in that game really could well spell the end for the former Republic of Ireland defender.

Michael Flynn’s shock departure from Newport County just a few weeks ago has also upped the pressure, with many already lining up the impressive young Welshman as McCarthy's potential replacement.