Championship Side Cardiff City Win 4-0 Against Derby County With Just 27% Possession

Cardiff City's form since appointing Mick McCarthy in January has been nothing short of remarkable and a 4-0 win against Derby County on Tuesday night raised plenty of eyebrows...because of the possession stats.

The Championship side have climbed to sixth in the league after seven wins in their last 10 games.

McCarthy's pragmatic and risk-free approach has certainly brought success to the Cardiff City Stadium. He has restored balance to the club's line-up, employing five at the back.

He also has got the best out of players like Harry Wilson, Joe Bennett and Leandro Bacuna, who scored twice in last night's 4-0 win against Wayne Rooney's Derby.

It was a classic Mick McCarthy display as the Welsh side produced a very cautious Football Manager-style performance against their opponents, having more shots and shots on target despite earning just 27 percent possession.

Compared to the home side, Derby completed almost triple the amount of passes but they didn't make it count.

I mean, just look at these stats from Tuesday night's Championship clash.

Image: Google

In his post-match interview, Mick McCarthy admitted his side weren't at their very best but he was clearly in good spirits.

"I don't know if that's the best we've played, it is another good performance, we were very organised and disciplined and didn't allow Derby to play through us." he said.

"We worked exceptionally hard and that gives you the foundation to create chances and I was disappointed we weren't more than 1-0 up at half-time.

"It was great to get the second goal when we did and we thoroughly deserved the victory.

"We'll be back in tomorrow and recovering. It's easier to recover, easier to want to play. everybody wants to play, things are good. Long may that continue, we've won nowt yet, that's for sure."

Can McCarthy lead Cardiff to the Premier League again? It's certainly looking promising as they make it 10 games unbeaten.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Topics: Derby County, Cardiff City, championship

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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