The Opposition View - Cardiff City

With special thanks to the Vital Cardiff Editor, we ask a few questions on their club, their progress this season and tomorrow's game....

-------------------------------------------------------------

1) What are your hopes and expectations for the season?

Hopes are realistically for a mid table finish, having lost a huge number of players during the summer. The ambitions have been revised more recently after the squad has gelled and a play-off position come May would represent a fantastic achievement.

2) What are your strengths and weaknesses as a team?

Our strength is certainly our work ethic and fitness, we've come a long way from the individual performances of last season and the squad works incredibly hard for each other now. One thing desperately lacking from our current team is pace. We're not a slow team, however an extra player with natural pace would provide a threat and expose space in a way we can't currently do.

3) Who are the player/s to look out for?

The player to watch out for is Peter Whittingham without question. He has been simply superb this season, and responded brilliantly to Mackay essentially building the team around him. Everything goes through Whittingham and most fans would be incredibly concerned if he were injured. On this season's performances, he would merit a place in most top half Premiership sides.

4) How well has Malky Mackay done as Cardiff manager so far?

Malky Mackay has been exceptional. His attitude is faultless and he's instrumental in every aspect of the club, in contrast to former manager Dave Jones who was more hands-off in certain areas. Mackay has brought in talented players prepared to work hard, and moulded them into a tight unit who know their roles inside out and play as a team. Plenty were unsure about taking a punt on such an inexperienced manager, but it really looks like we've got a gem of a manager in charge.

5) What's your prediction for the game?

Cardiff City were just building some good momentum, and the International break will have scuppered that. I think our formation suits playing away from home and we can certainly get something from the game. Unfortunately for us, Reading are better than your league table suggests so a draw might be a realistic expectation. With Reading playing in quite a few low scoring games, maybe 1-1 would be my best guess.