Fan Focus: With Dean Whitehead in the dugout, can Cardiff cause Sunlun bother today?

RR: Before this chat I was hunting around on Cardiff social media and it seems the fans are in the dark on the managerial situation - what the hell’s going on there?

TCE: Yeah... it's been a rocky few weeks in terms of real clarity.

To be honest, us fans haven’t had a clue what’s going on behind the scenes, which isn’t ideal. However, it seems as though the club are only looking towards Mark Hudson (the caretaker manager) himself now.

Hopefully, we’ll have some answers soon.

RR: Given what’s going on with managers at Cardiff, how optimistic are you about your chances for the rest of this season?

TCE: To be honest there isn’t much optimism around the place at the moment.

We’re in a struggling position in terms of league standings.

Performances are there, but the all important results are very inconsistently showing.

Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images

RR: Former Sunderland captain Dean Whitehead joined the club this week as part of the coaching staff - what did you make of the news?

TCE: Personally, I’m not too knowledgeable of how he fairs as a coach but the news does provide us with an idea that this setup - with Whitehead and Hudson - looks likely to be the plan at the moment.

RR: How’s the season been so far then?

TCE: Not brilliant. We started on the front foot, with a lot of positive new additions in the summer, but our turbulent form with yet another derby loss has summed up the story of our campaign so far.

RR: I noticed in the summer that you did a lot of business in the free agent market, and Tony Mowbray talked about how Cardiff have changed the way they play from being a big, rugged side to one that tries to play football - is that accurate?

TCE: In some ways yes. There has been an improvement in the standard of football and playing style. It’s seemingly changed a bit again under Hudson in comparison to Morrison, but it’s a lot better than under previous bosses, I’d say.

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RR: On to the game then. How’s the mood of the fanbase going into this one?

TCE: I would say that some sections of the fan base may even be optimistic going into this game, however the overall mood on social media and in the ground is seemingly quite negative at the moment.

RR: Of the Cardiff players that will line up at the Stadium of Light, who do you think is most likely to cause us harm?

TCE: I think the dangerman will be Jaden Philogene, who is on loan from Villa. He’s really come into himself inthe last two games and showed what he’s about against Watford.

If he turns up on the day as he has been, he’ll be our focal point.

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RR: How do you rate your chances of coming away from the SoL with a decent result?

TCE: I’d say it’ll be quite a low chance - Sunderland are a solid side but hopefully in some way shape or form we could be riled right up for this game, play to our strengths and we could grab the points!

RR: How about a score prediction then - how do you see this one playing out?

TCE: Going to go with a 2-1 win in favour of Sunderland.

I can’t see us winning.