When Cardiff City's team for the Middlesbrough game was published, there was a notable difference not only to the personnel, but the system the Bluebirds would deploy.
Cardiff had stuck to a fairly rigid 4-3-3 system in their first eight games of the season, which yielded two 1-0 wins with mixed results dotted in there.
A couple of areas of concern had emerged during the first portion of the campaign, though. Cardiff's lack of goals were becoming troublesome, while Perry Ng's contribution going forward was being outweighed by a couple of goals conceding through aerial inferiority.
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It showed laudable flexibility from the Bluebirds coaching staff, who opted for an ostensibly more conservative starting XI against Boro. Cardiff's bench arguably had five of their more creative or exciting players in Jaden Philogene, Rubin Colwill, Sheyi Ojo, Niels Nkounkou and Romaine Sawyers.
But how wrong that initial analysis proved to be. The system as a whole was far more effective than relying on individual creativity.
The decision to start two strikers appeared to solve the first major issue. With Max Watters having been isolated and, to be frank, just a couple of yards off the pace when City's strategy of drilling low crosses into the box was being implemented, the Bluebirds struggled to make much of a telling impact in opposition boxes.
But Callum Robinson's pairing with Mark Harris immediately gave Cardiff a better foothold higher up the pitch. For an albeit crass analysis, Watters managed only eight touches against Millwall last time out, Robinson and Harris combined touched the ball 44 times at the Riverside - they were afforded a few extra minutes on the pitch, too, mind you.
While of course it is not as simple as 'Cardiff are struggling for goals they should play two strikers instead of one', it's more complex than that. Having two trustworthy wing-backs in Callum O'Dowda and Mahlon Romeo, who have been two of Cardiff's better performers so far this season, adding to the attack while being defensively resolute makes the whole system work.
Steve Morison's choice of midfield was a shrewd one, too. The manager admitted he wanted Boro to have more of the ball, so chose a dog-like trio of Ryan Wintle, Joe Ralls and Andy Rinomhota to stifle and harry. It worked to a tee and it's not untrue to say City struggled a little more when Sawyers replaced skipper Ralls late on in the first half due to injury.
With a more resolute team and two strikers dovetailing nicely with each other, Boro failed to impart themselves on the game and City prospered. Robinson produced two assists in his first start for the club and Harris smacked home a bullet-like shot from 20 yards to take the score to 2-0.
Watters had been left out of the squad all together and if Harris puts in more frequent displays akin to his Boro performance, then it's difficult to see how the former gets back in.
It was proven before that Harris is far better with a strike partner. His relationship with Kieffer Moore for a time was really encouraging and he looks a much better play for it. Granted, Robinson is a different player to Moore, but the principle still stands.
The second issue which was beginning to grow surrounded Ng. He is one of Cardiff's better players, in the top five if you ask the lion's share of City fans. He has to be in the team - he is too good not to be.
It was perhaps something a gamble to start him in a back two, but he coped well for many of the early-season matches. But the set-piece issue was beginning to cause a few concerns. Perhaps the towering Charlie Cresswell header, which saw the Millwall defender leap above Ng to score, was the straw that broke the camel's back.
To bring in Jack Simpson, who was excellent by the way, and shift to a back three freed Ng up to allow him to be at his best in both defensive and attacking disciplines.
His goal was sensational, slaloming inside and out of the defenders' challenges before smacking a left-footed shot into the bottom corner to make it 3-0. We had seen precious little of Ng in that position in the previous eight games, largely owing to him having more onerous defensive responsibilities.
But the introduction of Simpson just released the shackles slightly on Ng and Cardiff reaped the rewards. Similarly, having Simpson in there to help man-mountain Cedric Kipre to defend the barrage of crosses into the box late on was very much an added bonus. Taking Ng off for Curtis Nelson for that very reason was also an underrated change.
As ever, change brings with it some drawbacks. It could mean Ojo, Nkounkou, Watters and Philogene see less game-time as a result. Or it could mean that Morison sees it as a horses-for-courses selection policy, but against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, it would be a surprise to see anything other than a similar line-up.
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