Sport

Brian Barry-Murphy targets reinforcements as Cardiff defensive crisis deepens

22 Aug 2026 4 minute read

Derby County v Cardiff City. EFL Sky Bet Championship. Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy. Credit: Gareth Everett, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy saw his side pegged back twice to draw 2-2 at Derby and then promised to make defensive reinforcements ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Norwich.

The Bluebirds were without four injured centre-backs at Pride Park, with Gabriel Osho the latest to join a crippling casualty list already including Dylan Lawlor, Calum Chambers and Will Fish.

That meant Barry-Murphy was forced to play Perry Ng and Joel Bagan at the heart of his defence and, despite their valiant efforts, Rams’ pair Carlton Morris and Bobby Clark were able to cancel out Cian Ashford and Yousef Salech’s goals for the visitors.

It is a frailty the Cardiff boss will now look to address in the transfer market.

“We have four players injured in that position, which is pretty unusual so, fingers crossed, something will happen soon and I’d expect to have somebody in before Tuesday – even though the players we put in there did a great job and I was proud and pleased with their performance,” he declared.

With his shortage of natural defenders, Barry-Murphy admitted he felt his team’s best chance of a positive result was getting on the front foot and it almost paid off, with Rubin Colwill also seeing a thumping effort turned onto the crossbar by Derby keeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom during an open and entertaining encounter.

On his side’s display, Barry-Murphy added: “We tried to win by being as aggressive as possible because I thought the best form of defence was attack and we needed to get on the front foot. The players did that and I’m just disappointed that we didn’t get the win.

“We were very slick going forward and I wanted to keep the ball for as long as possible. We created dangerous chances, especially in the first half, and they have a really good team and a good manager and create situations that are difficult to defend, so you have to defend the box well.

“We had an incredible following and the scenes at the end were great, so I felt we had no choice but to go for the win for them, but we also showed maturity not to lose the game.”

Cardiff City players celebrate a goal away at Derby. Credit: Gareth Everett, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Derby boss John Eustace bemoaned his own team’s defensive problems, having now conceded two goals in each of their first three games of the season.

“The two goals we gave away were not at the level required again and it’s something we have to improve on,” he said. “But it took us a while to get going last season and we will improve again as this season goes on, because we’re a work in progress.

“Overall, I’m very happy we didn’t lose and to come back after being behind twice shows there’s great fight and team spirit in the group. We started the game well, but you have to put the ball in the net when you’re on top and we needed to be better in both boxes.

“We knew they would look to keep possession and we needed to be better when we won the ball off them but in the second half, they didn’t cause us any issues. We sat a bit deeper at times and on the turnover weren’t quite good enough, but I was delighted with the attitude of the boys and it’s a point on the board.”

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