“They’ve got players that can individually hurt you” – Mark Hudson speaks out on “tough” Sunderland match as Cardiff City gear up for clash | OneFootball

Cardiff City will travel to the Stadium of Light this weekend to face a buoyant Sunderland side.

The Bluebirds will be looking to bounce back this weekend after their midweek 2-1 defeat at the hands of play-off chasers Watford.

After starting the season with Steve Morison as manager, Cardiff are now heading to Sunderland with former captain Mark Hudson still in interim charge. Wednesday night’s defeat was the Bluebirds’ fourth in their last six games, a run that has seen them slide down the table to 18th, just two points above the relegation zone.

Hudson has now been in charge of eight Cardiff games, with the Bluebirds picking up 10 points out of a possible 24 available. The Cardiff boss will be hoping his side can put midweek’s disappointment to one side and look to get three points against a Sunderland side in a confident mood after their 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town last time out.

Ahead of the trip to Sunderland, Hudson spoke about the challenge his said is facing. He said, via Sunderland Echo: “It’s a tough place to go. They’ve been getting crowds of around 40,000, so it will be a good experience for some of the players, and something to look forward to.

“It’s the third game in a week, so we’ve prepared as well as we can. We spoke about Sunderland yesterday, and we’re trying to put ourselves in a place where we can go there and get a result.

“They’re a good side, we’ve watched their strengths, and they’ve got players that can individually hurt you. We’ve got to be at our best. The performances have been there, it’s just the little moments that we can get better at.”

Hudson went on to add: “Consistency in our performances is what we’re looking for, and from that the results will come. I think that overall, it has been very good.

“We’re thinking can we get on the right side of results, where even the other night we could’ve drawn level between another moment of magic from Jaden [Philogene] or Sheyi [Ojo] nearly tucking it away. We’re in these games, and we’ve got another tough one tomorrow.”

Quiz: 20 quiz questions about some of Cardiff City's craziest ever results - can you score 20/20?

1 of 20

1) Cardiff City recorded their biggest ever win against Knighton Town back in 1962. What was the score?

16-0 18-0 12-0 9-0

The Verdict

The Stadium of Light is always a tough place to go and play, even more so when you’re playing a team that is coming off the back of a decent win away from home and performing reasonably this season.

This may be a new experience for some of these Cardiff players, as Hudson says they will be playing in front of 40,000 people. That is something that doesn’t happen week in and week out in this division, so Hudson will be hoping that his side can adapt quickly to the atmosphere, stay calm, and look to silence that big crowd.

If Cardiff’s start to this game is poor and they let Sunderland take control, this could possibly turn out to be a difficult afternoon for the Bluebirds.