Cardiff City

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BBC Sport asked Cardiff City fans what players are needed to be recruited by head coach Brian Barry-Murphy in January and in what positions?

Here are some of the responses we received:

Stephen - We need more creativity in midfield and have missed Rubin Colwill. We also need a regular goal scorer as we miss too many opportunities which inevitably puts pressure on our younger players as the game progresses.

Lyndon - We definitely need cover at left-back, a good playmaker in midfield and another striker wouldn't go amiss. We're doing well but a few signings would keep the team fresh.

Rhiannon - I think if we want to stay at the top we need another left back because if Joel Bagan gets injured we have no senior player in that position. BBM seriously needs to sort that defence partnership out - it changes so often that we are so open to conceding goals. Hopefully we can have [Ollie] Tanner back in January but the main priorities need to be a left back.

Alan - The way we are playing teams off the park, more goals is what's needed. A striker is needed in January for more competition for [Youssef] Salech and [Callum] Robinson.

Andy - They need a left back and possibly another striker. I am extremely happy with the way the team, playing the young players and local lads in the team.

Kevin - Due to the absence of [Rubin] Colwill. Possibly need cover in midfield for an influential, attacking player. Also we only have one left-back - need someone to cover Bagan.

Mike - Out and out ruthless striker who is selfish and not afraid to have a crack at goal.

Luke Hemmings
BBC Sport Wales

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League One leaders Cardiff City face two fresh injury concerns as they prepare to face Leyton Orient and look to build on a strong festive period that earned them 13 points from six matches.

Cian Ashford, who was forced off in their victory against Wigan, is a "major doubt" for the trip to Brisbane Road after suffering a dead leg according to manager Brian Barry-Murphy.

Dylan Lawlor, the subject of transfer interest, is also a concern after coming off with muscle related fatigue in the same match at Cardiff City Stadium.

Despite the setbacks, Barry Murphy says the squad remains in a "pretty good place", praising the conditioning work led by head of performance Kevin Gibbins as Cardiff aim to stay robust at the season's midpoint.

"Kevin Gibbins has done an exceptional job in bringing the players to a place where we can really start to attack the season," he said.

"We believe we're going to improve a lot physically. We've tried to make changes from week to week to give ourselves the best chance to maintain a healthy squad and not lose players to injuries because that will be a major issue for us."

There was also positive news regarding the recovery of Wales international Rubin Colwill, who has been absent since November with an ankle injury.

"Rubin's back running on the treadmill, so we expect him to be out on the grass next week," Barry Murphy said.

"He's a player we value enormously so to have him progressing so quickly is a huge boost. He is the type of player we just couldn't recruit anywhere and so having him back in February is something we're looking forward to."

Eli King is also making encouraging progress in his long term rehabilitation.

"Eli's back on the grass this week doing some straight line running," Barry Murphy added.

"We expect him to train with us before the end of the season. When you come back from an ACL, you need an extended period of training, so we don't expect him to play this season."

Leyton Orient go into Saturday's game with Cardiff (15:00 GMT) in 20th position in League One on a three-match losing sequence.

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As Cardiff City look to maintain their lead at the top of League One, BBC Sport is asking fans what new signings, if any, are needed during the January transfer window.

With 22 games of the season remaining, Brian Barry-Murphy's Bluebirds are three points clear at the top of the table with one game in hand over nearest rivals Lincoln City.

What players - and in what positions - do Cardiff need this month?

Let us know your views by clicking here.

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Michael Reindorf's loan spell at Newport County has been cut short with the striker returning to parent-club Cardiff City.

Reindorf joined the Exiles on a season-long deal last summer.

But the 20-year-old will now head back to the Bluebirds having scored once in 22 appearances during his spell with League Two strugglers Newport.

Reindorf, who has made four senior appearances for Cardiff, has not scored since Newport's opening game of the season and his most recent appearance was in early December.

Newport said they wished Reindorf "every future success".

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Sam Vokes believes Calum Chambers epitomises the culture Brian Barry-Murphy has helped to create at Cardiff City since becoming the Bluebirds' head coach last summer.

Chambers netted a sublime long-range goal to earn Cardiff all three points last time out against Wigan Athletic.

The former England international - who won three caps for his country in 2014 - has been in and out of Barry-Murphy's side this season, starting just 11 of the Bluebirds' 24 matches in League One so far.

But ex-Wales forward Vokes says Chambers' experience has been vital for Cardiff's young guns this term as the Bluebirds continue to lead the way in the third tier.

"You talk about Chambers, he's still only 30. He's been there and done it at the highest level," Vokes said on the Feast of Football podcast.

"People like Dylan Lawlor would have grown up seeing him playing in an Arsenal team, now sharing a dressing room with someone like that, Lawlor looks like the kind of character who will pick his brains and speak to him.

"Chambers might not play every week, but he looks like a real leader in that dressing room.

"Fair play to Brian Barry-Murphy, it looks like that's the culture he's created there.

"If you've got players that aren't starting every week, are in and out and they're still saying they're loving being involved and playing for Cardiff at the minute, then you've got a good thing going."

Chambers' strike against Wigan was his first league goal since netting in a 2-1 defeat by Luton Town in the Championship in April 2025.

The 30-year-old's contract in the Welsh capital expires at the end of the 2026-27 season.

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Not many centre-backs have a back catalogue of long-range goals like Cardiff City captain Calum Chambers.

The former Arsenal player's brilliant 25-yard match-winning effort against Wigan Athletic on Sunday was just the latest in a long line of memorable strikes from the 30-year-old.

Chambers has also been on target for the likes of Fulham and Aston Villa during his career, which included three senior England caps in 2014.

Having struck in the Premier League and Championship in previous seasons, his goal against Wigan kept Cardiff three points clear at the top of League One.

"It's something I like to do. I've popped up every now and again over my career and scored a nice goal here and there," said Chambers.

"It's like a little party trick of mine. It comes out every now and again.

"I think someone told me after the game, exactly a year ago today [Sunday], it was the Middlesbrough goal [for Cardiff in the Championship].

"I do enjoy getting forward in that part of the game. I started as a kid as a right winger, so I do think I've got an instinct for it.

"But it's just nice to help the team and a clean sheet really is more important for me."

Cardiff are flying in League One this season, their first campaign at this level for more than two decades.

Chambers joined the Bluebirds from Villa in the summer of 2024 and, after a bitterly disappointing first term in which the Welsh club were relegated from the Championship, he is relishing his time in a winning team.

"It's amazing, I'm really enjoying this season," the Southampton academy product said.

"Last season was tough but the turnaround from the boys and mentality of the squad now I think is credit to everyone and the manager [Brian Barry-Murphy] especially.

"To play in front of the crowd we have and the away support as well, the following we have is amazing. It's really enjoyable.

"We want more, we want to keep going. As long as we put in the performances and put in what we want to achieve in a game, the results will come from the back of that."

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Eastleigh have signed defenders Luey Giles and Will Spiers on loan from Cardiff City for the rest of the season.

Giles, 19, and Spiers, 20, are both part of the Bluebirds' academy with left-back Giles having made eight senior appearances for the League One club, including three cup games this campaign.

Right-back Spiers has played two first-team games for Cardiff so far, both in the EFL Trophy.

He spent time on loan with Welsh National League North side Merthyr Town earlier this season.

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Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy hailed his side's performance at Wycombe Wanderers as "exhilarating at times" despite returning from Adams Park with just one point.

The former Manchester City and Leicester City coach admitted to some frustration after seeing his side create plenty of scoring opportunities in the New Year's Day 1-1 draw but said his players were only "human".

The result saw Cardiff maintain their three-point lead at the top of League One with a side showing six changes as Barry-Murphy sought to keep his side "fresh and ready" over the demanding festive period.

"I can't really ask any more from the players apart from obviously wanting to score the goals that we feel we deserve," he said after the draw with 13th-placed Wanderers.

"We've been so dominant in the game and created so many good chances, chances we would normally take.

"[At Wycombe] we just couldn't and I'm very pleased with large parts of the performance again.

"We went to Lincoln and Bolton, places like that, and produced what we thought were OK performances but didn't create enough chances.

"We produced a lot of chances [against Wycombe] and some of our play was exhilarating at times. Overall very pleased with the performance while naturally wanting to have a bit more and score the goals."

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Ronan Kpakio, Dylan Lawlor, Joel Colwill, Alex Robertson and Omari Kellyman all returned to the Bluebirds' starting XI at Adams Park, along with Gabriel Osho, who had been absent since the start of December when he dislocated a toe.

And Barry-Murphy was delighted with the performance of centre-back Osho (pictured above), who has had limited playing time since his £1m move from Auxerre in the summer.

"Brilliant performance, very happy to get him back involved and I think more than anything he wants to show his team-mates and his supporters what he can do. I think you saw clear signs of what he's going to bring to our team when he's fully fit," he added.

"He's only had a few days' training so he was pretty fatigued when he came off. We made a lot of changes because we wanted to produce a really energetic and highly dynamic performance for our supporters who travelled in such numbers, and we did."

Barry-Murphy is now expecting to make further changes for Sunday's home game with Wigan (15:00 GMT).

"I think we have such a young squad and they've never been through this type of schedule before so, you know, all the players we feel have such ability that we can play any player in any position, any stage," he said.

"It's not rotating for the sake of it because we believe in the players so much and as such we have to reflect that on the teams we pick."

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Head coach Brian Barry-Murphy praised Cardiff City for their perseverance in a "strong-willed" win over Stevenage which kept the Bluebirds top of League One.

Cardiff dominated their promotion rivals on Monday but fell behind against the run of play before fighting back to triumph 2-1 thanks to Yousef Salech's 82nd-minute goal.

A seventh successive home league victory kept Cardiff three points clear at the top of League One, with a game in hand over second-place Lincoln City.

"It's a good place to be. I'd rather be there than anywhere else. Trying to stay there is the challenge," said Barry-Murphy.

"I'm really pleased with the players and the way they played, especially when we went behind in the game.

"It was evident how good they [Stevenage] are defensively. We have the highest regard for Stevenage and what they do, so we knew it was going to be difficult, but the players were even more strong-willed in how they played.

"We train all the time to never give up and to always just look at the next action, the next moment in the game and keep going no matter what the score is. And once that starts to happen in games, it can become a really powerful trait that the players believe it can happen."

In defeating Stevenage, Cardiff secured a seventh straight home league win for the first time since they won promotion to the Premier League under Neil Warnock in 2018.

"We're really grateful for the support," said Barry-Murphy. "Almost 20,000 again on a Monday and the expense for families in December is extraordinary, I know that myself.

"To see so many people come out again after such a short run from the last game, it felt really positive. I know we went behind and it was very disappointing, but I felt as if we were in a pretty good place and we'll create chances.

"And once you attack that Canton Stand, then you can feel the energy increase and increase and it drives the players forward. It's an amazing stadium and amazing support that we're very grateful for."