Cardiff City warned of complacency amid winless away Championship form

Cardiff’s issues at the back were exposed early at Molineux, as they shipped two goals within 15 minutes, with Wolves hardly breaking a sweat.

The visitors had – and continue to have – genuine injury issues at the back, which Barry-Murphy loathed to criticise too harshly, but even he knew it was not good enough.

“All three goals from our point of view were very disappointing and very soft,” he said.

“We came here – despite Wolves’ reputation and where they’ve come from – to win the game, but we defended the box really poorly in those situations.

“If you give teams like this the ball in the areas we did, then you are vulnerable.

“It’s an insight for us what we have to do against teams of this calibre to give ourselves a chance to win the game.”

They should not need a 3-0 beating to be aware of such simple things as tracking runners, but it is worth noting there were two divisions between the sides last season.

And – according to the statistics at least – Barry-Murphy’s charges gave as good as they got.

As they have done in many games this season, they bossed possession and got shots away.

In fact, Cardiff had more shots on target (nine) than their three-goal hosts (four) and – based on xG – deserved at least one goal to have made the contest interesting.

But then, Cardiff are not afraid of shooting. Only Middlesbrough and West Ham have had more shots this season.

Barry-Murphy suggested his side should have worked Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa more often, but Blake was less than convinced by a game already lost by defensive frailties.

“Wolves were only five or six out of ten, they weren’t brilliant,” said Blake, a man who won promotion to the Premier League in Old Gold.

“They just weren’t challenged to step up a gear, so you don’t know if they had another level in the bag. The goals were just too easy.

“Cardiff had a massive contingent of away fans, but it was probably the quietest I’ve ever heard two and a half thousand fans in my life.

“They were waiting for the team to give them something – but through the 90 minutes Cardiff didn’t deliver.”

Cardiff will have the chance again on Wednesday as they look to find a bit more home comfort in the Championship before any concern starts to grow.