Three-time Socceroo Alex Robertson helped Cardiff secure an immediate bounce-back from League One to the EFL Championship last season, making nine direct goal contributions in his 34 appearances as the Bluebirds made sure their relegation to England's third-tier was a quick one.
Under the stewardship of Bury stalwart Brian-Barry Murphy, Cardiff finished the season strongly with four wins from their last six matches to finish in a comfortable second between League One winners Lincoln City.
Cardiff are amongst the favourites to finish in the relegation zone along with fellow newly promoted clubs Lincoln and Bolton, as well as QPR, Charlton, Portsmouth and Preston North End, but if they can continue building upon this kind of football the club social media admin dubbed 'BBM ball' seen below, the signs are promising.
Robertson (white shirt, number 18) was involved multiple times in a chain of no fewer than 15 passes that started from deep within their own half before a fast transition ended with 24-year-old Isaak Davies slamming one through the goalkeeper's defences.
23-year-old Robertson attended Tony Popovic's pre-World Cup training camp in Florida this June as part of an extended squad before being cut from the final squad that was eliminated in the Round of 32.
He had previously described his 2023 Socceroos debut as the proudest moment of his career and will be using Cardiff's Championship return to continue pushing for a place in January's AFC Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
