Steve Morison wants to make the change Cardiff City have been crying out for as he addresses transfer plan

Cardiff City supporters have become so conditioned to watching three centre-backs that social media was abuzz an hour before kick-off as fans were left unconvinced about the prospect of moving Joel Bagan into left centre-half against Reading.

Some, though, thought the starting XI pointed to a more sizeable change, one which might see a four-at-the-back implemented – not since the days of Neil Harris have we seen that at Cardiff City. But they were right.

Steve Morison ripped up the playbook and opted for a 4-2-3-1 which dropped a centre-back and found room to accommodate both Tommy Doyle and Rubin Colwill, a quite potent creative force in tandem. It was a system designed to facilitate a different style of play, too, one that encouraged Cardiff's more attacking players to see more action and for the Bluebirds to hold more possession of the ball.

: The mightily impressive Cardiff defender who was thrown in at the deep end and thrived

Morison tried to do that when he first came and in it yielded mixed results. Perhaps understandably so, given the squad had been moulded by Mick McCarthy, who implemented a system of trying to make Cardiff an off-the-ball team who hit with counter-attacks and set-pieces.

It was an almost impossible task for Morison to completely untangle all of that while trying to propel his team away from the increasingly alarming threat of relegation. It took self-awareness, though, to stop trying to change too many things and go back to the drawing board. The manager went back to what he describes as a more "pragmatic" method to get results in the bag and consolidate the club's status as a Championship team, which they have done.

That is why Morison saw the Reading game as the perfect opportunity to give