Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy has said that he wants “a little bit more” from his side, even after a convincing 4-1 victory over Roma in their final friendly ahead of the new season.

The Bluebirds ran riot against the three-time Serie A champions, with goals from Yousef Salech and Ollie Tanner, plus a brace from Cian Ashford, sealing an impressive win.

Goalkeeper Nathan Trott – the club’s only summer arrival so far after his loan was made permanent back in May – also produced a standout moment, saving a penalty from Paulo Dybala who stuttered his run-up, during a first half in which Cardiff surged into a 3-0 lead.

Dybala did find a way to make amends, pulling one back for Roma 12 minutes into the second half, but Tanner quickly restored Cardiff’s three-goal advantage moments later to put the result beyond doubt.

Head coach Brian Barry-Murphy, who signed a contract extension with the club last month, fielded as strong a line-up as he could muster just a week out from the Bluebirds’ opening competitive fixture of the season. Only Rubin Colwill and young defender Dylan Lawlor were absent.

The Irishman will take huge confidence from the performance as his side prepare for the return of Championship football, but is not resting on his laurels so close to the start of the new season.

“We feel as if we’ve been improving throughout the course of the pre-season,” Barry-Murphy said.

“We obviously have a long way and a lot more to do but I think the intensity of the [Roma] game was just what we wanted so it’ll bring us on a lot and physically will improve us no end.

“I don’t know if it’s where we want to be, we always want a little bit more.

“But we have to have an appreciation of how little football we played and understand that we have to be patient with the players while they become physically conditioned to play the way we want to play.

“But I think you saw in the first half how aggressive we can be, in the second half naturally we tired a little bit and weren’t as good but all the players I think came through in a healthy state so a very beneficial day for us.”

 

With Trott the only confirmed signing so far, there is scope for Cardiff to do more business before the window closes.

“I’ve always felt really well backed at this club and I feel really grateful to be here,” he added.

“We have an incredible hunger to move the club forward and improve it in all areas.

“The team and recruitment is one of those, so we’re highly motivated to give them what they want.

“I’m always confident that we’ll improve the team.”

There have been plenty of rumours above potential signings, but perhaps the most promising thing is the lack of movement for Cardiff’s young talent that caught the eye in League One last campaign.

“I’m just working really hard to focus on the team for me really and leave the stuff as regards recruitment in the background,” Barry-Murphy revealed.

“It’s been helpful for me to have such organisation behind the scenes because I’ve been able to concentrate on the team from the very start of pre-season.

“Like I said, I think I made some mistakes in my first summer here where I was talking about numbers [of players] and stuff.

“I think this time I think it’s more straightforward.”

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