'Cardiff style helping surge in Wales call-ups'

Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy believes the similarities in style between his team and Craig Bellamy's Wales have contributed to the Bluebirds' recent surge in international call-ups.

There were five Cardiff players in the Wales squad for their matches against England and Belgium this month, whereas there were none when Bellamy's side started their World Cup qualifying campaign in March.

That is despite the fact that the Bluebirds were a Championship club at that point and are now in League One following their relegation last season.

But since dropping down a division and hiring Barry-Murphy, Cardiff have shown faith in their young players, who have shone in their strong start to the campaign.

"It's different to other clubs and countries isn't it? Cardiff is the capital of this country and there's so many of our players now involved, it feels pretty unique," Barry-Murphy said.

"A lot of the language that Craig uses and a lot of the way that he sees the game will be similar to ourselves.

"There will naturally be different parts of it that is unique to each team but just seeing the way that he previewed the [Belgium] game and the way he reflected on the England game, a lot of things that we would be saying to the players would be pretty similar.

"I think that helps, that you're not going from totally different environments into different international environments from club level, and it helps us when they come back. It's really helpful for me."

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Barry-Murphy and Bellamy have both earned plaudits for the way in which they have instilled in their teams a bold new playing ethos, with an emphasis on attack and pressing opponents.

Former Manchester City Under-21s boss Barry-Murphy attended his first Wales game at Cardiff City Stadium on Monday night, the 4-2 defeat against Belgium.

Cardiff's players were not involved, with centre-back Dylan Lawlor believed to be in contention to start were it not for a groin injury.

But Lawlor, Ronan Kpakio and Joel Colwill all made their Wales debuts last month, while nine-cap Rubin Colwill was recalled last week and Isaak Davies got a first senior call-up for the England and Belgium fixtures.

"I think it's really exciting for everybody," Barry-Murphy added.

"Naturally they all want to get on the pitch and make an impact, but I think the general feeling around the Welsh team is very exciting and something that we're hoping directly at a club level to see so many young players involved is something that's pretty important for us all.

"I suppose the more in tune with the way he wants to play that our players are, then it may have an influence, but I don't know. I think it's not part of our planning. Our planning is to play the way we want to play because we believe in it. But hopefully the more exposure our players have in our club team, the more chance it gives them to gain international recognition.

"I've seen here, it's a huge part of life in this city and in this club and you can see what it means to the players in our squad when they are selected. To have that ambition or that drive to play for your national team can only help them in terms of what they're doing for the club."

Meanwhile, Lawlor's groin injury means he is a doubt for Cardiff's League One game at home to Reading on Saturday.

"He's had it previously with us, so he's not clear of that yet," said Barry-Murphy.

"He hasn't trained with us since, so hopefully this afternoon [Thursday] he'll partake in training in some way. But as of now he's a doubt.

"He's a very young player, I'm not an expert on maturation or growing but he seems to be growing and developing a lot physically. So I don't want to pre-empt him having a lot of issues but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of this during the season where you see him carrying niggles as he adjusts to the schedule that he's now been asked to partake in."