By Tom Prosser

Ryan Giles has been one of Cardiff’s key players so far this season but his manager Mick McCarthy has revealed the youngster has tested positive for Covid for a second time, despite being double-jabbed.

Giles missed Wednesday’s defeat to Coventry and will also not return for the Bluebird’s clash against Bournemouth on Saturday.

“He’s got Covid. And what effect will it have on him? He’s had it once before and he’s double-jabbed,” explained McCarthy.

“He’s one of the younger players in our team that is double-jabbed.

“He’s not got much longer in isolation.

“He was out before Forest, so it’s maybe about three days before his isolation, but then he’s got to come back and train. We’ll see how he is.

“We are not the only club suffering with losing players due to covid, nearly every club is, we have a squad to pick from.”

Cardiff will be hoping that Giles can return to action sooner rather than later as they currently appear to be short of creative flair.

Lee Tomlin has recently had groin surgery and Josh Murphy was not replaced after he joined Preston on loan.

The Bluebird’s only had one shot on target in their last match against Coventry and will need to put that right if they are to challenge the top six this season.

Mick McCarthy’s men will be looking to return to winning ways against Scott Parker’s Bournemouth who are yet to lose a game so far this season.

“They’ve still got players from when they were in the Premier League,” said McCarthy.

“They’ve got some good players and a good manager.”

No creativity and those on the pitch who are capable of it were hauled off at half time. Meanwhile Lee Tomlin is left in the reserves and ignored. We also missed the pace and crossing ability of Ryan Giles too.

— Richard Lewis (@RichLew82) September 16, 2021

McCarthy is not looking to change too much ahead of the game and says it’s important not to panic after a defeat.

“We played on the Sunday and I thought we were very good. We went to Nottingham Forest and we were 1-0 down and then turned them over with a really top performance in the second half. It’s football.

“Sometimes you play badly, but we’re not going to throw everything out just because we’ve been beaten.”