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Glen Williams

Cardiff City ask Sabri Lamouchi to start transfer planning for next season but focus remains on Championship survival

Sabri Lamouchi insists his sole focus remains on the next 12 games despite Cardiff City asking him to think about reshaping the squad for next season.

At time of writing, Cardiff don't know in which division they will be playing next year as they look to stave off relegation to League One.

The Bluebirds are desperately shy of goals - they are the worst attack in the league and have the lowest shot-to-goal ratio in the Championship - and doubtless need to address that area of the pitch in the summer.

READ MORE: Cardiff City must strike right balance between short-term aim and long-term progress amid transfer and contract dilemmas

But just when does that transfer planning begin? Well, while Lamouchi remains focused on getting as many points as possible, starting with the Severnside derby against Bristol City on Saturday, he thinks this month's international break might provide him with some scope to start planning longer term.

"Look, [the club] asked me to think about next season. They asked me to think about the next squad," Lamouchi said on Thursday morning.

"But, to be honest, I just want to focus on my squad right now and this season, because we have points to get. We are not so far away, but we are not safe yet.

"We need, absolutely, to focus on game by game. It's Bristol for Saturday, after Saturday it will be Preston, West Brom, then Rotherham. And maybe during the international break, think about the next step for the club.

"But let me keep my mind and concentration just on this season and on these important games that are coming."

And what of his own situation? As things stand, the Frenchman is only contract to the club for four more months. However, in his first press conference, he said if the club survived the drop, he would "absolutely" be in the Welsh capital next season.

"Honestly, it's too early to talk about next season. I am happy here, that's for sure," he said of his own contract.

"But I will be happier with 15 more points."

In order to do that, of course, Cardiff must start to find the back of the net with more regularity. Lamouchi said he has been trying his utmost in training this week to address the team's deficiencies at the top end of the pitch.

"We tried to do a very simple exercise, to give confidence to our offensive players, not only the strikers," he said.

"We can score from different parts of the pitch. Not only (Sory) Kaba, Connor (Wickham) or Kion (Etete), unfortunately we have lost Callum Robinson, so we have reduced our chance to score with our best scorer out.

"It's one more problem. But with this kind of problem it's my job to find the solution. When I arrived, I identified immediately, when you are the worst attack in the league, you need to work on the system, to try and create more opportunities and chances to score.

"It's better and better, but we don't score. We don't have the killer mentality. And when we give others the chance to score, they score, because Norwich have good players and they make the difference.

"We need to believe we will do it. And we try with a simple exercise in the training ground. But without intensity or opponents, it's different to a game. In a game you have just one second to do the right choice and make a good decision. It's just confidence.

"I receive them individually in my office, I talk to each one of them to try to understand the situation from the players and share some moments with them.

"I'm [at the training ground] probably 12 hours minimum. Of course, they don't stay 12 hours in training. It's just about communication, my door is always open.

"Fortunately, we won against Birmingham and Reading. But after them, there were many good things, many positive things. We try to keep the positive things. When we are not in confidence, we don't need to put more negative clips. They know, more than us. It's my responsibility to fix it and show them the road, do the job in a good atmosphere and increase mentally, technically, tactically, physically. We have to show more."

He will hope his team show more this Saturday, when Cardiff welcome Bristol City for the second Severnside derby of the season. Kick-off is at 12.30pm.

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