Gunnarsson 60', Campbell 79', 87' Dzeko 52', Negredo 90'
Welsh woe for Pellegrini and co.
City were dealt a monumental blow on Sunday evening as Malky Mackay's Welsh dragons frazzled Pellegrini's complacent clan.
The Bluebirds took flight early on and fearlessly attacked the wanna-be Premier League champions in front of a ferocious home crowd. Ex-United forward Fraizer Campbell was unlucky not to put his side in front thanks to a string of stops from Joe Hart.
The sloppy mess that was the first half dwindled out and despite the talent on show for the blues, goals didn't look likely.
Seven minutes into the second half, City's first glimmer of intricacy resulted in a scorcher from Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian striker launched a full scale assault on the top right hand corner following a fancy flick from Sergio Aguero. 1-0 up and still, we never looked comfortable.
The home crowd, bleeting furiously like a herd of maniacal sheep, refused to quieten and eight minutes later, Aron Gunnarsson pounced on a defensive lapse to score Cardiff's first ever Premier League goal. The Lescott-Garcia partnership was proving to be as solid as water and God only knows what Vincent Kompany was thinking.
Unsurprisingly, things got worse. The Blues decided they no longer wanted to defend from corners and Pablo Zabaleta allowed Fraizer Campbell to nod Cardiff to a 3-1 lead in the space of eight minutes. Joe Hart may as well have been a sausage in front of the net.
With only minutes to spare, Alvaro Negredo guided a delightful header into the top corner to give his side some consolation.
The performance was, above all, lazy. Yaya possessed all the urgency of a pensioner taking a stroll on a summer's day; Aguero held on to the ball like a child nursing his new bike on Christmas day and Javi Garcia had rocks in his boots.
Kompany's absence was a blow to the team, but it wasn't the reason we lost.
As the great David Walker would say, trust our MP. He'll sort things out.
Player Ratings
Joe Hart 6Criticism continues to flow. Produced a number of fine stops to keep out Fraizer Campbell early on and although his one on one record is brilliant, he flapped at Cardiff's second.
Pablo Zabaleta 4Unfortunately, this could have been the Argentine's worst performance in a City shirt. Lost Campbell twice allowing him to score twice.
Javi Garcia 5It's hard to criticise Javi. He's not a centre back, and it showed. Positionally woeful and his pace is worrying.
Joleon Lescott 5.5Great in the air, poor on the ball. Nastasic will have no worries about returning to the starting line-up.
Gael Clichy 5The pace of Bellamy can trouble any left back, even those with the speed of Clichy. Allowed Bo-Kyung to skip past him for Cardiff's first and looked uncomfortable throughout.
Jesus Navas 6Prevented from having an effect on the game by some brilliant defending. Substituted early on.
Fernandinho 6Again, lost the ball too often but his effort can not be faulted.
Yaya Toure 5Was given the captain's armband and didn't live up to it. Lazy and disinterested.
David Silva 6Unable to find his strikers with his usually magical passing.
Sergio Aguero 5.5Always busy and always a threat but held on to the ball too long when he could have passed.
Edin Dzeko 6He was kept out of the game until his brilliant finish early in the second half. Hopefully he'll continue to score goals.
