Ole Gunnar Solskjaer heaped a whole load of pressure on himself as he mixed up his team selection again and brought in players from nowhere and dumped others out of the matchday 18.
Ole mixed the defence by playing new signing Bruno Manga with Juan Cala in the centre and played Matt Connolly as left back.
Connolly was out of position and uncomfortable all game.
Midfield never dominated and up front Ole started with Jones and
Macheda but a goal down at half time the boss took Macheda off and replaced him with midfielder Aron Gunnarsson.
Only later in the game with Adam le Fondre and Javi Guerra on the pitch did City look like creating a chance.
As the home side it was a turgid performance with little or no goalmouth action.
Solskjaer admitted it was his responsibility saying
"I'm responsible and I should get better results than this; than what we've had in the first seven games."
For a side that has spent so much money and on paper brought in so many good players it's an unacceptable run of results and more worrying there seems little that Solskjaer can do to enthuse his players.
The effort was poor all round and the boos from the fans at the end told it's own story.
Ole was a Tan appointment so the owner won't want to lose face but time is running out for the quickly ageing Norwegian and if he lasts until the weekend he faces a tough trip to face Derby County and on current form they will rip City to shreds.
Cardiff City: Marshall, Brayford, Cala, Manga, Whittingham, Jones, Macheda (Gunnarsson), Connolly, Adeyemi, Pilkington (Guerra), Dæhli (Le Fondre).
Subs Not Used: Moore, Eikrem, Burgstaller, Gabbidon.
Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Abella (Nsue), Friend, Ayala, Leadbitter, Clayton, Kike (Bamford), Reach, Vossen (Tomlin), Omeruo, Adomah.
Subs Not Used: Gibson, Whitehead, Wildschut, Blackman