Roy: We need to cash in
ROY HODGSON insists taking three points from champions Manchester City was “the bonus” nobody expected. But the Palace manager said repeating it today against Cardiff will be the true test of their survival hopes. Hodgson saw his side get the better of City to land a seismic shock on Saturday. However Hodgson has warned the players of the dangers of relaxing and missing an opportunity to put themselves ahead of their points target halfway through the season against Neil Warnock’s Cardiff. Palace go into the game at Selhurst Park on 18 points, six clear of the relegation zone in 14th place. Cardiff sit just two points above third-from-bottom Burnley. “We know it is going to be a difficult game and we were under the impression it might be a really crucial fixture if we want to get up to something like 18 or 19 points in the first half of the season,” he said.
“I suppose the win over City has relieved that pressure slightly, but not for me it hasn’t, or the players.
“If we are really going to take advantage of these three – you could call them bonus points because not many people expected us to get them – we have to get a result against Cardiff.
“If we were to lose that game at home all we’ve really done is swap the games around. I’ve made that clear to the players and I fully trust them to take that message on board.” Meanwhile Sol Bamba has pinpointed Warnock as the guiding light who will enable him to put Wilfried Zaha and company in the shade today.
Bamba and his Cardiff City team-mates may still carry the bruises from their 5-1 battering by Manchester United last Saturday, but Warnock’s words possess powers of recovery according to the defender who calls him “my father figure”.
“The manager never stops believing in us,” said Bamba. “I owe him such a lot because he’s the man who has given me the chance to play in the Premier League and I don’t want to let him down.
“I can take his anger when things go wrong, but it’s when he’s disappointed in me that it feels a lot worse. It’s the same with my kids and their reaction to me. A disapproving look is the killer.”