Warnock: No unrest in squad but some fans will always have a pop at me

NEIL WARNOCK insists there are no splinter groups in his dressing room and that he is the man to keep Cardiff City in the Premier League.

The veteran manager has come under pressure from a small group of fans following three successive defeats, and admits today’s game against West Ham is important to build confidence in a squad that is “flat” after losing to Watford, Everton and Wolves (defeat is too much for Aron Gunnarsson, above).

“You’re always going to get some criticism. Even last year when we were going for promotion; with three weeks to go, there was talk about, ‘Is he good enough to take us up?’, when we had a couple of sticky results,” said Warnock.

“You always get people, who know better than you, having an input, so you’ve just got to do your own thing at a time like this. It’s not something I worry too much about, all I can do is the best I can.

“If I thought it’d be better to have somebody different in the place, I’d say good luck to them. If they thought that, it wouldn’t bother me one bit, but I still think I’m the best one to get us over the line this year.”

What Warnock does admit is that his players are a bit down after their recent beatings and need a psychological boost against the Hammers, as they battle for their Premier League status after gaining promotion last season.

“When you lose three games, like we have, you are flat. Your body language is flat and training is not the same,” he said.

“There is disappointment in the camp and I’d be disappointed if there wasn’t because I don’t like getting beat. We’ve just got to get over that disappointment.

“I don’t think there’s any rift in the dressing room, it’s just that you stop thinking about how good you are and start thinking about the opposition. You can’t afford to do that and we need to regroup against West Ham.

“We’ve got more team spirit than the teams around us and we’ve got to keep those teams above us nervous. We’ve got to hit the heights for nine games and we are going to need goals.”

City are currently two points adrift of safety with Southampton their nearest target. And Warnock added: “We may have lost our last three, but we’ve also won two of our last five. It depends on how you look at things. I think we can still do it.”