WARNOCK: ‘LET’S MEND PLAYERS’ BROKEN HEARTS!’
CARDIFF City were knocked off top spot in the Championship by Leeds after the Bluebirds were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Preston at Deepdale on Tuesday night.
Neil Warnock did not hold back in his assessment of the Bluebirds’ performance in Lancashire.
Below is the full transcript of the manager’s post-match interview...
WHAT WAS YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE GAME?
There’s no excuse because the goals were terrible, but we had eight or nine lads not at their game today. The travelling we’ve done since Saturday – I said to them, without it being an excuse – we’ve travelled more than any other team .
We got back at 11pm after Fulham and had six hours travelling here so the preparation hasn’t been so good, but I can’t have it as an excuse because we were second best all night.
But we don’t normally have eight or nine missing like that. If we hadn’t had been undefeated I would have made three or four changes, but we were undefeated – and you can make changes if you get beat and you get blasted.
But when I looked at them in training I did think I should make changes because they seemed jaded. Hindsight’s a great thing but you’re a brave man to a side that’s never lost a game – but at least that’s out of the way now and I can make changes when I see fit now.
ANY COMPLAINTS WITH ANY OF THE GOALS?
No, only the two of them! The first one, Hughill was doing it all night, and good luck to him because the referee doesn’t understand the game in that respect and penalises the centre-half.
And the last one, when he sprints at the keeper he’s offside. It’s disappointing, but we didn’t lose because of the referee, we lost because of three silly goals and I’m disappointed at not being at the races.
THEY GOT IN YOUR FACES, DO YOU THINK THAT’S WHAT TEAMS WILL LOOK TO DO?
They’ve done that all the time, they get in your faces here and I’m looking forward to playing them at our place if I’m honest. I took a lot of stick on the bench so it will be nice to get them down at our end.
Good luck to them because they’ve been a bit fortunate playing t us at this stage – I’m not sure we’ve got two away games together like this again. But it’s not a coincidence that there’s nine or ten lads not at the races.
CAN YOU PUT YOUR FINGER ON WHY THAT WAS?
Absolutely, they’re knackered. We were tired out and they were bright
and we couldn’t get near them because we didn’t have the energy. We were second best but there was a reason for it and it’s not all down to Preston being good, it was down to us not being at the races.
DOES IT FRUSTRATE YOU MORE?
It frustrates me I should have changed three or four, but you don’t do that when you’ve not lost the game. I’ve learned quite a lot tonight about what the lads can do, but we can’t do anything about the fixture list. It’s dealt us quite a poor hand if I’m honest.
I felt for the fans, but thanks to them – the way they clapped us at the end, we know it’s a long way on a Tuesday night and we hadn’t given them all that much to cheer.
THE PLAYERS THREW THEIR SHIRTS INTO THE CROWD IN THE END, DIDN’T THEY?
Yes, we knew didn’t we? The two centre-halves I thought were decent, but other than that I was disappointed by the other nine.
DO YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT THIS TEAM ALREADY?
We’ll have a couple of days’ rest and I couldn’t wish for a better game than Sheffield Wednesday at home. You’ll not see any lack of energy from us on Saturday.
ANY INJURIES TO WORRY ABOUT?
No, not really. Only broken hearts. Let’s hope they can mend that by Saturday.