WE CAN’T HIT A BARN DOOR AT TIMES... WARNOCK
NEIL Warnock vented his frustration at his side’s lack of cutting edge after Cardiff City fell to a heavy defeat at West Brom. The Bluebirds’ run of seven league games undefeated game shuddering to a halt after the Baggies hit four goals past them in a convincing defeat at The Hawthorns.
Despite some positive early play from Cardiff, the hosts came out of the traps like a shot and scored twice before the break. But the visitors were much improved in the second half.
And, with the game poised at 2-0, a glorious chance fell to an unmarked Robert Glatzel just yards from goal, but he sent his header wide.
“It would have been easier to score than miss the header,” Warnock said, “but he is trying.”
The Bluebirds are still yet to win away from home this season, and a result in the Midlands would have been massive, but Warnock has a theory as to why that is the case.
“Possibly because we can’t hit a barn door at times!” he said.
“You don’t get better chances than Glatzel’s header, do you? I can’t put them in from the bench.
“And goals change games, they give everyone a lift, as you saw today. If that one would have gone in, you would have seen a different West Brom at 2-1.”
Warnock bemoaned the officials’ decisions at times, referencing Glatzel’s offside goal which he feels was wrongly adjudged due to Sean Morrison being the offender, and thought his side were hard done by despite shipping four goals.
Warnock conceded that the hosts had a patch of the game in the first half which was ‘the best they’ve played against this season’, but his side showed some resolve to come back strongly after the break.
The manager’s job now is to ensure that, after gaining such momentum before the West Brom clash, the bubble doesn’t burst over the international break.
“I think there are a lot of pluses, if we were doing half-term or thirdterm reports,” he said.
“I don’t think people will want to play against us. We could improve our goal scoring and defend better, but we’ve got the ingredients to put it right.
“We’ve just got to work hard on the training ground.”
Meanwhile, Baggies boss Slaven Bilic called some of his side’s play ‘breathtaking’.
“It was a great performance for the first 70 minutes, that was it. In every aspect of the game, we were playing some breathtaking football,” Bilic said.
“From the start, we were playing well, passing it from the centrebacks. We were great to be fair. On the second balls, what they were good at, we scored the second goal from Jake’s challenge.
“Good ball and good counter attack it was great. Now you’re waiting for the ‘but’!
“I’d like to talk positives, but we’re going to talk about the negative straightaway.
“I said to the guys, anything can happen in football.
“I told the guys, we need a fourth goal. Being 3-0 up with 20 minutes to go, something can go wrong in those last 20 minutes. There’s nothing wrong with the team, but we can’t do it.
“They didn’t care that they were going to concede a fourth because they knew they were in the game, they needed that momentum.
“If they’d done something differently, or done something great, then fair enough, but their first goal was our mistake, our ball.
“Second goal, I’m not talking about the corner, you can concede goals from corners. But how it came to the corner...we have to manage the game better.”