Warnock rings alarm bell over ‘nasty’ tackles
There has been little love lost between Derby County and Neil Warnock, the Cardiff manager, since the freak snowfall that forced the late postponement of their visit to Pride Park in March 2018, which prompted Warnock to suggest it suited Derby not to play because of an injury crisis.
Warnock was in jokier mood after a pre-match stadium evacuation briefly threatened to scupper last night’s visit. “We expect something like that at Derby,” he said.
“The sun was a bit bright, too, when we arrived, but fortunately it went down.”
He was less amused by a tackle by Derby’s Tom Lawrence on Cardiff captain Sean Morrison that he thought warranted more than the yellow card produced by referee Darren England.
“The referee had a good game but they should look out for that,” he said “They’re nasty tackles, they are premeditated and referees should be taught about these things. It’s the over-the-top ones that break your leg. I knew straight away he’d left his foot in – it was a horrible tackle.”
It earned Lawrence a fifth yellow card in seven matches, a run in which Derby are still to add to their opening win at Huddersfield last month. “Five in seven matches is too many,” Derby manager Phillip Cocu said. “We like our players to be aggressive, but that is too many.”
Cocu had his own grumble with referee England. Soon after Scott Malone had given his side an early lead, knocking the ball over the line after a scramble of opportunities and a shot by Tom Huddlestone saved by goalkeeper Alex Smithies, Martyn Waghorn went down under a Morrison challenge that Cocu felt was a clear penalty.
“It is those sorts of decisions that are not going our way,” he said. “If we go 2-0 up, at that point the confidence of the team is a lot higher.”
In the event, as play switched quickly to the opposite penalty area, Richard Keogh brought down Cardiff’s Robert Glatzel and England this time pointed to the spot.
Glatzel, Warnock’s £5.5 million summer signing from German second-tier club Heidenheim, decisively converted, thumping the ball into the right-hand corner for his first Cardiff goal. With no further goals, Cocu is still looking for his second win as Derby manager. After last season’s run to the Championship play-offs under Frank Lampard, Cocu took over a club with raised expectations but that victory at Huddersfield remains his only success in seven attempts.
The performance was at least an improvement on the 3-0 defeat his side had suffered at Brentford before the international break.
“The result was disappointing, but it was a good response and I’m proud of the way we played,” he said. “We tried to play football against an opponent with a very direct style and I cannot ask for anything else.”
The scare that prompted the quickly-reversed stadium evacuation half an hour before kick-off reportedly followed the discovery of some flares in a concourse area.
The players had to abandon their warm-up but Warnock had no complaints.
“After all the tragedies that have happened in the past you have to take these things seriously,” he said. “It didn’t really have any negative effect.”
Derby County (4-2-1-3) Roos; Lowe, Keogh, Clarke, Malone; Huddlestone, Bielik; Holmes (Jozefzoon 81); Waghorn, Marriott (Martin 86), Lawrence.
Subs Hamer (g), Paterson, Dowell, Davies, Knight. Booked Keogh, Lawrence Cardiff City (4-1-4-1) Smithies; Peltier, Morrison, Flint, Bennett; Bacuna; Whyte (Mendez-laing 60), Paterson, Ralls, Murphy (Hoilett 60); Glatzel (Bogle 89). Subs Day (g), Vaulks, Vassell, Nelson. Booked Peltier, Flint Referee Darren England (South Yorkshire).