Neil Warnock held up his hands after Cardiff City lost 1-0 at Fulham on Saturday to move them closer to relegation in the Premier League.
Cardiff’s manager admitted he set his team up to be too defensive, as they sat back for most of the game, then launched a furious onslaught on the Fulham goal late on and almost scored on four occasions.
Speaking after the game, Warnock isn’t giving up hope despite his side being at least three points from safety with two games of the season to go.
“It is disappointing, The team selection was wrong, I should have changed it earlier, but they have tried hard, I can not fault them, we are not out of it yet,” Warnock said. “We still had enough opportunities, on another day we could have scored two or three goals. We could not get it in at the end. I always thought this was a must win game, but you just don’t know in football.”
Warnock’s men hit the crossbar and missed several glorious chances late in the game as Fulham goalkeeper Sergio Rico made a couple of fine saves, but it was more about the poor finishing from Cardiff.
After the tragic plane crash which killed club-record $19 million signing Emiliano Sala in January without him playing a game for the club, Warnock pointed to the fact that the Argentine striker would have added 10 goals in the second half of the campaign.
“You see the chances, we should score some of those chances. You pay for your finishers in this league, we have never been blessed with that,” Warnock said. “Emiliano Sala would have been that and that was a big blow... I was over the moon to get him and he could have scored 10 goals for the rest of the season on his own.”
Cardiff are still in with a chance, but it’s a very slim one as they host Crystal Palace next weekend and then travel to Manchester United on the final day of the season.
Warnock’s side will have to win both to have a realistic chance, but Brighton do have Arsenal and Man City to play in their final two games.