BREAKING NEIL HARRIS:

" NEIL HARRIS TODAY UPDATES CARDIFF CITY FANS "

Monday 2nd November 2020






NEIL HARRIS:


"We have 30 players which a few clubs in the division have, of course we could, have more, but that’s not how i like to work, I have to balance the clubs books."



Injuries / Fitness

Fitness-wise, a few bumps and bruises from a physical encounter on Saturday. We’re hoping to have a couple back in.

Bobby Glatzel has trained today. He had a bit of sickness and diarrhoea on the weekend.

Harry Wilson we are hoping to get back in.



Neil Harris is asked how important it will be to have Harry Wilson available against Barnsley

If he is available! It’ll be a big bonus for us. You want your quality available, he brought a real buzz and real quality which was probably missing.

When you haven’t got Lee Tomlin, Harry Wilson and Robert Glatzel then you are going to struggle for creativity.







" READ ALL NEIL HARRIS UPDATES BELOW "


Neil Harris on his angry post-match interview at QPR

I’ve mellowed. I was disappointed with the first half an hour. There is no point me keep saying we started poorly and had a better second half, we are finding a rhythm. Cliches.

If it’s not good enough I have to be honest as well.

It’s only my opinion but my opinion, as manager, is quite important. It’s as bad as I’ve seen my team in the last 12 months.

What really pleased me was the excellent reaction, watching it back, after my hard-hitting words at half-time. The reaction of my players was excellent in the second half, we absolutely dominated and certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game.

But it’s the consistency over the 90 minutes.

I’ve got no problem playing poorly, yes, you go through spells where form is up and down, ours has been up and down in the first chunk of the season.

But what I can’t accept is what I saw in the first half hour of the game, not competing, not coming out on top in the basics of football. That’s the least I expect from my players.

That’s why I was scathing after the game.

I’ve spoken to the players, reviewed the game and spent a lot of time doing video analysis and putting a few things that were wrong, right.

But you can only put things right on the pitch and that will start against Barnsley.

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NEIL HARRIS:


Neil Harris on the season so far

I certainly wouldn’t use the word disaster. It’s not been the start I wanted or I probably expected.

I certainly think expectation levels grew, and rightly so, because of what we achieved last season.

But we’ve not been consistent enough, that’s the bottom line. You can talk about a short turnaround, amount of games we’ve got compared to everyone else in a short space of time, players we have got missing, are all valid reasons but we should have had a better start. I’m the first to admit that.

I expect better performances, consistent performances and results to improve because of that.

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Sat Sept 5th Northampton Town 3 Cardiff City 0 League Cup 1st rd.



Sat Sep 12 CARDIFF CITY 0 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 2

Sky Sports Sat Sep 19 Nottingham Forest 0 Cardiff City 2


Sat Sep 26 CARDIFF CITY 1 READING 2


Sat Oct 03 Blackburn Rovers 0 Cardiff City 0


Sky Sports Sunday 12pm Oct 18 Preston North End 0 Cardiff City 1


Wed Oct 21 CARDIFF CITY 1 AFC BOURNEMOUTH 1

Sat Oct 24 CARDIFF CITY 1 MIDDLESBROUGH 1

Wed Oct 28 Derby County 1 Cardiff City 1

Sat Oct 31 Queens Park Rangers 3 Cardiff City 2


Tue Nov 03 BARNSLEY H


Friday 6th Nov 6pm Kick off
Cardiff City vs. Bristol City has been selected for sky tv earning Cardiff City £130,000


Sat Nov 21 Millwall A

Wed Nov 25 Coventry City A

Sat Nov 28 LUTON TOWN H

Tue Dec 01 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN H
Sat Dec 05 Watford A
Tue Dec 08 Stoke City A
Sat Dec 12 SWANSEA CITY H

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NEIL HARRIS:


Neil Harris on Cardiff's slow start to the campaign

Everybody will have their opinion. You’ve all got your opinion, the fans have. Mine is probably a mix of everyone else’s.

I probably underestimated the disappointment at losing to Fulham, the short turnaround.

The mix of players going and coming in. Settling the group as quickly as possible in the short turnaround.

I can’t say exactly why we’ve gone behind in so many games, it’s certainly a mentality one.

It’s a great group of lads here, I love working with them every day. You won’t find many people who have a bad word to say about many of my players, but it’s just that mentality going on to the pitch.

We certainly had that concentration and focus from June, July onwards to the end of the players.

We have to regain that quickly and that’s my job to find that within the changing room and pick the right team selection and tactics to win games.

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NEIL HARRIS:



Neil Harris on his discussions with Cardiff's board

I spoke to the board. We all want to win football matches. No one is more disappointed when we don’t win than me.

I take pride in my job and I’ve got a very privileged position at Cardiff City and I’ve come here to be successful and I want to win. I don’t need anyone reminding me of my duties at this club.

The board have been fantastic to me, they have been supportive and continue to be supportive. The owner knows I’m a winner and a fighter and I want to do that.

I have shown in my time here that even with a bad spell we come out the other side and quickly start to win games again and that is the aim now, starting tomorrow.

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NEIL HARRIS:



Neil Harris is asked if he regrets not signing another right-back in the transfer window

I think 99% of anyone associated with our football club knows it’s about balancing the squad and the books.

Sometimes you have to make sacrifices and I’m not naive enough to think hindsight is a wonderful thing and there are thousands of people out there willing to point the finger where something goes wrong.

That’s driven by social media.

Could we stockpile and have 30 players, which a few clubs in the division have, of course we could. That’s not how I want to work.

Leo is an option for us at right back. So, too is Greg Cunningham and Joe Bennett.

That little bit of luck has just gone against us with the fixture list, injuries and any sort of error of judgement and the ball ends up in the back of the net!

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NEIL HARRIS:




Neil Harris is asked what he expects from Barnsley

Yeah, a young side. Athleticism and legs. They press very high and hard.

I went up to Barnsley to watch them against QPR, game changed on a red card. It’ll be a tough challenge, I enjoy watching them play.

It’s about how my players respond.

I want to see the second-half performance against QPR, not the first.

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NEIL HARRIS:


Is it a case of not panicking after a bad performance?

Yeah, it’s fine me saying it and us thinking it.

The modern world we live in is so fast-moving and football is no different, we all live in a bubble.

I had to win people over when I first came in, I did it, then there’ll be doubters again.

The only way to answer those questions is to find answers and start delivering.

We have played some good halves of football but we need to be better than that.

Certainly no panic within my training ground from players or staff. Finding solutions is the answer.

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NEIL HARRIS:



Are we to expect a much-changed team tomorrow after that performance?


You’ll probably see changes because of time constraints because of people with knocks and illnesses. People who can’t play three games in six days, just the nature of it.

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NEIL HARRIS:

Neil Harris gives an update on Filip Benkovic

Yeah, good. He has trained today, topped up his minutes. It’s just a question of when he comes into the group. Whether I feel I need that extra defensive cover. Is he going to get a chance to play? Those are the questions I have to answer.

I need to make sure I’ve got experience, covering options in different positions. But Benko is now fit and available if I want to select him.

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NEIL HARRIS:


You spoke your mind at QPR, will they take it on board?

I hope so. You saw the reaction in the second half, slightly tweaked the team and the way we played.

A few choice words never go amiss at certain times.

There was some pride in me in the way we played in the second half and got back in the games.

I want to focus on being better.

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Barnsley will be aiming to avoid starting consecutive Championship seasons without a victory in their opening five away games (failed to win any of their first 10 on the road in 2019-20 and have drawn two and lost two of their four games on the road this campaign).

Cardiff haven’t begun a league season without a victory in their opening five home games since 1994-95 in the third tier (P4 D2 L2 this season).

Betting odds

Cardiff City win - 23/20

Draw - 12/5

Barnsley win - 23/10

A Deflated Cardiff City team after losing to QPR


NEIL HARRIS:

"If the players dont pull their wait or fight for the team, I will be axing some of them."

"If my players don't want to do that then they don't play. It's as simple as that."

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Neil Harris on his angry post-match interview at QPR

I’ve mellowed. I was disappointed with the first half an hour. There is no point me keep saying we started poorly and had a better second half, we are finding a rhythm. Cliches.

If it’s not good enough I have to be honest as well.

It’s only my opinion but my opinion, as manager, is quite important. It’s as bad as I’ve seen my team in the last 12 months.

What really pleased me was the excellent reaction, watching it back, after my hard-hitting words at half-time. The reaction of my players was excellent in the second half, we absolutely dominated and certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game.

But it’s the consistency over the 90 minutes.

I’ve got no problem playing poorly, yes, you go through spells where form is up and down, ours has been up and down in the first chunk of the season.

But what I can’t accept is what I saw in the first half hour of the game, not competing, not coming out on top in the basics of football. That’s the least I expect from my players.

That’s why I was scathing after the game.

I’ve spoken to the players, reviewed the game and spent a lot of time doing video analysis and putting a few things that were wrong, right.

But you can only put things right on the pitch and that will start against Barnsley.

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NEIL HARRIS:

"We have 30 players which a few clubs in the division have, of course we could, have more, but that not how i like to work, I have to balance the clubs books."

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Neil Harris is asked how important it will be to have Harry Wilson available against Barnsley

If he is available! It’ll be a big bonus for us. You want your quality available, he brought a real buzz and real quality which was probably missing.

When you haven’t got Lee Tomlin, Harry Wilson and Robert Glatzel then you are going to struggle for creativity.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Have the players said anything since QPR?



NEIL HARRIS:

Yeah, some do. Some in the changing room spoke really well afterwards. There’s no throwing stuff or fighting.

I’m a people person and value people’s opinions in the changing room. It’s the players’ changing room and they need to nail things as well.

Senior players like Mozza and Sol were really strong and then some interesting words from someone like Joe Ralls as well, who is quite a quiet character, spoke really well as well.

When we had a meeting this morning as well, I’ll show them clips of the game and some are really honest.

It’s like a classroom, some don’t like to speak in that environment and some do, I embrace both.

It’s good to have a culture where people are willing to put their hand up. I want players who take responsibility.

The group have taken responsibility. I take responsibility for getting it wrong tactically or making the wrong subs.

But if you do that with the players they’ll do the same.

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Neil Harris:

"I probably underestimated the disappointment at losing to Fulham in the play-offs,the short turnaround has not helped," he said ahead of the Barnsley clash.

"Great group of lads here, I love working with them every day. You won’t find many people who have a bad word to say about many of my players, but it’s just that mentality going on to the pitch."


'The players were not competing, not coming out on top in the basics of football. That’s the least I expect from my players.

"That’s why I was scathing after the game.

"I’ve spoken to the players, reviewed the game and spent a lot of time doing video analysis and putting a few things that were wrong, right.

"But you can only put things right on the pitch and that will start against Barnsley."

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