Fri Mar 18, 2022 8:02 am
O'Neill: I have to commend Morison for the job he's doing
Stoke City boss Michael O'Neill praised Steve Morison for the job he has done since taking charge of the Bluebirds back in October.
Morison's first game in the dugout was that helter-skelter affair at the bet365 Stadium in which Cardiff had to claw their way back from 3-0 down to earn a draw. City have been largely excellent ever since and now, incredibly, sit level on points with the Potters, who were in the play-off spots when Morison took over.
O'Neill said before the clash that the Cardiff side hadn't changed that much since they played each other in the reverse fixture at the start of the season. After the win on Wednesday night, though, Morison made a subtle dig at that very comment.
And O'Neill could only graciously praise the City boss after his side's midweek defeat in the Welsh capital. "I think Steve's done a good job, there's no doubt about that," O'Neill said. "They were not in a good position when he came in and I have to commend him on that."
On the game itself, the Potters boss picked out two Cardiff forwards as the hosts' main threat.
"We didn't play well enough," he added. "We didn't deserve to take anything from the game despite going ahead with a good goal. We're just a bit fragile. You have to get to half time and defend your lead, we didn't defend straight balls down the pitch. It wasn't any real guile behind it but I thought [Jordan] Hugill and [Mark] Harris in particular had pace which caused us problems.
The first goal epitomised our performance. The two midfield players don't match runners, the centre-back should get across and see it out, the other centre-back should get across and possibly affect the shot a little bit more. Then you're level in the game having been in a good position.
The second goal is bad decisions. A bad decision from the goalkeeper to throw it out, a bad decision from Taylor to try to play in that area and then from being 1-0 up with six minutes to play in the first half we go in 2-1 down.
It epitomised where we are at this minute in time. While we had a lot of the ball in the second half, our quality in the final third was poor and we were suspect. Cardiff sat deep like we knew they would, they're good at it, they've got a threat on the counter attack, they've got a physical presence up front.