Sean Morrison: Cardiff must forget Chelsea loss ahead of seven cup finals
Monday 1 April 2019 20:01, UK
Cardiff captain Sean Morrison has stressed the importance of moving on from Sunday’s disappointment against Chelsea ahead of seven season-defining “cup finals”.
Relegation-threatened Cardiff's Premier League survival bid suffered a blow during Sunday's contentious 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, as Cesar Azpilicueta scored the visitors' equaliser from an offside position.
The defeat left the Bluebirds five points from safety with seven games remaining, but Morrison is confident there still is time for Cardiff to bounce back and stay in the top-flight.
"Initially, after the game, there was a lot of disappointment and anger, the boys were upset," Morrison told Sky Sports.
"We've been through a lot in the last year, so we've come up against things in the past and we always bounce back. We've got to use what happened on the weekend to stick together and bounce back.
"There's a long way to go, we know that with the performance we put in we're capable of turning over teams and winning games. We've got seven cup finals to go and all we can do is give our best and make sure we're one of the teams that stay up.
"Every single one of the boys in the dressing has a never say die attitude. That's what got us promoted last season and that's what will keep us up this year.
"The gaffer leads by example, he's been in the game so long and knows how to inspire people. We've got big characters in the dressing room that will drag people through the trenches.
"We're not going to give up and the performance against Chelsea was testament to that, on another day we'd have come away with three points.
"But the points are gone now, we have to bounce back and try and take the positives from the game because the performance was fantastic."
Manager Neil Warnock avoided retrospective action from the FA after his standoff with referee Craig Pawson and his officiating party after Sunday's defeat, despite claiming the Premier League was the world's best league with the worst officials.
Morrison believes the big decisions tend to favour clubs towards the top of the division, adding: "I do believe that teams in the top six, if they are playing against sides at the bottom, decisions go against us.
"Teams towards the bottom don't get the decisions other teams might. I sympathise with linesman and referees, they have a tough job. Some decisions are harder to make than others, it happens so quickly.
"But the offside decision on Sunday was so clear and obvious, [Azpilicueta] is a yard-and-a-half offside. That's a big one to miss because it changes the impact of the game. If Chelsea didn't score the first goal I believe we'd have won 1-0.
"I have no hard feelings against any of the Chelsea boys. Azpilicueta is Chelsea captain, he wants his team to win, they are fighting for the top spots. He might not have known at the time that he was offside but that's why the officials are there.
"They are there to spot that and it's probably one of the easiest decisions you have to make. Sometimes you can live with the ones that are super close but something that obvious is hard to take."
The Premier League plan to introduce the use of Video Assistant Referee at the start of the 2019/20 season. For Morrison, it cannot come soon enough.
"I'm all for VAR, decisions like Sunday can change the complexion of the game," he said. "If VAR was in practice, we would have won the game.
"As long as they can use it within 90 seconds and not use it for every decision I think it will be a lot of help not only for the game but for the referees themselves."
