Cardiff boss wants to bring in 'three or four' players in January
Thursday 29 November 2018 11:04, UK
Neil Warnock says keeping Cardiff in the Premier League this season would be 10 times better than earning promotion last season.
Warnock, who celebrates his 70th birthday on Saturday, holds the record for eight promotions in English football but believes Premier League survival on a limited budget would be "unbelievable".
Cardiff are currently second-bottom of the Premier League ahead of Friday night's game against Wolves, live on Sky Sports Premier League, but are one point from safety and Warnock has spoken about his hopes of keeping the team up against the odds.
"Last year was the biggest achievement in the circumstances," Warnock said. "If you sort of multiply that by 10, then staying up would be in around about that.
"It is doable. You can always look back and wish I'd done this and that. I did feel in the summer we needed a few more players. It's been the strikeforce, we haven't scored enough goals.
"We nearly got a striker and I was let down in the last minute in the window. We did get a couple of midfielders: Harry Arter and Victor Camarasa, who have been great for us."
Warnock admitted that Cardiff's Premier League rivals are currently better equipped to stay up, but he hopes to strengthen his squad in January.
He said: "The other teams have got a 25-man squad with three or more under-23s who are internationals. We've got a 25-man squad and then we've had four and five injuries, three goalkeepers. We've had a job putting seven subs out.
"We've got to bring in three or four [players] to give us the next step up to compete with the teams we're playing against."
Cardiff have scored just 11 goals this season, the second-fewest in the Premier League, but Warnock admitted there are other issues to contend with.
He added: "It's not just a striking problem, no. When we've made a mistake at this level we've just got punished. It's just fine margins. You get punished more at this level and the players are so much better.
"The difference now is the top four or five clubs. You always thought as a lower-down [club] you could beat these teams. You can't very often nowadays, they're so far ahead, even Everton on Saturday.
"You've got a £45m striker [Richarlison], a £50m midfielder [Gylfi Sigurdsson] behind him and we've spent £32.5m or something. You're up against it but they knew they've been in a game.
"They were wasting time near the end, and it was the same against Tottenham at Wembley. They were in the corners when we only had 10 men. We just need to do a little better: fewer mistakes and a few more goals."
Slavisa Jokanovic recently became the first Premier League manager to lose his job when he was replaced by Claudio Ranieri at Fulham.
However, Warnock is not worried about his future and remains confident Cardiff can avoid relegation.
"If I am going to get the sack, I'm probably going to get a better job," said Warnock.
"The pressure's not on you as much when you know you can do a job. I love the Championship but I still feel with the right backing we've got a chance in the Premier League.
"It never worries me, the sack. The only thing that drives you on is your own pride, aims and ambitions. To keep Cardiff up this year would be unbelievable.
"While we are favourites to go down, if we can hang in there until January and bring a few players in, we'll have a fighting chance."
Cardiff v Wolves is live on Sky Sports Premier League from 7pm on Friday night.
