Neil Warnock Defends His Cardiff Players After 5-1 Thrashing From Man Utd

Neil Warnock tried to find the positives after his Cardiff City Side were thrashed 5-1 by Manchester United at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The hosts got off to the worst possible start after just three minutes when Marcus Rashford struck a stinging free kick from around 35 yard out which swerved into Neil Etheridge's bottom corner. Soon after the visitors doubled their lead thanks to Ander Herrera's long-range deflected effort which looped into the top corner.

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Cardiff grabbed themselves a lifeline when Victor Camarasa dispatched a penalty on the stroke of half time, however United resorted their two-goal advantage just three minutes later courtesy of a very well worked goal finished by Anthony Martial.

Solskjaer's men them won themselves a penalty just 10 minutes into the second half which Jesse Lingard duly converted, with the Englishman rounding the scoring off in injury time to secure an emphatic 5-1 win.

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Speaking with Wales Online after the game, Warnock tried to find the positives after the performance by praising his side's league position heading into Christmas. He said: "I thought we started the game quite well, but it was an iffy free kick, probably a Sunday League goal.

"The penalty killed us, it wasn’t a penalty though. He put his foot into the mix, but it’s not a penalty in a million years. But I thought the ref did well today. Having said all that - and the lads are flat - but if you’d told me we’d be out of the bottom three at Christmas, I’d have snapped your hand off.”

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It's a night Cardiff fans will want to forget in a hurry and the players will need to pick themselves up and dust themselves off as they prepare to travel to face Crystal Palace on Wednesday afternoon in the Premier League.