20 January 2021

Neil Harris admits Cardiff future is out of his hands following QPR defeat

20 January 2021

Neil Harris admitted his Cardiff future is out of his hands after a 1-0 loss to QPR made it six straight defeats for the Welsh side.

Harris guided the Bluebirds to last season’s Championship play-offs but his team have been awful so far this term and are 15th following their latest reversal.

Chris Willock’s first QPR goal won it for Mark Warburton’s visitors.

“The outside noise and questions marks over my future are something I completely understand but can’t control. I will leave that to the powers that be above me and the board,” Harris said.

“I’ve shown in my managerial career given time I’ve been successful. We’re not always given time and the pressure is on if I’m being honest because of the expectation of the football club.

“What I can control is picking the players up. Results haven’t been good enough, but my professional pride means I want to win and I’ll be the first in the building tomorrow.”

Cardiff are underachieving badly and Harris is now clinging to his job.

He opted for an attacking diamond formation against QPR in a bid to find goals and get his team back on track with Harry Wilson playing behind Kieffer Moore and debutant Max Watters.

But Cardiff lacked consistent creativity in the final third although QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng did produce a series of excellent stops.

Dieng denied another Cardiff debutant in Perry Ng with a smart low save at the end of the first half, but his best effort came when he palmed over Leandro Bacuna’s powerful free-kick late on.

Harris added: “I’m gutted. It was a typical Championship game and scrappy at times. There were not a huge amount of chances and I’m really disappointed we couldn’t find that killer moment in both boxes. We’ve lost five league games in a row and it’s hugely disappointing.

“It’s never happened to me before and the players are low on confidence after that.”

Former Arsenal and Benfica man Willock scored the game’s only goal when he was given too much room by the Cardiff defence and slotted past Alex Smithies.

QPR manager Warburton said: “I’m really, really pleased. It’s a tough place to come. The double save in the first half from our goalkeeper was outstanding. He was reassuring and had presence. That will give the team so much confidence and it’s another clean sheet.

“Neil did a great job to get to the play-offs last year and it’s a tough, tough division. You can lose one or two players and get a run of defeats. Neil is a very good manager and he’s got a very good squad.

“I’ve no doubt they will be higher up come the end of the season – he just needs time. It’s a commodity managers and coaches are never given, but he needs time.”

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