Cardiff City head to the North East this weekend for a huge Sky Bet Championship clash with Rafa Benítez’s Newcastle United.
The Bluebirds have taken seven points from Neil Warnock’s first four matches in charge, remaining unbeaten against Bristol City, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest prior to an unfortunate defeat to Wigan Athletic last weekend.
Ahead of the trip to St James’ Park, the Bluebirds’ Manager emphasised the need for City to relish the challenge of facing the Magpies, if they are to bounce back with a positive result.
“You’re in football for games like this”, began Neil. “You’ve got to look forward to challenges like this. I said to the lads, this is a bonus game for us as nobody expects anything. But we want to go and perform to the best we can.
“We’ve got to go up there and prepare for anything that they throw at us, and we want to try and give them problems as well if we can. We need everyone to be really on top of their game.
“It’s a tremendous occasion to go to St James’ Park and it will be a hell of a battle for us.”
Warnock also commented on the Bluebirds’ preparations for the match during this week, and what he hopes to see from his men on Tyneside on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s been an up and down week really”, admitted Neil. “We’ve had some good bits and one or two injury problems. We’ve got two or three decisions either way – with lads trying to get into the team and lads trying to stay in the team.
“The good news is that they’ve only got eleven players. We’ve just got to look after ourselves and try and give them a good game.
“We know we’ve got good players ourselves. We’ll have to start well and I think the lads are ready for it. You relish the challenge of it and hope that you perform to the best of your ability.”