Cardiff ‘s defence fails them

CARDIFF City missed a chance to move out of the Premier League’s bottom three by conceding two poor goals in a 2-1 home defeat by Burnley yesterday.

The visitors’ Icelandic international Johann Berg Gudmundsson headed the opening goal in the 52nd minute from Charlie Taylor’s cross but eight minutes later Josh Murphy, who had earlier hit a post, scored a deserved Cardiff equaliser.

Weak defending allowed Welsh international Sam Vokes to head the winning goal from Gudmundsson’s volleyed cross.

A fourth successive defeat left promoted Cardiff second bottom with two points from seven games while Burnley’s first away win pushed them into mid-table.

Meanwhile, Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville defended the club’s beleaguered manager Jose Mourinho yesterday but accused those above him of having no long-term plan to restore former glories.

Defeat at West Ham United on Saturday meant United have won only three of their opening seven Premier League games in their worst start to a season since 1989-90 and now sit 10th in the table.

Yet Neville believes the board panicked in sacking Moyes after less than a year and must back Mourinho now. “This mess started when United sacked David Moyes after 8 months and we lost all sense of the values that the club had been built on for 100 years,” he said on Twitter to his four million followers. It went into pinball, reactive mode and chasing it. No plan! It’s not the manager, it’s the lack of football leadership above him. They are bouncing all over the place with no plan!”

Neville’s former team mates Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes also expressed dismay at the current situation after the West Ham game.