JOSH MURPHY TALKS UP PL SURVIVAL AND NEIL WARNOCK

Josh Murphy tips Cardiff to stay up and reveals the two sides to Neil Warnock
By John Cross

The 23-year-old winger also has his sights set on a full England call-up in the not too distant future


Josh Murphy has become used to Cardiff being written off this season. Certainties to go down, the worst team in the Premier League and lacking the quality needed to stay up.

Cardiff are already proving a few of the pundits and their predictions wrong as they are not in the relegation zone and Murphy believes expectation levels being so low can work in their favour.

Murphy, 23, said: “The one thing we can guarantee is that we’ll keep fighting through everything but in the last few weeks even with the pundits who were writing us off, have seen that Cardiff are up for it, they might be surprise contenders to stay up.

“We fully believe that as a group we will stay up.

"We’re in a good situation where we’re not expected to do well, it takes the pressure off so that even if we lose and are disappointed, we know there’s going to be another game to put things right.


“We’re not expected to go into games and play Barcelona style of football, maybe even the football associated with the Premier League, but we know if we stick to our game plan then we can ruffle feathers and give most teams in this league a good run for the money.

“I think most other teams will be expecting to pick up points against us, we'll go into games fearless and we know what we can do when we’re playing well so it’s about keeping that level of consistency and togetherness as a squad.”


Murphy, an £11m summer signing, has already scored three goals, looks every inch a Premier League player and has adapted nicely to his new surroundings having arrived from Norwich in the summer.

He is eloquent and thoughtful but fits into the dressing room which is Cardiff’s greatest strength and provides the spirit and defiance which Neil Warnock has brought to the club.

No-one gave them a chance of going up, let alone staying up and yet they make every game a battle which will be vital as they face a “massive month” starting with fellow strugglers Southampton this weekend and also includes Crystal Palace.

“They are games that we’re looking forward to and if we can play our best football then we know we can pick up the results we need,” said Murphy.

“It’s a massive month, the manager has made that clear to us how important this run of games are because we can pick up points but they are tough because, even at this stage of the season, they are six pointers already.

“We’re on a good run, we’ve had some wins in our last few games, we need to keep building on that and be strong especially over Christmas time with so many games coming up.

“There’s a lot of different personalities in the dressing room, there’s a togetherness which is good, everyone is open to putting themselves out there, there’s a lot of people who play for Cardiff will say how good the spirit is with the different characters.

“You’ve got Sol Bamba, you’ve got Pato (Callum Paterson), Mozza (Sean Morrison), he’s the captain but he’s a different character to Sol and Patto and they’ve got their own qualities and that’s why we get on so well as a unit.

“It’s down to them to write us off but on a personal level it doesn’t faze me, I want to play my football and if I’m at it then everything else will take care of itself.”


Murphy has already played twin brother, Newcastle winger Jacob - which he says was an “enjoyable moment” as they are “super close” - and the goalless draw probably did its best to maintain family harmony.

But perhaps a less likely bond is between Murphy and Neil Warnock, who turned 70 last weekend and is renowned for being a tough no-nonsense manager. But Warnock was also a winger himself in a much-travelled playing career through the lower divisions.

As soon as Murphy met Warnock last summer, there was a bond established and the ex-Norwich winger hopes success at Cardiff may yet win him England recognition, having represented his country at under-18s, 19s and 20s levels.


Murphy added: “There’s two sides of Neil Warnock. The one you see on the touchline and the one behind-the-scenes.

"It’s good to see both of them, but he was a winger so he can sympathise the pros and cons that go with being a winger and he’s always there to support me.

“We’ve found what the correct balance is for us as a team. Everyone can see that we’re nullifying the mistakes from the games when we were losing by four or five and now if we’re going to lose it’ll be just by the odd goal and stay in the game.

“Playing for England will always be one of my biggest dreams and to get into the senior team.

"At the moment, there’s no better chance of playing for England than under Gareth Southgate because you can see what he’s doing by bringing young players through quite early.

”If you can be in a good run of form then there’s no reason why you can’t get that England call-up.

'At the moment, it’s not something I’m looking or striving towards because I want to focus on my club football and then if I’m doing well at Cardiff then people will take notice.”

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