‘My defenders are TEN times better than Arsenal’s’ says Cardiff manager Neil Warnock

NEIL WARNOCK has blasted Arsenal’s defensive mistakes as “elementary” and claimed his centre-backs at Cardiff City are TEN times better than Arsene Wenger’s.

The Bluebirds boss is the latest to weigh into the dissection of Arsenal’s shambolic 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace on Monday night – their fourth straight away loss.

And Warnock’s analysis was scathing, with Wenger’s assistant Steve Bould his main target and the players described as “mentally very weak”.

“I wouldn’t swap their centre-halves for my centre-halves, I think my centre-halves are 10 times better than what they’ve got,” said the former Palace, QPR, Leeds and Sheffield United boss on Talksport radio.

Warnock has transformed Cardiff’s backline since taking over with the Welsh club in the Championship relegation zone after 11 games.

He has inspired the likes of centre-backs Bruno Manga and Sean Morrison, and City have moved up to mid-table safety.

Arsenal, in comparison, have just the one win in their last five games and look set to miss out on the top four for the first time in Wenger’s 21-year reign.

“The biggest thing for me last night,” said Warnock, “was one of the high balls that came in during the first half, and the centre-half looked at Christian Benteke three times during the ball coming down to see he was coming and he never went for it.

“I must admit I was looking at Bould, you can’t be a yes man, you can’t just sit there and do nothing if you’re told to, you have to put your point of view over.

“What has got to me for a few weeks is the marking at corner kicks, which is just elementary really, so does he [Bould] have enough about him to do anything about it?

“I’ve got Kevin Blackwell and Ronnie Jepson besides me and they’d tell me straight up if they thought I’d got it wrong and then we’d go and work on it.

“You can’t nowadays play at that top level without knowing who is marking who and who the biggest threat is. There’s no defence for that sort of thing.

“There are certain signs and I don’t think there is anywhere near enough toughness in the squad, mentally they’re very weak.”

Monday night’s horror show left Arsenal seven points off the top four with just eight games to play.