Sabri Lamouchi moves on from Connor Wickham incident as Cardiff claim vital win

Posted Saturday, April 08, 2023 by PA

Cardiff boss Sabri Lamouchi refused to dwell on the recent controversy surrounding Connor Wickham after the striker’s starring role in a 3-1 win over Sky Bet Championship relegation rivals Blackpool.

Wickham opened the scoring for Cardiff in the 21st minute and proved a handful for Blackpool’s defenders throughout, with Sory Kaba and Joe Rolls striking before half-time for the Blues.

Blackpool could only muster Josh Bowler’s 74th-minute consolation in response, with the Tangerines now 23rd in the table and seven points behind 19th-placed Cardiff.

The Blues had lost 3-2 to Welsh rivals Swansea last week, and Wickham was forced to apologise midweek after a video appeared on social media of him apparently inhaling ‘laughing gas’ after the match.

While Lamouchi criticised his charge in his pre-match press conference, he drew a line under the controversy after snatching three vital points.

Lamouchi said: “I am happy for Connor. That’s it.

“I don’t want to go over the stupid thing he has done. He is a professional, he should be professional. He apologised to the club, the fans, the players, to me. We don’t have a lot of options.

“I prefer to focus on the football situation. When I came here two months ago the situation was critical. It is still critical because we have a lot of games to play. We are not safe, we know that.

“To be safe we need a lot of ingredients. I am so happy for this massive result but I am not happy with the way we played. But I saw determination and a desire to fight.

“The last game at home [against Swansea] the scenario was cruel for me, my players and the club. But the players will not give up. They want to save the club because we deserve to play in the Championship.

“We were clinical on the few occasions we had to score.”

Blackpool now sit in a perilous position, with just six matches left to salvage their position in the Championship.

And boss Mick McCarthy believes his side are lacking the confidence to respond to setbacks after a positive start was rattled by Wickham’s strike against them.

“We started well, we were bright, we were on the front foot. We created some chances but lo and behold we conceded a goal,” he said.

“Conceding three goals in the first half, I’m not sure how many times we have scored four, so it almost put the game to bed before half-time.

“At half-time I said I was going to leave them all on, so they needed to get their fingers out and do better because I picked that side to start with.

“They didn’t lack heart but where we are in the league, once we concede a goal, it knocks confidence.

“In the second half we created a couple of chances and scored a goal, but it is not enough.

“When I came in, we had a look at all the goals we had conceded and there was one from every aspect of play, and we are still managing to concede them.

“It was looking grim when I came in, and losing 3-1 at home to our relegation rivals has not made it look any better.”