'Scapegoat' Purse Blamed For Birmingham Opener

Cardiff City manager Dave Jones has taken the unusual step of singling out an individual at fault after accusing Bluebirds captain of 'switching off' as James McFadden found space amid a static Cardiff defence to net the opener on Saturday.


Jones made the following comments after the defeat:

'We switched off and it was a nothing goal to give away.'

'Darren fell asleep for the first goal and let McFadden run off him because he thought he was offside. But you can`t do that in and around your box.'

'He`s held his hands up but it was a sloppy goal to give away.'


Purse should feel worried by the comments with Jones only ever publically going after players like Rhys Weston, Neil Alexander and Steve Thompson - all three fell quickly out of favour with Jones and never recovered. Although under-fire, the likes of McPhail, Whittingham and Hasselbaink never incurred DJ's public wrath.


To me, these comments are extremely unforunate. Darren Purse has done exceptionally well after spendigt season in the wilderness. He has impressed this season and is playing his best football in years. The reason we got nothing on Saturday was not down to Purse, it was down to a lack of direction and quality.

In fact, our defence was not the problem, the midfield and attack were more problematic areas while I would also expect the management to take much more responsibility for a disappointing showing - rather than making a scapegoat.

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