Omer Riza insists ‘we have to remain positive’ as Cardiff City in relegation zone
Despite Cardiff City dropping into the bottom three after an eight-game losing streak, Omer Riza stated he doesn’t sense the pressure building on him and that he had to maintain his optimism.
In their last game before Christmas, the Bluebirds faced league leaders Sheffield United, who won easily 2-0 due to a double from former Cardiff striker Kieffer Moore.
Cardiff has only won one of its previous ten games due to their terrible play, and as the season draws to a close and a crucial transfer window approaches, worries are growing.
However, Riza said, “No, not really,” in response to the question of whether he felt the pressure building on him.
We are doing everything we were doing before. The only thing we can do is stay positive as long as the procedures are correct and we are doing things correctly.
The game has three possible outcomes: We lose today, we try to make up ground at the next game, and sometimes you have to handle things differently depending on the players you have, and we are limited in that regard.
“We have to remain positive. We get disappointed, of course we do, but we have to show the players we’re doing things right. We had to deal with them as well. We just couldn’t keep the ball out of the net and when you go 1-0 down you’re always chasing and it becomes difficult.
Regarding the actual game, he stated: “It was a challenging game. We sent out a team that we believed would cause trouble, and we prepared properly.
We held them to a score of 0-0 at halftime in an attempt to even the score or win the match, but Moore’s goal puts us behind.
Our attempt to gain something from the game is the source of the second objective. It was disappointing, but the superior team prevailed.
“We know the quality of the player and the boys contained him for periods of the game. In general we worked hard and the boys showed good intensity levels. We come away with a defeat and have to pick ourselves up. There are some positives to take into the Oxford game.
“We anticipated it would be a difficult stretch of games, but we haven’t scored as many points as we would have liked after two games.
“We will continue to gaze at the table. Other than trying to win games, there is nothing we can do about it. That will be a factor in the Oxford game. We have many injuries and few personnel. We’re going to do our best with it. We can try to bring some players back, hopefully.
Oxford United is the next opponent on Boxing Day. Chris Willock, Cardiff’s standout player in the first half, was sent off soon after the half, further hurting City’s already thin roster.
Regarding the injury, Riza stated: “His hip-flexor has been injured. In the second half, he attempted to flee but was unable to do so. That needs to be evaluated. The list of players who are unavailable due to injury is previously known to you. We have to move forward with what we’ve got and the boys have to be ready.
“Callum (O’Dowda) was unable to participate because he sustained an injury at Stoke. We need to evaluate Rallsy (Joe Ralls) since he injured his glute and tweaked something. We’ll see if they return for the Oxford game, but it’s unlikely.”
