Furious Omer Riza says his Cardiff players are ‘nowhere near it’ and comments on fans’ boos

A furious Omer Riza says his Cardiff players are ‘nowhere near it’ and comments on fans’ boos after a 2-0 defeat at home to Preston.

An own goal from Calum Chambers in the 48th minute and a 93rd minute strike from Milutin Osmajic ended the Lilywhites’ search for a first away win for Paul Heckingbottom’s side.

Cardiff hadn’t won in their last five games and Preston their last nine, but it was Preston that came away with all three points in this meeting between the two sides.

The result leaves Cardiff sitting 22nd (relegation zone) in the Championship table, with 17 points from 19 games played, while Preston are 14th with 22 points from 20 games.

Cardiff defender Dimitrios Goutas has had an absolute stinker here in the 92nd minute… 🤦‍♂️
pic.twitter.com/vMwHMbIsje

— Second Tier podcast (@secondtierpod) December 12, 2024

Cardiff city football club….#Cardiff #cardiffcity pic.twitter.com/w4tHbHV83d

— flav (@JF___9) December 11, 2024

Cardiff boss Omer Riza said, per Wales Online: “Very disappointed. Frustrated. For me it was nowhere near it. Nowhere near the performance you need to be at, at Championship level. Flat. No desire. Lack of quality. Not good enough. Nowhere near good enough.

“We trained Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, it was enough to be ready for this game. It was just men against boys today.

“Not unfortunate, just not good enough. We were lucky to go in at 0-0 at half-time as far as I was concerned. There are a lot of questions to be answered. Players want to play. Players show frustrations when they’re not playing and when they do play they’ve got to do more. We have got to look at a few things as a staff, how were are going to approach the next game, because it’s not to get beat.

“We can’t keep going this way, it’s not good enough.

“You win a couple and you’re back out of problems, you lose a couple and you’re back in problems. You look at the table at this time (of the season) and you’ll drive yourself crazy. It’s about performances and winning games and we did neither today.

“We didn’t show quality in possession and were scared to get on the ball. We didn’t make enough options for each other when we were on the ball and we were untidy with it and lacked quality, even from our players who are high quality.

“The energy and intensity wasn’t good enough. It was flat. Too many people waiting for things to happen rather than making things happen. That comes down to intensity levels. That drive to want to play football.

“That desire, hunger. All the things when we are younger have to apply at senior level and that wasn’t there today. It’s not like that all the time, it was terrible today and it has to be dealt with quickly. We have to talk, get out on the grass, work, apply those principles again and make sure they are ready to go for the next game.

“You can’t think about it for too long because you’ll take that into the next game and you have to put it right.

“The crowd were excellent, they stayed and tried to lift the boys and raise the intensity levels, that shouldn’t be the case. The boys should be giving the energy to the fans, not the other way around,” Riza said. “It was disappointing to hear the boos, disappointing to hear the frustrations and I join them in that as well. We have to move forward.

“It’s a challenge and it’s something I have to deal with if I want longevity in the game. We have lost 2-0 to Preston and we weren’t good enough. We have to pick ourselves up and go again. If I ponder too long on it I won’t be doing my players, the staff or the club any favours.

“There will be changes and we need to see a reaction.”

Riza told BBC Radio Wales: “I don’t think we showed quality in possession, when we were on the ball we were untidy with it.

“They lacked quality today, the intensity was not good enough and too many players were waiting for things to happen rather than making them happen.

“The drive has to be there, desire, hunger… all the things we are when we are young and coming through need to be there and it was terrible today.”

Preston’s Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Lancashire: “It’s all about the result when we’ve been playing the way we have been. You have to win when you’re not at your best and I’m really pleased with that.

“That’s not one of our most dominant performances, we know we can play better than that.

“But to get a clean sheet and two goals is so important, and we had some real experience on the bench to help us see the game out.”

Here’s how Twitter users reacted as a furious Omer Riza says his Cardiff players are ‘nowhere near it’ and comments on fans’ boos…

@guildfdbluebird: So glad we had our game postponed Saturday so we had more time to prepare for that or it could have been 5, no way back now, leadership non existent throughout the club, going down without question

@welshvikings: Shambolic performance. Vast majority of that team just going through the motions. O’Dowda only one trying. League One bound it seems. Only silver lining is it will be exactly what Tan deserves. #tanout

@JofSharpy: One of the highest wage bills in the division, you get 10 days rest and you play like that. Disgrace

@Ciaran_1994: Sack the board

@SimonJenkins30: In the bottom 3 and can’t see us leaving it rest of season. Thank god we had the free weekend to prepare. Would have been 4 or 5 nil otherwise!!

@leeparsonsphoto: Groundhog Day, absolutely shocking, sideways, backwards yet again, no drive, no purpose, no desire, no will to win, ee as fans deserve better!

@SD8716: That’s what you get for going with the cheap option. Rotten from top to bottom. I am ashamed to watch us at the moment. Progressively getting worse every season!

@elisherridge7: This goes deeper than Riza – he’s not at fault for the soulless atmosphere and disastrous direction the club is in. Tan & co have a lot to answer for.

@Ryan_Lewis226: We are in deep trouble, feels like the board and ownership have given up and refuse to change. No direction, awful truly awful performance, players look paralysed. Really feels like relegation is almost unavoidable #CityAsOne

@MarkLewisCarter: Absolutely zero positives to take from any of that. Offered nothing. Gifted them everything. No desire, no creativity, no pace, no quality. This is not all on Riza. These players are not delivering either. This club is honking at the moment starting from the boardroom down.

@Jamesmck9: Give the job to someone with no wins in 5 and this is what happens. Should’ve never been given it, get rid asap and bring a new man in.

@Alex_Flange: Where do you go from here? Club rotten to the core and only looking like going one way. Depressing.

@schminky1981: Our luck will finally run out this season. Been flirting with the relegation zone for too many seasons now.

@tkccfc: One of the most disgraceful performances I have ever seen…

@JTE__25: Don’t know where this club is heading at the moment 🫠

@oliverCCFCrees: Bring on the Pizza Trophy next season 🤩

@Rhoders8: We are going down say we are going down