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Fuming Omer Riza blasts Cardiff City players who were 'nowhere near it' and addresses fans' boos
A visibly angry Omer Riza blasted his players for being "nowhere near it" in a "men against boys" display in the 2-0 defeat by Preston North End.
The Bluebirds turned out a poor performance in what was Riza's first game as permanent manager of the club following his appointment until the end of the season a week ago. But the honeymoon period did not last, with Cardiff surrendering two second-half goals to leave themselves in the relegation zone.
And Riza did not hold back in his assessment of the game. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
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"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," said Riza, whose side didn't play at the weekend owing to the cancellation of the fixture with Watford.
"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."
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Understandably, the supporters vented their own frustrations at full-time after watching their team slump further into the relegation picture. It's the third time in four seasons these fans have had to try and cajole their team out of the mire and up the table.
And Riza understands their disappointment and can see why they felt the need to show their anger with boos at the final whistle.
"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."
Cardiff take on Stoke City away on Saturday.
