Omer Riza says Cardiff City players 'froze' in 'rugby match' against Portsmouth
Omer Riza accused his Cardiff City players of "freezing" and lacking bravery in what he described as a "rugby match" against Portsmouth.
The Bluebirds took on relegation rivals Pompey in a crucial match at Fratton Park but, as they so often have done away from home, they started horrendously and found themselves with an uphill battle, two goals down, after 17 minutes.
Callum O'Dowda's header gave them hope, but that was as good as it got, really, with a real dearth of quality in the second half. It saw Pompey leap above Cardiff in the table ahead of a massive Severnside derby for the Bluebirds at the weekend. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
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Speaking after the defeat, Riza, who was serving the last of his three-match ban in the stands at Fratton Park, said: "I'm disappointed, we made it hard for ourselves early on. To go 2-0 down is hard work. We got a goal and stayed in the game, in the second half we created chances and should have scored, but we weren't good enough, we lacked execution and bravery.
"I was disappointed our goal was disallowed, Robbo was onside< but we were second to a lot of stuff tonight. We have to move forward now.
"They have been really strong at home and hey are good at the things they did. It was like a rugby match at times and we didn't stand up to the challenge. A few players froze in the moment again. We didn't start aggressive enough or do the basics well. Not picking up second balls, when we did our passes were loose.
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"Just indecisiveness, execution and our bravery needed to be better.
"I told my players we can do better and play better than that. We can have a fight but then once you've done that you need to apply your strengths to the game and it was few and far between tonight. Now we've made it hard work for ourselves again. We have to go back with our tail between our legs ready for Saturday."
