Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Cardiff no longer underdogs – Riza

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[Huw Evans Picture Agency]

Cardiff City interim manager Omer Riza says his side no longer feel they are “underdogs” going into games.

The Bluebirds go into Saturday’s Championship home game with Norwich City on the back of an unbeaten five-game run.

The former Watford coach has masterminded a run which has seen Cardiff glean 11 points from his six matches at the helm.

They take on a Norwich side who are a point outside the play-off places and are unbeaten in their last seven league games.

But having elevated Cardiff from the bottom of the table, Riza acknowledges morale is high in the camp.

He said: “They are a dangerous side. They play good football, they can open you up, have it down the sides or through the middle of the pitch, they counter very quickly and they’re decisive in their attacking approach.

“So we’re going to have to be really good defensively, like we were against West Brom (where Cardiff drew 0-0 last Saturday).

“But I definitely feel that we’re not going into the game thinking that we are underdogs, if you like.

“The way we’re performing at the moment, we’re going to go in like we want to win the game, which I’ve said in every game that we approach.”

Cardiff are currently 20th in the table, four points away from bottom club Portsmouth.

But Riza, who is due to have talks with the Cardiff hierarchy this weekend, believes there is still so much work to do.

He said: “Its important players are in a good place mentally and physically for them to be able to perform.

“I think they are in a good place at the moment and they need to continue because we have not really achieved anything yet, other than trying to get ourselves back to where we thought we should have started.

“There is a lot more work to do and we cannot sit on our laurels and think we have done enough, because have done nowhere near enough yet.

“I said to the boys we need to keep pushing forward and keep working hard.”

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