Cardiff interim boss Omer Riza tears into player over ‘unacceptable’ display

Cardiff’s revival under caretaker manager Omer Riza has stuttered to a halt this week.

Defeat at Luton in midweek ended a six-game unbeaten streak while the Bluebirds’ 3-1 defeat to Blackburn today finished a run of three home wins in a row with a display branded “unacceptable” by Riza.

He said: “The first half was unacceptable. I told the boys that in no uncertain terms. You can’t start games slowly, thinking you’re going to have loads of time on the ball and that it would be easy, just thinking it’s going to be easy and that the opposition are not going to come after you. We lacked intensity, urgency and an idea in the first half.

“When we spoke about prior to the game in terms of what we needed to do, we didn’t stick to the game plan. We were our own worst enemy first half.

“Second half I thought the reaction was better. We tried to pressurise them a little bit more and have the ball a lot more. The other part of that, when we had the ball and we delivered into the box, was it with quality? Were our set pieces quality? Not really.

“We got back in the game with the penalty and it’s 2-1, you’re pushing for that second goal, the crowd are up, but we get hit with the sucker punch again because of the things we haven’t done well, not recover, track runners or stop the opposition from scoring. Disappointing overall, but the second half was better.”

Blackburn boss John Eustace believes his team gave a textbook performance to get a first away win of the Championship season at Cardiff.

Rovers were without a win on the road from their previous seven and without a goal in their last four matches.

But both of those runs came to an end with a comfortable 3-1 win at strugglers Cardiff.

Andreas Weimann scored early in both halves to claim his first goals since August.

David Turnbull pulled a goal back for the hosts – tapping in after his penalty was saved – before Lewis Baker sealed Rovers’ first win in five games with a perfectly-placed shot four minutes from time.

Eustace said: “I thought we were excellent. We played really good possession football and were clinical.

“We scored a fantastic first goal after about 40 passes. That goal was pure quality and the way we got up field was just outstanding.

“We knew we would come under pressure and defended in and around our box and the crosses coming in really well and then scored a second at the right time.

“We gave away a soft penalty which gave Cardiff a lifeline but the boys showed excellent character to get the third.

“We have a small squad with players unavailable but the players coming off the bench really competed and showed the same fight to make a difference and get us through.

“That performance sums up what you have to do to get an away win in the Championship.”