Omer Riza

Riza post-Luton Town | We'll pick ourselves up

Interviews
Omer Riza spoke to the press following our narrow defeat to Luton Town on Wednesday evening.

"We’re disappointed," he began. "We knew what we were coming into today and we knew what we’d have to deal with. I thought we dealt with it predominantly well throughout the game, but a couple of little bits that they caused us problems with. 

"Generally, for us in possession, I thought we created some really good moments, at times we need to be a little bit cleaner technically for that final pass, final ball and final opportunity. 

"Things just didn’t quite bounce for us or we let ourselves down with our quality, then we got done with the set play, from the corner, which we’ve looked at. It was a good ball, but we need to deal with it better."

David Turnbull in action for Cardiff City

The defeat is City's first in seven matches, with Jacob Brown's second half header proving the difference.

Omer continued: "It just wasn’t quite there today. We look forward and we keep looking to progress. In all honestly, in the game, I thought we had more control of the game in respect of playing and trying to find areas on the pitch, which we did, but we didn’t do enough to be able to punish them. 

"We’re focused on being a hard-working side and I think we’ve done that again today against a very tough side. They’re a good side, they work hard just like we do. We gave a good account of ourselves. 

"We know what this league is like, it is very close. We have got a lot of games left and a lot of games to try and win. We will keep looking above and keep pushing up the table as much as we can. 

"The fans have been great today and they’ve supported the boys brilliantly. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get at least a point for them."

Manolis Siopis

The Bluebirds' next fixture is against Blackburn Rovers at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

"Of course, every game is important," Omer added. "Coming into the international window with a long period without a game, I’m sure the boys will be ready and raring to go. 

"We’ve got a squad there. A few of the boys came on and managed to get a runout, which I thought was important for Saturday. We’ve got players potentially coming back in as well. It’s a short turnaround, like a lot of the games in this league through this period. We’ll be ready."

Watch more from Omer on Cardiff City TV.