Riza pre-Bristol City | Intensity and application
Ahead of this weekend’s Severnside derby, Omer Riza spoke to the press at CCS.
Omer began by reflecting on the Bluebirds’ most recent performance, as City earned their first victory of the campaign against Millwall on Tuesday night.
“We knew that our out of possession stuff would have to be on point, and it really was,” said Omer. “We could’ve scored a few more, so that opportunity for them at the end might not have mattered so much, but that’s where we’ve got to be careful.
“The opportunities have been there to score, and I think that now you can see that element of belief that the work ethic has got to be there no matter what for you to get a foothold in the game.
“We’ve come away with a tough result from Millwall, and if we continue to do the things that we’re working on, then we’ll continue to improve.
“Between the quality in the players and the way we set up to cause the opposition a problem, and we’re confident that we can progress.”
With a trip to Ashton Gate up next, Omer expressed his desire for City to build momentum from Tuesday’s victory into our second derby of the season.
“It’s a massive game against Bristol City,” he continued. “They’ve been a bit hot and cold this season, but they can hurt us if we don’t do things properly. On the flipside, we can hurt them. We’re going into the game expecting certain things, but at the same time we’re going to take the game to them.
“I know how important derbies are, and I think that against Swansea we put in a good game and could’ve come away with a win. We’ll approach this one with high energy and intensity, not allowing the opposition to play if we can, while applying our style onto them.
“Every game is important. Points are important and wins are important. Other than getting wins nothing is too important.”
Omer concluded: “At the end of the day, people get enjoyment out of seeing their team win, and this week it was nice coming back to the fans, to see them really getting behind the team and supporting them. It was brilliant.
“They’ve had a rough ride so far, so hopefully we can give them something to shout about on Sunday.”