Omer Riza spoke to the press to preview our clash with Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon.
The Bluebirds are set to host the Blades for City’s final home match of 2024, with a tough challenge ahead against a side arriving in South Wales at the top of the league table.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” began Omer. “For me they’re the best team in the league at the moment, it’ll be a tough game against a side that’s hard to beat, and a great opportunity for us on Saturday.
“We’re making sure that we’re able to rotate. We made five changes against Stoke City away from home and the boys performed well. There’s no hesitation now in rotating the squad; the first part of my tenure was to see if the boys could handle it at a good level with the team, and they’ve proved that.
“Now we just need to marry that to selecting the right team to go up against the right opposition.”
Beginning a busy run-in of fixtures that will take City into the New Year, Riza anticipates the opportunity for getting more points on the table in the weeks ahead.
“It’s a tough, gruelling schedule," said Omer. "It’s the same for every other team, everyone is playing when we’re playing.
"We’re in a positive place. Although we’ve not picked up as many points, I think the teams below us haven’t really picked up points either, but we’ve got to look at ourselves and look to try and get as many points and wins as we can.
“Going into Saturday, it will be a really tough game, but one that we’re relishing and one we feel we can do well in. We’ll take that forward throughout the whole festive period and look to pick up as many points as we can.”
Concluding, Omer provided an injury update on the squad:
“We’ve got a few injuries in the squad,” said Riza. “Michael Reindorf has hurt his ankle. Isaak [Davies] has started doing some running now on the pitch, so we’re looking to incorporate him with some more football in training over the next week or so, which is good.
“Kion [Etete] is looking to get some more minutes with the U21 side, which is good for his progression. Perry [Ng] is not quite there yet, and Ollie Tanner the same.
“We’re a little bit thin at the moment, but all of the boys that are fit are working hard to make sure that we’re ready to go into the game with confidence and fighting spirit.”