Cardiff Manager Riza Declares Team No Longer Considers Itself an Underdog

Omer Riza, the interim manager for Cardiff City, has stated that his team no longer perceives itself as an “underdog” when approaching matches. The Bluebirds are set to play Norwich City in a Championship home game this Saturday, following an undefeated streak of five games. Riza, a former coach at Watford, has orchestrated a period during which Cardiff has secured 11 points from the six matches he has managed. Their opponent, Norwich, is currently one point shy of the play-off positions and has remained undefeated in their previous seven league fixtures. Despite Norwich’s form, Riza notes the high morale within the Cardiff squad, having guided the team away from the bottom of the league standings. He stated: “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 currently occupies the 20th position in the league table, holding a four-point lead over Portsmouth, the club at the bottom. However, Riza, who is scheduled to meet with the Cardiff hierarchy this weekend, maintains that significant effort is still required. He commented: “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.”