Cardiff City: ‘Big problems’ ahead if there is no Preston reaction – Omer Riza

Any hope that greater certainty over Cardiff’s managerial situation would result in an upturn in fortunes on the pitch was dashed as they slumped to defeat by Preston.

“That’s not my team,” Riza added. “I don’t like that sort of behaviour, I don’t like it when we don’t work, I don’t like it when we don’t fight, I don’t like it when we haven’t got desire, I don’t like it when the opposition beat us like that – they beat us down.

“[It was] very flat from us. We didn’t play at the weekend. We trained Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, so it’s not like they had days off.

“We applied what we needed to do but the boys, they have got to look at themselves and I don’t usually say that.”

Some Cardiff fans chanted “Riza, sort it out” during the Preston defeat, their third straight home loss, while there were boos at full-time.

“It was disappointing to hear the boos, disappointing to hear the frustrations and I join them in that as well,” Riza added.

“Sometimes it’s not tactics, it’s not systems, it’s desire, it’s quality. That’s what we are going to be looking for – energy to want to play, intensity to want to play.”