Omer Riza issues apology to Cardiff City fans as players froze in ‘unacceptable’ Leeds United defeat
Omer Riza issues apology to Cardiff City fans as players froze in ‘unacceptable’ Leeds United defeat
Omer Riza issued an apology to Cardiff City fans after watching his side’s “unacceptable”
performance as they got battered 7-0 by Leeds United.
It was painful viewing for Cardiff boss Omer Riza,
who was forced to watch from the stands as he began a three-game touchline ban
following his sending off in the recent 3-0 win against Swansea.
Riza said: “We said before the game that if you make silly mistakes and you don’t show intensity and
desire then Leeds will just carve you open.
“It was a humbling and a very disappointing day for us as a staff and a club and players –
we need to learn from it.
I think we froze in the first 15 minutes and there were so many things we didn’t get right today.
“We’re very disappointed. I can only apologise to the travelling fans.
We knew that we were going to come up against a tough, resilient Leeds side,
who don’t give away too many opportunities and create a lot.
“It was a painful result. 7-0 is unacceptable, no matter how good the opposition is.
We have to move forwards.
“They’re a very good side; they’ve got a lot of individual players that can cause a lot of problems,
even off the bench as you saw. But I do think we lacked in really important moments in the game.
“Of course, it’s not nice. It’s painful, but it’s what you do with it that counts – how you come off the back of it.
For me, it’s about knuckling down again now, and getting ready for our next game.
“The boys know today that we didn’t do enough. We didn’t show enough quality that we needed to,
in order to not get punished in the way that we did.
“We need to come away from this game now, learn from it and look forwards.”
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Daniel Farke could not hide his delight after Championship leaders Leeds crushed Cardiff 7-0 to record their
biggest win for over half a century.
Not since March 1972,
when Don Revie’s side famously beat Southampton 7-0 in a top-flight game at Elland Road,
had the Yorkshire giants scored seven goals in a league game.
They reduced the Bluebirds to rubble with first-half goals from Brenden Aaronson and
Manor Solomon before running riot after the break with further strikes from Dan James,
Joel Piroe (two) and substitutes Willy Gnonto and Mateo Joseph.
Leeds have not lost at home for 14 games in all competitions and their last league defeat was a 1-0 reverse at Blackburn on November 30.
After emphatically ending Cardiff’s eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions, Farke said:
“After a win, first of all it’s always relief.
“But of course when you have such an impressive scoreline as this it’s even more enjoyable.
This league is relentless and you have to become relentless yourself and
we showed this today from the first second to the last.
“In the last 20 minutes, when we were 4-0 or 5-0 up, we still had the desire to run back and
defend the clean sheet but also the discipline to create more chances – we could have score a few more.
“Quite often in such a game the offensive players have the temptation to cheat a little bit because they’re
thinking of being selfish and want to shine a bit more.
“But everyone chipped in for the team and even the offensive players were sprinting back and fighting.
We had full control until the last second and that’s why we created so many chances.
“A day like this doesn’t come along very often, especially not in this league, so you have to enjoy it.
I’m in a good mood.”
Farke played down suggestions the result marked one of the highlights of his managerial career as he set his
sights on completing the task in hand of winning promotion.
Leeds fell short in Farke’s debut season in charge last term,
losing 1-0 at Southampton in the Championship play-off final,
but the German has a proven track record of reaching the Premier League.
He twice guided Norwich into the top flight as Championship title winners and continued:
“Of course it was a great win.
“I’ve won the league already five times in my career – in Germany at the lower level,
I won the Championship two times.
“It’s different when you achieve something over a long season because it’s more than just one win.
“Yes, it’s good for our goal difference and self-confidence to deliver such a result against a side who had gone
eight games unbeaten.
“I’m so pleased my lads were able to shine, especially after some criticism after the Burnley game on Monday.”
Wales winger James supplied Aaronson for a sixth-minute opener before crossing low for Tottenham loanee Solomon to tap home a second in the 13th minute.
The outstanding James scored Leeds’ third five minutes into the second half to cap a fine performance before earning a penalty which Piroe converted to make it 4-0.
Gnonto and Joseph then added superb strikes before Piroe fired home from Junior Firpo’s third assist of the match as Leeds claimed their 18th win from 30 Championship games this season.
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