[themaclad]

Cardiff City
Cardiff City Stadium 11/12/2024 19.45 hrs

https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/

MANAGER



Omer Karime Ali Riza (born 8 November 1979) is a football coach and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship club Cardiff City.

LAST TIME OUT





FORM GUIDE

BLUEBIRDS 4 PNE 6

HOT SHOTS IN BLUE



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THINGS TO SEE IN CARDIFF AT NIGHT



LEAGUE STUFF

[themaclad]

The Fitness Test

Robbie Brady, who has been sidelined through injury since the end of October, is expected to be back available for this fixture.

Mads Frøkjær made his return from injury in last weekend's draw against Sheffield Wednesday, while Liam Lindsay returned to the bench and will be pushing for a start.

There are no fresh injury problems for the manager to worry about.

The Bluebirds

Cardiff City head into Wednesday night looking for a first victory in six matches, after taking two points from a possible 15.

The run comes after a brilliant turn of form under the interim management of Omer Riza, which saw them go six unbeaten, with four wins coming in that time.

The 45-year-old has as a result been handed the permanent gig in Cardiff and will be hoping to steer them away from the bottom end of the table before long.

The Officials

Referee: James Linington
Assistant Referees: Alex James and Alistair Nelson
Fourth Official: Sam Allison

James Linington will take charge of a North End fixture for the first time in over a year, with the previous occasion being a 2-1 victory over Sunderland in August 2023.

Linington has actually refereed this fixture twice before in December 2017 and March 2022.

So far this season, he’s refereed nine matches and shown 36 yellow cards.

THE BOSS

Paul Heckingbottom says his side are producing “exactly what we want” at the moment, but it’s the crucial bits in both boxes which they just haven’t been able to get right.

The manager has said on many occasions after matches within this ten-game winless run that he’s been pleased with the majority of what he’s seen from his team, albeit the performances haven't been converted into three points.

It’s pretty clear to the boss why that hasn’t happened and he’ll be wanting his side to make sure it does on Wednesday night when they head to Cardiff.

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Hecky said: “Ultimately what you do in both boxes defines your season. On a rolling average over the last 12 games, we're performing as well as, if not better than, Sheffield United at the top of the league in terms of xG for and xG against.

“If anyone had said that to me when we came in that we could be doing that, then I'd have snapped their hand off. But, if I compare us to that team, they've been really clinical at one end of the pitch, and then keeping clean sheets and really limiting the damage at the other, even though they're not giving anything away like us.”

While those traits in performances have been big pluses as far as the manager’s concerned, he also wants his side to then be able to generate wins from displays which perhaps aren’t as strong as others.

Hecky said: “Or let's just be good at winning ugly, you know? I'm looking at some of the teams, it's no disrespect to them, but I'm looking at them and I'm watching them perform and I'm watching the games back, and I'm watching Sheffield Wednesday – no disrespect – but they’ve just been second best in two games and took four points.

“We’ve been second best in two games and lost them. Listen, we'll always try and be the best team on the pitch because it gives you more chance of winning the game, but I also want us to develop when we are poor or not at our best or second best in that particular game, that we can still come away with three points.”

North End were boosted by the return from injury of Mads Frøkjær and Liam Lindsay in the 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday, although the latter was limited to a place on the bench.

On his fitness, Hecky said: “Every day he's got better and better and better. I wouldn't have been comfortable expecting him to get 90 or anything like that.

“But bit by bit, his ball striking and the little bits that are still giving him some pain, he's got through them, so we're pleased with that.”

OMAR

Omer Riza spoke to Cardiff City TV ahead of our Sky Bet Championship clash against Preston North End on Wednesday evening.
The Lilywhites are currently 17th in the table and claimed a 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday this past Saturday.

"Their last few results have been quite good," Omer began. "They work hard, they’re an aggressive side out of possession, they’ll come out, they’ll come after us and they’ll make it hard for us.

"They’ve got their way of doing things; obviously we’ve studied that and hopefully we’ll find ways to counteract it."


The Bluebirds are set to return to action at Cardiff City Stadium, following the postponement of our clash with Watford over the weekend.

Omer continued: “We prepared well for the game against Watford and everyone was looking forward to it. We’ve had a little bit of extra time leading up to this game and preparation has been good. We’ve trained through the week, we’re organised and ready to go.

“They’re professional boys and they take on a lot of information. We try not to make it too difficult to do that. They’re ready for this game.

“I think it always helps not to have a congested schedule. It would have been Saturday to Wednesday, so we would have had less preparation time, less rest and a bit more tiredness. They [Preston] have played on Saturday, so it leads us into a strong game."


So far this campaign, City have claimed some impressive wins at CCS, with fantastic performances against the likes of Plymouth Argyle, Portsmouth and Norwich City.

“We’ve already been here in charge for two months now, so nothing really changes other than the fact that we know where we want to go and what we want to reach," Omer added. "Nothing will change overnight; the boys are ready and hopefully the fans are ready for a good game on Wednesday.

"The twelfth man, we always speak about it. The fans have been brilliant this year when it comes to the games. We need them more than ever now.

"It’s that part of the season, the business end of the season if you like and we need them. Hopefully, we’ll keep continuing to put on performances and pick up the points that we need to."

[themaclad]

Cardiff City 0 Preston North End 2 Chambers og, Osmajic

Attendance: 15006 (218 PNE fans).

Referee: Mr J Linington.

Like last season arrive at the ground a couple of hours before the game, achieved a lifetime ambition(only joking) first away fan in the ground.
Compared to the icy Northern uplands it was slightly warmed in the Welsh capital, two changes, Bowler and Lindsay in for Potts and Hughes.
A slow start by us Meite fired wide with a left footed effort, before we roused ourselves, two Bowler efforts, the second created by a wonderful cross field pass by Thor were both well saved by Alnwick, also thought Lindsay should have done better with an header.
However City began to dominate, Meite who looked yards offside(he wasn't) chipped the ball towards goal, the effort was cleared from the line by Storey who had played him onside, they also had a couple of other efforts which were not a million miles away.
Half time level, that changed virtually straight away after the break, quick free kick Mads into the box, shot or cross no idea, Chambers majestically slots home from 6 yards.
Cardiff hit back, could have been levelbut for a brilliant goal line clearence by Whatmough, if that had gone in might have been a different outcome, they had efforts to level which like those in the first were close but with no cigar.
Deep into time added on we made sure of the points Potts aimless ball forward, awful bit of defending and Fang brushed the defender away, took the ball around Alnwick and slotted home, decent finish in truth.
Three points job done.
A majestic tour of England on the way home, South Newport and West Bromwich have always been on my always wanted to go too places, I can now die happy.
Astonished to find the players travelled home by coach seeing we play Marching Altogether FC at 12.30 on Saturday, strange decision..

OMER

Omer Riza spoke to the press after our defeat to Preston North End on Wednesday evening.
"We were very flat, not enough energy and intensity," Omer began. "There was a lack of quality in possession. We trained on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and it was enough to make sure we were ready for this game.

"They’ve [Preston] played a game on Saturday and we haven’t. We were lucky to go in at 0-0 at half-time. Players want to play, but when they do play they have to do more.

"We have a turnaround now and we have to look at a few things from a coaching perspective, how we approach the next game and to try and get something out of the game."

Omer Riza
After a 2-0 defeat to the Lilywhites, City's next fixture is a trip to face Stoke City on Saturday afternoon.

"It’s about performances and winning games, but we didn’t have it today. We’ve got to get on with it and there will be more conversations to get to the bottom of what happened today.

"We get through it by talking, getting out on the grass and applying those principles again and making sure they’re ready for the next game. You can’t think about it for too long, because you take it into the next game. You have to make sure we put it right.

"The crowd were excellent today and tried to raise the boys’ intensity levels. That shouldn’t be the case. The players should be giving that energy to the fans, not the other way around. We have to move forwards.

"For me, it’s a challenge and it’s something that I have to deal with. If I want longevity in the game, these are the things you have to come through. We’ve lost the game today and we weren’t good enough, but we have to pick ourselves up and go again in the next game.

"If I ponder too long on it, I won’t be doing my players, my staff and the Club a favour. I just need to get on with it now and look at what we need to do. There will be changes and we need to see a reaction."

HECKY

Paul Heckingbottom felt the last-minute goal in front of the travelling fans in the 2-0 win over Cardiff City was the “icing on the cake”.

Preston North End earned a first away victory of the season in the Welsh capital thanks to a Calum Chambers own goal a few minutes into the second half and Milutin Osmajić’s stoppage-time strike.

The manager has been so pleased with the majority of his side’s performances in recent weeks, which haven’t resulted in three points being taken, so he was understandably delighted to get that winning feeling back.



Hecky said: “We've been talking for so many weeks about how it is about the win.

“We've had to be really measured, realistic and try and put a lot of things in perspective in terms of performances to make sure we keep trying to do the right things.

“Ironically, that’s a game where we’ve had the least amount of control for quite a bit. In one respect, I'd say that it was a little bit loose, but I felt we still had the better chances in the first half.

“Probably the control came when they went behind and had more of the ball. We brought experience on, but we did defend our box really well. Although they had the ball, and I would have liked to have stopped more of the crosses coming in, I still felt that we protected Freddie [Woodman] really well.”

After taking the lead, and throughout the 90 minutes as a whole, the Lilywhites restricted their hosts to very little, and when they did manage to get shots away they were dealt with.

It wasn’t all defending after going ahead, though, as PNE never stopped looking for a second, which eventually arrived in the third minute of stoppage-time when substitute Osmajić netted in front of the travelling fans.


Hecky said: “Three points is three points. We're delighted with it, but that moment, it's just like a bit of icing on the cake.

“I think, to score the second in the dying moments, it puts the game to bed, but also for it to be in front of your own fans who've made the journey down. Little things like that are special and you have to make the most of them.

“You've got to celebrate winning. That's what we do it for. It’s special winning. You're trying as many things as you can through the week and during the performance to give yourself the best chance and I feel we've been doing that but the results haven't been coming.

“Today we got over the line and that’s why we work as hard as we do.”