Cardiff manager Omer Riza questioned whether his side have the right mentality for a relegation fight, after a frustrating 1-1 draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
Cardiff City were under pressure even before a ball was kicked, after Luton’s win against Hull an hour earlier closed the gap to just two points between the Hatters and the Bluebirds.
A win was needed, but a draw was the result and Omer Riza wasn’t best pleased with the second half showing from his players.
“It’s seems to be a mental problem with the players,” Riza bemoaned.
“We didn’t apply pressure and that put us on the back foot.
“We’re going through one of those moments. The second half was all about trying to get the second goal, it didn’t happen, and we come away with a point.
“Maybe, it’s a sub-conscious thing, about trying to hold on because they know how important three points are.
“As a team, we lack that killer instinct that we needed, and it’s proved costly. We can’t make excuses; we have to find solutions.”
The Bluebirds were the more positive in the initial stages, but they were missing that finishing touch, while taking too many at the same time.
Noticeably, Isaak Davies was making just his second start of the season, and he was Cardiff’s main outlet early on.
He might have scored early on but indecision let him down as he entered the box and took too long to shoot before being closed down by the Wednesday defence.
Davies would make up for his earlier mistake after brilliant work by Will Alves, who drove inside and picked him out on the right.
Davies cut inside and found the bottom corner to give City the lead and move them four points clear of relegation as things stood.
“He was superb,” Riza said of Davies.
“At the moment with him, we’re telling him to keep it simple.
“He’s got energy, intensity, aggression. He wants to play but he’s just come back from injury.”
Davies’s campaign has been blighted by injuries and he missed g the entirety of the first half of the season.
His return has boosted Cardiff’s attacking options, as well as proving with Riza with another player who knows the club and what it means to play for his local team.
Unfortunately for Cardiff, the team that appeared after the break was unrecognisable from the side that opened the game. Misplaced passes and poor positioning were seen throughout the following 45 minutes.
It was summed up by Sheffield Wednesday’s equaliser. A corner from the left-hand side was allowed to reach the head of Michael Ihiekwe, who powered home a leveller for the visitors.
“Conceding from a corner, even though we had worked on that all week, was disappointing,” Riza said.
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Riza’s public questioning of his side’s mentality, no matter how justified it may be, could turn out to be poorly judged.
Going into the final seven games of what has been a tumultuous campaign on and off the pitch for both Riza and the club, other managers may have chosen to keep their criticism in the dressing room.
Cardiff’s next two home games - Stoke City and Oxford – are against teams that are only two points above Cardiff.
It might sound cliché, but these are the Bbluebirds’ two biggest games of the season - home fixtures against teams within one result of Cardiff.
If the club could hand-pick the next home fixtures, these are the games they would choose.
But after Riza’s comments, his remarks risk being taken in one of two ways by his players.
Either, they use them as motivation and take that energy into the run in to ensure survival - or it causes friction and heads may drop even more, resulting in the club sleepwalking into relegation.
Only time will tell.
