By Jake Maddaford
Cardiff City interim manager Omer Riza remained coy on his prospects for the permanent job at the club after his side comfortably beat 10-man Plymouth 5-0 in the Welsh capital.
Cardiff’s victory was their first win by five goals in the league in seven-and-a-half years, since their victory against Rotherham in February 2017.
“I’m just trying to do the best job I can,” said Riza.
“I’m trying not to think about it too much I’ve always said if I treat people the right way, like my players and staff, I’ll get my reward whenever that may be.”
“If it doesn’t come here, I’ll keep working hard that it will come somewhere else.”
Riza repeated he would like owner Vicent Tan to make him the long-term successor to Erol Bulut and said: “ We are always in conversation. I am just trying to do the best I can do.
Cardiff City’s first goal against Plymouth Argyle today.
xG ≈ 0.06 @alexrobertson03 #CardiffCity
— EFL Stats (@EFLStats) October 19, 2024
“I spoke to him before the game. We had a good call on the telephone, he was really calm. He asked me if we could get as many shots off as we can!”
Riza then touched on the performance and how happy he is for the fans following the game.
“They are the most important people.” Riza commented.
“Today, it was about maintaining control of the game and I think David (Turnbull) and Alex (Robertson) did that superbly.”
It was the Australian who was named man of the match, and he even entered the press conference holding his bottle of champagne.
“I felt like we played a lot better football today,” said Robertson.
“I had my family here today and I’m glad they got to see my first goal. Hopefully we can have a few more games like today, and we can start climbing up the league.”
“At the minute, we’re solid at the back and we’re creating a lot up front.”
“Everyone on the pitch is understanding what we have to do to win games.”
“We don’t know what’s going on with the manager situation, but we are loving working under Riza so far.”
Just watched Cardiff City beat Plymouth Argyle 5-0 in the Championship. Some very good Cardiff performances. I particularly liked that of Rubin Colwill, the attacking midfielder. A very good player at this level. Plymouth had a man sent off at 2-0 and were very poor. pic.twitter.com/Jr25zk50hJ
— Richard Boyle (@Vincentian46) October 19, 2024
It was a crushingly dominant Bluebirds display, but it was actually Plymouth who had the first chance of the game after ex-Swansea man Michael Obafemi – who has a good record against City – dragged his shot narrowly wide of the far post.
Cardiff, and specifically Rubin Colwill, grew into the game from that point, as the midfielder played through Anwar El Ghazi, who had his shot well blocked.
Two minutes later, Cardiff took the lead as Colwill cut back to Alex Robertson, who curled his effort into the far corner for his first league goal since joining from Manchester City.
Cardiff continued to dominate as Ollie Tanner drove into the Plymouth penalty area, but his shot was palmed away by Daniel Grimshaw.
They would soon double their lead, however, as after the ball found its way to Colwill, he took a touch and curled it into the far corner, doubling Cardiff’s advantage just over halfway through the first half.
The Bluebirds would continue to dominate the visitors, but Dimitrios Goutas had his header sail comfortably over the bar.
Plymouth were then reduced to ten men three minutes before half-time, after winger Ibrahim Cissoko was brought down by Perry Ng.
Cardiff City scored more goals today (5) than they had scored in their nine previous Championship games (4).
A statement win from Omer Riza’s side. #CityAsOne | #EFL pic.twitter.com/LMhgwVkniV
— Betfred (@Betfred) October 19, 2024
Cissoko reacted and proceeded to put his hands around NG’s throat, meaning referee Andrew Kitchen did not hesitate to produce a red card.
“He’s reacted the wrong way,” said Plymouth manager Wayne Rooney.
“It’s clever from their player, he’s definitely done it on purpose.”
“Cardiff were the much better team today, but I can’t accept doing the basics wrong.
“It is very difficult to put into words how I feel. We actually started the game okay and should have been 1-0 up, but Michael Obafemi missed a good opportunity.
“Beyond that, we got really sloppy, we were giving the ball away, not winning tackles. If you don’t do the basics, you lose.
“Have seen real energy and aggression before in away matches, today we were never in the game. It was more difficult down to 10 men, but even before that we were struggling.
“It’s not nice to come off after a game like that and it’s really important we move on from today as quickly as possible.”
“We have given the ball away a lot, we didn’t win tackles, we weren’t aggressive enough, we didn’t do the basics right.”
Wayne Rooney admitted it was ‘difficult to put into words’ his thoughts after Argyle’s 5-0 drubbing by Cardiff.
Read More: ⬇️ #pafchttps://t.co/MJLYjySoTD— Chris Errington (@ChrisErrington1) October 19, 2024
After the dismissal, Cardiff extended their lead after good work down their right-hand side. Tanner played in Colwill, who squared the ball to Anwar El Ghazi, who tapped home his first for the club.
The Bluebirds proceeded to create even more chances with the game wrapped up, David Turnbull’s powerful effort going close from the edge of the box.
Following that, Cardiff proceeded to substitute both Tanner and Colwill, with both receiving standing ovations on their departure.
They extended their advantage by a further two goals as Callum Robinson and Chris Willock both got in on the act, the latter netting his first for the club like El Ghazi, previously.
The comprehensive win leaves Cardiff still in the relegation zone, but only on goal difference.
