Bulut: 'I think I made the right choice to be here.'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68371696

Erol Bulut says he has no regrets about taking the Cardiff City manager's job last summer.

Bulut has stressed that he is keen to build the Championship club - and has dismissed talk that the Bluebirds are in a relegation fight.

After a promising start to the campaign, Cardiff are on their worst run of the season as they prepare to face Stoke City on Saturday.

"For me it was not an easy decision to come to Cardiff," Bulut said.

"I made the decision for me and I did not make the wrong choice. I think I made the right choice to be here.

"I made the correct choice to be with this team, to build something at Cardiff City with the board, the players and the coaches.

"I knew it was not an easy job I was taking. Given how we started and how we went in the first few weeks, we put the expectations high."

Cardiff showed promise in the early months of the campaign, when they produced enough consistency to suggest they were capable of pushing for the play-offs.

But Bulut's side now find themselves 14th in the table, 13 points adrift of the top six and nine above the Championship relegation places.

Stoke are 19th in the second tier, six points worse off than Cardiff and only three clear of 22nd-placed Queens Park Rangers.

Remarkably, every club below Cardiff in the table has changed their manager this season.

Bulut is in discussions about extending his Cardiff contract, which expires at the end of the season, and the former Fenerbahce manager has talked about building for the future.

Stressing that heightened expectations were a good thing, he said: "I want it like this, it is great. But now we are talking differently, but don't come back on the bad things. Think positively.

"We made a lot of good things all together and we have to build on this.

"This will be the decision of the club, whether they want a new manager or not. If they want to continue with us or not, I cannot decide.

"But I try to do my best for the club and I know it was not easy to get players, to get players to sign contracts."

Bulut said there is a need for time to put measures in place for the club to improve.

He added: "Many, many big teams with big budgets are behind us. We cannot say we have invested really big amounts to get players in to be at a different level.

"So we have to go step by step. Of course I would like it more to be in the top six, but this is a big step from last season to this season.

"You cannot build a building when you want to build 50 floors in one day. For this you have to have time."

Despite his team's current form, Bulut has rejected talk that Cardiff are facing a third straight relegation fight.

"I think in football, nothing is guaranteed. But I think with the team that we have right now, with 13 games to play, we don't have to think about the relegation places. That's my opinion," he said.

"The players know about the situation. We have many games to play, so as soon as possible we have to play so we don't have to think about last year or before last year."

Cardiff's Ivory Coast striker Yakou Meite is available to face Stoke having been sidelined for the last two games with injury.

well thats one person

Is it really the case that Etete and Meite have only scored three goals between this this season? I think a couple of cardboard cut-outs would do just as well.

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Is it really the case that Etete and Meite have only scored three goals between this this season? I think a couple of cardboard cut-outs would do just as well.

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Strangely, Etete scored three in three League Cup games and he’d scored five in his first ten games in all competitions this season, but he got injured after that and has not scored since he came back.

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Cardiff's Ivory Coast striker Yakou Meite is available to face Stoke having been sidelined for the last two games with injury.

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What's the good news Erol?

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Strangely, Etete scored three in three League Cup games and he’d scored five in his first ten games in all competitions this season, but he got injured after that and has not scored since he came back.

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He was actually looking decent during that patch as well, but then the team were playing better.

Two including me - I want him to stay - cue pelters 😂👍

"I want it like this, it is great. But now we are talking differently, but don't come back on the bad things".
Okay, I get the whole lost in translation thing but what the actual f**k is he saying here to the fans, shut the f**k up and stop with the negative vibes? He wants what "like this", what....shit? That's great!!

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Originally Posted by fingers

"I want it like this, it is great. But now we are talking differently, but don't come back on the bad things".
Okay, I get the whole lost in translation thing but what the actual f**k is he saying here to the fans, shut the f**k up and stop with the negative vibes? He wants what "like this", what....shit? That's great!!

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:hehe:

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Originally Posted by jon1959

:hehe:

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Oddball

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...inute-28688458

Erol Bulut delivers six-minute explanation on exactly what he's trying to do with Cardiff City
The Bluebirds have lost their way of late, but manager Erol Bulut has explained exactly what he is trying to get his team to do.

Cardiff City fans could be forgiven for scratching their heads over the last couple of months.

That sizzling early-season form which saw them rise as high as fifth in the Championship table back in October seems to have fizzled away at a steady pace over the last two months.

This season has offered more encouragement and positivity than the last two years combined — following horrendous back-to-back campaigns which included managerial merry-go-rounds and relegation battles — but supporters want to see a strong finish to the season to ensure there is a sound platform on which to build next term.

The Bluebirds have won just one game in their last eight, losing six of them. What has made that run worse is the woeful home form — Cardiff fans have not cheered a home goal since Boxing Day nor a home win since December 9 — and, pressingly, a lack of goals.

The Bluebirds come up against one of the very few teams who are in a worse run of form than them this weekend when they welcome Stoke City to Cardiff City Stadium and they need to put in a good performance in front of the home supporters.

During Erol Bulut's early tenure at the beginning of the campaign, Cardiff played some decent football. They hurt teams on the outside and the likes of Ike Ugbo, a poacher-type striker, really, benefitted from turning home some chances which were put on a plate for him.


Cardiff's style appears to have changed, too. Those early-season performances had a zip and a go-forward about them, but that has seemingly dissipated. Sign up to our Cardiff City daily newsletter here.

When asked about his team's style of play and exactly what it is he is trying to implement, Bulut entered a six-minute explanation in an attempt to furnish fans with a better idea of what the plan of attack, literally, actually is.

"I am preferring the system of 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. But when we are building up, we make a back three, sometimes it is with a number six or with a full-back, depending on the opponent," he said.

"We want to use the wingers to create chances down the side, because the centre is always a close place. So it's difficult to go through the centre sometimes. So you have to use the half space on the wings to create a two against one or a three against two in behind he defence to create chances.

"Sometimes we want to use the strikers or wingers in behind, but you have to see what type of players you have to go in behind. In this we have KG (Karlan Grant) like this, Josh Bowler likes the ball at his feet to go one against one. Kion (Etete) likes to make the runs, but also he asks to have the ball short.

"But mostly, it's to use the sides and come with crosses in behind the defence."

When it was put to him that his wingers, typically a right-footer on the left and a left-footer on the right, tend to favour cutting inside to heavily congested traffic, thus leaving the only option as shooting from distance, he replied: "Who is coming then when the wingers come inside? The full-backs are coming to overlap and hit crosses, so we have more players then inside the box.

"Let's say our left-back is overlapping the winger, you have the winger inside, the striker inside, the opposite winger inside and plus the number 10, so we have four players minimum inside the box. You should have.

"Then we can go to the other point. If you transfer the ball in front, you have to try to keep it also. If we lose the ball too quickly up front, sometimes we try to go too quickly up front and make individual movements and we lose it, because the midfield and full-back cannot support. So we have to keep the ball with the wingers and the striker in front, so we can go to a set play. This is a small issue we have. This is why we don't have so many players in the box."

It's probably fair to say that Jamilu Collins, who has had to be run into the ground this season following an entire year out with an ACL injury, is not bombing on past his winger enough to really trouble the opposition, as he has done in the past. Perry Ng, arguably Cardiff's best player this season, is not that marauding-type right-back, either, so creating that width has been a struggle, it seems.

Cardiff's other big issue is getting the ball forward and keeping it there. As Bulut alluded to, too often they play the ball too quickly up to a striker and it pings off them and the ball is lost. Only four teams have attempted more long balls than Cardiff this year.

Conversely, when they try to build from the back, it is too slow and teams can defend easily against them by getting back into shape.

The Bluebirds rank 20th for the number of attempted crosses they've put into the penalty area this season. They are also in the bottom half (14th) for the number of crosses attempted into the penalty area not included set pieces. So if that is their main attacking weapon, it's not being utilised nearly consistently enough to score goals.

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Their inability to move the ball forward efficiently is also poor when compared to the rest of the division. Only Rotherham United have completed fewer passes into the opponent's penalty area than Cardiff (158), while only the Millers and Sheffield Wednesday have completed fewer progressive passes than the Bluebirds (950) this term. They're not passing forward enough, they're not passing it into the penalty area enough and, by and large, they aren't crossing the ball enough.

So, when asked if he thought the players simply weren't executing the game plan well enough, Bulut said: "This is also about the confidence. When you lose games, the confidence drops. You can train, show, analyse what we are doing. What we are expecting from our players is always the same.

"It was the same at the start of the season to what we have right now. Now we have to ask why it worked at the start of the season, why it worked well when we were in the play-off positions or close to it, why is it not working now? The players did not change, we did not change the first XI, it's the same players. We are expecting the same things for the same players.

"In January, we added four or five players, but in the first XI there have only been one or two. So not many things have changed, only the performances have changed. The performances are too up and down.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...bulut-28681112


Tonight's Cardiff City news as Bulut says youngster will get his chance and Isaak Davies speaks out on Wales ambitions
The latest Bluebirds news from Cardiff City Stadium



Cian will get his chance
Erol Bulut has said Cian Ashford will get his chance before the end of the season but insisted the timing had to be right.

Ashford has been on the bench for the last two Championship games - and four in total since the new year - but has been an unused substitute. Some questioned whether he would be better served continuing his fine form for the Under-21s, but Bulut said his call-up to the first-team squad is just rewards for his work with the youth team so far this season.

Given Cardiff are on a poor run of one win in eight games, Bulut believes the timing has not been right to blood him properly. But the time, he said, will come.


"Because of his performances at Under-21s, he is on the bench now," Bulut said of Ashford. "I know what fans want, but fans need to understand also that he is 19 years old.

"In many games, we didn't get points, now we are trying to get the confidence back in the players, to put an 19-year-old player in these games I don't think will be the best thing to help him.

"We have to wait for the moment we can use him. When we spoke with the coaches, I said he will get his minutes. He is doing really well and is training with us every day. In the training sessions, he progressed really well from the start of the season to where he is now. If he continues, he will get the minutes.

"Putting him in at the right time is important. Putting him in when he cannot do anything will not help him, us, the fans and they are frustrated then that we put him in at the wrong time.


"Not only him. Joel Colwill is also doing well. We need the right time to use these young players."

Isaak: I've not heard from Rob Page yet
Isaak Davies is relishing his time with KV Kortrijk and is having a successful season on a personal note.

The Welsh striker, currently on loan at Vincent Tan-owned KVK, has netted six times while the club struggles at the bottom of the division.

He is Cardiff's highest goalscorer in senior football this season, it's just a shame, perhaps, that he's not playing for the Bluebirds. His form out in Kortijk — he notched his half a dozen against top-of-the-table Union SG last weekend — has prompted some to wonder whether Wales boss Rob Page has been in touch ahead of next month's internationals.

But Davies told HLN: “Unfortunately I haven't heard him yet, but I'm not really concerned with that. I focus on KV Kortrijk and want to end the season on a high note. But of course it is a dream to play for Wales.”

You can argue the toss over whether it would have been more beneficial to bring him back to Cardiff or whether it was right to leave him in Belgium for the final few months of the season. Sign up to our Cardiff City daily newsletter here.

Cardiff are likely to get a better, more rounded striker back next season and they will likely reap the benefits in the long by allowing him a full season in the top flight over there. And it's safe to say he is loving it, too.

“I haven't regretted my choice for Kortrijk for a second,” he added. “I enjoy every minute. Georgia (his girlfriend) and I have made friends for life here. It is sometimes difficult missing your family, but fortunately they often come to visit."

Davies' deal with the Bluebirds runs until the end of next season, so the plan, presumably, is to bring him back at the end of the season and assess the next move. Although it seems unlikely Cardiff would sanction another loan move away after the season he has enjoyed over in Belgium.

And that does appear to be the plan, although Davies has not categorically ruled anything out yet. Cardiff manager Erol Bulut at time of writing sees his own contract expire at the end of the campaign and that will likely have to get sorted before any decision is made on Davies.

“I have become a better player in Belgium and I am extremely grateful to KVK for that," the 22-year-old added. "I would like to thank them by keeping this great club in the first division. After that I normally return to Cardiff, but you never know. In football things can happen quickly.”

Meite back for Cardiff
Yakou Meite will be back for Cardiff City this weekend after missing the last two games with a calf injury.

Republic of Ireland duo Callum O'Dowda and Callum Robinson are also training but are not yet ready to feature, however Bulut hopes the former can get some action next week and leading into the international break, which will be a big boost for the Bluebirds.

Jak Alnwick needs one more week before he is fully fit and ready to play again, while Perry Ng and Joe Ralls are both in contention to start at home against the Potters this weekend after a couple of niggles.



Kipre makes Bluebirds admission
Cedric Kipre believes his excellent loan season at Cardiff last year has allowed him to flourish back at West Brom.

The Ivorian was immense during his temporary stay in south Wales last year, with many Bluebirds supporters keen to see him sign on a permanent. Of course, that is rarely the case and Kipre was taken back in at The Hawthorns and assessed by boss Carlos Corberan.

The centre-back has arguably been the Baggies best player this season, which will come as no surprise if you had seen his performances in a Cardiff shirt last term. And Kipre believes the confidence he gained and the performances he put in for the Bluebirds has served to heighten his level for the Midlands club in this campaign.