Erol Bulut: The challenge facing Bluebirds boss

There are voices calling for Bulut to be the latest victim of an autumn overhaul given the stark reality of the league table.

Cardiff fans were hoping the recent international window would give Bulut and his coaching team time to work with the squad in the hope of an upturn at Derby County.

The 1-0 defeat at Pride Park saw more metaphorical knife-sharpening among the faithful judging by some of the supporters who contacted Saturday’s edition of the BBC Radio Wales phone-in Call Rob.

The optics were not helped when Bulut – uncharacteristically – did not do post match interviews.

Bulut, rightly, has credit in the bank from some fans for the way he dealt with a tough hand last season. Arriving under a transfer embargo last summer and with limited funds in January, he brought a marked improvement and ensured a 12th-place finish on 62 points.

In the previous two seasons, Cardiff had laboured to 53 points and had not even reached the half-century mark in Sabri Lamouchi’s scramble to avoid the drop, aided by a Reading points deduction.

Last season was notable for some dramatic smash and grabs. As Bulut has pointed out, the underlying stats were not always great.

But no-one cared about general play when there were injury-time wins at Preston and at home against Premier League-bound Ipswich; a late winning show against visiting Southampton; and a Christmas bonus last-gasp triumph at Sheffield Wednesday.

Cardiff did the ugly things effectively. They stayed in games when seeing little of the ball, had a never-say-die attitude to lay the ground for late rallies and excelled at set-pieces. Indeed, they finished top of the Championship set-piece goals table.

Bulut has tried to change the way Cardiff play this season. Their possession stats have improved, currently the sixth highest in the division at 53% compared to 45% last season. But that counts for little when the Bluebirds have only Callum Robinson’s goal against Swansea to show for their efforts.

He also played the “change” card at Derby, fulfilling his post-Middlesbrough vow to make sweeping changes to the starting line-up. The result was unchanged.

With a section of fans, at least, the credit has run dry.