By Gareth James
Cardiff City manager Erol Bulut has admitted morale in his squad is fragile after their latest setback.
The Bluebirds were hammered 4-1 at Norwich City to make it three defeats in a row and six in their last seven games.
It is a run that has seen Bulut’s team fall from play-off contention to the edge of the relegation scrap – just eight points above the drop zone with 14 matches still to play.
Cardiff currently have 40 points – five more than they had earned at this stage last season.
Bulut’s team now host Blackburn Rovers in midweek and their manager admitted he is wary of raising his voice to players who are at a low ebb.
“It hurts me a lot,” said Bulut, who is out of contract this summer.
“I have to handle this quickly with my players, because we need these players again on Tuesday. I need my players on Tuesday.
Erol Bulut ‘hurting’ amid worst losing run of his career as Cardiff City boss reveals severity of Ramsey injuryhttps://t.co/drjbQaAYbs
— Nazim Hussain (@NazimHu14020708) February 17, 2024
“I spoke to them inside (the changing room), they have to be positive. I cannot shout at them to make them more down, they are already down because we lost 4-1.
“I will try to keep morale up to have a good morale on Tuesday for the game.
“I think in my career I never lost so many games in a row, so I have to adapt to that as well.
“I don’t like losing and my players don’t like losing. We have to give the fans something back.”
Cardiff actually went ahead at Norwich through Jamilu Collins but Norwich quickly recovered to reel off their fourth straight home win as they cruised past their feeble opponents to maintain their Championship play-off push.
Collins fired Cardiff ahead after 19 minutes but the hosts were in front by half-time thanks to two goals in five minutes from Josh Sargent and Gabriel Sara.
Sargent went on to add his 10th of the season after the break, with a fourth from substitute Christian Fassnacht completing a comfortable win.
“It was a very difficult afternoon,” Bulut added.
6 defeats in 7 games
14 points from a possible 57 (19 games)
10 defeats from 12 home games
The players have no idea when and when not to press
Too slow in the game
This is Cardiff City FC not Erol bulut FC
Performances and results awful any other manager would of been sacked— CCFC (@TheNinianStand) February 18, 2024
“It was a game that was much, much better for them than for us. When we see the first 20 minutes, they were pushing, but we made it 1-0.
“From the pressing we got the ball and we scored, but after that we didn’t manage to stop the opponent. They were much better than us. We have to accept that today we didn’t have a great game.
“I knew that when I started here at the start of the season, what I have and where I want to be. When we speak about the top six and us it is a long way to be there, where we want to be.
“This is about time and working and we have to keep working.
“We need to get back to the sort of team we were at the start of the season. This team will come back again – I believe in them.”
Aaron Ramsey is again a doubt for the Blackburn game after missing out at Norwich with a calf strain.
The 33-year-old had only been back a week having returned from a knee injury which had kept him out of action since September.
“For Tuesday I think it will be difficult because he got injured. He got a strain on his calf,” said Bulut.
Cardiff manager Erol Bulut: “He got injured, he has a strain on his calf. For Tuesday it will be difficult, I think around one week.” https://t.co/ZX3CXO1lUt
— Phil Blanche (@philblanche) February 17, 2024
“Perry Ng injured his hip. We were hoping to use them today [Saturday] but also for Tuesday Aaron will be difficult.
“I think it will only be a short time [for Ramsey], maybe one week.”
Norwich manager David Wagner said: “The lads played very well, all the departments of our game were top quality.
“We started well and the only criticism I could make was we were not ruthless enough early on. But we stayed calm, kept playing our football and scored some wonderful goals.
“You can see from the way we are playing at the moment that there is a lot of confidence in the group.
“All of the players are doing their jobs at a high level and full credit to them for that.
“I was also impressed with the way we defended. Cardiff are one of the best set-piece teams in the league and we didn’t concede a single corner, which was very pleasing.”
