Cardiff City: Mehmet Dalman issues firm stance on Erol Bulut
Mehmet Dalman has provided his thoughts on Erol Bulut’s start to life as Bluebirds boss
Cardiff City have experienced a significant improvement under manager Erol Bulut, who has brought a fresh style of football and tactical innovation to the club.
Despite recent setbacks, Cardiff currently sit eighth in the league and are only three points off third place, showing significant progress from previous seasons.
Chairman Mehmet Dalman has praised Bulut’s dedication, tactical knowledge, and ability to spot and develop young players, leading to a positive atmosphere in the dressing room.
The club’s ambitions have grown, with Bulut expressing a desire to compete for promotion, and the recent signings reflect a push to contend at the top end of the table. However, there is still work to be done and challenges to overcome.
Erol Bulut arrived at the Cardiff City Stadium accompanied by an aura of real mystery this summer.
Cardiff City have seldom cast the managerial net out too far and have primarily opted to appoint domestically – or even within in the cases of Steve Morison and Mark Hudson – so electing a boss with credit in the bank in Turkey but no prior experience in English football was left-field to say the least.
But it’s a decision that has immediately been vindicated.
Formerly of the Fenerbache helm, Bulut has instilled a newfound degree of authority in the camp, helped to realise fresh ambition and, crucially, is embedding tactical nous into the side that just has Cardiff dreaming of a return to the Premier League once again.
Such thoughts were unfathomable even a matter of months ago, when the Bluebirds had only narrowly staved off relegation for the second season running under Sabri Lamouchi.
Clawing back into the top-flight may not be possible quite yet and Cardiff have hit a bit of a snag as of late, with fatigue and injuries – the lengthy lay-off for creative kingpin Aaron Ramsey standing out – proving their Achilles heel over the last week or so.
How have Cardiff City performed so far this season?
To say Cardiff have been rejuvenated could perhaps be classified as a vast understatement.
Gone are the days of overly-direct football on a weekly basis or a real lack of any identity – instead, they’ve shown themselves capable of dismantling opponents while deploying a fluid, front-footed attacking style of play.
Of course, that doesn’t come to the fore every single week, but they’ve been devastating when it does.
They’re currently eighth in the league and sit just three points off third-place, while the dreaded drop zone is now a distant memory in the eyes of the table.
It’s not perfect and some sore recent displays against Watford and Middlesbrough have invited critique, but by and large, it’s night and day from the previous campaign and fans finally have something to buy into as a collective for the first time since Neil Warnock’s tenure between 2016 and 2019.
That’s down to Bulut in no small part, and as such, he’s received public praise from City chairman Mehmet Dalman – who commended his character and tactical innovation in the Welsh capital.
What has Cardiff City chairman Mehmet Dalman said about Erol Bulut?
Speaking to WalesOnline, Dalman said of Bulut: “Erol is doing a very good job, in more ways than one, and may it continue.
“Football-wise he’s the most tactically-oriented manager I have come across in my time here as chairman. He’s quite funky, can spot and change tactics as the game goes on, and generally that’s not something I feel we’ve seen too much of here before.
“He’s changed the style of football, for the better, has a good eye for players, spots potential in the younger ones as we’ve seen with (Ollie) Tanner, is a football obsessive who works incredibly hard.
“When he goes home he watches the game back again to assess things, then he’ll watch the game of the team we play next. It means he goes to bed at 3am, but he’s back at the training ground by 8am.
“He’s very dedicated, one of the first in and definitely the last to leave. That sets the standard for others to follow.
“But what I also like about him is the way he communicates. He’s a straight talker, you don’t have to second guess what Erol is thinking.
“When we announced we were appointing Erol I guess most people were saying ‘Who?’. But when the homework was done, they’ll have seen we had captured a highly capable manager who’s incredibly motivated.
“He’s done well. The spirit in the dressing room is good, the mood positive, but Erol is the first to tell us not to start getting carried away by the decent start.
“He knows how much work is still required as we look to kick on further.”
Where can Cardiff City expect to finish under Erol Bulut this season?
It’s a tricky one.
It had been felt over the summer that a season of sheer consolidation would do Cardiff the world of good, and they certainly wouldn’t turn it down, that’s for sure.
Now, mind, their ambitions just feel more elevated and Bulut has previously expressed a desire to be competing for promotion, while it’s hard to deny that signing the likes of Ramsey, Karlan Grant and ex-Trabzonspor livewire Manolis Siopis among others is reflective of designs at the right end of the table.
| Cardiff City – 2023/24 Signings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player Name | Signed From | Loan/Permanent |
| Manolis Siopis | Trabzonspor | Permanent |
| Dimitrios Goutas | Sivasspor | Permanent |
| Aaron Ramsey | OGC Nice | Permanent |
| Yakou Meite | Reading FC | Permanent |
| Karlan Grant | West Brom | Loan |
| Ike Ugbo | Troyes | Loan |
| Jonathan Panzo | Nottingham Forest | Loan |
| Josh Bowler | Nottingham Forest | Loan |
| Runar Alex Runarsson | Arsenal | Loan |
The current campaign is set to be the toughest in years so Cardiff may have their work cut out, and plenty of faults still persist.
That said, Cardiff have the benefit of seeing their transfer embargo lifted in January upon the conclusion of the long-winded Emiliano Sala payment wrangle with Nantes and they’ll be able to fork out fees for players once again, something that they weren’t able to do this summer and something that they’ll definitely exercise now that the hierarchy have a manager they believe to be worthy of truly backing.
Should they be mid-table or even keeping chase with the promotion pack by the time that the turn of the year rolls around, Cardiff can be expected to flex their muscle in the transfer market and make further statements of intent on that front, which could be the catalyst for the remainder of the term.
It’s still early stages, but Cardiff look capable of finishing in or around the play-offs if it all continues to keep coming together and they just get some rub of the green.
