A critical fortnight in dreams of a play-off Which the Bluebirds’ push will be defined
IT has been a rocky start to 2024 for Cardiff City.
They have shipped eight goals in three matches, been knocked out of the FA Cup and have failed to sign any new players in the first half of the transfer window.
That New Year’s Day triumph over QPR, which, in truth, could have gone either way, looks a big win right now.
Of course, Bluebirds supporters know this division as well as any other fan base around the country, they expect patches of the season to go badly and some to go relatively well.
But the manner in which they were comfortably trounced by Leeds United on the weekend – a 3-0 loss which could easily have been doubled were it not for Jak Alnwick and the woodwork – has amped up the calls for action in the transfer window.
Cardiff have fallen short of their early-season standards for some time now.
The confidence appears to have drained a little and the squad limped into the new year, with the promise of new players and, with that, a new impetus for a back-end-of-the-season push.
The Leeds game at the start of the year compared to the reverse fixture last weekend serves to highlight the trajectories of the two clubs throughout the season.
Erol Bulut set his team up to contain and counter-punch, but they afforded their opponents far too much respect.
Yes, it is a good Leeds team, but they are still a Championship side and are in the second tier for a reason.
Fans were right to vent their frustrations after the game.
All of this is said with the caveat that this start to the season is better than many expected.
In such a strong league, having built a squad on frees and loans once again, Cardiff, inexplicably, sit three points off the play-offs.
Quite incredible. As written by us almost exactly a month ago, Erol Bulut’s biggest sin has been raising expectations.
He is ambitious and would not have taken the job if he did not have designs on making this club better.
He wants to sign a new contract and change things structurally to lay foundations for sustained success.
Just a few days ago, the manager, whose initial deal runs out in June, said: “I’d like to continue to make changes here, work together. We can make many changes, add many things to the club.
“It’s not easy to change everything from today to tomorrow but we’ve changed many things from the start of the season until today. We can see also that’s not enough for me.
“We have to continue to work, we have to invest to bring in quality players and bring young players through the academy to make a really good structure.
“For that to work, we need a plan. To make a plan work, we need to work together. My contract ends at the end of the season. We’ve not had any talks yet. It’s not up to me.”
There’s a longer term which needs to be sorted out in the coming weeks and months.
The need for stability at this club is painfully glaring and Bulut has seemed like the best bet in a number of years.
But there was a sense of frustration after the defeat by Leeds.
Understandably, perhaps. Bulut is not blameless in these defeats.
Cardiff looked far better for having a more attacking team, enforced by Rubin Colwill replacing Joe Ralls, than the defensive manner in which they started, but the squad is still not equipped for a play-off push.
This is a squad which has punched above its weight and, by and large, been relatively free from injury pileups.
Aaron Ramsey and Callum O’Dowda have been long-term absentees, but generally the players have been in decent health.
Cardiff want a minimum of four but as many as six players in this window to change the mind-set and the baselevel quality.
They need to improve the starting XI and, in turn, their bench options if they have plans on sustaining this incredibly unlikely play-off push.
Last summer, few supporters would have expected the Bluebirds to be so close to the top six at this stage of the season given what has come before now.
But here they are, against the odds, with a very real chance of igniting something and being in the mix up until May.
The defence has been broadly very good, but ahead of the back five needs real work.
Bulut has still not found a midfield system or combination which has the requisite steel nor the ball-playing abilities to trouble opponents since Ramsey’s injury.
Captain Joe Ralls has arguably been the best midfielder this season, but Manolis Siopis’ patchy form over the last few weeks has created an issue in there.
Ryan Wintle has done well enough, but Cardiff need a different dynamic in there to push the ball up the field quicker.
Ahead of the midfield, well, the forward line just doesn’t have enough goals in it.
Ike Ugbo, Kion Etete and Yakou Meite have all had their moments to shine and, barring the former’s earlyseason spree, none of them have looked capable of carrying out the job.
Ugbo has now left, Etete’s hot-andcold performances continue to frustrate while Meite’s shooting radar is way off at the moment.
Karlan Grant has been Cardiff’s most consistent performer on the left and there is hope he can pick up where he left off before the new year and ramp up hat goal and assist tally.
On the right, well, both Josh Bowler and Ollie Tanner, in his breakthrough season, have gone through periods of bright performances, but the end product is missing from both.
Rubin Colwill is one of City’s form players at the moment and the Bluebirds look far better with him on the pitch, but his numbers need to start tracking in the right direction, too.
That area of the pitch needs help and Bulut has just said as much.
“I would like to tell [the fans something positive right now] but right now I cannot because I don’t know how the transfer window will go for us,” he said after the Leeds game.
“We try, we have many names on the list – striker, winger, midfielder, centre-back.
“But it’s everything about the finances and I don’t know where we are and how we can invest.
“I try to make my best for Cardiff City until the end of the season, with this team or with new players, I hope, but I will try my best for this team until the end of the season.
“I’m always positive, but it doesn’t make changes when I’m positive. I will be much, much more positive with new players coming in.
“I hope the following days, until the end of the window, we can finalise some transfers.”
A striker is at the very top of the January wish list.
But, as with this month every year, that is the case for dozens of other clubs across the Championship and in Europe.
Every team wants goals in the last half of the season and Cardiff are shopping in a very competitive market.
The Bluebirds were in for Turkey international Umut Nayir but he opted to stay in his native country with a loan move to Pendikspor.
Cardiff have expressed their interest in Wales star Kieffer Moore and have held talks with Bournemouth over a move, but the Cherries need a striker in desperately before they allow the former Bluebirds front man to leave.
City do still remain positive about that one coming off, though, it must be said.
Expect incomings from abroad, too.
Yes, they missed out on Nayir but plenty of other options are being explored on the continent.
It would not be a total shock to see more than one striker come in, along with a creative winger.
Midfield, we are told, is an area Bulut addressed in the summer which needed real revamping.
The midfield stable currently in situ is too samey and it needs more goforward and attacking thrust.
Siopis is the only addition in that department so far and while he has not made the desired impact yet, the player has pedigree and will likely flourish in the right system and alongside the right players – just look at how much more impactful he was when playing behind Aaron Ramsey, for example.
Of course, Ramsey coming back into training over the next week is a
big plus, too.
Supporters should curb expectations with regards to when they will see him in action – perhaps the middle of next month is a decent guess – but that is like a new signing in itself, if he can stay fit.
For the time being, Bulut has made clear what he wants and the areas of the pitch which need addressing and it’s hard to disagree with him.
Cardiff have an unlikely shot at creeping into that top six, with four, potentially five, teams looking pretty nailed on with 19 games still remaining in the calendar.
They have a Financial Fair Play ceiling they need to keep below and therefore won’t be throwing lots of cash at the problem, but they have more wriggle room than they have for some time.
The Bluebirds have a struggling Plymouth Argyle up next, too, and if they win that they head into the final throes of the window in a strong position, despite a really inconsistent run of form and performances.
The club are confident they will get deals over the line, but it could go deep into the window – which isn’t the worst thing in the world given the Blackburn Rovers game has been pushed back to the middle of next month.
An absolutely critical fortnight lies ahead and it could well mean the difference between treading water in mid-table or really sticking around within punching distance of those top-six places for the rest of the campaign.