Hull City’s- Championship rivals ‘consider’ early season managerial sacking

Cardiff City are said to be considering the future of manager Erol Bulut after their fourth defeat in the opening five games of the Championship season.

The Bluebirds were beaten by a goal to nil at Derby County as the Rams moved up to eighth in the table with a ninth straight Pride Park win, but Bulut’s side are rooted to be bottom a place below Hull City.

Reports in The Telegraph suggest Bulut could lose his job after the poor start to the season which has seen Cardiff score just one goal in their opening five games, conceding 11, their only point – and goal – coming in the derby at Swansea City in late August.

Bulut was under pressure last season and looked like he could be set to lose his job after the Tigers won in South Wales towards the end of last term, but has remained until now.

Their loss in the East Midlands courtesy of Kenzo Goudmijn’s first half strike adds to defeats against Sunderland, Burnley, Middlesbrough and now the Rams.

The Bluebirds are due at the MKM Stadium in two weeks on what will be the 120th anniversary of the Tigers, and could yet see City host Cardiff with a new man in the dugout.

Results on Saturday with first league wins for Luton Town at Millwall and Plymouth Argyle against leaders Sunderland means the Tigers have slumped to second bottom of the Championship.

City were beaten 2-0 at home to Sheffield United on Friday night, their second consecutive 2-0 defeat to Yorkshire opposition and like Cardiff, remain without a win this season ahead of next Friday’s trip to Stoke City.

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Where are the goals coming from?

We talked a lot in the summer about the squad losing 63 of last season’s 68 league goals, and that came from a team that didn’t score a huge amount with only Preston scoring fewer in the top 10. All their goal-scorers have gone and based on what we’ve seen so far, they’ve not been replaced. This isn’t a squad blessed with goals, and for that reason, this feels like a season of struggle unless something clicks soon, and we pray that it will.

There were some positive moments, again, but just two shots on target in the game is nowhere near enough. Mehlem should have scored with his header that hit the bar, however, their only two attempts on target came from Omur’s dipping first half free-kick and then Belloumi’s curling effort from 20 yards out late on.

As Chris Wilder pointed out afterwards, football is quite simple. It’s about keeping the ball out of your net at one end and sticking it in the one at the other end, and just now, and since Walter took charge, they haven’t been able to do either yet. City overcomplicate so much of what they do, and it just feels unnecessary.

Walter’s touchline behaviour

Each manager has their own way of doing things; some are reserved and give little away on the touchline while others make it absolutely clear what they’re thinking.

In Walter’s case, some of his actions don’t look particularly great on the touchline. He’s a manager who clearly wears his heart on his sleeve, and that’s fine, but throwing your arms in the air in frustration, and turning around in anger when one of your own players makes a mistake isn’t a great look, it can’t be a massive confidence boost.

It does make you wonder what message the players are getting when they see that behaviour on the touchline, especially when things are not going well at all.

What are City actually trying to do?

The only two players in the Championship this season to carry the ball 1,000+ metres are Lewie Coyle (1,034m) and Alfie Jones (1,003m), prior to Friday’s game, but what are they getting out of it, as we’ve mentioned before in these post-match notes?

Ivor Pandur had plenty of touches in the first half, as did Jones and Sean McLoughlin, but for what reason? Apart from giving the ball away incessantly inside their own final third, what was the positive outcome of all that unnecessary faffing? Watching City is hard work. it’s confusing, and much of what they do feels completely pointless and a waste of time. Genuinely, it doesn’t look like the players are confident or at ease with what they’re being asked to do.

Every now and then there will be a good passage of play, but that’s more down to individual skill and brilliance rather than a pattern of play you see replicated all over the pitch with consistency. So much of it looks messy and over-complicated and ultimately, is hampering them.