Cardiff City v Leeds United: Bluebirds boss has training methods 'questioned' by senior players as pressure mounts
Cardiff City have endured a difficult start to the Championship campaign
The pressure is mounting on Cardiff City boss Erol Bulut ahead of Saturday's visit of Leeds United with reports claiming some of the club's senior players are not happy with their manager’s training methods.
Cardiff sit bottom of the Championship with just one point from their opening five games. They drew 1-1 with Swansea City in the South Wales derby last month but have lost all of their other games without scoring in all four of those league defeats. Hull City and Portsmouth are the only other sides who have failed to win in five games but they have lost just twice.
Cardiff's latest loss came against Derby County last weekend as they were beaten 1-0 at Pride Park. Bulut was banned from the touchline during that game and watched from the stands. He then neglected to speak to the media afterwards. According to talkSPORT, Bulut is facing a potential player revolt as it has been claimed that senior members of the Cardiff squad are unimpressed with some of his training methods. The claims come amid other reports from the Telegraph’s John Percy over the weekend that the Bluebirds are considering a change of manager.
However, Wales Online reported on Monday that Bulut and his staff took training as they begin preparations for their clash with Leeds this weekend. It has also been reported by the outlet that Bulut is unlikely to be removed from his role as things stand. Daniel Farke's side will be out to bounce back at the Cardiff City Stadium following their loss to Burnley at the weekend. Luca Koleosho scored the only goal of the only goal of the game after 18 minutes.
The result leaves Leeds with eight points from their opening five games with West Brom the early pacesetters on 13 points with their only draw coming against the Whites last month. Reflecting on the game against Burnley, Farke said on Saturday: “It’s the most frustrating thing in football when you go back to the dressing room and you can’t explain how you didn’t win this game. If I’m honest, after the international break I didn’t expect us to be as dominant as we were today.
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“I’m really happy with our dominance and how we started the game but, being self-critical, in the decisive moments we weren’t effective enough. We should have scored in the first two minutes and we should have had a penalty as well. Credit to Burnley – although they had an 85-yard sprint, it was a really good finish into the bottom corner. We had the better and easier chances but we didn’t take them and this is where we have to be self-critical.
“It was also disappointing to concede out of such a situation but to dominate a good side like Burnley, I was pleased with the way we played. But obviously we’re not happy with our effectiveness and this is why we lost.”