After the match, the manager was puzzled by the dramatic shift in his team’s play following their initial goal in the first half.
Initially, the Bluebirds took the lead through Mark McGuinness’s volley from a corner. However, they seemed to retreat and allowed Watford to apply significant pressure, with Vakoun Bayo and Tom Ince both missing chances to secure a win for the Hornets. Ultimately, Cardiff was fortunate to secure a single point, a sentiment shared by Bulut, who believed that his team was “lucky” not to lose at Cardiff City Stadium.
In his assessment, Bulut mentioned, “When we look at the 95 minutes, the first 35 minutes were positive and aligned with our expectations for how we wanted to play. But I’m unsure about what happened after we scored the goal. My team underwent a complete transformation, and I can’t explain why.”
He attributed this shift to nervousness, stress, and several individual mistakes. These errors provided Watford with scoring opportunities, and they could have netted additional goals. Bulut acknowledged that, in the end, they should be content with one point.
When asked about the reason behind this change in performance, Bulut speculated, “I don’t know. It might be because of the four consecutive wins, making us think we’re the best. But we must continue working hard; otherwise, our form will decline. We are not a team reliant on just a few players; everyone must contribute to earn points. Today, our collective performance was lacking. We were fortunate to secure one point.”
Interestingly, Cardiff had the opportunity to win all three points, but a mistake by goalkeeper Jak Alnwick presented Bayo with an easy chance. Bulut, however, felt that the team was too negative in their play overall and relied too heavily on their goalkeeper.
Regarding this, Bulut commented, “Mistakes can happen, but we also played too many backward passes to the goalkeeper. I instructed my defenders that there was no need for such reliance on the goalkeeper; we needed to play more forward and behind the defense. We ended up creating chances for the opponent. I’ll have individual meetings with the players to understand why this happened. When we can play the ball forward, we should, rather than going backward. We should only use the goalkeeper when we need to switch the play.”
Despite the disappointing performance, Cardiff remains just one point away from the playoffs and three points from third place as they head into the international break. This marks their best start since Neil Warnock’s tenure during the promotion season.
With key players sidelined and the January transfer window approaching, Cardiff’s prospects appear promising. Bulut acknowledged this but couldn’t conceal his disappointment with the team’s showing against Watford. He emphasized the importance of displaying a fighting spirit, even in games where points are dropped, which he felt was lacking after the initial 35 minutes of play.
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