By Ben Thomas
EROL Bulut insisted his side must show more ‘fighting spirit’ after they were comfortably dispatched by Leeds United.
Patrick Bamford opened the scoring for the away side in the 12th minute, before Welshman Dan James added their second just after half an hour.
Dutchman Crysensio Summerville hit the post from his penalty in the second half, before Georginio Rutter added the third late in the game.
Bulut said: “Today my players respected the opponent too much and were not aggressive, not speedy enough in their pressing.”
He also stated that too many individual errors from his players led to them being punished by the flourishing Leeds attack.
The result means the Bluebirds have only picked up 20 out of 39 possible points at home this season, having failed to win in south Wales in their previous three attempts.
When questioned on the club’s home form, Bulut replied: “I don’t think about the home or away form, it’s important to take as many points as possible at home or away.
“We still have 19 games to play, so enough points to collect, but with a better performance than we showed today.”
After a poor display, it appears that the Cardiff squad could do with an injection of fresh names in the January transfer window. Bulut was non-committal about recruitment however.
“I would like to tell them (the fans) but I cannot, we have many names on our list striker, winger, midfielder, centre back,” he said.
“(In terms of) finances I don’t know where we are, where we can invest, how we can invest. I try to do my best for Cardiff City until the end of the season.”
The Turkish manager did however reveal that loanee Jonathan Panzo will rejoin parent club Nottingham Forest, having barely featured for his side. He also revealed that potential forward signing Umit Nayir has signed for Pendikspor of the Turkish Süper Lig.
Japanese defender Ryotaro Tsunoda will join Cardiff however, before being loaned to Belgian side K.V Kortrijk for the remainder of the season.