When Erol Bulut sat down for his pre-Watford press conference on Thursday afternoon, nothing more than a run-of-the-mill media briefing was expected from the Cardiff City manager.
By recent standards, the Bluebirds have enjoyed an impressive start to the Championship season, with the midweek defeat to Middlesbrough a bump in what has been a generally smooth if not unexpected road thus far.
In the main they have coped with the absence of talisman Aaron Ramsey, winning matches against Coventry City, Sunderland and Rotherham United since the Wales captain picked up an injury in training. To get the latest Bluebirds news sent straight to your inbox, sign up here.
But Bulut yesterday dropped the significant news that Ramsey would be out “for months”, something which is a huge blow to their campaign hopes.
That update was compounded by further revelations from the Turkish boss; Callum O’Dowda has gone under the knife and will be out for three months, while Kion Etete and Yakou Meite will both miss the next month with their respective knocks.
“We also have O’Dowda, he will be away 10 to 12 weeks, because he had surgery because of his tendon,” he added. “We saw at the start of the season what he gave us. We will miss him. But on the other side we have to push our players who haven’t played so much. Now they will get their chances to perform.
“Yakou Meite will be away for a month and Kion Etete also for a month, from the last game. So I have four main players from the squad I cannot use.”
If we take it that Ramsey will miss two months, he will not be available for the following fixtures:
- Watford (H)
- Blackburn (A)
- Huddersfield (A)
- Bristol City (H)
- Stoke City (A)
- Norwich City (H)
- Preston (A)
- West Brom (H)
- Southampton (A)
- Millwall (H)
Should the longer timeframe come into play – the 10-week mark – matches against Birmingham City and Hull City could also be missed.
There is a saving grace to this grim injury situation; two international breaks are included in this period, which accounts for nearly a month, while Cardiff are now blessed with bit more of a squad than they have had in recent years,
Rubin Colwill and Callum Robinson, used sparingly over the opening few games of the season for differing reasons, are viable options in the number 10 role and while admittedly they are not at the same level of a fit and firing Ramsey, they now have the opportunity – and a prolonged one at that – to show Bulut what they can do. You can read about Bulut’s options to replace Ramsey here,
The manager himself said others will now have to step up with four players out until the Christmas schedule at the earliest. “That’s football,” he said. “We had to travel and Etete got injured because of that. It’s important to have rest. It’s time for players who didn’t play to show the quality.”
“You could see, when he was on the field, he was great. He linked the game. We will miss him. But also, we have to manage with the players we have to continue to get wins.”
