Erol Bulut makes contract admission after Cardiff City horror show against Sunderland

Erol Bulut admits uncertainty over his Cardiff City future might be affecting his players after watching his side turn in what he believes was one of their worst performances of the season so far against Sunderland.

An Adil Aouchiche penalty and a strike from Jobe Bellingham condemned the Bluebirds to back-to-back defeats, with City showing little sign of stirring themselves after their stinging defeat in the South Wales derby a fortnight ago.

Cardiff were booed off at full time, and Bulut admits his side were well below the level shown in training during the recent international break.

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“Until minute 12, when we conceded a penalty, everything was fine," he said. "After that, we lost totally our confidence, our playing shape. We couldn’t create.

“This is disappointing. We couldn’t wake up. We lost a lot of duels, a lot of individual mistakes were made. When you make this many mistakes, you cannot expect to win the game.

“During the international break, the players trained really well so I was expecting a much better game. To see that performance today, it hurts.

“Today I have to be honest, from the 39 games we’ve played this season, this was one of the worst. I have to be clear about that. I didn’t like it at all.”

Cardiff now look like having nothing to play for as they approach the next seven games, although Bulut doesn't believe his players are already on the beach heading into the final weeks of the season.

“Maybe they think like this but I don’t think so," he added. "I told them when they came in [to the changing room], ‘We cannot be comfortable because we have 53 points’.

“We still have seven more games to play and have to get as many points as we can.

“We can’t stop the season from now. Everyone has to come back from this performance and in the last seven games we have to give our best, for the fans first of all and for the club, also for themselves.

“There will have to be a change mentally when we are on the field.”

The uncertainty over Bulut's own future has perhaps dealt a further blow to providing a possible incentive to the players, who are clearly none the wiser over whether the Turk will still be in charge next term.

“It can be," Bulut added when asked if his contract situation was having an impact. "I don’t have any problems. I respect it from the board if they are not coming with a new offer.

“I’m focusing on my job until the end of the season. Until now we haven’t had any communication about that, so let’s see.”