[themaclad]

Preston North End v Cardiff City
Deepdale 25/11/2023 15.00hrs

Another International break comes to an end it's time for proper football to return, no VAR just non stop entertainment however it is North End
First up a Cardiff City

https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/

https://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/viewf...&mobile=on

https://www.not606.com/forums/cardiff-city.36/

MANAGER

Erol Bulut (Turkish pronunciation: [æɾoɫ βuɫut]; born 30 January 1975) is a Turkish professional football manager and former player. He is currently managing EFL Championship club Cardiff City.

Bulut's coaching journey began in October 2012 as a co-assistant at Kartalspor. He continued in the same role at Yeni Malatyaspor, Elazığspor, and İstanbul Başakşehir.

In September 2017, he became a head coach for the first time at Yeni Malatyaspor, a newly promoted team, successfully ensuring their place in the top-tier league. In the subsequent 2018/19 season, he guided the Anatolian club to the semi-finals of the Turkish Cup, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Galatasaray. In late April 2019, Bulut resigned with five matchdays remaining in the season.

During the 2019–20 season, he took on the role of head coach at Alanyaspor, a prominent Turkish top-tier club. Under his leadership, the team secured a fifth-place league finish and reached the Turkish Cup final. This accomplishment marked the club's first qualification for the Europa League qualification rounds.

In the following season 2020–21, Bulut returned to his initial professional playing club, Fenerbahçe, to assume the position of head coach. However, in March 2021, the club and Bulut decided to part ways. Subsequently, in May 2021, Bulut signed a three-year contract with Gaziantep, another Turkish top-tier club. However, they parted ways in January 2023.

On 3 June 2023, Bulut was appointed manager of Championship club Cardiff City.[5]

LAST TIME OUT





INS AND OUT



WHO IN FORM



A bit of previous



FORM GUIDE

PNE 10 CARDIFF 10

THE JOY OF EX



Top lad, I've met his dad

Signs for the away fans to look out for

[themaclad]

Who’s Available?

Defenders Andrew Hughes and Jack Whatmough could both be available to Ryan Lowe this weekend, after stepping up their returns from injury to play 45 minutes each in an in-house friendly during the week.

Ali McCann and Greg Cunningham won't quite be ready for the weekend, though, but their returns aren't set to be too far away.

The manager still expects striker Emil Riis to come back into the fold within the next few weeks and before the turn of the year.

Opposition Focus


After finishing just a place above the drop zone last season, Cardiff City have made a bright start to the current campaign under new management in Erol Bulut.

They sit ninth going into the weekend’s round of fixtures, sat in a strong position thanks in large part to a run between August and September which saw them win five of six matches.

The Bluebirds have enjoyed some good away days so far this campaign, with wins coming against Birmingham City, Sunderland, and an emphatic 4-0 victory over Huddersfield Town in October.

A Recent Clash

Goals from Tom Cannon and Ched Evans earned North End a 2-0 victory at Deepdale in March 2023, extending the unbeaten run to six matches.


Match Officials

Referee: Robert Madley
Assistant Referees: Craig Taylor and Blake Antrobus
Fourth Official: Oliver Langford

Robert Madley – who officiated PNE’s first and final matches of the 2022/23 season – will take charge of this weekend’s clash at Deepdale.

So far this season, Madley has refereed ten matches, showing 51 yellow cards and three reds.

MACS VIEW
So the merry go round begins again, games galore and getting closer to the Christmas period always a treat unless Sky give you an 12.30 pm start on Boxing Day and New Years Day
Cardiff much improved this season obviously their fans will be delighted with the Turkish manager, made a great signing in Aaron Ramsay although not sure he will be fit for Saturday probably stops him being two footed by Ledson
Pity the break came just as we built up a bit of momentum but no doubt Mr Fantastic will have got the boys firing for this one

[themaclad]

Preston North End 1 Osmajic Cardiff City 2 Grant, Ugbo

PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Best (Hughes, 58); Potts, Browne, Whiteman, Brady; Evans (Ledson, 58), Osmajić (Millar, 84). Subs not used: Cornell, Keane, Frøkjær, Stewart, Ramsay, Whatmough.

Cardiff City line-up: Rúnarsson; Ng, Goutas, McGuinness (Panko, 75), Collins; Siopis (Wintle, 90+1), Ralls (Colwill, 71); Bowler (Tanner, 72), Robinson, Grant; Méïté (Ugbo, 71). Subs not used: Alnwick, Romeo, Adams, Rinomhota.

Attendance: 14,593 (789 Cardiff City fans).

Referee: Mr R Madley.

In the end probably Cardiff deserved the win however the circumstances conspired against North End, especially anexperienced professional with multi international caps producing a brain dead performance.
The incident which decided the course of the game came midway through the first half in which the visitors were by far the better side.
Evans tackle on Collins produced a reaction from Collins he appeared to as they say in the trade stick one on Ched. Fair enugh Evans seems to make a meal of it but there was a coming together of players.
Both Evans and Collins got yellow although the latter should really have seen red, anoter yellow was also shown to Robbie Brady which astonishingly was not picked up by Mr Fantastic.
Fast forward to the second period 1 up when Brady arses a City player out of the way and picks up his second yellow followed by a red. His walk to the tunnel takes him about two hours which was added on at the end of the game. From then on in it was always going to be hard work.
First half City better side good save from Woodman denied think it was Ng, Robbo was a constant thorn in our side had a few efforts on goal, we played well in patche but in the main were second best, Lindsay though had an excellent first half probably best in a white shirt.
We took the lead just after the break totally out of the blue, Osmajic charged down a clearence on the halfway and charged down towards the City goal, his touch wasn't great and the ball seemed way to far ahead of him, however the keeper didn't come and to be honset his postioning for the shot looked like he was defending the side netting, Osmajic said cheers and duly scored.
Then off went Brady and we defended the box. We sent on Ledson so technically we were playing with nine, he majestically set up Grant to fire just wide.
Try as they might, City couldn't score and victory looked on the cards, then came 9 minutes of injury time probably right although I thought it might end up as ten.
A series of corners and in the 96th minute City duly level my view was that a clearence hit Grant and ended up in the net, with the scores level that ominous sicking feeling starts to kick in when you know the opposition will score and sure enough 99th minute ball into box, no one picked up Ugbo and that's your winner folks nand yes Ryan Wintle I did note you taking the piss, I won't forget

Finally Mr Madley up to a point he had a decent game but if you fail to spot a head butt then you have ballsed up, one good thing Brady suspended for Tuesday for romantic night under the lights on Teeside

Cardiff manager Erol Bulut told BBC Radio Wales: "It's a very important win. From the first minute until the end of the game, my players showed character.

"It's not easy to play against 10 players. Sometimes it's more difficult but we did everything right. We kept the ball and tried to create chances.

"I think we deserved to get the three points. There were nine minutes added but it could have been 12 because the opponent tried only to waste time. You could see how important it was for both teams to get the win."

Preston boss Ryan Lowe: "I'm disappointed for the boys... but, I am proud of them for what they did in the game, for large parts of that game that is, particularly having to play with 10 men in the second half.

"We did well, apart from those two moments where there was a bit of luck for them and misfortune for us.

"I cannot fault the lads for what they have put into the match. To lose in the 99th minute, when they put everything on the line, I am so proud of the lads as I always am. It is a result that's a kick in the teeth at the moment."

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