By Graham Thomas
Cardiff City boss Erol Bulut insist there is no early season crisis at the club, even though it’s hard to see how things could be worse if they lose this weekend.
The Bluebirds normally wait until mid-autumn for the storm clouds to gather, but like an eager Keely Hodgkinson, they’ve gone early.
Bulut’s men lost their Championship opener 2-0 at home to Sunderland, were hammered 5-0 away to Burnley in their next, and now face the prospect of rivals Swansea City anchoring them to the bottom of the table.
But the Turkish manager said: “It has not been a positive start, but we can improve quickly.
“Sometimes you have bad days at the start of a season, but we know our performances can improve and that starts now.
“We are facing Swansea, so there can be no excuses. Last season, people came up to me in restaurants to talk about the derby, so I know what this game means to the fans.
“All my players have to be prepared for Sunday and we want to change the result down there last season.”
Bulut’s bruising start to the campaign was not helped by the long drawn out saga of his re-hiring.
He took a struggling team to a mid-table finish last season, but any momentum was drained by weeks of indecision by owner Vincent Tan over whether Bulut would be given a new deal.
It arrived, eventually, but Cardiff’s slow start is simply a reflection of their ambling stroll to the start line.
Bulut is set to hand a debut to Danish defender Jesper Daland, signed from Belgian club Cercle Brugge for £3.5.
Cardiff also plan to keep faith with American goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, whose blunder against Burnley prompted the Sky Sports headline: “Is this is the worst goalkeeper mistake you have ever seen?”
No, was the answer from Bulut who added: “I cannot judge Ethan on one mistake. We have to think about the number of goals he has saved.”
The 35-year-old defender will play in his eighth El Taffico and his record reflects a pecking order that puts the Swans high above the Bluebirds.
Naughton has won five, drawn once, and lost just once in seven derbies as his team search for their sixth win in the last seven against their fierce rivals.
“I’m a northerner, from Sheffield, but I’ve loved every one of my 10 seasons at this club,” said the former Tottenham full-back.
“Every season and every derby brings something different. It’s very early to say what might happen this season, but I’m not just here to float around and help people. I want to be a player, not a cheerleader.”
Naughton and midfielder Jay Fulton are the only survivors from the Swans’ finals days in the Premier League when their grip on the derbies took hold.
Both are considered “Swansea Jacks” as they embody the mongrel spirit of the city’s legendary dog that rescued dock workers fallen into Swansea Bay.
The rescue act applies to Naughton, who reckons his own career was drowning before he decided to leave Spurs.
“I struggled at Spurs. Firstly, with being away from home, and then with the football. It was a different league and a different group of players after leaving Sheffield United.
“Sometimes you feel as though you don’t belong. I was fighting with myself.
“It didn’t feel right wearing a Tottenham shirt. I struggled quite a lot throughout my whole time there. It felt better when I went out on loan.
“But here, it feels like a family. There are good things happening here again and the club is producing some good players
