Cardiff City: Vincent Tan may have no other option than to make Omer Riza decision | OneFootball

Omer Riza is making a growing impression as interim boss at Cardiff City

Cardiff City's managerial hunt has spanned for more than a month following the dismissal of Erol Bulut in September, but their next permanent hire could already be in situ.

Bulut, who had penned a two-year contract only in June, became the first manager to last a full season at Cardiff since Neil Warnock and earned himself a share of ardent backers after guiding the side to a respectable 12th-placed finish in his opening campaign at the helm.

However, the Turk received his marching orders following a miserable run of five defeats in the first six league games of the new season, with such wretched form leaving Cardiff rooted to the foot of the division at the time of his sacking.

Cardiff are now looking for their 12th permanent manager in just 14 years, and they will likely be expected to arrive at a decision sooner rather than later - that is what supporters hope, anyway. As ever, a plethora of names have been linked to the vacant job, ranging from Ruben Selles and Steven Schumacher to Slaven Bilic, Nathan Jones and Ryan Lowe.

It is not yet clear, then, just who will be next in line to take the reins, although Omer Riza has been in charge on an interim basis and his chances of succeeding Bulut permanently are appearing increasingly likely, you would suspect.

Omer Riza's Cardiff City form might convince Vincent Tan to appoint him

Supporters proceeded with caution upon the interim appointment of Riza, with recent history in mind. Twice have Cardiff previously made internal appointments - Steve Morison and Mark Hudson - who lacked experience and started relatively encouragingly in the interim before receiving the job permanently and never quite vindicating that faith.

The affordability and ease in which such appointments can be made had many fans fearing the worst, but, make no mistake about it, there would not be quite so much fear if Riza was to land the permanent job now.

An immediate baptism of fire had awaited Riza, who lost 4-1 at Hull City in his first game in charge. However, he soon took Cardiff to their first, and long-awaited, win of the season against Millwall days later, where a Perry Ng header secured all three points over Neil Harris' side in a dogged and tireless home display.

Cardiff then ended up taking a point away from the Severnside Derby, playing out a 1-1 draw with Bristol City in the final affair before the international break. Given Cardiff's form up until that stage, a point hardly represented the worst result in the world, but it could so easily have been three had Riza opted against a drastic change in approach, many argued.

They went 1-0 up early in the second-half through Ollie Tanner's brilliant solo goal and were dominating the contest, having spurned an array of chances to increase their advantage.

However, Riza's decision to bring on central defender Jesper Daland for Anwar El Ghazi after 66 minutes as Cardiff changed shape to a 5-4-1, zapped the momentum and handed the initiative back to Bristol City, who duly punished them with a late equaliser from Luke McNally.

It was felt at the time by a fair selection of supporters that the tie at Ashton Gate was telling of Riza's tactical naivety and inexperienced game management, with the shift to a pragmatic approach not only untimely but undoubtedly counterproductive, too.

Riza nonetheless remained in charge for the duration of the international break as Cardiff, who resisted making a change in the dugout after being left "underwhelmed" by the majority of the available managerial candidates. It is reported that the Bluebirds are content with having Riza at the helm for the time being and, off Saturday afternoon's evidence, his stay may just end up receiving an even longer extension.

Cardiff, of course, blew away Plymouth Argyle in a dazzling five-star display, with Alex Robertson, Rubin Colwill, El Ghazi, Callum Robinson and Chris Willock all featuring on the scoresheet.

They were commanding and dominant from start to finish, pretty much, putting the Pilgrims to the sword with velocity, flow and intent all in equal measure in the final third as they romped to a deserved 5-0 triumph. Watching Cardiff play at such a high attacking tempo is, unfortunately, a real premium for supporters, who oversaw their side's biggest league win since 2017 against Rotherham United.

Rightly so, then, Riza is making a growing impression and Saturday's demolition swayed many, including those who had lambasted his decisions against the Robins.

He has taken seven points from his last three, lifting Cardiff from dead last. Crucially, Riza has shown a clear willingness to not only utilise but indeed build the team around the side's talented and exciting young players, such as Tanner, Robertson and Colwill, all three of whom were excellent against Plymouth and have been much-improved following his interim appointment.

Getting the absolute most out of the players who want to get on the ball and excite - and can, of course, net Cardiff some handsome sums in the years to come, if all goes according to plan - is a huge demand from the majority of supporters, while the board will also want to see the blossoming of a burgeoning homegrown asset like Colwill, for example.

Fundamentally, Cardiff supporters want the club's next appointment to play quick, attack-minded football and have young, high-potential players at the heart of that. It has been the call of duty among the fanbase for quite some time now.

Although Cardiff may refrain from making a decision just yet, Riza is ultimately appearing every bit that profile and will surely land the job should he continue to impress, and should Vincent Tan and co continue to be disappointed by the lack of available candidates. And maybe that would not be such a bad thing after all.

Cardiff City and Omer Riza's upcoming matches

You would like to imagine that Riza will have at least two more auditions to the Cardiff hierarchy before they come to a decision either way, and he will therefore be desperate to capitalise after bringing much-needed momentum to his side.

They are next in action on Tuesday evening with a genuine six-pointer against Portsmouth, who are only behind them in 23rd place by virtue of goal difference.

Cardiff will naturally be expected to continue their winning form against a side who have struggled sorely in the early stages of the season, and off the back of a demolition on home soil over the weekend.

A stiffer test doubtless awaits on Saturday afternoon, mind you, with a trip to West Bromwich Albion on the agenda. A more steely and diligent approach should really be anticipated for the upcoming trip to The Hawthorns, almost invariably a tough place to go.

Carlos Corberan's side are winless in five but they still occupy a top-six spot at the time of writing, so Cardiff could have no complaints if they came away with a point.

The next four days will probably end up figuring decisive for Riza. He will surely be elected permanently if, say, he claims four points from his next two matches. There are a lot of variables, of course, but he has put himself in good stead already and Tan may have his mind made up for him if it continues this way.