Bulut pre-Preston North End | We have to perform well physically and tactically

Ahead of Saturday's return to Sky Bet Championship action at home, Erol Bulut spoke to the press at CCS.

Reflecting on last week's away win against Watford, Erol discussed the response of the players in training during the week, as well as his expectations from the new recruits who joined City during the January transfer window.

“I think that the win gave us lots of confidence,” began Erol. “We needed it from the last few games, and it was frustrating for the players, where we had injuries but no players to replace them in some places. We were waiting for some transfers to come in, so that we could have a better squad.

“We got good players in during the window, and they helped us out last week against Watford in the second half.

"This week they will get minutes, and give more of what we’re expecting from them, because last week they’d had only one or two days of training with us, which wasn’t easy for them."

Erol continued by addressing Saturday's opposition, who will arrive in South Wales in tenth spot on the league table.

“Preston is a team that presses high, so they have good speed and physically are a good team," said Bulut. "We know from our first game against them how they are, so we have to be good against them, both physically and tactically, which we’ve looked at in training.

“We have to manage the game when we are leading at home, to keep the ball and try to put the opposing team away from our goal.

Providing an injury update, Erol concluded: “Perry Ng is okay, but we have a small problem with Macca [Mark McGuinness], so we will see if we can have him on Saturday with us. Joe Ralls trained with us and had no problems, so we will need to check again on Friday and I hope that he will be with us on Saturday. Callum Robinson is running and doing well, but he’s not yet back with us for playing. Callum O’Dowda is also not yet with us in full training.”

Watch more from Erol and David Turnbull and Cardiff City TV!