Bulut pre-Southampton | Saturday will be a good test

Ahead of this weekend's match against Southampton, Erol Bulut addressed the press at Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

With the Bluebirds narrowly defeated on Tuesday night, the Gaffer reflected on the performance before turning his attention towards another important clash against the Saints, who are currently in fourth place in the league table.

“In the last game we were up against a good West Brom team," Erol began. "They’re one of the high quality teams in the Championship. We didn’t see a big difference in quality between us and West Brom, and that was after having to make some changes to the team.

"I think that if we had JC [Jamilu Collins] and KG [Karlan Grant] in the team things might’ve been different, but it happens in football, and it was a great shot that was the difference in the end.

“We take the positives from the game and move on, and on Saturday we have a tough game again against Southampton, so we have to be prepared for that.

“This is a good test for my players and for myself; to play against a good team."

Continuing, Erol praised the City squad's hard work since the beginning of the campaign, with Saturday kicking off a busy month of fixtures.

"I’ve said to my players that we’ve improved a lot since the start of the season up to today, but we will not stop now.

"We will continue to believe in our game, in ourselves and on our target, and we will continue to work. It’s only small details that are proving the difference in these matches.

“We fear nobody. We know our quality, we know the quality of the opponent, and maybe face better teams, but everything is on the field. If you do hard work on the field, anything is possible, so we don’t need to fear anybody."

Updating the press on the latest on injuries within the squad, Bulut commented on Callum O'Dowda and Aaron Ramsey's progress in their recovery:

“I saw Callum running next to us in training today," said Erol. "It was like having a new player! I hope before the New Year that we can get at least one of those guys in.”

Watch more from Erol and Callum Robinson on Cardiff City TV.