Brian Barry-Murphy spoke to the press to preview City's trip to Rotherham United on Saturday afternoon.
"We feel as if we can play a lot better than we did at Burton." Brian began. "The game didn't go how we wanted it to, but it's just a reminder of how difficult the division is, and how bumpy the road will be along the way. But overall the players are doing fantastically well, and we're looking forward to Saturday's game with renewed optimism.
"Rotherham played really well in the game against Exeter, a huge result for them. They're predominantly always a team who play with a back five and wing backs, but in recent weeks have changed to a back four, so we're a little bit unsure of what they'll do in the game on Saturday. But, we're pretty well prepared for all eventualities, based on how many times we've faced different systems and different types of teams.
"The players have had a really good week, hopefully train as well today as we have done earlier in the week, and physically we're seeing big improvements which we hope we will also see in games moving forward."
The boss was full of praise for his young Bluebirds squad, who have come through a busy Christmas and New Year fixture period whilst collecting plenty of points along the way.
He said: "It's easy to forget how young the majority of our squad is and where they've come from, because they've done so well. We're so pleased with those guys.
"The different situations that they've faced in this stage of the season, you want to see clear signs that we've improved and learned from earlier in the season, and I include myself in that. Like I said, I feel as if we are, but we have to continue to strive to do better all the time.
"During the week, you're always trying to improve the players physically. Because so many of the players are so young, they have so much room for improvement - technically and tactically is obvious, but physically as well. The way that Kevin Gibbins structures training physically over the course of the season, I know from experience that we'll be at our best in the closing months of the season. That offers us great confidence moving forward."
Brian also spoke about those members of the squad who are working their way back to full fitness, and also commented on the readiness of new recruit Calum Scanlon.
"Yousef [Salech] is improving day by day. There's no timescale on him, due to the nature of his injury. The players that we won't have available are: Dylan Lawlor, who is expected to be back next week. Rubin [Colwill] is back in training, but not available for Saturday. It's early stages for him.
"He'll want to play straight away; he's flying, and in a really good place. As he goes through the rigours of the next week or so, we'll get a better idea. And Eli King is the last one.
"Calum [Scanlon] has already shown this week how ready he is. It took me by surprise a little bit, because he hasn't had a lot of action. He's not played 90 minutes yet, but he looks in a really good place. He's an elite player with an elite mentality. He wants to improve, and we feel as if we can help him enormously to improve."