Cardiff City boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer defended Wilfried Zaha after their 3-0 home defeat by Crystal Palace.
A frustrating afternoon for Cardiff was underlined through their Manchester United loan signing and former Palace favourite Zaha being booed when Solskjaer took him off early in the second half.
"You never want to take players off," Solskjaer said. "I felt for Wilf today, especially first half, he had some chances and he was really positive.
"Wilf is a strong character. It must have been a difficult game for him, of course. It was his old club that he played against but he was professional, he did his best and I cannot fault him for his effort at all.
"I have to say Palace are a fantastically well-organised team and hard to break down, which you saw last week and today, and we just did not have the quality and ideas to break them down.
"Today was very hard. We've got to produce one (a miracle) to stay up. I am full of fight. I have been here three months, I have got more energy and fight in me than ever.
"It was a disappointing performance. Things like this give me more fight. Things will have to happen, things will have to change.
"They are professional footballers and they have got to realise they have still got something to fight for. If you do produce a miracle against Southampton, suddenly you might be back here in with a chance.
"Today it will be dark and gloomy, but football changes."
