David left the field early at Ninian Park on Saturday with a thigh strain that could rule him out for several games, and Alan says:
"I am trying to prevent injuries and we have suffered a muscular injury with David that bothers me; I don't expect a thigh strain in the first 20 minutes of a game and I will have to look at that.
"We have to look at little things and make sure those variables don't happen; that is what good management is all about - cutting down the risk of losing and cutting down the risk of injury, and making sure we get the maximum out of our players.
"To lose one of your top players is a blow and you have to do everything you can to get over that quickly, and everything you can to prevent injuries and we will make sure we will have that in place soon."
Looking at the Carling cup tie at Spurs, he adds:
"It is a different type of game; Cardiff were in our faces and all over us like most first division teams are going to be; we are not going to find anyone not 'on it' because of the reputation we bring.
"I think at Tottenham we will get a bit more time on the ball and we have to use that time to play to our strengths and maybe we can catch them out with the tempo we play at now in the first division - which is so much faster than the Premiership.
"They are by no means tearing the place up at the minute; they have gone through a change with a caretaker manager that is in place which brings its own problems as I know myself having done that at Reading - there is always a bit of uncertainty when that happens."
Alan is looking forward to spending some quality time on the training ground with his players soon, and he explains:
"Once we get beyond Coventry it will be a welcome breather because then we don't have a midweek programme and we will be able to get some work done on the training ground.
"I am literally picking a side with team play for about an hour and then sending them out which is not really the way I work."
Added to that, he is still looking at reinforcements to his squad and he adds:
"I have always said that is always a moving surface; I never say never and the squad can never be big enough for me.
"I am always looking; we have got a good scouting team here and I have added my stuff to that and we are always looking.
"You have to in this game because you never know what is round the corner and what injuries you are going to incur; you might need to get someone in very quickly and obviously we are carrying a small squad at the moment."