Aston Villa: Petrov sets his target for the season
He said: "We want to push on in the cup. We have struggled in the cup in recent years and we are looking to improve that.
"We want some silverware. The big teams take the cup seriously even though they are in the Champions League, the Chelseas, Manchester Uniteds, so we are taking it seriously.
"Our record in the Carling Cup has seen us struggle in recent years. Maybe we haven't taken it seriously but we are trying to put that right this season.
"Cardiff have made a good start to the season, but also look at the way we are playing."
One player waiting to see if he will get an opportunity against Cardiff is midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker, who was left out of the squad to face Pompey after a training ground bust-up with O'Neill.
He has since apologised to O'Neill and will hope the no-nonsense former Celtic boss is in a forgiving mood.
Petrov said: "I have spoken to Nigel. No-one would want to be in this situation and Nigel knows what he's done.
"The manager knows as well and we will try and help them both to get things right and get up and running again.
"Things like that happen. We are happy we have players like that. We have players who want to speak, want to fight, want to be a winner so that is a good thing. These things happen."
Villa have made exits from the competition to lower graded Leicester and QPR in the past two seasons, and O'Neill is keen to make progress even though he will make changes.
He said: "I'll have a look at things. We will make changes but I really want to win the game."
Striker Emile Heskey is battling to overcome the ankle injury suffered after coming on as a substitute against Portsmouth.
