From Birmingham Mail:
ALEX McLeish today insisted he and Blues will get it right.
Charlton Athletic visit St Andrew’s on Saturday for a game when Blues must get back on track after the ‘dip’ in results and performance.
McLeish said he was confident the team would play with an urgency and tempo against the Addicks, taking out their own hurt and frustration.
“We’ve had meetings this week, constructive meetings, we’ve gone over the DVD of the Nottingham Forest game and talked about various things,” he said.
“We’ve had a dip, we’ve not been playing as we would like, and we want to sort it out.
“The meetings were good. The players had a few things to say and they aren’t happy with the last three games.
“They are as hurt as myself, my staff and the fans.
“We will definitely try to put things right, we will be looking for a big, big reaction from the guys.
“I would like to think that they can show a different tempo this weekend than the one at Forest, that they can excite the fans and get them going.
“Players can make fans join in, in terms of giving us extra energy.
“This weekend our players have to show our fans how much this challenge of getting back to the Premier League means to them.”
McLeish is likely to make a couple of alterations to his side in search of the right balance, and Franck Queudrue and David Murphy should both be available to contest the left-back position after illness and injury respectively.
As well as addressing the issue of tempo and not letting up, at Wast Hills this week McLeish has also stressed that he wants his side to be pro-active and not reactive; they must force the issue.
“Make things happen,” he nodded. “We’ve got to do that and be relentless.”
McLeish has also felt that Blues have been too easily ‘got at’ and opened up, and that is related to work-rate.
He wants players back in position a lot quicker, and with more determination, so the opposition can’t come through at will.
Aware of the heightened scrutiny about his decisions and the barbs that have come with back-to-back defeats and a narrow escape at Forest, McLeish remains self-assured.
“I won’t be panicking, it’s not a time for panic,” he said. “I listen to others opinions and I talk things through with my staff. But at the end of the day my opinion is the main one, and I know I can do the job for this club.”
Blues trail Championship leaders Wolves by six points, and Reading are one point behind Blues, breathing down their necks.
Three matches ago, Blues held a two-point advantage at the summit and were six points clear of the Royals.
“Like us, Wolves had a bit of dip as well, they’ve now pulled away a little bit, but there’s plenty of time to get back into it,” McLeish stated.
“If they slip up, we’ve got to be able to take advantage.’’
“Reading are hot on our heels as well, but we are still second. If it was all to finish tomorrow, then we would be back in the Premier League.
“Of course, we know there’s a long way to go, like we knew there was a long way to go a few weeks back as well.”
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Comments
We're going to maul them 3-0.
Unless it works in our favour.........