Sporting Life sporlife

McLeish Senses No Fear Factor

Mon 17 Mar, 09:09 AM


Alex McLeish believes his Birmingham players are showing no signs of fear in their battle to stay in the Premier League.

And the Blues boss has called on his side to repeat the level of performance shown in recent home games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham when they face Newcastle at St Andrews on Monday night.

City have several players in their line-up with little experience of top-flight football before the current campaign after helping the club gain promotion from the Championship last season.

But McLeish feels they are standing up to the pressure well, although he is conscious of the need to cut out the individual errors demonstrated in the 4-2 defeat at Portsmouth in midweek.

McLeish said: "The mental side comes into it without question. Like anyone, there are some days when they might think, 'I don't know if I can do this.'

"It is a question of training the mind to prevent these things happening and I can help them with my experiences over the years.

"But I am not seeing signs of a nervous team. I can't praise these guys high enough in terms of their commitment to Birmingham and there is individual pride there.

"We can only look back at some of the mistakes but I don't think there is any fear about them. I don't see a team that is frightened in recent games.

"I would be expecting a similar approach to against Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs in recent home matches and if they give me that level of performance, I have to be happy.

"Sometimes the outcome may not be what you want but if they give me those type of performances, I can't ask for any more than that."

Former Scotland boss McLeish is thriving on the challenge of trying to keep the Blues in the Premier League in what is his first taste of management south of the border.

He said: "It was a challenge I was willing to undertake. Everyone at the beginning of the season would have said Birmingham would be one of the teams fighting to retain its Premier League status.

"That is still the case but it was a great challenge for me to come to the Premier League, a super competitive league, and a place where I would think we could be for the coming years.

"I am loving it. There is pressure on us all. I think the bottom line is you have to accept it (pressure) can happen if you are not successful. If you can be relaxed in your mind about that, you can think clear."

James McFadden is poised to return to the starting line-up alongside Mikael Forssell after only being a substitute at Fratton Park due to his partner giving birth only a few hours before the game.

Defender Martin Taylor will complete his three-match ban for his sending off against Arsenal before playing for the reserves against Tottenham on Tuesday.

More news from SportingLife.com