Source: Team_Talk
McLeish: We must keep our discipline
Alex McLeish admits it will be vital his Birmingham side keep their discipline in Sunday's derby clash at Aston Villa.[LNB] Blues players lost their cool when beaten 1-0 by Villa in the corresponding fixture last season via a controversial penalty.[LNB]Centre-back Roger Johnson was fined £5,000 by the Football Association for remarks about the match officials and skipper Stephen Carr was given a one-match ban for gestures made towards Villa fans after the final whistle.[LNB]McLeish admitted: "We lost our discipline, we crowded around the referee so these are lessons we've got to take forward.[LNB]"If decisions go against us again, we've got to learn from that and we don't want a reputation for that.[LNB]"I spoke to the players at the start of the season about discipline.[LNB]"We had seven bookings up at Bolton in our last game of last season and there was a lot of whingeing and shouting at the referee in that game.[LNB]"I said to them 'we've got to cut that out.' There is a way to speak to people and I'm sure the players have learnt from that.[LNB]"It will be vital on Sunday. We have to respect the officials."[LNB]McLeish's first taste of the Villa derby ended in a 5-1 defeat for City and the reaction of fans in the aftermath made him aware of its importance to supporters.[LNB]He said: "I went to a question-and-answer session a week after the 5-1 game and it was a bit risque.[LNB]"The questions weren't vetted, there were no holds barred and there were a few things I didn't like that were said at me.[LNB]"But it was good information and made me realise the fever pitch of the derby here in the midlands.[LNB]"The result is the only thing that counts. It's black and white. If you win you are great, if you lose, you are rotten.[LNB]"But the last two Villa derbies we've lost we've not been rotten. We've been excellent and we have taken Villa right to the wire and we were desperately unlucky not to get something from the last encounter."[LNB]McLeish is a close friend of Houllier and studied his training methods when the Frenchman was in charge of Lyon after leaving Liverpool.[LNB]He said: "I know Gerard very well. I spent some time with him when he was manager of Lyon when I had a sabbatical from the game before taking charge of Scotland.[LNB]"Gerard was an absolutely excellent host and I got a lot of great education when I worked with him that week.[LNB]"I phoned him, I said I'd like to come and see your training and he was excellent.[LNB]"With anyone I've visited, it is more about reassurance rather than 'I've learnt something new there' because you know the way you do things yourself.[LNB]"Gerard doesn't deviate too much from the way I do things.[LNB]"At the end of the day, he had a different quality of player. Lyon were winning two or three titles in a row in Gerard's time.[LNB]"I remember him saying you are always worried and anxious about the outcome of a game but you are less anxious and worried when you know you've got a good team - and he had a right good team.[LNB]"That is the key, getting players out on the pitch you can trust."[LNB]McLeish accepts Birmingham still have work to do to match Villa in terms of financial status but may have closed the gap on the pitch.[LNB]He said: "There was evidence of that in the way we played against them last year.[LNB]"In terms of the financial disparity, they are still light years ahead of us in what they've invested in their team in comparison to us.[LNB]"Whether there is a massive disparity in technical ability or quality, you would have to question that because of the way we played.[LNB]"But this is a new season."[LNB]
