Birmingham City Football Club News

• Nickname:Blues
• Founded:1875
• Manager:Chris Hughton

• Ground:St Andrew's
• Capacity:30,016

McLeish defends Blues tactics

05 Oct 2009 - 09:39:23

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Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish has defended his side's tactics in the 2-1 defeat at Burnley on Saturday.

McLeish opted for a 4-5-1 formation, leaving Garry O'Connor to plough a lone furrow up front at Turf Moor.

However, McLeish said after the loss: "I've got to listen to the supporters at home. Away from home I still think there is scope for the tactics that we used against Burnley.

"Against Manchester United and Tottenham we actually used a defensive midfielder in there rather than the midfielders we've been using in recent weeks, because I wanted to control the midfield and get balls forward in a constructive manner. We have done that well.

"The punters have got to be with us at St Andrew's, so I've got to rethink everything. We are getting to know Christian Benitez and his strengths and weaknesses and maybe him being up front as the target striker against Bolton wasn't the right choice.

"It's not so much to appease the crowd, I've got to do it if I think the personnel are right. I chose to do it in the Aston Villa game and that is the problem, the two home games.

"Nobody would have batted an eyelid if we had taken one point off Villa and even a point off Bolton.

"In the seven games before Burnley we've gone toe-to-toe with everybody else and nobody has turned us over and that includes Manchester United."