Birmingham City survival scrap is pure torture, says Mehdi Nafti

Mar 24 2008 By Colin Tattum

MEHDI Nafti today bared his soul about Blues' plight and admitted it was torture.

He said he was confident they could avoid relegation from the Premier League, on the evidence of how they have played this season.

But, on the back of Blues' devastating defeat by Reading in a proverbial 'six-pointer', the straight-talking Tunisian said deeds, not words, were required.

"What do you want me to tell you?" said the midfielder, who was recalled in place of Damien Johnson in order to 'freshen up' the midfield.

"Again, we left thinking we were the better team. How many chances did we have?

"We conceded goals from set-pieces. Again. We probably need to work on it more. Talk more. Be more aggressive in the box.

"Yes, it has been a problem all season.

"The other problem is that we don't have this feeling that we are in our position in the table - but the reality is there.

"We have seven games left ... the feeling is that if you concede a goal, and if you have the chances and don't score them, it's the basics of the football.

"The basics is not conceding from set-pieces - everybody knows that - and scoring when you have the chances.

"If Gary McSheffrey had scored (in the eighth minute, when he was in on goal) the game would have been over.

"I think we are not good in the box. We are good between the 30-yard and 30-yard, but in our box and the other box, we are not good enough. This is the reality.

"So we will see. We have international games this week to clear the head, then we will come back," he added.

Blues' spirit and determination to lift themselves is without doubt. That alone will not be enough,however.

"Of course," said Nafti. "We do bounce back. If we go down to the Championship, though, what can you do?

"Normally, after 38 games, the worst teams go down. If it is us, we can't say 'no, we don't deserve that' because we had 38 games in the season.

"But I do really think we don't deserve to go down."

The diamond midfield formation manager Alex McLeish adopted in the second half offered an interesting pointer for the games ahead. Mauro Zarate played behind Mikael Forssell and substitute Garry O'Connor.

Nafti said: "I was surprised we played like that. It was one of the first times we've played like that this season.

"It is the system we used to play in Spain, so I was quite happy."

Blues equalised just as McLeish was about to put the plan into action.

"When we scored, I really thought we would kill them," said Nafti.

"After conceding the goal from a set-piece, it was like a knockout again.

"It's hard to come back again.

"It could have been a game like it was against Tottenham. We could have won three, four.

"In the shower, we were talking to Maik Taylor, we asked him: 'did you have a lot of important saves?' He said 'no'.

"When you think, if it was like Newcastle, when Maik had a lot of saves to make, then okay.

"But Reading, playing at home, winning the game and having no real shots - it was quite frustrating.

"It's not that you feel sad, you feel angry. You know what I mean? You're on the bus home and you think '******* hell'."

Nafti added: "Seven games, and we need to win a few to stay up, don't we?

"Can we stay up? What we show on the pitch, I want to tell you 'yes'.

"It's just like that things are going against us on the pitch.

"We are not in the bottom three, so it looks like the other teams want us to stay in the Premier League.

"I am confident, but, we need to work. For hours and hours. On set-pieces, sure. Maybe the manager says if someone makes a mistake on set-pieces, I will kill him. I don't know.

"But we need to find a solution as it is six weeks before the end of the season.

"What we show on the pitch, we have lots of confidence. But we must get the results."