Alex McLeish sweating on international players staying fit
ALEX McLeish will be a worried man when his internationals return to training on Thursday afternoon.
James McFadden has to wing it back from Iceland, where Scotland play on Wednesday, and Stephen Kelly faces a return from Macedonia with Ireland on the same night.
Maik Taylor has Northern Ireland’s game against the Czech Republic and Sebastian Larsson Sweden against Hungary in midweek. At least the latter pair’s World Cup qualifiers are at ‘home’.
McLeish did not have undue concern about one of his players, Radhi Jaidi, travelling.
The manager welcomed his participation for Tunisia in a key match against Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou.
But Jaidi did not feature in the goalless draw, which made his trip a worthless exercise.
“He has been struggling with a bit of a back problem, if people are wondering where he is,” said McLeish.
“He’s now okay but he’s got to get some match fitness and we weren’t that bothered about him going away because we hoped it would mean he got a game, with them helping us.”
Jaidi has yet to start a league or cup match for Blues this season.
*BLUES reserves take on Manchester United at St Andrew’s tomorrow in a friendly (7pm), their first public game since opting out of the Central League.
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