Birmingham City: Eck has plenty to think about after defeat

Jul 22 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

ALEX McLeish admitted that Blues’ opening pre-season friendly, a 2-0 defeat by VfB Stuttgart, gave him plenty of food for thought.

But they were not bad vibes that McLeish picked up despite the reverse in Zell am See.

McLeish tailored his team set-up according to where either side were at in their preparations for the new campaign ahead.

And he felt the 4-5-1 formation, which Blues used for the majority of the match, worked.

“As I said beforehand, we had to look at this game more tactically,” reflected McLeish, whose side fell to late goals.

“Stuttgart have now played six games, we’re just starting out, and I thought we were very good against them until we made a lot of changes and we just lost a little momentum.