Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish lays into former Aston Villa star Stan Collymore

Oct 2 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

ALEX McLeish has returned fire at Stan Collymore after the former Villa striker weighed into the debate about Blues’ formation.

Collymore, writing in his newspaper column, said Blues lining up 4-5-1 against Bolton Wanderers at home was ‘staggering’ and that they deserved to lose for ‘their cowardly tactics’.

Some Blues fans chanted ‘4-4-2’ after they went behind and although McLeish said he had no problem with that, Collymore’s outspoken views – and particularly the word ‘cowardly’ – has really got under his skin.

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“Listen, I respect the fans and their opinion,” he said. “One thing I’m not going to do is fall out with them. We have got to make sure that we have them right behind us at St Andrew’s. They are very important to us.

“Last week was a bit of a phenomenon for me, the fans chanting to change the tactics. I was always going to change to 4-4-2 it was just a question of when. But, at the same time, I’ve been in the game 15 years. I think I know tactics and formations inside out.

“Believe me, the tactics were not negative. Some people have said I’ve shown cowardice. That’s an absolutely ludicrous accusation.

‘‘And that’s coming from people who should know better, and it shows a naivety about a knowledge of the game. We set up with five players in midfield, who are all comfortable with the ball.

“It was designed to get forward to support Christian Benitez, with full-backs bombing up the sides. To a degree we did that and at certain times we didn’t hold the ball up enough, it came back too much.

“We know that there are flaws in it but until we get Steven Gerrard playing off the front and Fernando Torres on his own, it won’t be perfect.

“But, believe me, that system was designed to go forward, create chances and to keep the ball and certainly control the game.