Birmingham City: Alex McLeish doesn't care if Blues win ugly

Nov 23 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

ALEX McLeish admitted Blues won ugly – but he was not bothered.

Blues’ defeat of Fulham, the manager said, was a triumph for the nuts and bolts of football.

“I’m delighted because we played a tough game,” he said.

“Sometimes it wasn’t too pretty from our point of view. The first half was okay, I thought we were a little bit untidy at times, maybe the conditions had something to do with it and Fulham are a pretty slick side, well organised and have strikers who can really hold up the ball.

“We’ve played better than that but lost games. But winning football matches is not sometimes about pretty football, we showed we can win a match with steel, determination, resilience – all those things – and a touch of class for the actual winning goal.

“We won the game with a lot of grit and determination.”

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson’s view was haughty.

“You’re not going to get clear-cut chances against a team that keeps five or six men back and is quite content to just hack it away every time,” he sniffed.

“Basically, that’s what was happening – we attacked, then got it back and attacked again, but it seemed to me there was lots of opportunities and lots of situations.

“But the clear-cut chances almost always came from counter-attacks. We didn’t have the chance to attack on the counter-attack because we were dominating possession totally in the second half.”

“Their goalkeeper made one or two good saves but most important of all was their blocking,” Hodgson added. “I saw four or five very strong goal-bound shots blocked by their midfield players and defenders.”

McLeish said that you had to be able to play in varying ways in the Premier League.

“It was an indication of the type of players we have got here, people who are prepared to put themselves on the line.

“On many occasions you see players turning their back on the ball, but the guys here throw everything into the challenge.

“We don’t want to be defending desperately every week but it is comforting for me we have got players who can do that sort of thing. It is all part of the make-up of a Premier League team.”