Birmingham City: Why Hleb believes Blues will avoid a relegation battle
Oct 5 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
ALEKSANDR Hleb today insisted Blues would not be sucked into a relegation battle.
Blues are currently 16th on seven points from seven games, and have won once.
And if you check the statistics back to mid-March in the 2009-10 campaign, by which time they were comfortably safe in mid-table, Blues have notched just two victories in 17 Premier League outings.
Asked about the current form, Hleb looked perplexed when the prospect of a dogfight was brought up.
“Relegation battle? No, no. We can play very well at home, I know that from the past when I played at St Andrew’s with Arsenal,’’ he said.
“We are not playing well now, and I don’t know what has happened. We have lost something. Football is about confidence but we have the qualities, so no. It’s very difficult in the Premier League, but we have the qualities.”
Hleb, Blues’ star loan signing from Barcelona, has slowly but surely picked up the pace of the Premier League again.
He arrived at Blues with an injured ankle and has been striving to get to full sharpness.
“I feel good,” he said. “Everyone needs games but I feel OK. It is just the bad results. These games at home we needed to take maximum points against Wigan and Everton.”
Hleb said he wasn’t reeling, having been more used to teams that dominate.
“No, I am not in shock. This is different to the teams I’ve played in before. Not the quality from the players, the team is good, we can fight, can play football, but we need a little bit more.
