McLeish fears Fulham backlash

Birmingham City are expecting a tough game at Craven Cottage on Saturday after Fulham’s 4-1 drubbing by Manchester City.

“Yes, we’ve got to be ready for it because Fulham will be smarting,” said Birmingham manager Alex McLeish.

“They took a defeat from Manchester City. I saw the game. They got better in the second half. They were much stronger.”

“I am sure Mark Hughes will take that positivity into our game rather than looking at the first half where, to be fair to Manchester City, they played some excellent football.”

McLeish believes that the work Hughes will have undertaken this week will be weighted towards rebuilding team morale.

“That is what he will be working on,” he said.

“They will probably see it as a kind of must-win against a team around about them and it is the same for us.”

“It is a huge game for Fulham but equally we go buoyed by the confidence and performances of the last two games.”

McLeish is also puzzled as to why his centre-back Roger Johnson has not been called up by England.

“He would love to play for England. I was asking if he had a Scottish grandma but he has got a passion to play for his country.”

McLeish is pleased with the six million pounds he paid for England goalkeeper Ben Foster.

“He has made some incredible saves recently,” McLeish said.

“Some of the saves he made against Chelsea were out of this world as well. I said one of them was Gordon Banks like and I can pay him no higher compliment than that.”

Birmingham picked up no fresh injuries last weekend and McLeish had good news on tough tackling midfielder Craig Gardner who was expected to be out long term.

“It is not as bad as we first thought. Craig has improved this week. He has not joined the group yet but, in the not-too-distant future, we expect him to be back training with us.”