Wolves v Birmingham City: McLeish challenges team to be mentally tough

Nov 29 2009 by Andy Walker, Sunday Mercury

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‘‘We have got players who, when they are in the Premier League, only have to win say 10 or 11. It’s a very different mentality,” explained McLeish.

“We have not been beaten in the last four games. I’ve got to challenge the players to go five games, six games, seven games, eight games.

‘‘Because if we are going to continue to yo-yo then you’ve got mentalities that say: ‘three games? I’m exhausted, that’s me done, I’ll have a break for a couple and then I’ll get back into it’.

“Having been involved in winning sides before, when you’ve got the relentless push and the mentality to win then you can look at groups of games.

“We’ve looked at this group of games so far and compared it to two seasons ago and we are ahead of schedule. If we can maintain what we did two seasons ago then we should be all right.”

Mick McCarthy’s Wolves are licking their wounds having conceded eight goals in their last two games.

However McLeish is refusing to accept that today’s Black Country hosts are vulnerable.

“I would never say anything like that in the papers so that Mick can pin it up on his board – no chance.

“What I know is that they’ll be out of the traps and they’ll be trying to dictate the same tempo as they did against Arsenal in the first 20 minutes, when they played very well.

“It will be down to the type of team Wolves were last season, that’s what I’m expecting. We’ve simply got to be ready for that.”