Bumps in road won’t knock us off course vows Pep
UPBEAT Pep Clotet says back-toback defeats are nothing more than bumps in the road to a transition in playing style.
Blues produced another encouraging display, packed full of attacking intent, but were edged out by Fulham on Saturday in what was only a second home defeat of the season.
The result followed a 4-2 loss at Cardiff to leave Blues 13th in the Championship table going into the final round of international fixtures in 2019.
Even in defeat, Birmingham have tended to fashion numerous openings as Clotet strives to get his new-look side on the front foot and playing with more purpose in the opponent’s half.
And while his team, which incorporated against Fulham two home debutants in Jake Salter-Clarke and new boy Jeremie Bela, is creating chances Clotet will not get disheartened by scoreline setbacks.
“We have a completely new team, and most of them are young, so it’s a very bright future for Birmingham,” the caretaker head coach said.
“We need to understand that in this process games like Saturday and last week, they are the price you have to pay. You’re never going to be fighting for a top-two position with completely new players, a complete new team.”
In Fulham, Blues faced for the second week running a side that was playing Premier League football only last season.
A yardstick for where Blues are right now? Maybe so, given Clotet’s call for a sense of “perspective”.
He said: “We played against two teams who two seasons ago had no problems going up, they were dominant in the Championship.
“They still have that experience and the quality of everyone they brought in for the Premier League and they have been playing together for a lot of years, each one in their own style.
“We have improved a lot in defence with the fact we don’t allow Fulham to have the shots on target they are used to – and we had many more shots on target than they are used to.
“That just shows it’s a very young team, we are consolidating a lot of work and this kind of result comes when you are in this situation.
“It’s very difficult in football to go from the position we were in last season to the position of the teams who are in the higher part of the table. It’s about working and improving and during this process.”
Serbian international Aleksander Mitrovic, the Championship’s leading scorer, struck his 12th goal of the campaign to end Blues’ run of three straight home wins.
The outcome could so easily have been different had Blues, who hit the bar late on through a Lukas Jutkiewicz header, been more ruthless.
“If you think about it with a cool head, we did enough to get something out of the game,” Clotet said.
“We had 16 shots, they had 10; we had four shots on target, they had three.
“That’s the margins.
“They had a very clear chance, the one-on-one Campy sorted out very well, but we had very clear chances as well that we should have scored.”