Eusty issues a challenge to Khadra
BLUES won’t take their foot off the accelerator during the international break as head coach John Eustace insisted: “There’s no time to switch off.”
Blues clinched an enormous victory over Queens Park Rangers at the weekend to boost their hopes of avoiding relegation. With eight Championship games remaining, they are nine points clear of the drop zone in 17th place.
Eustace will report to Blues’ new temporary training ground in Henley-in-Arden this week to work with those players who haven’t been selected for international duty. In addition to senior call-ups for Neil Etheridge, Auston Trusty, Krystian Bielik, Jordan James, Juninho Bacuna and Hannibal Mejbri, youngsters George Hall and Jobe Bellingham have been selected for England youth duty. Meanwhile, under-21 starlet Tommy Fogarty has joined up with Northern Ireland’s under-19s.
Explaining his plans, Eustace said: “We have got nine internationals away, which is a really exciting thing for the football club. Nine internationals going away is something we should be very proud of. It shows we’re doing the right things and the club is developing the players in the right way.
“There are ten players left. They have all run through brick walls throughout this season, so there’ll be a few of them who will need a break. The others will be in to work. There are eight games to go and we need to be ready and firing for when we play Blackburn in two weeks.
“There’s no time to switch off. We’re here to work and help rebuild Birmingham City. It doesn’t happen overnight. We won’t have time to switch off. We can maybe switch off for a couple of hours at the end of the season.”
Tahith Chong admits the players felt the pressure heading into Saturday’s six-pointer at Loftus Road.
“The gaffer spoke to us during the week and tried to emphasise how important the game would be,” he said. “For us, it was about getting our mindset right, knowing how important the game was, and to go out and perform.”
Eustace revealed Chong, Reda Khadra and Hall were key to Blues’ gameplan in west London. Chong’s winning goal was in part created by Khadra, while Hall pressed relentlessly throughout the match.
“That was something we have been trying to emphasise, getting more bodies into the box and getting on the end of cut-backs and stuff like that,” Chong said. “It’s something I have to add to my game.” Eustace believes Chong will be much stronger next season after his first full campaign in the Championship. He has started 28 of Blues’ 38 matches, contributing four goals and four assists. His numbers represent an improvement on last season when he registered just one goal and two assists during a loan spell cut short at 20 games by injury.