Birmingham City: John Eustace proud of progress at 'pre-season relegation favourites'

Birmingham City boss John Eustace took charge on 3 July, less than four weeks before the start of the season

Birmingham City manager John Eustace is proud of the way his side have disproved their pre-season tag of Championship "relegation favourites".

Going into the World Cup break, Blues sit mid-table in the division.

Granted, in 13th they are only five points off the danger zone but, in a crazily congested league, they are also just three points shy of the play-offs.

"28 points is good up to now. Would I have taken that? Yes, of course. Absolutely," Eustace told BBC Radio WM.

"The group know there is loads to improve on. But where we've got to has come from a lot of hard work. I'm delighted with the effort and desire.

"We're not getting carried away with things, but we have to remember we were favourites for relegation at the start of the season.

"The main positives are that we have a group determined and very hungry to do well for Birmingham City - which is all we asked for at the start of the season.

"We just have to keep the standards high - on the training ground and on the pitch. But we have stuck together and fought and scrapped for every single point."

Blues at the World Cup...

Scrapping for every point has so far been the hallmark of Manchester United's on-loan Tunisia midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, who is off to the World Cup.

Although he has been an exciting, dynamic addition to the Blues' attack, he has been booked four times - and each time Eustace has taken the option of substituting him.

The latest yellow card came in Friday's 2-1 home defeat by Sunderland, when Eustace also substituted his other World Cup-bound player, Poland's Krystian Bielik, and Blues' latest teenage prodigy Jobe Bellingham, younger brother of England midfielder Jude.

On-loan Hannibal Mejbri has been a big plus for Birmingham City this season

"I felt our whole midfield were a little bit off the pace if I am honest," said Eustace. "Hannibal looked a bit tired, Krystian was missing in the week and he looked a little bit tired as well. It was tough in there for all three of them.

"Jobe has had 11 appearances off the bench so we are developing him in the right way and we just felt it would have been a great occasion to start him, under the lights, on Sky.

"He is a 17-year-old boy. We gave him an opportunity to start and he did fine. It's important that we as a football club are developing all the young players."

Blues do have a third player away in Qatar, 18-year-old midfielder Jordan James, who has been called up as one of Wales' two travelling reserves, in case there are late withdrawals.

... and after the World Cup

The Blues players now have a week off before returning to training on Monday, 21 November to put in three weeks of training, very much targeted towards their scheduled return to action at Blackpool on 10 December.

It is virtually the same amount of time Eustace had to work with when he took the Blues job on 3 July, just 26 days before the new season began - and with an attempted, still unresolved takeover underway.

After leaving his first managerial post at Kidderminster Harriers to spend three seasons as number two to Mark Warburton at QPR, he left following the appointment at Loftus Road of Mick Beale. But the boyhood Blues fan and former Coventry, Stoke, Watford and Derby midfielder has quickly found his feet at the place he calls home.

Troy Deeney's experience has been vital for John Eustace this season

Blues beat Beale's QPR at the end of October, and now stand just three points behind the Hoops in the Championship. Given Beale was briefly one of the names on Wolves' wanted list, it is testament to the job Eustace has done across the West Midlands at St Andrew's.

But all he is interested in now is maintaining the progress made by his handful of top-flight loan signings - Hannibal, Auston Trusty, Dion Sanderson and Manny Longelo - melded with the vital experience of the likes of Bielik, Troy Deeney, John Ruddy, Maxime Colin and latterly Harlee Dean.

"We will have a week off now and reflect on those first 21 games," said Eustace. "We can then come back next Monday, work hard for those three weeks and get ready to go again.

"We know we have to be better with the ball, so we are putting work into that, but the most important thing is we keep doing the basics very well - winning our duels and winning the second balls.

"We just want to be competitive in every game we play. That's the most pleasing thing for me."

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