Blues to use midweek break to sharpen up - Klarer

Birmingham City captain Christoph Klarer says the squad will use the lack of a midweek game to drill down on analysing where they got things wrong against Stoke City and improve for Saturday's meeting with Swansea City.

Blues' 1-0 defeat by the in-form Potters was their second league loss in a row and third on the bounce overall after the Carabao Cup exit to Port Vale.

Bosun Lawal's header from a corner condemned Blues to back-to-back league defeats for the first time since April 2024.

"We know this division is good," Klarer told BBC Radio WM.

"If we're not at our best then we can concede set-pieces like we did - it's completely not where we want to be in the first 20-30 minutes."

Chris Davies' side also failed to muster a shot on target against Stoke, which Klarer says is a blip they must sort out quickly.

"We were lacking some quality going forward and didn't really test their keeper at all," the Austrian centre-back added.

"We've got some quality players going forward - not just the strikers - but we just struggled to create chances, we're lacking something in the final third."

With a full week to plan for their trip to the Welsh capital, Klarer says Blues will use the extra time without another game wisely.

"We'll analyse it and we need to improve, that's for sure, because you never want to lose two on the bounce," he added.

"But we've got a week now to put it right against Swansea."

Listen to more from Klarer and Birmingham City on BBC Sounds.