Yahoo News Ethan Laird 'flabbergasted' by Birmingham City plight and issues relegation message
Ethan Laird believes Birmingham City have what it takes to beat the drop - and hopes the home truths spoken after the defeat to Cardiff City will inspire them in their four remaining cup finals.
Blues slipped to an eighth defeat in their last 10 matches to the Bluebirds on Wednesday night and now sit 23rd in the Championship table with four games to play. As things stand, Blues are on course to join already-relegated Rotherham United in League One next term.
Laird - who joined Blues with the hope of challenging at the other end of the table - opened up on the inquest that took place in the dressing room post-Cardiff. He said: “People were saying what needs to be said, that shows people care. It’s tough love. Stuff needs to be said because of the situation we’re in. And to be honest I’m glad that it happened today.
“I’m obviously not happy about the result at all but things needed to be said and things were said. Because we’re a close knit group I’m hoping we bounce back now, I truly believe we will.
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“When you think about the players we have you are almost flabbergasted because you’re thinking, ‘How?’ But I truly believe we will get out of this. We need to go into every game as a cup final now because we’ve got a few left.”
Asked why he believes a team which has only bettered Rotherham since mid-October can earn enough points to survive, Laird expanded: “Belief based on the characters we have in this team, the talent we have in this team, the staff are an optimistic group. They are realists but they understand that we need that energy from them going into the next game. We know the position we’re in.”
St Andrew’s was tense from the get-go against Cardiff, and understandably so given the stakes, but Blues did little to ease the jangling nerves of those on the terraces. They failed to work Cardiff goalkeeper Ethan Hovarth after Josh Bowler settled the game in the 65th minute.
Blues now host play-off chasing Coventry City on Saturday before two pivotal matches on the road at Rotherham and Huddersfield. No one of a Blues persuasion wants it all resting on the final day bout with Norwich.
Laird, 22, continued: “It’s hard for me to speak about because I’m an optimist so I hate that I’m even in this position in the first place. We have to fight and we have to get rid of the anxiety. I think that came out (against Cardiff), because we know we need to win, we know we need to score, and sometimes when you think about it a bit as a player you end up making rash decisions. That’s football, it can get a lot. It’s about finding ways to deal with it.”
