McLeish returns older and wiser

Alex McLeish insists he has learned from his Villa Park mistakes as he prepares to take Birmingham back to the scene of their derby mauling.

Blues return to Villa tomorrow for the first time since their 5-1 thrashing in 2008, a season which ended in relegation from the Premier League back to the Championship.

Many see the result as the day Blues unofficially went down as they capitulated to braces from Ashley Young and John Carew along with a Gabby Agbonlahor strike.

But this season they sit ninth in the Premier League after a stunning campaign following promotion and boss McLeish says he knows where he went wrong last time.

He said: "I played it too open, I went there with a bit of bravado, some people might call it naivety.

"But I'd been in the game a long time and I knew exactly what I was doing and the risk I was taking.

"We had players out of position so it was a little bit of a disparity in terms of the quality Villa had and at the time we were short.

"I could have played it cagier but if we'd won it playing the way we did it would have been some feat.

"Other times I've gone cagier in games but if you don't get the result then you are seen as negative so sometimes you can't win.

"I did it for the right reasons but Villa were far too good on the day."

A repeat is unlikely as McLeish expects his team to match their hosts but admits he cannot guarantee a derby day victory.

He said: "How can you guarantee something like that? You may have a bit of bad luck on the day and have three men sent off, these are the things which can happen.

"But, if we have a setback, I'm backing my players to bounce back because they have shown it many times this season.

"I'd love to be able to guarantee a win to Blues fans but I'm sure I can guarantee a performance. The players know there is no hiding place in the derby, I'm sure they want to play their very best and they have already shown this season they can go toe-to-toe.

"We've got a better understanding as a team than last time. There's a resolve, steel and organisation about us.

"The organisation was very different in our last game there because players were playing out of position. Our wide guys are now trained to know how to defend in situations."

Blues are winless in their last seven games and have slipped out of contention for a Europa League place.

They sit ninth, three places and 14 points behind Villa after their recent run. But McLeish says the whole season must be taken into account and the impressive form which sealed survival with plenty to spare.

"You can dress up statistics however you want and make them look negative but I prefer to make them look positive," he said.

"We've had a hard run in the last few games and the godsend was we were in a fantastic position going into the games.

"I would have hated it if we were languishing at the bottom of the table."

McLeish expects Cameron Jerome to shake off a back strain and James McFadden returned to training on Wednesday after a groin problem, while Craig Gardner and Liam Ridgewell return to their former club. A win for Villa would keep them in the hunt for the fourth Champions League spot but McLeish says denying their rivals a shot at Europe's elite isn't Blues' motivation after a 1-0 defeat to Villa at St Andrew's in September.

He said: "We're not looking at it for that, we're looking at it for our own reasons like bragging rights. Villa beat us at St Andrew's and we'd like to think we can go to Villa Park and win the game.

"The players know what the derby is all about - great stadium, capacity crowd and the fans detest each other so the players are under no illusions it's a derby game."