Nikola Zigic will come good for boss
Thursday 30th September 2010, 10:29AM BST.
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish has backed his £6million summer signing Nikola Zigic to come good as he struggles to adapt to the Premier League.
The Serbia international has found English football difficult to adjust to after playing in Spain with Valencia, with his only Blues goal to date coming in the Carling Cup against Milton Keynes Dons.
Zigic has been confined chiefly to a substitute role, with last season’s top scorer Cameron Jerome preferred as the main striker.
But McLeish has faith in Zigic to eventually show his true worth.
The Blues boss said: “Nikola is still adjusting to the English game. It is hurly burly, 100 miles an hour.
“On the continent he is used to balls being laid up to him and cushioning it and laying it off and keeping the play moving.
“It is a totally different game to the Spanish system and also the Serbian system as well.
“The players tend to get lazy as well when there is a big guy in the team because they just launch it forward.
“But we’ve got to try to get into the right positions to give him the right service.”
But Birmingham favourite Paul Tait has urged the 6ft 8in star to show more aggression.
He said: “Fellas that tall aren’t actually that good in the air, because they can’t jump. Peter Crouch doesn’t win every single header.
“But I think Zigic does have to realise that he’s playing for Birmingham and put himself about more.
“He’s got a real size, he’s got a physical stature, he’s well built, not one of these skinny types. I think he really needs to clump someone.
“I don’t mean so he gets sent off, but so he lets defenders know he is there and they are in for a game.”
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