"I love my relationship with Blues fans" – Garry Monk's Transcript

Garry Monk anticipated the championship clash between Birmingham City and Swansea.

The game is important for the boss of the Blues – who spent 12 years with the Swans as a player and manager.

On a busy agenda, he discusses the claims of Kerim Mrabti, David Davis and Craig Gardner, and much more.

How did you spend the long time between games?

It's good to be able to use this extended period to do everything with the players and return to recent games.

It's trying to fix what we need to fix to try to get back on track for Tuesday's game.

With Kerim coming in and those who look like Davo and Isaac remind them of how we do it.

Does Norwich's performance bones?

It is important to review everything with the players.

They are a very good group, they are responsive and understand what we felt about the Norwich match and show why we thought it might have happened. Go ahead, train it and correct it.

Looking for an answer?

Losing the Norwich and Middlesbrough games was a setback, but I always said that hard times would come.

But the fact that this is the first time we have a back-to-back loss shows how fantastic the guys have been.

In recent seasons, it was probably more common to have five or six games with bad results. This shows how much the players have progressed. It's our way of reacting and trying to get back on track.

Kerim Mrabti. How is it installed?

Awesome. He is really settled in the group. This period has been beneficial for him as he just needs training and football in his legs.

Anyway, he's a good boy and he has not played football for a long time. He trains all week and looks lively. He looks in better shape every day.

It's a chance for him to learn everything we do and set it up for future games.

The players reached him?

These players have made a huge effort this year to ensure that what comes out of this locker room is a positive thing.

They usually form a very narrow and very favorable group. They are competitive and want to do well, and Kerim has understood and integrated well.

He is exactly the right kind of character from the point of view of football. Kerim is interested in this when we are looking for this type of player who is suitable for what we have to do and who helps the players already present.

Swansea. Qu & # 39; you expect?

It's always hard. From my personal experience and my understanding of the fact that they are six undefeated games and that they have good self-confidence, they form a good team.

But every game is incredibly difficult. The style we faced against Norwich will be very similar.

What we really need to do is focus on ourselves and get back to that level to get back on track and deliver what we can do.

You formed an identity in Swansea. Do you think that's something that's been missing here in recent years?

I can not really talk about what happened before. When I arrived for these 11 games, I badyzed the team and determined what the strengths were and what would suit us best with the players we had at that time.

They took great confidence from the end of last season and they did a fantastic job. We had our first shot in the last two games. It is now time to react as we know it.

Long term. Do you have any idea what a side of the Garry Monk looks like?

You have seen it as it comes. Of course, we will try to adapt and progress as we move forward, but most of what I love about a team is being aggressive in terms of defense, organization and discipline. , as well as attempting to achieve rapid attacks.

It's an aggressive style of play that I love and it's my character. This season is about putting the foundations of a real way of doing things and an identity.

To move forward, it's about moving forward and helping quality.

First time as Swansea as the boss of the Blues …

My memories of this club will always be fantastic, it will always have a place in my heart because it was 12 incredible years.

The trip we did was amazing. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to be a player and a manager there.

But 90 minutes later, I'm here to win as you saw in the first game against them this season at St Andrew's. My only concern is that I want Birmingham to win.

There are still faces that I knew during these 12 years that I'm still friends, so it will be a pleasure to see them again.

It's not about me, it's that the two teams are fighting over these three points. We want to go out there and show that we can react and try to get back on track.

I love my relationship here with Blues fans, I've had incredible support. During those 12 years, I gave my life to this club and it will always be there.

Injuries?

Everyone is fit. Marc Roberts is the only one who is still injured. We hoped he would return to training early in the week.

We are not so sure now. Maybe he will need an extra week. Charlie has a bit of a punch in training, but it's only a slight stroke.

Swansea developed since the first match?

Yes, they have definitely evolved. They used a lot of staff for the selection of their teams, but they keep the same essence of what we played against them.

But obviously, they had more time together to get cohesion and organization. It's the same for all teams.

We had more cohesion and understanding of what we need to do. We know that we are achieving our levels of competitiveness, discipline and organization. It's a big key for ourselves.

If we get the right levels, we know we can take care of ourselves.

As far as Swansea is concerned, they have of course grown up. It will be a difficult team to face, they are in a good shape, they will have a good confidence.

We have used this extended period to remind ourselves of what we are doing and how good we can be when we are at the right level.

We have trained in this way and feel that it is the best preparation to get us back on track.

The main points on which to focus from Norwich's defeat?

Defensively, our discipline, we have been a little unclear in our positioning and maybe a bit weak in terms of aggressiveness – only what we are normally.

Offensively, it leads one to the other. If you are not quite right about one, this tends to snowball in the other.

Offensively, we did not use the ball as well as we should have done, we were not trying to reach the areas we know we want to try to reach with the quality we can do.

It goes together if you get a performance that does not match the level you expect.

If I'm honest with you, even though we've lived all this without wanting to accept it – for me, it's inevitable.

It's a rarity …

Yes, that's what we tried to change. This is the exception now, when I do not want to talk about the season before – but it's quite common for the club to play four, five, six or seven games without a performance.

While this was the first time we had consecutive defeats – and even against Middlesbrough, I think it was pretty marginal, to say that this is the first time we have what's called a real setback how much these players did.

I do not think there are too many things to do.

What we are trying to do is to show the character in this locker room and react, I know they will respond, I am confident that they will respond in the next game.

Want to refresh the team?

Yes. It's difficult for the same guys to go over and over, but that's where we are, I've been saying it from the beginning.

Nobody is light, it is difficult. Many of these players played a lot of minutes.

It's to refresh it, but you always put what you feel is your best team in the field and you're confident you can do the job.

They did it more often than not.

The temptation is great when a hard time comes when people love change, they like to change everything and think it's the way to go.

Watch: blues fans react from Bogle

I think we know what this team is and what they think is clear to them. Then, of course, the fact that the group is pressuring Davo to come back, added Kerim, Isaac coming back – this is an opportunity to refresh things.

But you have to trust the players, they have been exceptionally successful at this stage.

There are many reasons this season that we had to follow the same path.

We did not try to apologize, we did what we think is best. We tried to put the best team on the field for this match and start from there – and trust the players.

If they have to go through a difficult time to get out, then so be it. One thing is certain, everyone is fighting to make sure they get back on track.

Craig Gardner really had an impact on the bench – is he in a condition where he could start?

Yeah yeah. There are a lot of considerations for me for this next match.

After saying what I said, there are also considerations of what I must do to be able to give a performance that I know we are capable of.

We train until the match and it will be Monday's decision that the best team will go to the field.

I have a lot of considerations to take into account.

It's not easy because of the type of team we have, but there is certainly food for thought.

Kerim goes directly?

It will be available from the Swansea match. I do not see any problem with that.

Whether it's starting or not, I'll have to decide.

In terms of availability, it is available for Swansea, there is no doubt.

Then, what we will do with him will be to continue giving him the football without going too far and too early.

David Davis last

He's back, he's training and he's in good shape to get back to training.

But you must remember that Davo suffered a long-term injury like Isaac [Vbadell] and you have to make the right program for him so that it is to get minutes with him.

Davo is a naturally fit player and he will not need a lot of football to be back and be ready for the selection. We will see him next week.

It's a miraculous recovery, right?

His recovery is incredible. It just shows where his state of mind is.

At the start of the season, it was a blow, but because of his state of mind, he came back and determined to make sure the club had a good season as much as anyone else in the season. # 39; team.

During his rehab, he had the same mentality and his desire to return as well as the efforts provided by the medical and physical staff were enormous.

But ultimately, it's up to the player. His mentality is exactly what you want in a player. He has shown incredible determination to recover and help his teammates.