Bruce could bolster squad

Steve Bruce has admitted he may look for support from the Birmingham board for a January spending spree because of the club’s crippling injury list.

Blues have slipped into the relegation zone and will take on bottom-placed Everton in a vital Barclays Premiership encounter at St Andrews tomorrow.

Bruce has been given unequivocal backing from chairman David Gold who recognises the huge contribution made by Bruce during the last four years.

But Bruce is continually having to contend with a series of long-term injuries to key players and the likes of David Dunn, Muzzy Izzet, Stan Lazaridis and Mikael Forssell had spells of almost a year out of action.

Forssell is the only one back playing and he is still short of the match sharpness which brought him 19 goals when on loan from Chelsea two years ago.

Bruce said: “I have to admit it is a huge worry with Forssell, Izzet, Dunn, Lazaridis and how long do I wait? That’s the real big issue for me because it can’t continue.

“If it continues, I might have to go to the board in the Christmas window and say ‘this is the situation, I might need help’ because this cannot go on.

“With the injuries we have got, we are going to have to look at doing something, we haven’t got any left-sided players because of the players out at present.

“We’ve had four serious injuries in Izzet, Dunn, Lazaridis and Forssell. They’ve been out for the best part of a year.

“I think we all know, the board as well, that this injury situation can’t go on before we address it. If we can address it in January we will, maybe something similar to three years ago when (Jamie) Clapham, (Matthew) Upson, (Stephen) Clemence and (Christophe) Dugarry came in.”

Bruce is aware of the importance of a positive result against Everton, adding: “With the position of both clubs, it is a big game. But I try and look at the overall picture and we’ve got six points from 10 games which is not a good enough return.

“From the next 10 games, we want 14-16 points and that will take us to Christmas on around 20 points which we all know is what we require. That’s the challenge ahead of us. We have to stay in the division.

“Both clubs will be disappointed with where they find themselves but the Premier League is unforgiving. It can happen to the big sides.

“I don’t think the game will be one for the purists with the tension involved. We hope we can start picking up some home form which you are going to need if you are going to do anything in the Premier League.”

Midfielder Nicky Butt is aware of the gravity of Birmingham’s current plight and admitted: “No-one is kidding themselves. We’re in a situation where it’s getting serious now. We need to get results from somewhere.

“The fact is we are not playing well individually or as a team. Little things aren’t going for us but we are not playing confidently.

“We didn’t expect to be in this position but no-one has a divine right to be where they think they should be. Confidence is a big part of football and life.

“At the minute in games you can see that no-one wants to do that little bit of inventiveness, that pass to make things happen. Everyone seems to be settling for the easy option.

“When it’s like that, things do spiral and it is hard to get out of. But with the manager we’ve got, the coaches we’ve got, we’re being told that things needs to change in no uncertain terms.

“There is a determination there among the players to do it. We have got an honest bunch of lads. We are all working hard. We got ourselves into a situation whereby every game is a massive game. There’s no-one else to blame for that.

“It’s a case of if we got ourselves into it, we’ve got to get ourselves out of it.”