After Al Hilal

Pre-season friendlies and to a lesser extent tours I always view with some suspicious familiarity. They fall into the 'phoney war' categories.

By the time we are in March and April, who remembers what happened in pre-season, or even where or who clubs have played on trips?

They tend to give a general pointer on the season proper ahead but morever a confirmation of what still needs to be done.

When the 'real ball' comes out, as Steve Bruce used to say, that's when it matters.

One tour to Ireland with Blues in the early 1990s was an absolute shambles, from the facilities, to the results to the drinking culture. Blues won promotion that season.

In Barry Fry's time, Blues did well against the likes of Newcastle United, Manchester United, Celtic - 'we're top of the pre-season league', he quipped - and then faded away.

Last year Blues were highly impressive in Austria but the vibrant way they played in the Tirol wasn't reflected in the Championship. That became a slog.

So that's why I don't think some of the wailing and gnashing of teeth is the order of the day after a miserable set of results this time in Austria.

Sunday's 3-0 defeat by Al Hilal in Leogang (pictured), which closed the tour, was pretty harsh on Blues.

The Saudi Arabians were a good side and, like VfB Stuttgart and FC Augsburg before them, enjoyed facing a Blues team that had weary legs and were just beginning their pre-season preparations.

Blues missed enough opportunities to have won the game as well. Stamina and endurance levels were being built up in Austria - some of the training was gruelling - but sharpness and slickness was lagging. Once the 'overload' is tapered, that should come.

I don't think the intenary did them any favours either. Blues arrived at Westendorf at 11pm on Sunday, had a double session on Monday, trained hard Tuesday morning then went straight into a game against a Stuttgart team who had played five times already.

Apparently the fixture was taken because television money was on offer, which would have helped with the cost of the tour. In the end, the match wasn't screened in Germany so Blues, after a creditable 70 minutes, left empty-handed in more ways than one.

Twenty-four hours later, Blues took on FC Augsburg in temperatures touching 30 degrees Celsius and spluttered along.

The lack of goals, whichever way you look at it, was a big worry. Alex McLeish and his management group have got to work on Blues approach to opening up opposition. They remain more of a containing team than go-getters.

On what he saw, McLeish's resolve to sign players more players hardened. It might also have acted as a jolt upstairs to show that the recruitment thus far is not enough.

And having tinkered with 4-5-1, 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 in the matches, he says he knows for sure who can play where in what system.

The kind of decisions he has to make are, for example, can Barry Ferguson and Lee Carsley be paired together in a 4-4-2? That looked awkward. James McFadden: wide or up front? For me he was better wide.

The next few weeks should give us more of an idea of what system McLeish will 'nail down'.

Martin Taylor and Keith Fahey emerged from the Austria tour with credit and although there are now a lot of strong, vocal and abrasive characters in the squad, the bonding process went as it should have done.