And the Blues manager has called on his side to repeat the level of performance shown in recent home matches against Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in upcoming encounters.

City have several players in their line-up with little experience of top-flight football before the current campaign after helping the club gain promotion from the Championship last season.

But McLeish feels they are standing up to the pressure well, although he is conscious of the need to cut out the individual errors demonstrated in the 4-2 defeat at Portsmouth in midweek.

McLeish said: "The mental side comes into it without question. Like anyone, there are some days when they might think, 'I don't know if I can do this.'

"It is a question of training the mind to prevent these things happening and I can help them with my experiences over the years.

"But I am not seeing signs of a nervous team. I can't praise these guys high enough in terms of their commitment to Birmingham and there is individual pride there.

"We can only look back at some of the mistakes but I don't think there is any fear about them. I don't see a team that is frightened in recent games.

"I would be expecting a similar approach to against Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs in recent home matches and if they give me that level of performance, I have to be happy.

"Sometimes the outcome may not be what you want but if they give me those type of performances, I can't ask for any more than that."