Bruce to keep 4-5-1?

Steve Bruce has revealed he could persevere with his 4-5-1 formation - even at St Andrews.

Bruce played on-loan midfielder Jiri Jarosik just behind Emile Heskey in the 1-0 defeat at Newcastle before the international break and was pleased with his side's overall display.

He told the Birmingham Mail: 'It's always something I've had the option of doing because we've got Jiri, and David Dunn, who can also play in that role off the front.

'Both of them are a little bit different as players. When you look at it, more and more teams are employing such a system and we have done in the past. It tends to work well, especially away from home.

'Some people say it is defensively-minded but it isn't, and up at Newcastle it wasn't. Yes, we made it difficult for them but we also got forward and looked a threat ourselves - and that's something we haven't been for a while.

'I felt it was a decent system to use in that game and we had the right players available to implement it. Would I use it at home? Yes, I would. To be honest, you've got to analyse the way things have been going for us and the fact that we've got to score a goal. You can get people into good positions to cause the opposition problems, which we did at Newcastle.'