“We are very close”- Pep Clotet issues rallying cry as Blues continue their recent surge

One target at a time.

That seemed to be the message that Pep Clotet wanted to get out following his side’s victory over Barnsley on Tuesday night. And by the sounds of it, we’re on the verge of more or less securing the first target of the campaign, and that’s safety.

Speaking after the win at Oakwell, the Spaniard spoke about what the side has managed to achieve so far, and how the mental side of the game will help them take things further between now and the end of the season:

“We will stick to that mentality and to win every game. Possibly now on 43 points we are very close to what could be our first goal of the season – staying in the league. Now we keep the same mentality that took us here, we go game by game, tonight we put this game against Barnsley to bed and try to focus on being our best version possible against Brentford on Saturday and see what we get.”

With the gap between us and the relegation zone now at 13 points, I’m not popping champagne bottles just yet, however I do think it allows us to go into the next couple of games with the pressure very much off our shoulders.

And hopefully that should allow the team to flourish a little bit more. Whilst the past few games have been great, particularly with the addition of Scott Hogan, there’s still plenty more that can come from this team. Without the burden of constantly having to look over our shoulders during games, that should allow the team to play with a little bit more freedom rather than thinking they have to grind out results to see us over the line.

And the sooner it’s all secured, the sooner we can start looking ahead to next season. My one message though, would be don’t start turning against Clotet if things don’t go right against Brentford, they’re a team near the top of the table and arguably the best team in the division right now based on current form.

So don’t expect any miracles to occur.