Birth Date: August 27 1978
Birth Place: Paris
Birth Nation: France
Height: 183cm
Weight: 76kg
Nationality: French
Position: Defender
Franck Queudrue Rumours and Transfers
06 10 2007
Sebastian Larsson believes Birmingham have shown they have nothing to fear from the Barclays Premier League despite the youthful and inexperienced nature of Steve Bruce's squad.
The former Arsenal winger admitted to a degree of trepidation before the season got under way following City's promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship.
But Larsson, who has just won his first call-up into the Swedish squad, is encouraged by the way Steve Bruce's side have performed in the campaign despite having only a modest return of eight points from eight games.
They drew at Liverpool, led at Chelsea before losing 3-2 and were unfortunate to go down by a single goal to Manchester United, with Sir Alex Ferguson admitting Birmingham had been the toughest side the Red Devils had faced this season.
Larsson, who moved from the Gunners last term after an initial loan period, said: "When you haven't played so much at this level, you are not entirely sure where you stand. But I think we are comfortable with the league and there is no reason for us to fear anything. We would like more points but the biggest thing I think is that we haven't really been outplayed apart from at Middlesbrough when we put in a really disappointing performance. We've played Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United and come away with a lot of credit from all three games. That gives us a lot of confidence not to be afraid going into games. We know we can beat one of the top four. The United game could have gone either way. But it's all about picking up results against the teams we are going to be competing with. I think we are going in the right direction and we have got a good squad. It's looking positive for us. If we can cut out a few small mistakes, which have cost us, and put a few chances away, we can move up the table."
Bruce was full of praise for the performance against United, when a mistake by Franck Queudrue - who is to be given the chance to redeem himself in Sunday's game at Blackburn - gifted Cristiano Ronaldo the only goal.
But he is aware Birmingham also need to continue picking up points against the sides who are likely to be scrapping it out with them for survival.
Bruce said: "I have been really pleased with the way we played against Liverpool and Manchester United but we have to do the same in other matches. That is the challenge ahead of us. In fairness, we have picked up seven points from the three games against Sunderland, Derby and Bolton, who are in that area of the table near to us at the moment. If we can continue to perform like we have done this season, apart from a horrible day up at Middlesbrough, then I feel we should be okay and will be capable of winning games."
Blues will be looking to avenge their Carling Cup defeat at the hands of Rovers 10 days ago but Bruce knows it will be a tough test.
He said: "Blackburn will obviously be disappointed that they have not gone through in the UEFA Cup. But they still won that game and before that they had a great result at Sunderland and had comprehensively beaten us in the Carling Cup. They have got a really settled Premier League team who have added only one member to last year in (Roque) Santa Cruz. To finish seventh or eighth like they did last year was a really fantastic achievement."
Bruce is unlikely to make any major changes from the starting XI against Manchester United and has no fresh injury worries.
01 10 2007
Franck Queudrue has admitted he was to blame for Birmingham's narrow defeat by Manchester United.
The French defender dallied on the edge of his own box at the start of the second half, allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to steal possession and score the only goal of the game.
Steve Bruce's side had enjoyed much the better of the first half but were unable to convert a number of chances and were again frustrated by the resolute United defence after going behind.
Left-back Queudrue told the Birmingham Mail: "I know it is my mistake. But when I went towards the ball but it stuck in the ground. It just stopped. So instead of bouncing on, it stayed still and when I put my leg out, it went to him (Ronaldo). We put so much effort into the game, I feel very much like s***, I would say, for the guys to get nothing out of it."
The former Fulham and Middlesbrough player knows Birmingham must take their chances when they come up against the leading teams.
He added: "We created some good pieces of play, especially in the first half, but we didn't get any reward. That's always the case against the big teams. Sooner or later you get punished, and that's what happened. They stopped some things on the goalline and when you don't score, you can get exposed. We could have tried all day, but it wouldn't have changed anything."
