Birmingham City vs. Manchester City Match Preview
Wednesday, February 2nd 2011, 19.45
With Leicester twice, Wolves, Notts County twice, Aston Villa twice on the fixture list and West Brom to come at the weekend, a trip to Birmingham to face Alex McLeish’s blues on Wednesday will be almost like a visit home for Manchester’s finest, so accustomed are they to Midlands opposition over the last, and following few weeks.
Geography is not the only common denominator for Roberto Mancini, though. In that ever-so-clíched ‘Typical City’ fashion, each of the aforementioned sides found themselves on an upward trend just before their encounter with his team. Sven-Goran Eriksson arrived at a deeply troubled Leicester, charged with taking them out of the relegation zone and towards the play-offs. They begin heating peak form right before playing City. Mick McCarthy’s Wolves look desolate and devoid of any quality for months on end. Then, of course, they defeat Liverpool and Chelsea in the weeks leading up to visiting Eastlands. Aston Villa just so happened to seal a club record £24million deal with Sunderland’s prolific striker Darren Bent days before City were due at Villa Park. Notts County had lost only one of their 11 games before their FA Cup Fourth Round tie with The Blues, having lost 8 of the previous 12.
So, naturally, Birmingham will be a more difficult proposition than they would have been in October or November. Buoyed by their run to Wembley for the League Cup Final later this month, along with their passage through to the FA Cup’s fifth round, and the acquisiton of highly-rated former Newcastle striker Obafami Martins, confidence will be high at St.Andrew’s. An impressive recent record against City, including a highly creditable point and clean sheet at Eastlands earlier this season, can only serve to heighten the belief that a scalp can be achieved under the floodlights.
McLeish also managed to capture the signings of Curtis Davies, from rivals Aston Villa, and David Bentley on loan from Spurs in January’s transfer window to bolster a squad that has perhaps found life more difficult in the Premier League in their second year back- as is so often the case. The Blues performed wonderfully last season, with a 9th placed finish illustrating just how seamlessly they fitted back into life in the top-flight. Thanks to a mean backline, consisting of our own Joe Hart, who spent last year on loan at Birmingham, and the central defensive pairing of Scott Dann and Roger Johnson, they managed to have one of the fewest ‘goals conceded’ tallies by the end of the season, which included a run of 12 home games without conceding a single goal.
Both sides, meanwhile, have a few injury concerns to contend with. The aforementioned Scott Dann looks set to sit out the majority of 2011 following surgergy on a damaged hamstring, while James McFadden and Enric Vallés remain absent through cruciate knee ligament and ankle injuries respectively. Mancini must plan for life without Adam Johnson, after the influential young winger sustained an ankle injury in training on Thursday, that could see him out of action for as much as three months. Mario Balotelli is still two weeks away from a return, while Micah Richards, who performed excellently at Notts County on Sunday, looks set to miss out with a knee problem picked up late on in that game.
In Richards’ absence, Pablo Zabaleta can expect to start in his more natural right-back position, with Aleksander Kolarov returning to the left-hand side. Mancini’s preferred midfield of Nigel de Jong, Gareth Barry and Yáyá Touré should start the game, with David Silva, Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko the most likely candidates to fill the three attacking slots. Expect to see David Bentley and Keith Fahey filling the wide positions for Birmingham, with Barry Ferguson, Craig Gardner and possibly Aleksander Hleb in midfield. Obafamei Martins’ inclusion or lack thereof will dictate whether McLeish opts for a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 system. He will regardless be mindful of the fact that his side are currently the league’s lowest scorers, and eager to begin changing that on Wednesday night.
Manchester City are probably not his first choice for such a task, though. Despite a few uncharacteristic slip-ups in recent weeks, City remain the second lowest conceders in the Premier League with 20, one behind Chelsea.
An issue frustrating City’s fans of late has been the pace with which games are started, with plenty of possession and dominance without a cutting edge in the final third. This was perfectly illustrated at Aston Villa last weekend, where the home side took encouragement from City’s lack of killer instinct and settled with their solitary goal. Lessons must be learned from that experience, and the fans will be hoping that a more attacking mentality is installed tomorrow. Birmingham, despite being optimistic with their cup-runs and player acquisitions, are still struggling overall in the league, and if City’s players play to their full potential, a (much needed) away win will be a certainty.
Start slowly again and hesitate to attack, and Birmingham will take confidence from each passing minute without conceding. With Manchester United pulling away at the top of the table, and Chelsea strengthened significantly by the arrivals of Fernando Torres and David Luiz yesterday, City must now capitalise on every opportunity to secure three points. Failure to do so, even at this early stage, could be fatal.
Colin the King