Thanks to me for this (somewhat tardy) matchday preview
The Bongo
Today sees God’s own Manchester City visit one of the friendliest away grounds in England when they take on Alex McLeish’s newly taken-over Birmingham City (aka the club (sadly) formerly known as Bongo FC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fiver)
The Blues (of the Birmingham variety) are struggling to find form so far this season and a rearguard marshaled by our own loan ranger Joe Hart has been somewhat porous this term.
That said, all eyes are on our own defensive unit following what some papers have referred to as our “poor recent form” and the fact that we have not managed to shut a team out for 90 minutes since the opening four fixtures of the season. It will be interesting to see which of our defenders start today following a run of games which has seen Zabaleta, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Kompany and Sylvinho all feature due to a combination of injuries, poor form and suspension.
The Money
Those fans traveling to the Midlands today have already had the bonus of a ten quid refund on their ticket prices since the arrival of Carson Yeung as the second Far Eastern investor into the Premier League.
It’s a nice touch to have lowered prices in an attempt to boost the attendances at St Andrews and hopefully is a sign that Yeung is a slightly more fan-friendly and less despotic owner than our own much maligned Dr Thaksin. The new St Andrews chairman, however, does sound slightly Thaksin-esque with his quotes carried in today’s Sunday Mirror.
Victor Hui has this to say about us;
“We have the Chinese people, Manchester City’s owners have their oil and I would not swap our people for their oil.”
He said: “You can look at other billionaire owners of football clubs, you have Russians and Arabs, but I think there is not the same interest in their homeland that there will be for us in this situation. It is quite unique. I don’t think you can quantify it exactly but we will be working 24 hours a day – well, maybe 23 because everybody has to sleep – to make it happen.”
Obviously Brum have not had any chance to splash the cash since the owner’s arrival post transfer window closure but his takeover has given the club a degree of stability even if that has yet to start to show itself in performances on the pitch. Any talk of new-found wealth in Birmingham should also be put into it’s relative context with Yeung having committed to fund McLeish with about £40million of funds for new players in January (although even if this is small change compared to Sheikh Mansour’s investment it still gets you one and a bit Robinhos or three Gareth Barrys….and that’s not to be sniffed at)
Alex “Eck” McLeish has seen his position already come under a degree of scrutiny after a shaky start to the season but they did notch up their first win under Yeung’s regime when they overcame an in-form Sunderland (so at least we would be spared the predictable “Birmingham kick start season against City” headlines should the unthinkable happen today).
McLeish has, somewhat bizarrely, called for Birmingham City fans (famed for their charming “Zulus”) to dispense more vitriol from the stands to make St Andrews a hostile fortress. Anyone who has visited Birmingham’s second club’s ground will surely find this a touch perplexing due to the utterly unpleasant nature of the natives and, at a time when fan behaviour is under the spotlight it does seem like quite reckless incitement from the manager.
The Managers
Alex McLeish: "I know what football is like. I've got a hard enough job myself without thinking about Manchester City. I know there is jealousy out there - not just for Manchester City but even for me. Some people want to see me fail. Some people are right behind me. It is just part and parcel of football. The little guy wants to see the big guy fail and Mark Hughes will be aware of that talk going on and will probably use it as a weapon for his advantage."
Mark Hughes: "Is our glass half-full or half-empty? I would say half-full. We are the only side that's only been beaten once in the Premier League. That is something to look back on. People are looking at the goals we've conceded in recent games and questioning our defensive capability. But if you look overall, there is only Chelsea who have conceded fewer than us in the top six and Chelsea are the only team with more clean sheets than us. If you look through all the stats, then maybe in terms of defending, we are not as bad as we are being painted."
The History
We lost the last game against Brum City back in March 2008 against a 10 man opposition. Hopefully that 3-1 reverse was an aberration but in our favour is the fact that we have won three out of our last six visits to St Andrews.
The Teams
Birmingham have an enforced change of keeper today as Joe Hart’s loan deal includes terms which prevent him from facing his home club so Maik Taylor takes the gloves and his place between the sticks.
Up front Ecuadorian Christian Benitez is partnered by Cameron Jerome (although if the papers are to be believed this strikeforce could, in January, be “bolstered” by the arrival of the enigma that is Roman Pavlyuchenko from White Hart Lane).
In midfield it is likely that there will sit the timid charmer that is Lee Bowyer and dubious Barry Ferguson with James McFadden and Sebastian Larsson.
At the back the fullbacks will be Stephen Carr and Liam Ridgewell who shall be joined by centre halves Roger Johnson and Scott Dann.
The Real City’s starting line up is getting harder to guess as each week passes and another injured player gets fit. Hughes has a near full compliment to choose from an several players have staked pretty strong claims to be involved (stand up Stephen Ireland, Vladimir Weiss, Vincent Kompany, Michael Johnson and Roque Santa Cruz) and from the evidence against Scunthorpe it would seem that there is only really Shaun Wright Phillips (and maybe Joleon Lescott) who is struggling with current form.
The other teasing question currently is formation. Many fans spent last season bemoaning Hughes’ reluctance to deploy a 4-4-2 set up and now that we have seen it in action extensively this year many are questioning whether 4-3-3 doesn’t actually suit our players and style of play more.
Against teams who set out to play the ball I would be tempted to lean towards the three forwards approach but today I think four in midfield will be required to combat Birmingham’s high effort and physical midfield.
So, my team would be:
Given, Zabaleta, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Ireland, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Adebayor, Santa Cruz
Subs: (from) Taylor, Johnson, Weiss, Kompany, Petrov, Tevez, Sylvinho, Wright Phillips, Richards
Prediction: Birmingham City 1 Manchester City 3
