Birmingham City Vs Wolves Preview
Posted by Thomas on 5th February , 2010Can you smell that?
It’s the distinct pong of smugness emanating north from St. Andrews.
You can’t blame them really.
They’ve had a terrific season up to this point and are already only a couple of results away from securing their Premiership status. And it’s only February. Yeah I know, it makes me feel a bit nauseous too.
Scott Dann - Chose Blues over Wolves in the summer
I can accept it though. I can accept the fact that they beat us to some key signings. I can accept that they’ve assembled a team that functions like a finely tuned machine. I can even accept the fact that they’re effectively enjoying the kind of season we all dreamed about over the summer.
What I simply will not accept though, was the kind of limp, weak, inept performance Wolves subjected us to earlier in the season against our local rivals. We stalled in the starting blocks on that horrid Sunday afternoon, gave away an early goal and then just laid down and died. That is unforgivable in any match, let alone in a derby.
I really never thought I’d see us play as bad as that again this season. How wrong was I? Tuesday’s humiliation at Selhurst Park was just as woeful, if not slightly more pathetic. It was the kind of performance that made everyone think, ‘where do we go from here?’.
Perhaps the only saving grace is that after that 1-0 defeat to Blues, we got a big reaction and delivered a much improved performance to see off Bolton in the next game. I just hope that the battering we took off Palace in midweek, provides the catalyst for another positive turnaround.
I’ll be surprised if Mick doesn’t retain the 4-5-1, but hopefully the return of our two best attacking players, Kevin Doyle and Matt Jarvis, will give us some much needed bite in attack. This is my guess for the starting XI on Sunday:
Hahnemann
Zubar
Craddock
Berra
Ward
Foley
Henry
Mancienne
Jones
Jarvis
Doyle
I could be wide of the mark of course. In fact, I’d be surprised if the shambles of Tuesday night doesn’t see players that have been on the periphery offered a route back into the squad. I’m talking about the likes of Castillo, Halford, The Hoff, etc. Could they do any worse than the likes of Mujangi, Milijas and co did against Palace? Probably not, so maybe they deserve a chance.
Whatever the team is though, we need to come out fighting right from the off. If we go behind in this game, logic dicttates that it’s a long way back, simply because Blues don’t concede many goals and Wolves don’t score many.
You’d have to say that Birmingham are overwhelming favourites in this one, but perhaps that can work in Wolves’ favour?
I’m expecting a tight, cagey game and very few chances for either side.
My prediction? 1-1.
If you’re making the short journey to St. Andrew’s, get behind the lads and make those Blue Noses realise the Wolves are in town. We’re long overdue a league win in a derby.
Up The Wolves.
Thomas – how can you say all that and then predict a 1-1 draw!!!
I take your point Ed.
But this is my thinking:
I’m expecting a reaction from Wolves.
I’m expecting two teams to play defensively and chances to be few and far between.
Surely our hopeless record in derbies must improve at some point. We’re due some luck.
And finally, I’m a Wolves fan and when there’s local bragging rights at stake, I can’t bring myself to forecast defeat
We might get a result but it will be a 0-0 draw. No way are we going to score tomorrow.
Fair enough mate, it is hard. I’ve had to stop myself including the wolves on any accumulators I do as I find it impossible not to back us and so completely fucking up my bet when we produce yet another shambolic performance!!
Milijas has GOT to play. Would like Jones alongside him but if I had to choose then Milijas.
Thomas your right, we are due some luck, and this would be the nicest time to get some. I have had a good feeling about this game since the Hull game, dunno why.
1-0 to us, our goal to come through Johnson and Dann running into each other, and then Foley’s limp shot to be let under his own body by Joe Hart. That would good.
Hahnneman
Foley – Craddock – Berra – Ward
Bia – Milijas – Henry – Jarvis
Vokes – Doyle
i still reckon bia and give him 30 mins of a run on in a side that desperately wants to win. Palace was a shambles and if the whole team plays bad, of course he aint gonna perform either (even though he contributed to the shockingness of it all)
Get that early goal, then bring mancienne in along with zubar, take bia and vokes off and push milijas out to the side. That way MM will get his “get as many defenders on the pitch” fix done for the week.
Hahnneman
Foley – Craddock – Berra – Ward
Zubar – Mancienne – Henry
Milijas ——————— Jarvis
Doyle
I agree with Louie. Milijas has to play. He may not play well every game but without him our offense is useless.
For some reason I’ve got a good feeling about this game as well. I reckon you’re spot on with that team, not that I’m particularly happy about it. Would love to see Foley in the back 4, sorry to keep going on about that, but can’t see it happening. I’d also prefer us to play 442 but I think 451 suits the players that we’ve got available, ie. only 1 decent striker.
I’ve got Monday off work so hopefully I’ll be drinking Guiness all afternoon with a smile on my face rather than a tear in my eye.
Win on Sunday and all is forgiven.
Jub – If we start with Vokes and Bia we’re pretty much fucked from the off. The only time Vokes looks any good is when he comes on as a late sub when everyone else has been running around for 80 minutes. Whenever the guy starts he doesn’t do anything, even at League 1 level. Surely we’re better of with Big Chris if we want someone to hoof the ball up to.
Fair play though, atleast everyone in your starting 11 is playing in their correct position which is more than Mick can manage to sort out.
Nick, I’d rather have Vokes than Big Chris to be honest. Vokes was one of our better players at palace. He had no support at all
Think big chris came on against palace and one only 1 header. Absolutely no point what so ever in bringing him on if he can’t even do that cus he offers us fuck all else. I’m with Louie, I think Vokesy was one of our better performers on tuesday
I’d argue neither Vokes or Big Chris are up to required standard, and it shows how poor our transfer window recruitment has been that they are the best we’ve got (excluding doyle, obviously).
I’m still in support of MM’s management (just about) and hope he takes advantage of the Palace debacle to shake things up a bit.
I’d go for 451 with:
Hahnemann; Foley, Craddock, Zubar, Ward; Dindaine (why sign him if not to play him?!), Castillo, Henry, Milijas, Jarvis; Doyle
Prediction: 0-0 and thankful for the point!
Tom knows I hardly ever tip us to win we are just not consistent enough even in “The Fizzy” but I do fancy us strongly on Sunday. It’s the law of averages! We are due a win and Small Heath have just won too many games for them. Most of their supporters will to be expecting an easy win. 2-1 to the Wanderers! It will be the same team as against Hull .
PS Bia looks to be a complete joke at this level. If he plays I forecast 2-0 to SH
I think the game will swing to Wolves and I think that EB if given another chance my finally get going.
Wolves are up against the wall now and a local derby is a great time to turn things round
Lets hope!
If we go down bid then I think the writing is on that wall for MM
Bia has played one game, you can’t write him off like that. Sure, he had a poor game but others were worse. Shall we write them off too?
At least I get to watch the game in me pyjamas drinking coffee and eating me breakfast, 7.30 am over here is kick off time, very civilized, and I dont have to freeze me cobbs off either.
I would like to add my own bit of sunshine.
If we were supporters of the big four or five, expected to win every week, life would not be as good as it is for us Wolves fans.
Think about it, when their teams don’t perform as expected, they lose and they get to cry and feel miserable.
When our team doesn’t perform as expected, and we win, we are friggin’ ecstatic!!
That is about the only ray of sunshine I can think of at the moment, except for the picture of sleezy moxey on my dart board…………..
Keep the faith, and count your blessings, we don’t have to watch anything in blue and white week in week out!!
FOWB
We can’t play Bia from the start. i’m all for giving players a chance but we can’t afford to carry players in a game like this, this is not his game, it will be physical.
If we lose a goal, i don’t see us coming back, much like April. That being said, we may be able to get a draw, it can’t be much worse than Tuesday night.
I think Iwelumo and Vokes are much of a muchness, they both do pretty much the same thing, though i’d say Vokesey’s more likely to pop up with a goal.
andrew – did you say Dindane? I aint missed something have i?
Rich we have been linked with him because Pompey can’t afford to buy him or something. It doesn’t look like we are getting him though
isn’t it about time we tried Foley in a new position, here’s one for you – how about playing him at right back? I’m sure he’d put a shift in!
I am sick to the back teeth of players playing out of position – as much as I like Foley, playing him on the right wing severely restricts our attacking options. Play midfielders in misfield and defenders in defence!
This out of position malarkey is almost as bad as when Neil Emblen was played as a forward!
So if we have to play 4-5-1 (and I think this is realistically our only option of stealing a point from this game) then I would play
Hahnemann
Foley
Craddock
Stearman
Ward
Mendez-Laing
Surman
Mancienne
Jones
Jarvis
Doyle
The youngster will provide the hunger and workrate and in a 5 man midfield it should be no risk at all. If Mancienne performs as we know he can in the holding role, then there’s no need for Henry and without him, we may get the ball out of midfield quicker, and therefore a counter attack may turn into an attack rather than a slow progression up the field with one pass forward and two back!
But what the f**k would I know!
That is a mental team Jed. Then again, so are Mick’s so you never know. I can’t believe you would have Surman ahead of Milijas,.Henry has been our best player (I find myself saying this so much) and he is inked onto the teamsheet.
The rest I understand. would like to see what Mendez-Laing is like and see what all the hype is all about, only thing I might say is it’s a bit like putting Bia in for this game.
Come on me babbies!
Louie – Milijas has made a couple of passes and scored a great goal – other than that he’s been poor. He gives away stupid free kicks all the time and is painfully slow, he dwells on the ball for too long, gets dispossessed and then fouls the player. Don’t get me started on Henry! For as much as he breaks up play, he will always pick the easy pass to the left, right or back – he’s way too negative! In the Premier League we have to attack on the break, Henry doesn’t have the vision to make the pass to set us on our way, and because of this we never attack with pace, we kind of amble up the pitch which makes it much more difficult to catch teams out! I like Surman and think if he was given a decent run of games he would show us what we’ve been missing!
The reason I went with M-L instead of Bia was because BIA looked terrified of getting involved the other night, at least M-L is used to the English style.
Milijas is the kind of talent we need if want to make that step up IMO. He has a superb passing range, his set pieces are good as is his shooting. I think every team needs a player that just does the simple pass.
I like Surman too, he’s ben getting some unfair stick but at the mo I wouldn’t put him in the team. And yeah, Mendez-Laing is more suited to english style. I hope Mick doesn’t waste him in the future!
Sorry I jumped after ‘shooting.’ I meant Henry about every team needing a player to do the simple pass.
OK! I’m ready for a barrage of abuse for these comments!
But, in my eyes – Zubar looks like Bambi on ice. It seems to me that he runs around on his tip toes and is quite static. So definitely drop him to the bench & bring Foley back to right back. Where he belongs. Isn’t that the position he played in and was awarded player of the season?
Now, although I think this bloke is pretty shit and has a touch like Harold Shipman! What he can do is launch his throw in’s into the danger area. so why not stick donkey Halford in at right mid. (Until Kightly is fully fit)
And then, to add to the controversy! To take advantage of the throw in’s from Halford, dead balls from Milijas & crosses from Jarvis, stick an even bigger donkey up front in the form of the Hoff! Now I know he can’t head a ball, but hopefully, when the ball hits the fifty pence on his head, the ball might just land for Doyle to knock it home. I do think he’s pretty good at roughing up defenders though.
And please, please, please! Drop Berra and put somebody in there who can turn quicker than it takes me to do a 3 point turn in a bendy bus.
Errrm….am I been a dick? Is the Hoff still injured?
don’t care if the hof is injured or not, for a man of his height he should be able to win every ball in the air but the bloke cannnot head for shit. he’s a joke. he might run around with more enthusiasm than any one else on the pitch but he does fuck all. he’s the tallest bloke in the premiership but gets out jumped by every defender. he actually gets shorter when he jumps. biggest joke going.
Berra has been as solid as fuck this season as well. might not be the quickest defender ever and he can’t pass for shit but he’s solid and probably one of our most reliable players so far this season. craddock and berra work really well together, they’re one of the few things mick has kept constant this season.
I don’t mind Berra, it’s Craddock I don’t really think is good enough. But credit to him, he’s come up with a few goals and had a couple of solid performances. I think this will be Jody’s last season in the first team.
we’be hardly seen anything of The Hof, one start and hadrly any sub appearances. The one game I went to he was sent off. Prior to being sending off, he was our best player because Everton didn’t know what to do. When he got the ball he was positive and he looked like he might score
11.30pm kick off in sunny Brisbane, and I can’t remember the last time I went to bed in a good mood. I can’t see it being any different than any other time, and ‘ll go for a standard 2-0 loss. The wife is already preparing for the worst
Gladly take a point right now – but after the results of today we really need three!
We will play one up front again and probably create very little (except for rebounds blasted into row Z after falling to one of the six defenders in the team!!).
i too have a good feeling about the game, despite logic demanding the opposite. i actually like that mendez-laing shout! too big a game and will never happen though. an outside chance 4the bench after his goals in the week? i’ve got dann and johnson as my centre backs in my fft so lets hope my curse continues! 2-1 win. doyle and d jones.
It looks as if even a draw will be a bad result after today’s results!
I fucking knew it! As soon as I saw that little poisoned dwarf step off the bench, I thought ‘here we go again’!
So close yet so far away from what would have been a well deserved victory!
I do believe that we will be relegated. I have now given up any hope. We just don’t seem to get the rub of the green. It’s just not our season.
When a bit of calm and control is needed its not there. We give the ball away far to easily.
MM looks a broken man, he knows the squad is not good enough and it shows his mentality by playing so many defence minded players.
I sorry to have to admit it but we have very little hope of staying up
I would say no hope whatsoever,a nd the time wasted in the 2 lots of transfer markets as cost us dearly