MY VIEWS: " THE BATTLE OF ST. ANDREWS THIS FRIDAY NIGHT "
What ever you think of Birmingham's team, remember this, they will be right up for it,the arrival of a new manager and two the manager is a never say die manager Steve Cotterill who gets his team to give everything.
(1) Birmingham have been a club in disarray for the last few years. They do not seem to have a steady plan or one direction.
Their ownership and controle has been in confusion but one year ago they settled on one single owner from China. They've had 3 managers in the last 3 years (+ a 4th now) the last 2 being Zola and Redknapp (not my type of managers who are a 'quick fix' type - rather than build a coherent tean).
2 The Team - they are a 'hodge-podge', 'mish-mash' , mixed bag team that has been put together. They beat a strong Sheffield Wed team only to lose their last game 6-1 to Hull (so they are wounded and will fight back and more so with the new manager). Their players are a mixture of ex good experienced but 2nd tier Premiere League but past their best players , or young players- some on loan , or players from the lower divisions. In short - nothing special. I wouldn't put one of them on our bench. I like their attacking mid-field player Jota and he is/was injured but may be back. In goal they have the 35yr old Kuszczak of Man U pedegree but long past his best and anyway he is deputizing for the injured 32yr old Stockdale (who I rate & who may be back). On the bench is a rookie keeper.
This means WE SHOULD TEST THEIR KEEPER.
3 Conclusion : A club with an ordinary squad and with a new tough manager and a wounded team that lost their last game 6-1 - what shoukd we expect ? : a- massive changes b- a team that will fight and fight big time. It will be a combative battle! Unless one team SURRENDERS - there will be yellow cards and maybe a red. Can we win the bloody war? If we do - our skill , pace and varied game will win it. Yes we could lose (these guys beat Wednesday) but I will be very disappointed and surprised if we don't attack from the 1st minute and come back with 3 points. One thing I am confident about is that this will be THE BATTLE AT ST. ANDREW !