CITY V BRUM

BIRMINGHAM  CITY  V   CITY                              

    1st Nov 2009

                           Kick Off 16:00
  St Andrews Stadium

City go into Sunday’s encounter against Birmingham with almost a full squad for the first time this season. With a raft of players making themselves available City boss Mark Hughes faces a selection dilemma of the highest order in picking his best starting XI.

With only Robinho and Nedum Onuoha still to come back into the team, Hughes can afford to have his players go all out for every game in an attempt to stay with the Champions League pace setters. Vincent Kompany, Kolo Toure, Martin Petrov, Roque Santa Cruz, Michael Johnson, Steven Ireland and Benjani have all returned to near full fitness resulting in a new problem for the Blues’ boss - who to pick?

Birmingham City come into the game off the back of a 2-1 win over Sunderland and will be looking to push on with another win.

Brum boss McCleish has done what all frightened animals do and lashed out in an attempt to intimidate a City team which he feels could succumb to a cauldron of pressure at a pumped up St Andrews. Not that he believes City are the soft touch as they once were. He believes volatile characters such as Bellamy and Adebayor can be goaded into retaliation.

Hughes on the other hand has conducted himself with integrity as usual by paying respect to the opposition and projecting a usual calm and calculated manner.

“What we are looking for is a consistent run of results. But one defeat in nine, I would suggest, is consistent form.

"We have drawn the last three, and that has just taken the edge off our progress, but I think you have to view the first part of the season as a whole, and we are delighted with the start that we have made.

"We are in good shape, in a decent position and there is more to come from us. We know that."

"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 that us in the top six. And Chelsea are the only team with more clean sheets than us.

"But we are not going to avoid addressing certain issues in terms of elements of our defending. That would be wrong.

"You can look at any goal you concede and see a problem with it. It's about making sure those problems do not become consistent problems," Mark Hughes

ANALYSIS OF THE BRUM

Results
Birmingham – Sunderland 2 – 1
Arsenal – Birmingham 3 – 1
Burnley – Birmingham 2 – 1
Birmingham – Bolton 1 – 2
Sunderland – Birmingham 2 – 0
Hull – Birmingham 0 - 1

Birmingham City provisional squad: Taylor, Carr, R Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Parnaby, Queudrue, Vignal, Larsson, Tainio, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden, Carsley, Doyle, Jerome, O'Connor, Phillips, Benitez, D Johnson.

A new sense of optimism has Birmingham fans on the edge of their seats after Carson Yeung's takeover of the club. The Chinese businessman has promised manager Alex McLeish £40million to spend in January, resulting in a host of big names linked with a move to the Midlands (sound familiar).

Which is a relief to the 'Baconface Wannabee' as the takeover has diverted attention away from himself, after a number of fans began to voice their disapproval of the Scots' defensive style of play.

The former Rangers chief deployed two strikers from the start against Sunderland last time out in an attempt to silence the critics and was rewarded with a 2-1 win - to end a run of three straight defeats. As The Midlands club don’t have the luxury of having a huge squad McCleish will undoubtedly go with the same XI, barring injuries and suspensions, that beat the Black Cats last time out.

Joe Hart will have to sit this one out as he is our player and of course Sky Blue blood runs through his chicken dancing veins so Maik Taylor deputises in his absence.
Giovanny Espinoza (foot) has featured in just two Carling Cup games since signing in the summer but he could be available. Defenders Gregory Vignal (hamstring), Martin Taylor (foot) and David Murphy (knee) could also make a comeback.

Midfield duo Damien Johnson (hamstring), yet to play all season, and Keith Fahey (foot) are also nearing full fitness and could come into the reckoning on Sunday. Striker Marcus Bent (hamstring) could also return and stake a claim for his first appearance of the season.

Dangerman- Christian Benitez destroyed Sunderland last time out
Key Player- Seb Larsson has the quality to deliver great set pieces and weigh in with important goals.

CITY ANALYSIS

Man City provisional squad: Given, Richard, Zabaleta, Lescott, Toure, Bridge, Kompany, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Bellamy, De Jong, Barry, Sylvinho, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Tevez, Taylor, Weiss, Johnson.
Results
Man City – Scunthorpe 5-1
Man City – Fulham 2-2
Wigan - Man City 1-1
Aston Villa - Man City 1-1
Man City - West Ham 3-1
Man City – Fulham 2-1

With Given a certainty to start in goal, Hughes has a defensive headache to sort out in the back four.

RIGHT BACK
Will he choose the powerful Micah Richards distinctly average in both defence and attack this season, or will he give the nod to the more attacking Pablo Zabaleta who is prone to rash challenges and not the paciest?

With Birmingham’s key player Larsson playing on the left this answer should be evident. With a playing style similar to Morten Gamst Pederson at Blackburn, Hughes may opt for the hulking Richards in an attempt to bully him of the ball.

CENTREBACK PAIRING
Now that Kompany is back and Toure is not 100 percent over his heel injury, Hughes might choose this match to test the partnership of Kompany and Lescott that worked effectively against Scunthorpe on Wednesday night. Lescott has weighed in with 2 goals in 2 games, and all Blues will be hoping that he can make it 3 from 3 on Sunday.

The likelihood is that Hughes will tell Kompany that he’s still not match ready and put play Toure to combat the lively and dangerous Benitez and Lescott together in what is a very important match to win and for them to prove they are capable of a clean sheet.

LEFT BACK
Even though Silvinho’s performance against Scunthorpe was an effective one, Hughes will surely bring back the swashbuckling Bridge to continue improving his form. His attacking this season has been a revelation and although he can switch off at key moments and can get muscled off the ball a little too easily he will be given the nod over his Brazilian teammate.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD
Which paring will Hughes go for? With Kompany, Ireland and Johnson all returning, De Jong and Barry might be forgiven for casting a nervous look over their shoulders. Will Hughes play it safe and go for the defensively solid pairing of De Jong and Barry to take the sting out of Birmingham in the first half? He probably will and then bring on Stevie Ireland for the fading De Jong, when the hard graft has been won and the game opens up as legs start to tire in the second half.

Kompany still not match fit will be used supplement the back four and defensive midfield, but does over something different to De Jong in that he is a giant of a man and has an aerial advantage over most premier league midfielders. He will surely be used in the games such as Stoke and Everton when the opposition rely on set pieces to punish teams. Johnson fresh off a fantastic strike in midweek will just have tro keep working hard and hope an opportunity arises.

FORWARD OPTIONS
With so many attacking options Hughes needs to choose the right players for the right opposition. Birmingham have struggled against sides like Bolton, Sunderland and Burnley so Hugnes must be toying with the idea of using the physical Roque Santa Cruz up front with or without the recently below par Emmanuel Adebayor. Martin Petrov will be demanding he plays on the left after 3 goals in as many games and if Hughes goes with this strategy first option he will undoubtedly play to provide the big men with crosses.

But the Brummies have also lost convincingly to Arsenal so Hughes will also be thinking about putting on master class of pace, movement and passing. So Tevez and a reenergised SWP could play alongside Craig Bellamy whose more combative style may give him the nod on a left side that he has performed outstandingly after a few abject performances on the right.

Hughes must decide whether to go with the same team that could have so easily wrapped up the 3 points before succumbing to the Fulham curse last weekend or go with an alternative strategy in an attempt to assault the top four places in the league. If the defence gets it right then we should do enough to come away with a 2-0 win.

PROBABLE XI
GIVEN
RICHARDS TOURE LESCOTT BRIDGE
DEJONG BARRY
SWP TEVEZ BELLAMY
ADEBAYOR

PREDICTICTION 2-0 Man City