Birmingham, the second city, a city of culture, diversity and one of the meanest defences in the premier league. As a football team, they’ll almost the opposite to us, a complete negative if you will. We play open, attractive football, trying to score as many as we can and often conceding at will, while Alex McLeish’s men spend their time making sure the opposition doesn’t score and hope to grab one at the other end. A ploy they’ve done fantastically well since coming back into the top flight. They don’t play unattractive football exactly, but they’re not known for the amount of shots on target they attempt. One things for sure, whenever you make the trip to St Andrews you’re in for a tough game.
Only Everton have managed to win at Birmingham this season, and the blues recently stunned Chelsea with a 1-0 win. Last season we struggled to a 1-0 lead only to let a last minute equaliser in. Thankfully I missed their goal due to the fact I had to leave 5 minutes early for the first time ever so in my mind we won last season. More of the same this time around and we’ll start putting pressure on those above us.
With Birmingham’s home record some would argue a draw might be a decent result, especially considering the amount of players we have injured but it’s imperative we win and keep close to the top 4. It seems like every match this season has been a must win. The only one’s that haven’t felt like that, we’ve lost, so maybe that’s a good omen. In the coming month the top 3 all play each other so points will be dropped. City have on paper an easier run of games so will be looking to close the gap between them and United. We need to be doing the same so we can head in 2011 still very much in the title race. Of course we’ve also got a tough game next week so we need to keep our current winning streak going.
Title race? That doesn’t sound right on a Spurs blog and as I’ve said before I don’t think we’ll get close to the title but the longer we can stay in the hunt the more chance we’ve got of that crucial champions league spot again, and crucial it is. More so than last season’s success, if we want to achieve the seemingly impossible and compete for a league title in the next 5 seasons we have to have champions league football every season. The extra revenue created from it is immense and will not only help support the team but the club and new stadium (wherever that may be) when we come to building it.
It’s games like today’s that we have to win. No excuses. With the exception of maybe Dann and Ridgewell, who would only be cover in our squad, we’re better man for man than Birmingham. They know it and we know it. That’s what worries me.
How far has this team come? They’ve shown a character and fight that I’ve never seen in a Spurs team. 16 points from losing positions already. Everton won that little statistic last season with a total of 17. If only we could stop conceding first maybe we would genuinely be title contenders? We’ve managed to stay there or thereabouts with key injuries and while we’re still struggling in some positions, central defence being the main one, we can at least look forward to a hungry Defoe sniffing around trying to get on the end of Bale and Lennon crosses.
That’s the key to the game for me. How much success Bale gets out of former spur Stephen Carr. I hate him. Really and truly dislike him. Loved him once but that all changed when he left to “win things” at a bigger club in Newcastle. Oh how happy I was to see him win nothing and eventually playing in the Championship.
Not a huge preview today. No tactics and formations needed. The team and formation picks itself due to who we have fit. 4-4-2 with Defoe and Crouch up front. Gallas and Bassong in defence. Palacios and Modric in the middle and the threat coming from wide in Bale and Lennon. Sexy football please gentlemen. I’m told it’s going to be very cold so I’ve got my gloves, scarf, bobble hat and two pairs of socks ready. 3 points please, I don’t care how you do it, just make sure you get all 3 this season. No silly mistakes at the back, take all the chances we get and most of all, more important than any of that, if we get a penalty, can I take it?
COYS
Submitted by THFC1882
