There are many great mysteries in the world yet to be unsolved; Who was Jack the Ripper? Does Bigfoot exist? Why was Stonehenge created? Another one of those mysteries is how have Birmingham City not won a game of football yet?
Friday night was another instalment in the latest hard-luck story that is our season so far. Another completely dominant display against our Midland rivals, but still only the one point to show for it.
I mentioned in my last piece that it really is feeling like “Groundhog Day” and I’m a firm believer that is not too far away now. Wednesday sees Blues come up against a very tricky test in Sheffield United, a team we managed to take four points off last season – believe it or not.
Sheffield United are going steady so far this season with four wins and three defeats, which is still enough to see them sitting 5th in the table currently. Just imagine where we’d be if we managed to convert those draws into deserved wins…
Blues shown on Friday night they are a team capable of battling with “the big boys” of the division by completely playing West Brom off the park for the majority of the game and if they were to implement that type of performance again then there’s no reason why Wednesday couldn’t be our “Groundhog Day”.
Taking into account the league positions you’d have to fancy Sheffield United as the favourites to see Blues off, especially at home. However I can hand on heart say there’s only be 2 games out of the 7 so far where we haven’t turned up and had the better of our opponents.
With Sheffield United losing to Bristol City Saturday they’ll be looking to bounce back and put a few things right.
So here’s the predicted line up:
Henderson
Basham, Egan, O’Connell
Freeman, Norwood, Lundstram, Stevens
Duff
McGoldrick, Sharp
With Blues putting in such a good performance again it’s hard to see Garry Monk wanting to change too much with the line-up and it’s clear that 4-4-2 is his favoured formation for this side. Although I’d like to see something different I can’t say it will, so here’s the predicted Blues lineup:
Camp
Colin, Morrison, Dean, Pedersen
Jota, Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Maghoma
Jutkiewicz, Adams
Personally I’d like to see Blues try a 4-2-3-1 formation; with Jota playing central behind Juke and Otabor and Maghoma either side. Maybe one day Monk might favour that, but right now it’s a traditional 4-4-2 approach.
I genuinely believe if Blues put in that type of performance we’ve seen against the likes of Forest, Swansea and West Brom then we can give Sheffield United a run for their money and maybe come away with those long awaited 3 points. That being said Sheffield United are strong at home and Chris Wilder is the type of manager who seeks an immediate response from his players, so they’re going to be fired up for this one.
Prediction:
2-1 Blues, I’m going to stick my neck out and say Wednesday is going to be that day we finally get what we’ve all be waiting for and thoroughly deserve. Let’s just hope my optimism is going to be rewarded.
As always, Keep Right On!
Picture Credit: Birmingham City
The 92 Blog 