Jobyfox

Yep

Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham City might have to change their name back to just Birmingham City again

That one went over your head didn’t it?

Just hope he gives us the spark we need

Well I guess that’s a good start

Nice to see PNE go up as long as they don’t get in the way of our progress

Hmmm …. According to Wikipedia he played the grand total of 0 (zero) games for us. However, he was sold by Leicester, despite being “one of the better performers” at Filbert Street during the 1945/46 season. Echoes of last season when a few of our better performers were those who didn’t play any games

I don't rate him at all, but the Vestergaard redemption curve has challenged my established thinking on everything

No matter where you are on the debate on whether you’re playing for the money or the joy of it I do have difficulty with these kind of statements. They’re not exactly surviving on the minimum wage and having to budget from month to month just to get by. I remember the LIV golfers talking about “doing what’s best for their families” or Jordan Henderson’s recent trite statements after accepting the big bucks to go to Saudi. There’s nothing wrong in doing things for the money as a lot of us might do the same in their situation. But I’d respect them a lot more if there was just a bit of honesty.

Mendy was a limited, but competent, player. Unlike others he was consistent and at least you could see what he brought to the team. He wasn’t given much opportunity under Rodgers and was even left out of the squad at some points. It was very strange that after many decent performances standing in, that were often better than the incumbent, he was always instantly discarded as soon as they were all fit again. He’s not a better player than Ndidi but, at one point, his form was better. He was also consistently better than Choudhury, Soumare and others that came and went. He was even a better option during Tielemans poor run of form. Another one who wasn’t given a run by Rodgers when all the evidence on the pitch was that others were failing: see Ward, Amartey, Soumare, Tielemans et al

Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham are still to win a game

Not used to losing this season and just want to say: Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrtttttttggggggggggghhhhhggghhhhhhhfffffffgggjuuuuuuuhuccccccvvkkkkkkkkkkkkwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbnnnnnnnnnjjjjjjjjjhhjjjjjjjkkkkkkkkccvvvvvvvvvvvccccccvvvvvvvuuuuuuuuuujnnnnnnnnnnntttyyyyyyyyyggwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnjkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your indulgence

Thought we’d lose tonight. We’ve had a couple of dodgy performances, but managed to win. They were going into the game with momentum after their last game and needed it more than we did. We need to get the injured players back, reflect and then go again.

So who’s that then?

If it’s the one I’m thinking of then it’s amazing to think that Jamie Vardy scored in that one and could repeat the act tonight

See my reply above to Cosbehfox Of the players likely to start tonight only Summerville will be one who started against us last season (in the first game and he was a sub in the second). I do understand your general premise though. I don’t think they’re particularly better than last season, but they are the type who could hurt us if coached well and we don’t counter their threats correctly. It’s not just about personnel though. Our front 5 is weaker without Maddison and Barnes, but I’d argue we’re much better balanced. We had no right winger and KDH and Ndidi are having much more effective seasons than the ineffectual efforts of Tielemans and Soumare last season. My only worry in midfield tonight is that Casadei isn’t at the level of WN in terms of us getting control of the midfield

Yep, you’re missing something. Summerville was there James was on loan Rutter was signed in January Kamara - New Piroe - New Ampadu - New

It’s a different front 5

Now you’re just being silly. I simply meant we should ease him in gently after injury. He might not fire straightaway and we shouldn’t expect an explosive debut. It will be quite a competitive game and there will be a few gunning for him. After a long period out with injury we don’t want to rush him or burn him out. We need him ready to go and not shell shocked for the rest of the season

We’ve got to be careful and ease him in gently. He’ll probably be shot after about 20 minutes

Reading between the lines of EM’s press conference I think that’s exactly how we’re going to approach this. It sounds like there might be lots of patient passing. Leeds are going to press high and hope to do us over in transition. If they execute their chances well they could hurt us but, if we keep our discipline, we can take the points. The longer it stays 0-0 the more optimistic I’ll get that we will prevail. It’s strange that I almost feel that it might be better than us scoring early as I feel Leeds best chance is committing to attack.

Let’s hope he’s ready to fire!

“Vestergaard was not suited to play a highline” “He is playing very high up the pitch under Maresca” “the way we now play has mitigated his deficiencies.” These statements appear contradictory. He’s now a fixture in a team that plays very high up the pitch. Is the reason that we can accommodate him because EM’s team are organised so much more effectively? Is it because Championship teams are less capable of punishing us in transition? Has Vestergaard’s form dramatically improved? or a combination of all these?