Premier League preview: Birmingham v Liverpool
Heady times at Birmingham City, where fans have seen their club mentioned in the same sentences as the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona and Valencia this summer, as Blues snapped up players from those leading European lights to improve their already impressive squad.
Transfer deadline day saw the arrivals of former Arsenal jinker Alexander Hleb, Chilean World Cup winger Jean Beasusejour and the big Czech defender Martin Jiránek- who is tough as he sounds- to add to boss Alex McLeish’s impressive summer recruits, England hopeful Ben Foster and the giant Nikola Žigic, who scored in both of Serbia’s Euro 2012 qualifiers in the past week.
So there’s a feel good factor at the club then, you’d think. But no.
Vice-chairman Peter Pannu’s claim that McLeish is “no Mourinho yet” might well have been factually accurate, but it undermines all of the good work that the Scot has been doing, and came at an unfortunate time when relations between manager and board have become frosty due to a lack of progress with McLeish’s contract- which still isn’t signed.
As well as that, there remains a bad taste in the mouth from Birmingham’s last game.
Managers often talk about getting a good result heading into an international break, and so heaven knows what McLeish has been thinking for the last two weeks following his side’s game at Bolton.
Two-nil up heading into the final 20 minutes at the Reebok Stadium, and facing 10 men after Jussi Jaaskelainen decided to slap Roger Johnson in the face, Birmingham looked nailed-on for the three points, yet they ended up clinging on to one after the most spirited of fight backs from the home side. They are looking at the positives though.
“Although we were disappointed with the result, it was a positive thing the way we started against Bolton and got the goals,” said defender Liam Ridgewell, who scored Birmingham’s goals in this fixture last season, a 1-1 draw- the sixth successive time that Blues and Liverpool have shared the spoils in the Premier League. If this one is a draw too, it’s a league record.
The Reds will be heading up to St Andrew’s to win though, knowing that a victory would kick the Roy Hodgson revolution up a notch.
While change in the boardroom is still frustratingly absent, the Reds boss has set about changing things on the pitch in his short reign so far, with as many as six summer signings likely to be in the squad today, and that doesn’t include the still suspended Joe Cole.
Hodgson’s newest recruits, the experienced Premier League left-back Paul Konchesky and exciting Portuguese midfielder Raúl Meireles will be seen here, and both look like quality additions to the squad, but there is still disappointment among fans at the failure to land a forward before the closure of the transfer deadline, as moves for first Mario Gomez and then Carlton Cole hit the buffers.
Liverpool disappointments come in three- remember Atomic Kitten?- and so the shoulder injury sustained by Dirk Kuyt while attempting an overhead kick on international duty could have been foreseen by many. He’ll be out of action for at least a month, further reducing those attacking options, but his absence throws another chance to a man whose Reds career must have at least nine lives.
Ryan Babel is still a Liverpool player. He’s not in a helicopter hovering over London and he’s not- as he could well have been- lining up for Birmingham against the Reds. He’s stayed, and now he wants to play.
“I hope this is a chance for me to establish myself,” he said, “but the first test for me is to work hard in every training session and try to show what I can do.
“The manager has told me he would like to use me upfront more than normal, so hopefully that will give me enough chance to show how much I like that position. I was pleased to hear this. I have always said my ambition was to play in that position, but at the same time I am very realistic.”
Realism is a buzzword around Liverpool at the moment- you won’t find many arrogant boasts with Hodgson at the helm- and as the Reds enter a tricky, hectic period of their season, a seventh consecutive draw with Birmingham would be a steady platform from which to build.
The hosts would probably take that too. Their boss might not be Mourinho, but he knows a good result when he sees one.
Prediction: Birmingham 2 Liverpool 2
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