Let battle commence
Here we go again.
Villa Park. April. Blues under threat of relegation.
At least Gary Cahill isn't around this time. Mind, he should have been, in a Blues shirt. But that's for another time.
Villa effectively tipped Blues over the edge in 2006 with that 3-1 win. It was Blues only defeat in a seven-game spell at the business end of the season.
Matthew Upson limped to the dressing room after rupturing his Achilles tendon in the warm-up, starting a sorry afternoon for Blues.
Even though Chris Sutton (remember him?) equalised for Blues, Cahill produced his amazing volley and Blues were done for.
On Sunday, Villa will be looking for the same sort of end result no doubt.
If Villa click, Blues could be in for a difficult time.
But two years ago, you sensed it was not quite right with Blues. They had talented individuals - when fit - but the collective will and leadership was lacking.
The present group may not be all singing and dancing, but they have heart and as long as they don't let Villa set the tone, they could well spring a surprise.
Olivier Kapo should be available and with Mauro Zarate capable of the unexpected, as well as James McFadden, Villa will have to respect Blues defensively.
I would start Cameron Jerome up front because his pace and power is unsettling and Blues need a player of his ilk for an outlet ball and to stretch the play.
Villa go into the derby as clear favourites but Blues revel in the underdogs tag and, with their Premier
League status on the line, won't give anything up easily, as they have shown all season.
It could be quite an affair - and it wouldn't be Villa-Blues if there wasn't some sort of twist, would it?
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Colin Tattum
Mail man Colin Tattum’s view of what’s going on at Birmingham City FC.
Whoever plays lets hope football is the winner.
Come on you boys in blue!!!
Hopefully we can come away with the three points.
cum on blues!!!!!!
Disillusionment? Despair? Deciding not to renew season tickets? Why?
Have just watched that hammering at Villa Park, and you can encapsulate it in one stat.
The player who did most to defeat us, Ashley Young. Cost - £9m. Net value of our improvement at the start of the season that basically rebuilt our team - less than £9m.
And it's not just that Villa had one £9m player - they had them all over the pitch and you could see it. We had odds and sods, make ends meet players and it stood out a mile against bigger, stronger, technically more gifted players.
It is all about expectations. If everyone knows we can't compete and are going to just be happy to be Championship and at best 17th in the PL, then maybe we can get our head round it. But we've had our expectations raised, and the owners can't deliver against it.
So, to the David's - thanks for the memories, including winning at Villa and Stern in injury time, but if you can't sell on to someone who can help us compete in the Premier League, set our expectations properly - that we will be a top Championship team, that we migth go up sometimes and then charge us properly (i.e much less) for the privilege, and you'll get a full St Andrews every week. It should be filled with our traditional working class support watching a value for money product, with a team of young hungry players we can identify with.
Or if we are going to play at being big boys, and going to talk the tal, lets walk the walk. I still think we can be big boys, but can you make us big boys? The evidence suggests not.
I felt sorry for the players and Big Eck today - they had no chance. It was lambs to the slaughter, taking on a highly skilled modern army with firepower to burn, with a couple of peashooters.
er, 5-1. nuff said. bye bye
Martin hit the nail on the head. I'm an out-and-out Blues supporter but I have to say we really didn't look like a Premiership outfit out there. We were outclassed in every department - a bitter pill to swallow especially against the Villa. Without more money at Alex's fingertips we're never going to achieve any more and that's the bottom line. And to make matters worse it looks like the Baggies are going up!
Ridgewell is a joke, a donkey, prone to costly errors and can't defend worth a lick when up against the better forwards in the Premier League. He's proved that time and time again, no calmness under pressure. Saying that Jahdi and Co' weren't much better on Sunday either.
I certainly don't want to listen to Eck, Jerome and McFadden's excuses on Monday morning. As a Blues fan I want to start my week off on a high. It's so depressing to see these pethetic away day performances and Sunday was no doubt the biggest disappointment of them all for all Blues fans, even ex pats. They should have been fighting and scrapping all over the pitch, make life ugly for the likes of Agbonglahor, Young and Carew, do they realise they are in a relegation scrap and they have to perform away and not just at home, gutting results out. The players should be docked their wages for a month, they were an utter disgrace and a total let down. Sure Villa are a better footballing team, but they are no Arsenal or Man United.
Only Forsell breached their defense and why in the heck was he not playing from the start? All week he had been putting in extra work, relishing the challenge and then Jerome starts completely out of the Blue, why change the Everton line -up, nonsense by Eck. What's that all about? It's got to be totally demoralising for Forsell and I'm sure he'll be on his way at seasons end and do far better with a manager who recognises his talent.