Tipster TF and thoughts post Wolves
"I fully expect Birmingham to win the league. Now the momentum is very much with them, they are coming strong at the right time. You look at Wolves, morale is low, they've lost
key players, whereas Birmingham have got 19 fit players to choose from. At no time this season have they had that many to choose from, and I think they will go on to win the league." - Trevor Francis.
So is TF right, are Blues primed to lift the Championship trophy for the first time since 1955 (when the competition was the Second Division)?
For me, it's still too close to call but there is no doubt that victory over Wolves, to take Blues to six games unbeaten, has injected more confidence and belief.
Being around and speaking to the management and team at Wast Hills the past few weeks I have detected a change to an earnest attitude, almost a realisation that this is it now, Blues have to bring it all to the table as the season closes in and live up to what they should be capable of.
You may reasonably ask why hasn't that penny dropped since day one, why has it taken this long to wake up?
Well, there are plenty of reasons, which have been discussed at length preivously, but no matter what's past, what matters is the present.
Monday's win was potentially pivotal. Two points is the gap at the top of the table and, as TF says, the momentum is now maybe with Blues, athough Sheffield United have a case to the contrary.
It was a victory well deserved. Blues must win a 'must win' game sometime, I guess, and they did.
They were highly motivated, tactically correct, imposed what they wanted to do on Wolves and had the rub of the green that Mick McCarthy's side have often enjoyed this season.
It's not too outlandish to say it was men against boys.
Blues have the older heads, the experience, something that has been criticised relentlessly. But the value of it was clear to see.
Which goalkeeper would you have wanted? Maik Taylor or Wayne Hennessey? Defenders: Christope Berra or Liam Ridgewell/Radhi Jaidi? Lee Bowyer or Karl Henry? Cameron Jerome or Marlon Harewood? You get the drift.
And all this with ten men, too. I don't know what it is, but going back a couple of years, Blues have found an extra gear whenever they have been reduced in number by a
sending-off. It's almost as if they relish the underdog tag, the against the odds scenario, and the fans buy into it as well.
What of the support on Monday? It was like a throwback, wasn't it? Bristling, hostile, loud, right behind the players who they could see were giving it their all and desperate to
win.
It was interesting that afterwards several players voluntarily brought up the atmosphere and how it helped spur them on. Quite a few have only been used to moans and groans,
if not deathly silence and empty seats.
There were still plenty who sniffed at Blues style of play. One Wolverhampton-based commentator haughtily wrote that Blues made Stoke City look positively Dutch.
I chatted to Steve Claridge (who was on radio duty) at half-time and he was shaking his head. He asked me did Blues ever bother trying to go through midfield.
I said they did attempt to earlier in the season, couldn't, it suited the opposition as the build-up was too slow and precise and with that St Andrew's pitch the best thing they've
done in recent weeks was get the ball forward quickly and forget the niceities.
And that's where the critics miss the point: since Bristol City, Blues have aimed for Jerome early, got the defence facing their own goal, and pressured for mistakes. It has
worked. It hasn't been subtle, but it has been effective and the opposition don't like it - just ask Berra and Jody Craddock.
Instead of bashing Blues for it, Alex McLeish should be given credit for realising that the two winger tandem of Scott Sinclair and Hameur Bouazza didn't work on the bobbly surface and readjusted accordingly.
Blues not only played the occasion better on Monday they played the pitch better.
In the Championship, not many teams adhere to the beautiful game in its purest form. Wolves, for instance, lump it to Chris Iwelumo whenever they can. It's only because they
have scored plenty of goals and unexpectedly hit top spot that there's a perception they are a great footballing side. Reading go long early, too.
It would be magnificent if what TF said came to pass.
He also talked about Blues defensively, the best unit in the Championship.
And with all the strikers fit at last, their peak could just be coming at the right time.
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Colin Tattum - Mail man Colin Tattum's view of what's going on at Birmingham City FC.
Wish I shared the optimism. Automatic promotion as a distant second will do for me. Must win at home, must not lose away. Here's hoping we don't mess up at Charlton.
Analysis spot on as usual Tatts.
You can only play nice football with conducive circumstances - i.e. Arsenal's players and pitch.
We certainly lack the latter, and although we have some good technical footballers, we are a long way away on the former.
Excellent point re Wolves - lump to Iwelumo is great football if you score lots of goals. Reading don't play much football either.
Swansea play good football, but have more foreign technical players - and are not even in the play offs..........
Good to give Eck credit too.
Goals win matches, clean sheets win championships.
PS Isn't Blues historical style dogged, determined in your face stuff - every fancy technical player we've had gets booed!!!!
"I fully expect Birmingham to win the league. Now the momentum is very much with them, they are coming strong at the right time. You look at Wolves, morale is low, they've lost
key players, whereas Birmingham have got 19 fit players to choose from. At no time this season have they had that many to choose from, and I think they will go on to win the league." - Trevor Francis.
Good old Trev eh? Right on the ball. Tipster Trev? Stick to the day job mate!