Ahead of Birmingham's match at Elland Road, I was asked a few questions by Leeds United based website LeedsAllOver...
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| Loss of Davies this summer |
Firstly, how do you see Birmingham doing this season and do you
consider yourself stronger or weaker than last season?
Difficult to say. On paper you might
argue we’ve weakened ourselves, because we’re lower in the table now than where
we finished last season, and we’ve lost a key defender in Curtis Davies. On
the flip side, the games we’ve lost have been very tight contests, and against
the teams who are aiming for promotion – notably Watford, Leicester, QPR and
Reading. Because of the financial situation at the club, we’ve had to change
the makeup of the squad every summer since our relegation, and every season
we’ve started relatively slowly, so I’m a believer that it always takes time
for players to settle. This season we’ve converted to a three at the back
system, which will help us in the long run. Will we finish higher than twelfth
of last season? Maybe not, but performances have been encouraging – I firmly
believe we’ll be a long way off the relegation places come the end of the
season.
How have you been getting on this season? Obviously, we know the
results but sometimes that doesn’t tell the whole story.
There are positives we can take from our first three
months. The thing I like about the way we're playing is that every player on the pitch is
playing their heart out for the team, the commitment and passion is always
there. As a fan, that’s what I want to see. The problem has been scoring goals,
and taking our chances at important times. The return from injury of Nikola
Zigic might help us on that front, as hard as Lee Novak works off the ball, he
doesn’t have that bit of confidence under pressure when he receives it. Having
played in the Conference last season, Matt Green is unproven at this level. He
needs to gradually ease his way into the team, and not have that immediate
pressure of being our main goalscorer. I have high hopes for loanee Jesse
Lingard, but I also have high doubts that we’ll keep him for much longer than
another couple of months - a better team will soon want him on loan. On
reflection, I’m quietly encouraged.
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| Divides opinion - Clark |
What’s the general opinion of Lee Clark as your manager?
Some fans like him, some fans can’t
take him seriously, some fans think the quality of manager won’t matter until
we change the owners. The positives are: he’s attracted some decent players on
a shoestring budget, hasn’t been afraid to give youth a chance, and he certainly got the
best out of them in the second half of last season. With a terrible injury
crisis, talk of relegation, and a large proportion of players from the academy
forced into the spotlight, we hit almost play-off form and climaxed to a top
half finish. Clark must take credit for that.
The negatives are: he’s not the
most convincing in front of the media, can be a bit of an excuse merchant when
it comes to certain incidents, makes the odd baffling comment and looks at the
floor in a way which doesn’t always exude confidence. He’s something of a tactics
tinkerer as well, chops and changes his team a lot, questionably swapping from
3 at the back to 4-4-2, seemingly based on a single bad result. He’s no
miracle-worker, but personally I can see past his weaknesses, because he’s a
very young manager and one of the few who wanted the job initially. He’ll grow
into the role as well, and I sincerely hope that a new board would give him a
chance, rather than walk in with their own agenda.
What’s the general opinion of Leeds United from a Birmingham City
supporter?
I’ll be honest - a lot of
Birmingham City fans hate you! I get the impression it’s mainly because of the
‘Dirty Leeds’ days. I don’t mind your lot though. When you came to St Andrews
last time, you were probably the best away fans we saw all season, had a massive
allocation and sang all game. In reality, our supporters could probably learn
from the passionate fanbase of some of the northern clubs. There’s a slight
culture of apathy around St Andrews at the moment. On the Don Revie era, the 60s/70s
was long before I was born, but I feel hating a side because they’re dirty is a
bit of an excuse to have a go at a good team. If Billy Bremner had played for
Birmingham City, we would have all idolised him. That’s the nature of the game.
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| Key man - Burke |
During the January transfer window and again last window we were linked
to Chris Burke, do you consider him to be a good player and someone who is
central to your team?
No. He’s a rubbish player. Really
not worth buying.
Who should we look out for as your danger man?
In all seriousness, Burke is
definitely our best player. Every time he gets the ball you have a feeling that
he’ll do something magical with it, he scares the hell out of fullbacks and as
a fan, he gets you to the edge of your seat. That said, I don’t think he would
do it in the Premier League, where defenders are made of sterner stuff. He’s 30
now, so I feel the Championship is the right league for him. Whether that’s
with Birmingham is another matter…
One player I haven’t mentioned is
our goalkeeper, Darren Randolph. He has looked very reliable for us, had a
great record up in Scotland with Motherwell, and at the age of 26, his best
goalkeeping years are right ahead of him. Once Peter Pannu realises there might
be a few hundred grand of a transfer fee in him though, he’ll probably be gone
in January!
What formation will you likely play?
3-4-3. Clark started the season
playing 3-5-2, which made us a lot more solid at the back, but the big dilemma
was that we couldn’t fit Chris Burke into the team. He couldn’t have played
wingback because he’s a natural winger, not defensive-minded enough. Clark
made the right decision in my view, to play him instead of a second striker, as
a right-sided forward cutting in. He also brought in Jesse Lingard to suit
that system, and play a similar role on the left. If he uses this tactic
consistently, hopefully the players will become accustomed to it and some more
positive results will come.
What will be your likely line up?
Randolph
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| Zigic netted four at Elland Road |
Spector-Burn-Robinson
Caddis-Adeyami-Reilly-Murphy
Burke-Zigic-Lingard
Not sure about the fitness levels of Murphy and Zigic, if not picked,
they’ll probably be replaced by Shane Ferguson and Matt Green respectively. I
certainly hope Zigic plays - in the 2011-12 season, five of his seven goals came
against you!
Any players from Leeds that you would like to sign?
We could
do with an ‘out-and-out’ goalscorer, but you don’t seem to have that yourselves!
The obvious choice would be Ross McCormack, but we’ve already got a few players
who play in his kind of position, in the hole. I would maybe say Luke Murphy, he
looks like a good young player, and would add a physical presence to our
midfield.
Finally, prediction for the game?
My thanks to Stuart Footit for the questions.
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