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Well, the scum and arse won last night putting us 4 points below in 3rd, can we hold strong and win tonight to keep up the chase...........

On a different note, why isn't it televised?!?!

I agree that the pressure is on tonight, but I'm getting the feeling that the media pressure is lesser now, with them more focussed on Liverpool and Chelsea.

Birmingham are a tough nut to crack. Our Away record has been quite good up until Villa and the two FA cup games that we only drew but I can see another draw coming up.

avoidconfusion wrote:Birmingham are a tough nut to crack. Our Away record has been quite good up until Villa and the two FA cup games that we only drew but I can see another draw coming up.

My gut feeling is a draw, but we NEED the 3 points if we are in for the title challenge!

I hope we just dont roll over and forget it to try and settle for 4th spot, thats a dangerous game to play and not what a team like ours should be doing!

Also agree that Chelski and the Dippers are ruining football! lol

I think we're going to lose just like we did at Villa and almost did at Notts County!

As we made a pigs ear of the Villa game tonight is a must win. If we start dropping points we go from looking at a potential 3rd place finish, to instead facing a scrap for 4th spot with Spurs - we had one of those last year and we saw how that turned out.

No excuses City, talk is cheap - we need a win tonight and with Tevez, Silva, De Jong, K Toure, Kolarov and Kompany all coming back in we cant hide behind the fatigue factor either.

I don't expect us to change our approach in away games like this but equally i don't expect Brum to go on the attack and open it up for us.

We will look to control the game with a strong midfield including Tevez dropping back a lot.The plan then will be to probe for the breakthrough and hope and pray we don't let a soft goal in to make it mega difficult.The perfect game would be an earlyish goal , control the game and then maybe in the 2nd half add a second to take the pressure off.

What happens if they score first I fear and also what happens if we don't score as the game get to the last 15/20 minutes is a worry as the pressure would be significant.

gilford wrote:

avoidconfusion wrote:Birmingham are a tough nut to crack. Our Away record has been quite good up until Villa and the two FA cup games that we only drew but I can see another draw coming up.

My gut feeling is a draw, but we NEED the 3 points if we are in for the title challenge!

I hope we just dont roll over and forget it to try and settle for 4th spot, thats a dangerous game to play and not what a team like ours should be doing!

Also agree that Chelski and the Dippers are ruining football! lol

I think we need a win if we really want to finish in the Top 4 to be honest.
We need to get some momentum going and string a couple of back to back wins together to get confidence back.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:I don't expect us to change our approach in away games like this but equally i don't expect Brum to go on the attack and open it up for us.

We will look to control the game with a strong midfield including Tevez dropping back a lot.The plan then will be to probe for the breakthrough and hope and pray we don't let a soft goal in to make it mega difficult.The perfect game would be an earlyish goal , control the game and then maybe in the 2nd half add a second to take the pressure off.

What happens if they score first I fear and also what happens if we don't score as the game get to the last 15/20 minutes is a worry as the pressure would be significant.

Basically if we dont score early generally we're fucked as quite simply, we're not that good!

I should imagine Brum will park the bus & hope to nick a goal. If they get one then the chances are we'll draw at best. If we get in front however, I can see us scoring a few, provided someone can stand up to the aerial bombardment which will then ensue.

I don't think there's much point in us worrying about the title. We should just play to win our games & then see where we are in a couple of months. The rags need to totally collapse 9 points now & then do worse than us in their remaining gamest, but then we also have to do 5 points better than Arsenal in our remaining games too. Either one of those is a tough ask but for both to happpen is very unlikely, especially when we have to go to OT, Stamford Bridge, Goodison & Anfield.

2nd is still just possible but 1st has gone unless there's a miracle.

My private target is 70 points for the CL. I can't see five teams getting that. We need 25 points from 14 games which is very much doable and will look a lot more doable if we get 6 points from Birmingham and West Brom. Spurs would need 32 points from 15 games or even 33 given the goal difference with us. I don't see them doing that.

As for the title, the starting point would have to be victory in the derby. After that we'd have to hope that Chelsea did us a favour by beating them at least once as well. Then we'd have to play far more consistently than we have so far. I don't see it.

Looking at this game from the Brum side, can they afford to park the bus at home or do they have to go for the win? Although they have games in hand, they sit uncomfortably, only goal diff seperating them from a relegation spot. At St Andrews, they must give it a go.
16th...WBA.......24-26pts
17th...Brum......22-23pts
18th...Wigan....25-23pts
19th...Wolves...23-21pts
20th...WHU......24-21pts

I think Mancini's approach tonight will tell us much about his thoughts on our title challenge.
Rags.......24-54pts
Arsenal....24-49pts
CITY.......24-45pts
Chelsea...24-44pts
Spurs......23-38pts
Whether he goes for the win or not, may depend on how Mancini views the points race at the top. Our stated aim was 4th place, should Spurs win their game in hand, the gap becomes only 3pts. Shouls that happen, it all gets mighty close. I think Mancini HAS to go for the 3pts tonight to safeguard that 4th spot.

john68 wrote:Our stated aim was 4th place, should Spurs win their game in hand, the gap becomes only 3pts

4pts John...Spuds are 7 points behind

Beeks wrote:

john68 wrote:Our stated aim was 4th place, should Spurs win their game in hand, the gap becomes only 3pts

4pts Ted...Spuds are 7 points behind

Cheers Beeks....my bad mate....But the point is still well made that Spurs are still a real danger if we don't maximise our run in.

john68 wrote:

Beeks wrote:

john68 wrote:Our stated aim was 4th place, should Spurs win their game in hand, the gap becomes only 3pts

4pts Ted...Spuds are 7 points behind

Cheers Beeks....my bad mate....But the point is still well made that Spurs are still a real danger if we don't maximise our run in.

But he does think you're Ted, so not sure how we can take his word for anything, you better double check.

john68 wrote:

Beeks wrote:

john68 wrote:Our stated aim was 4th place, should Spurs win their game in hand, the gap becomes only 3pts

4pts Ted...Spuds are 7 points behind

Cheers Beeks....my bad mate....But the point is still well made that Spurs are still a real danger if we don't maximise our run in.

Never mind your bad I called you Ted haha!

You're right though...we really need to step up...it would break my heart if we missed out to the spuds again

blues2win wrote:My private target is 70 points for the CL. I can't see five teams getting that. We need 25 points from 14 games which is very much doable and will look a lot more doable if we get 6 points from Birmingham and West Brom. Spurs would need 32 points from 15 games or even 33 given the goal difference with us. I don't see them doing that.

As for the title, the starting point would have to be victory in the derby. After that we'd have to hope that Chelsea did us a favour by beating them at least once as well. Then we'd have to play far more consistently than we have so far. I don't see it.

Be a bit disafuckingpointing if we end up with last season's points target this season, after spending another 100+ million. Almost a waste of a season unless we win a cup.

What did we get last season; 63 points was it? 70 isn't many more but I suppose Mancini can argue he needed time to get half a dozen new players to gel and had long injuries to three of them; Kolarov, Boateng and Balotelli which didn't help. Anyway I'm not sure we'll get many more than that but if we do manage 70 we'll be in the top four.

Do you really think we can manage 80?

I think we'll learn a lot tonight about our true aims this season. The pressure is increasing and will get worse.

If we have any ambition of challenging for the title, we have to overhaul a rag 9pts lead and and Arsenal 4pts lead (subject to Beek's auditory agreement). Consider that we have an inferior goal diff and we are in danger of losing touch with the top unless we start to go for it.
We are about to learn a lot about our manager, our players and the club's mindest.

I read that Birmingham had only lost one game against the big teams in the last 2 seasons, that's not a bad record is it?

Also, how many teams have we played who are in or around the bottom of the league and we've played gash?

We need to get back to that stunning away form we had against Fulham et al and then we may go on to put pressure on those at the top. If we start dropping back anymore, the pressure will only be put on ourselves and the somewhat cagey stuff that Mancio plays could lead the lads to drop the baton, forcing us out of the CL places.