The Day Of Reckoning

By Aydan
March 7 2006

The Day Of Reckoning is upon is as Birmingham City face West Bromwich Albion in one of the biggest games either club has played for many years. It is a must win game for the Blues who currently lie three points behind West Brom in the Premiership.

Birmingham City vs West Bromwich Albion has never been one of the biggest local derby's in English football but come 12pm on Saturday there won't be a bigger game going on anywhere in the world... at least not to us.

Make no mistake about it; this game is the big one. Not since that eventful day in Cardiff four years back has a game been so important to Birmingham City Football Club. Lose on Saturday and we are down, it is that simple. There can be no more excuses.

We go into the game with the majority of our key players fit and ready to go. The only first team players missing will be Muzzy Izzet and King Kenny. Add to this the fact that David Dunn and Mikael Forssell are finally nearing full fitness and we have possibly the strongest Birmingham City squad of all time.

On paper, this Birmingham team should be able to breeze past West Brom, but we all know it's not going to be that simple. West Brom will come to St Andrews looking to take a point from the game and Bryan Robson will more than likely select a very defensive team.

So it is going to be up to the Blues to break Albion down, something that we have had a problem doing all season. This is partly due to our inability to score goals but also due to Steve Bruce's negative tactics. Therefore I'm begging on behalf of the vast majority of Birmingham City fans for Bruce to drop the negativity and go all out to beat West Brom.

That means playing two strikers, starting David Dunn and Jiri Jarosik, getting the ball out wide to Jermaine Pennant and getting at Albion straight from kick off. West Brom are missing Nigel Quashie this weekend through suspension so their central midfield will consist of two from Wallwork, Inamoto, and Darren Carter. None of those players are particularly special going forward which means that we can afford to drop one of our defensive midfielders to the bench and put Dunn or Jarosik in the middle. Up front it is glaringly obvious that we need some pace. So Forssell or DJ Campbell has got to start alongside Sutton or Heskey.

By 2pm on Saturday the fate of Birmingham City could be sealed if we lose to West Brom. But hopefully we will be celebrating three points and seeing the Blues out of the relegation places for the first time in god knows how long. So come on Steve Bruce and the lads, do your part, earn your wages and get us the victory that this club and these fans need so much.

Come on you blues.