Match Thread: Birmingham City vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

[TURKISH]

Birmingham City play host to Tottenham Hotspur at St. Andrews on Saturday, December 4 in the their 16th EPL game of the season.

Birmingham are currently down in the 14th spot but it is not so much the ranking but the points that will bother them. They are only three more than the team in the relegation zone and things could change around drastically if they don’t stall their poor performances. They have won only one out their last six games.

Spurs, on the other hand go into the game with a 3-0 win record, having lost only one of their last six. They have also revelled in the manner in which they have fought and come back well from early goals – the last match against Liverpool being the case in point.

Thankfully for Birmingham, their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in the Carling Cup quarter-final on Wednesday would have given them a lot of confidence and one can hope for some kind of a fight from them.


http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/match-centre/article137057.ece/ALTERNATES/gallery-large/Tottenham+Hotspur+v+Birmingham+City+-+Premier+League.jpeg

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Birmingham+City+v+Tottenham+Hotspur+Premier+eFmIzV klAxil.jpg

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/01_04/carrottgoldDM2401_468x459.jpg

[mjbmedia]

watch out for those flares the Brum scum are in town
3-1 Spurs dominating performance dont care who scores just no injuries please!!!!

[MarlowSpurs]

Well the Russians are on a roll this week, so 2-0 with Pav to get both

[Gino Ginelli]

Quality match thread Turk. Jasper Carrot a nice touch!

Birmingham away will be an even tougher game than the Liverpool game was. My chief concern here is our less than prolific strikers breaking down Ben Fosters remarkable form this season. Without VDV I see Harry sticking with 4-4-2 despite his fondness of 4-5-1 away from home.

With 4-4-2 requiring Wilson Palacios playing alongside Modric when in such bad form, I really really want to make a call for Niko Krancjar to come in as the link up man at the top of the midfield with Crouchy ahead of him. So...

---------------- Gomes ---------------
Hutton --- Galla --- Bassong --- Ekotto
--------- Palacios ----- Modric -------
Lennon --------- Krancjar -------- Bale
---------------- Crouch ---------------

Our lack of midfielders means Palacios or Sandro has to play, so this system allows them to just do their best job and hold deep to protect the defence. Niko needs this chance as VDV's natural replacement, otherwise it's a serious kick in the teeth to a quality player.

Either way, I see a bit of scrap on, us being frustrated by the resilience of Foster and his defence, and us conceding our usual first half goal.

1-1.

[TURKISH]

Quality match thread Turk. Jasper Carrot a nice touch!

Birmingham away will be an even tougher game than the Liverpool game was. My chief concern here is our less than prolific strikers breaking down Ben Fosters remarkable form this season. Without VDV I see Harry sticking with 4-4-2 despite his fondness of 4-5-1 away from home.

With 4-4-2 requiring Wilson Palacios playing alongside Modric when in such bad form, I really really want to make a call for Niko Krancjar to come in as the link up man at the top of the midfield with Crouchy ahead of him. So...

---------------- Gomes ---------------
Hutton --- Galla --- Bassong --- Ekotto
--------- Palacios ----- Modric -------
Lennon --------- Krancjar -------- Bale
---------------- Crouch ---------------

Our lack of midfielders means Palacios or Sandro has to play, so this system allows them to just do their best job and hold deep to protect the defence. Niko needs this chance as VDV's natural replacement, otherwise it's a serious kick in the teeth to a quality player.

Either way, I see a bit of scrap on, us being frustrated by the resilience of Foster and his defence, and us conceding our usual first half goal.

1-1.

Jasper Carrot came up at the last minute, I was looking for pics and his face came out of no where :laugh:.

I agree with everything in this post, I think this is the way to go personally and we always have Defoe as an option if things are going badly. But do Brum play 442? If so having Defoe could be key because away from home pace will be key.

Palacios and Bassong will be key for us, we need a team performance against a Brum side that are dangerous from set pieces.

[highlander]

From what the players have said this week and after the debacle at Bolton a few weeks ago, everyone will know that this is abig game and that Brum are difficult at home. None of this 451 lark, play 2 up top, keep it simple. Defoe will be aching to score, him and Crouch start, utilise the wings well...stephen carr up against Gareth Bale..do me a favour. I do think they will gon in hard though and it wouldnt suprise me if we saw a red card.

[MarlowSpurs]

Dawson will be on the bench, Kaboul is out

[irishspur]

Jasper Carrot came up at the last minute, I was looking for pics and his face came out of no where :laugh:.

I agree with everything in this post, I think this is the way to go personally and we always have Defoe as an option if things are going badly. But do Brum play 442? If so having Defoe could be key because away from home pace will be key.

Palacios and Bassong will be key for us, we need a team performance against a Brum side that are dangerous from set pieces.

Lol i thought you were referring to gareth as goldenballs:tongue:

[irishspur]

Id go for an unchanged lineup other than bassong for kaboul. Ive no problem with seba coming in as i rate him big time. Daws on the bench is great timing with kaboul out, hopefully the king will be up to a game over the busy xmass period. This khumalo lad might be a good addition hes a tough cookie and shouldnt have any problems with the physicality.

[MarlowSpurs]

According to physioroom.com no return date yet for King..

[TURKISH]

According to physioroom.com no return date yet for King..

For court or for us?:tongue:

[deadleyledley]

For court or for us?:tongue:

:thumbup:.

[deadleyledley]

as always, it will be another cold, and hard game in brummieland.

same team that started against liverpool with defoe in for vdv and bassong for kaboul.


gomes
hutton gallas bassong bae
lennon palacios modric bale
defoe crouch

[Antilokhos]

I hope we go for a 4-4-2 and try to win this game, although I would like to see Niko get a chance.

I question playing Palacios though, remember just how bad he was, especially in that first half. We've got to give Sandro a chance, he's not going to do any worse.

[GodGomes]

We'll know what it feels like to defend from a person similar to Crouch. Zigic 6ft 8in. Taller than Crouch by an inch:stoned:

[Lilywhite Lad]

Hmmm, this could go either way in my books. Obviously Birmingham are going to provide a stern test at St Andrews, they have only lost once at home since September last year, and with their confidence sky high after a good run of form of late, they'll be no pushovers. They'll also be looking to pick up where they left off against Villa in midweek.

We on the other hand, have a run of 4 wins on our belt, and having proved our never say die attitude once again last time out, we'll be looking to notch up a 5th straight win, nothing less. We also have the advantage of having not played a tough midweek fixture, so we should just gain the upper hand.

As a result, i also think we should adopt 4-4-2 for this, and go for the win against a potentially tired Birmingham side. If we do, then i think we can just edge this 2-1, and pile the pressure on City :top:

[热刺]

i think it'll be 2-1 spurs, but it'll be close

[热刺]

also, anyone got a heads up on any free streams? cheers

[MarlowSpurs]

also, anyone got a heads up on any free streams? cheers

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=97211&part=sports

[TURKISH]

also, anyone got a heads up on any free streams? cheers

Free streams


http://www.myp2p.eu/...211&part=sports

YES - sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/6816

http://livetv.ru/en/...gham_tottenham/

Nothing up till 30 mins before kick off

*** ALSO HAS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GAME ON THE SAME LINK AFTER MATCH FINISHED***

http://www.asiaplate...om/football.php

http://www.iraqgoals.net/

http://www.atdhe.net/

http://www.rojadirecta.org/

http://www.channelsurfing.net/

http://www.fromsport.com/

http://www.rajangan.net/

http://www.ustream.t...ery/live/sports

http://soccernewstv....ve-streaming-3/

http://www.vstreams.net/




Paid streams

http://www.liveonlinefooty.com/

http://livesport247.com/


After Game Highlights

New section for those that cannot get to see the game and need highlights.

http://livetv.ru/en - Use link on this thread to see the game highlights. Dome may be in Russian.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/ - has highlights of games


Thanks to P Yiddy for this

For anyone struggling with Livesport24/7:

1) Download VLC

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

2) Log in to Livesport 24/7

3) Click on Live streams on left hand side

4) Click on link (in red) for channel

5) Enter username and password

6) When browser asks you what do to with the M3U file tell it to always open it using VLC (you may have to manually point it to C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\VLC.exe)

7) Sorted


And last but not least Radio London for the best commentary ever ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articl...s_feature.shtml

[earl warwick]

TEAM - Gomes; Hutton, Bassong, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Palacios, Modric, Bale; Crouch, Defoe.

SUBS - Cudicini, Pletikosa, Corluka, Dawson, Kranjcar, Sandro, Pavlyuchenko.

Something wrong there, unless this is some new tactic of Harry's.

[NDC123]

TEAM - Gomes; Hutton, Bassong, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Palacios, Modric, Bale; Crouch, Defoe.

SUBS - Cudicini, Pletikosa, Corluka, Dawson, Kranjcar, Sandro, Pavlyuchenko.

Something wrong there, unless this is some new tactic of Harry's.


He's maybe just been preferred to Keane!

[TURKISH]

Harry going for it as usual, I have a feeling the way Birmingham had some luck against Chelsea we could pull off a win. I think this is a game not to lose to be honest, but we can beat anyone so lets have a go.

Set pieces will be vital for us getting a win, we need to be tight unit defensively. Big game for Gallas, Bassong, Palacios, Lennon and Defoe. We need other players to step up to the plate, we can't rely on Bale all the time.

COYS.

[GPK]

Very strange having 2 keepers on the bench.
Is our injury list such that we cannot have 6 outfield players on the bench?

[NDC123]

It may be right. If Bentley is injured then Pletikosa may be the only other fit player in the 25 man squad!

[earl warwick]

Amazingly we do seem to have 2 keepers on the bench. Maybe Bentley is also injured but Keane wasn't last week, as Harry made reference to not being able to even find a place for him on the bench. I suspect there has been some conflict behind the scenes.

[NDC123]

Amazingly we do seem to have 2 keepers on the bench. Maybe Bentley is also injured but Keane wasn't last week, as Harry made reference to not being able to even find a place for him on the bench. I suspect there has been some conflict behind the scenes.

Maybe Keane is doing a Berbatov - not being in the right frame of mind to play!

[malc123]

Surely some of the kids could be on the bench if everyone else injured. 2goalies on the bench is unbelievable for a team with our resources.

[NDC123]

Surely some of the kids could be on the bench if everyone else injured. 2goalies on the bench is unbelievable for a team with our resources.

You're right. I think they are mostly out on loan though

[热刺]

sh*tty scored

[TURKISH]

Crouchy unlucky, gonna be a tough game. We need to be solid.

[nyc_yid]

Get in there Seb! Nice start!!

[TURKISH]

Great start and deserved lead.

Well done Seb you deserved that goal son.

[Antilokhos]

I don't know what's going on, can we win without conceding first?

[nyc_yid]

He's big....he's white....with time and space he's shite! Peter Croooouuuccchh :)

[热刺]

I don't know what's going on, can we win without conceding first?

if we keep playing the way we are i reacon we can, i just hope they don't hit that wall and f*ck it all up, it's all been down the brum end so far, which is good :fight:

[热刺]

my streams gone laggy as hell, bbc text commentary is 5minutes behind.
what's going on!?

[Antilokhos]

The SOPCast feed from Yes has been fantastic. Game's kind of bogged down a bit, we have most of the possession, but aren't doing too terribly much. Palacios is already on a yellow and I am about to make some french toast for breakfast at half time.

[Rojoknapp]

He's big he's bad he's Seb Bassong
At the back he does no wrong
Always wins the ball in the aaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrr




COME AND 'AVE A GO IF YOU DAAAAAAARRRRRREEEE

[Legend10!]

Anyone else think they shud have 10 men, gardner kicked out at wilson i know he over reacted but still you cnt kick out like that!!

[TURKISH]

Lennon doesn't look as fast these days. Birmingham coming back into it, but we need that second goal to make sure.

[GPK]

Crouch has been hopeless. Time to bring Pav on.

[Antilokhos]

We are looking a bit suspect at the back, need to retain possession for a bit.

[nyc_yid]

PALACIOS! F*CK OFF!!! Can you complete a 5-yard pass with some conviction in your own end! Getting way too tired of him. Please sell him. He must be nervous out there.

[TURKISH]

Birmingham will score in a minute, its Gomes and Gallas vs Brum FFS!

[Antilokhos]

That was a long time coming. :(

[TURKISH]

:thumbdown:

[nyc_yid]

Birmingham will score in a minute, its Gomes and Gallas vs Brum FFS!

It was easy to see that coming. Why are we always trying to defend to save our lives in this bloody stadium?? It seems it always comes to that and we are scrambling. Just get me outta here please. If we steal the other 2 points I'll be ecstatic. Palacios...you're a mug.

[Antilokhos]

Spurs need to get serious if we don't want to drop points to City...

[Antilokhos]

Not good enough. Our strikers again cannot finish. Without VDV we look toothless.

[Rojoknapp]

Disappointing yes, but sometimes you have to accept that the opposition are a tough team. Chelsea, United, The Scum and I think City have all failed to win there since they got promoted - 1 home loss in 28, I think we can count on our rivals dropping points there aswell.

[TURKISH]

Only ourselves to blame really, final ball wasn't great all game and our strikers are poor.

[StevenYTID]

Not too bad upon reflection but definitely need someone more clinical infront of goal, with Keane off that gives us a bit of money to add towards a new striker, wouldn't be too sad to see Pav go either.

[Gino Ginelli]

Pretty limp performance in the second half. Central midfield stopped playing football for the last 20 minutes or so, Benni and Wilson in particular being very sloppy towards the end. Defoe and Crouch offered little and alot of the time saw us bypassing midfield altogether and just pumping it to Crouchy's head all day. Some lovely football in the first half though, usually let down by the non-materialising of a shot on goal due to Crouch having the touch of a rapist 90% of the time.

Hurry back Rafa.

[peterc]

We literally outclassed them first half, but our strikers seemed to be on a different planet, too many easy chances lost and we threw away another two points. Palacios continues to show his bad form and gave away possession on quite a few ocassions. I thought that Modders and Gallarse were our best players today. Arry, first preference is a prolific striker that we do not presently have.

[nyc_yid]

We literally outclassed them first half, but our strikers seemed to be on a different planet, too many easy chances lost and we threw away another two points. Palacios continues to show his bad form and gave away possession on quite a few ocassions. I thought that Modders and Gallarse were our best players today. Arry, first preference is a prolific striker that we do not presently have.

You're right. So many balls fell to Crouch and Defoe and they created next to NO harm for Brum. We didn't score a goal from open play. Need a striker quite badly...and need to BENCH Palacios for good. What good is he? All he offers is a yellow card and 5 awful giveaways per game. What a joke that he plays. Why not Jenas or Kranjcar in his slot? Can Kranjcar only play wide?

[earl warwick]

You're right. So many balls fell to Crouch and Defoe and they created next to NO harm for Brum. We didn't score a goal from open play. Need a striker quite badly...and need to BENCH Palacios for good. What good is he? All he offers is a yellow card and 5 awful giveaways per game. What a joke that he plays. Why not Jenas or Kranjcar in his slot? Can Kranjcar only play wide?

That wasn't Palacios today, yellow card apart. Passing was accurate, albeit often under little pressure, tackling was precise, and one great shot on goal.

Jenas was injured whilst Kranjcar cannot offer a similar level of qualities in that role.

[Gold7]

Very disappointed we couldn't score a second when it was looking like we definitely would. Draw not too bad a result but a draw always feels like a defeat when it's your the team who were leading.

As said by others our strikers are definitely the week link. Every one is firing apart from the front men Defoe atleast is a threat compared to the other two. Lennon looked decent today.

Respect to Harry you will not see a team take a team away from home with such a adventurous set up. Two strikers , two wingers and only one holding midfielder.

[deadleyledley]

think we dropped 2 points there.

we were commanding the game in the first half, but failed to convert a chance for the second goal.

inevitably we started to drop back later on in the second half, when they started to play route 1 to zigic and they got their reward for that.

poor marking for their goal. zigic at the far post all on his own with a free header across the box and gardner gets ahead of the defender and scores.

defoe wasnt his sharpest and that shows because if he was he would have scored atleast one of the chances that fell to him.

having 2 goalkeepers on the bench is absolutely piss poor. a premier league team not having enough outfield players to fill the bench is abysmal. even a youth player is better than 2 gk's.

[peterc]

That wasn't Palacios today, yellow card apart. Passing was accurate, albeit often under little pressure, tackling was precise, and one great shot on goal.

Jenas was injured whilst Kranjcar cannot offer a similar level of qualities in that role.

I don't know which stream you saw the game on mate, however, WP lost possession on more than five occasions and he is far below his best form. He seems to lose concentration too quickly.

[mjbmedia]

Crouch abysmal, he moans he wants the ball played to feet, then when he gets it he cant control it , totally shocking first touches .
Also we kept running down the channels that the ball carrier was going down ie Bale had it and Crouch/Pav ran straight down his channel so closing up the space instead of developing it.
Frustrating ,should have finished that one of in the first half and then we could have overtaken Chelsea next week.
But overall the others will struggle there but then they likely wont lose to Wigan and West Ham!

[热刺]

i knew we'd fluff it good one spurs, early xmas present for man city

[GodGomes]

At least Defoe is not entirely match fit. Anyone thing we play better when conceding? (I certainly hope not)

[deadleyledley]

At least Defoe is not entirely match fit. Anyone thing we play better when conceding? (I certainly hope not)

If you compare the Liverpool and scum games to brum then that would suggest that we play better when going behind. However we cant keep doing this as we will get paid sooner or later. Badly needed the second goal yesterday, we had the chances but never took them.

[GodGomes]

I get a feeling none of them really bother in certain games. We've seen what they can do when they try. Take Lennon for instance: In several games (e.g. vs Inter at WHL) he tried hard and played spectacularly. However in other games - *cough*Emirates*cough*- he doesn't even run. He really needs to get bothered. This is also the case with Defoe, just less so. He can easily create goals as he is a superb finisher, but sometimes he just plays like he's in Division 2.

I saw Palacios fvck up a 5 yard pass yesterday. Whats happening to him?

[malc123]

The defence in not having a clean sheet since Man City is a poor record and means a 1-0 win is never achievable. However with Dawson coming back and by moving Kaboul to RB this will tighten the defence. I would play Hutton at home when he can attack but he can be a liability if attacked himself.
The midfield are missing Thud and will need to rotate Jenas, Palacios & Sandro in the hope that 1 of them comes good. Jenas plays best when he plays occasionally and Palacios has lost confidence and yesterday was playing easy 5 yard passes in fear of making another mistake.

The forwards are not converting enough of the chances. Defoe will need a few games to become sharp. Pav can score but can also do nothing all game. Crouch can create goals by his height but miss goals others would score.

With all these problems it is amazing we are 5th and it is due to the brilliance of Bale Modric & VDV.
It seems on days like yesterday that if we have pressure and do not get the goals to win a match that we start to lose heart and run out of ideas which the opposition then use to get back in the game.

[GodGomes]

The defence in not having a clean sheet since Man City is a poor record and means a 1-0 win is never achievable. However with Dawson coming back and by moving Kaboul to RB this will tighten the defence. I would play Hutton at home when he can attack but he can be a liability if attacked himself.
The midfield are missing Thud and will need to rotate Jenas, Palacios & Sandro in the hope that 1 of them comes good. Jenas plays best when he plays occasionally and Palacios has lost confidence and yesterday was playing easy 5 yard passes in fear of making another mistake.

The forwards are not converting enough of the chances. Defoe will need a few games to become sharp. Pav can score but can also do nothing all game. Crouch can create goals by his height but miss goals others would score.

With all these problems it is amazing we are 5th and it is due to the brilliance of Bale Modric & VDV.
It seems on days like yesterday that if we have pressure and do not get the goals to win a match that we start to lose heart and run out of ideas which the opposition then use to get back in the game.

He fvcked up the 5 yard passes anyway.

[GodGomes]

We have the talent. Lennon needs a smack on the arse, Palacios needs some confidence training. I think we should build up Sandro more as Palacios is extremely unreliable this season, and as Jenas only plays well when played occasionally.

Seriously if Lennon works our flanks are unstoppable.

[Indianspur]

It was a strange passionless game to watch. good first half and thought JD should have scored one yesterday.
May have been better to try pav and crouch and bring defoe on to improve fitness/shaRPness.
I'd take a draw at bham but only if we beat chelsea. the top 4 teams will still be playing each other and we have a chance then.

I think we should rest a few vs twente. i.e. give corluka and kranjcar a chance. I would still put a team strong enough to win but i just think this chelsea game is more important than finishing top of the champs league as were not expected to win the competition.

[GodGomes]

I forget, have we ever paired up Pav with Defoe?

[Gino Ginelli]

Yep. No matter how much we keep swapping and changing, no strike partnership will gel unless it's given a consistent run of games. Best on paper? Pav and Keane. Will it happen? Never.

God, someone at WHL find £50m so we can sign Torres. Please!

[TURKISH]

Yep. No matter how much we keep swapping and changing, no strike partnership will gel unless it's given a consistent run of games. Best on paper? Pav and Keane. Will it happen? Never.

God, someone at WHL find £50m so we can sign Torres. Please!

Just not enough pace for me, Defoe needs match sharpness, Crouch just works hard, you never know whic Pav will show up and Keane isn't the same player.

We have four duffers.

[GodGomes]

Lets buy Darren Bent again :D

[Gino Ginelli]

Just not enough pace for me, Defoe needs match sharpness, Crouch just works hard, you never know whic Pav will show up and Keane isn't the same player.

We have four duffers.

Well yeah, that's what I was getting at.