Birmingham v Liverpool Preview

I fucking hate Birmingham (the team, not the place). What is the phenomenon of bogey teams all about?

Over the years, we have unquestionably had a stronger team than Brum on every occasion we have played them yet inexplicably failed to beat them in a single League game during Rafa’s six-year tenure as our manager.

Looking back, part of the reason for that staggering statistic is that on each occasion we appear to have fielded a weakened team. Did Rafa under-estimate the opposition or were there mitigating circumstances which forced his hand?

What is clear today is that Birmingham present a very real threat to us and our aims for this season. The way the Premiership is panning out, you can clearly see there is the top four: Chelsea, United, City and Arsenal; then Spurs – all of whom clearly have stronger squads than us – then a group which contains ourselves, Everton, Villa and Birmingham (and could even be joined by Sunderland). As perennial underachievers, Spurs could (and probably will) drop back into our group but ultimately we are all just scrapping to be the best of the rest as those Champions League places look unobtainable.

Over the season, I would expect us to finish above Birmingham but not by much. For that to happen, I believe the successful integration of Meireles into the first team is essential. He will be on the bench today as St Andrews with Poulsen and Lucas holding the midfield. I’m not excited by the prospect.

These two were really poor against West Brom. It’s early days but to me, Poulsen looks a really uninspiring signing. He was a fringe player at Juventus and based on what we have seen so far, should be a fringe player at Liverpool. He is not an adequate replacement for Mascherano. Meireles is merely the replacement for Alonso that Aquilani was never given a chance to be.

The other curious selections by Hodgson include the choice of Skrtel to continue his partnership with Carragher in central defence with Agger dropping to the bench now that Konchesky is able to relieve him from left-back duties. I hope this is a selection based on the opposition with 6’6” Zigic likely to provide a real aerial threat. Longer term, the centre-half pairing I want to see is Agger and Skrtel but if, as seems likely, Hodgson is going to bottle the decision to drop Carra, he has to recognise that Agger is a better defender and crucially a better footballer than Skrtel. Agger has to play.

I’m also uninspired by Jovanovic continuing on the left-side. So far I’m far from impressed with him. The way Hodgson sets out his team with the wide midfielders tucking in alongside the central midfielders behind the half-way line, the only way to prevent the front two from being complete isolated and accessible only by long balls is to employ wide players with pace and the ability to bring the ball forward. Jovanovic can run with the ball but he’s certainly not pacy and so far we’ve seen nothing from him in attacking terms. I would actually select Babel there but the Dutch whinger lacks the discipline to defend as deeply as Hodgson wants. Fuck it, I’d just sack Hodgson and employ a manager who doesn’t advocate such negative tactics.

I can see today’s game being a draw and before kick-off I would accept a point. Defeat would be disastrous – particularly with Man Ure away being our next fixture. If we see a bit of Torres magic, we could pull off a win but it’s more likely to be of a smash and grab nature. I expect lots of Birmingham possession and little in the way of entertainment.