Team Focus: Sinking Ship Birmingham Need to Stop Home Rot
Tonight, Birmingham must do something they have failed to do since October 1: win at home. Defeat to Wigan, who still require a win to guarantee a play-off position, will keep them in the relegation zone heading into Saturday’s final round of games, where they travel to Bolton.
The supporters who are ever-present at St Andrews will be wondering what they have done wrong to deserve such punishment. Seventeen games without a home win (the worst such run in Europe) - and just two all season - indicates that doom is round the corner but three points, no matter how it’s achieved, may well be enough to keep them up when you consider Doncaster, who lie a point above them, make the trip to Leicester at the weekend.
Off the field, Birmingham are a basket case but despite myriad problems, nobody can deny they have a squad performing consistently below par.
City have been the exception to the rule that wage bills roughly mirror league standing. The two already relegated teams, Barnsley and Yeovil, have the smallest budgets in the division. Millwall’s wage bill may be at its highest ever but they are still some way behind Birmingham’s outgoings, while Doncaster’s belt is quite tight too.
Nikola Zigic, the 6ft 7 Serbian striker who must be considered one of the great flops considering his pay packet and transfer fee, has scored six goals this season. Hardly worth the reported £50,000 he earns a week - a deal which exists from their time in the Premier League.
Manager Lee Clark dropped Zigic for a game against Watford last season after he turned in, according to the manager, “the worst training session I ever came across” - but his work-rate has not increased this season. For a player with 57 international caps, such a goal return is simply not good enough. And that’s partly why Federico Macheda has come in on loan from Manchester United.
Funnily enough, he was at Doncaster earlier in the season and could do with conjuring up the sort of magical moment which first thrust him onto the scene five years ago - that last minute winner against Aston Villa at Old Trafford. He has yet to reach anywhere near that level since but, having been a substitute in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Leeds, is in line to start this evening. With 10 goals in 16 appearances, he represents their best chance of survival.
But attackers are not the biggest issue for Clark. Defensively, especially since Dan Burn moved to Fulham, they have been a mess. Burn, unsurprisingly, has the highest WhoScored rating of those to have played for City this season (7.69) and how they have missed him.
It would be unfair to lump too much blame on Darren Randolph, the ever-present goalkeeper, because general sloppiness in front of him has afforded opposition sides too many attempts on goal - an average of 15 per game, the fifth highest in the division. They have conceded two goals or more in each of their last 10 home games.
Bolton, it should be noted, have lost only two of the past 15, making a positive result tonight so much more difficult for Birmingham. Charlton could be on the verge of safety with a win at home to Watford this evening, while Millwall’s recent form suggests they can overcome a Bournemouth team with nothing to play for on Saturday.
Indeed it is also worth mentioning that Birmingham’s four wins since the turn of the year have come at Charlton, Blackpool, Doncaster and Millwall but the last time they beat a side resting in mid-table or above was at Blackburn in December. The only other top half side they have had the better of this season was ninth-placed Bournemouth. Hardly form to dissuade punters from siding with Wigan this evening.
A defining five days awaits - but it is frightening when you remember this time three years ago, Birmingham were playing in the Premier League. A visit to Chesterfield is a long, long way from Manchester. It is time for the players to make sure that scenario does not become a reality.
Do you think Birmingham can avoid the drop? Let us know in the comments below
