Birmingham City v Middlesbrough

St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park

Monday, 2nd March

KO: 20:00

LIVE on Sky Sports Football!

Ugh.

Underperforming Boro head to Hollywood FC (No not that one, the other one) on Monday night hoping to turn this winless run around but it's not looking good folks, in fact it's looking bleaker than @Nobby Barnes standing around in the Fan Zone on a matchday looking for the moderation team...

I've decided to channel my inner Nickelback for this game's song, enjoy

Lyrics (Copyright me, always me)

[Verse ]

"Typical Boro"

Three games gone flat

Boots feeling heavy

Scoreboard staring back

Asking what we’re made of

Teams creeping up behind

Like headlights in the mirror

Table’s getting tight

Every point cuts clearer

[Chorus]

Are we hanging on?

White knuckles on the rail

Hearts in our mouths

Are we hanging on? (Ohh)

Or is that trapdoor opening under us now?

If it comes to the wire

Don’t let it go

I don’t want that playoff road

Are we hanging on?

Tell me we’re hanging on

[Verse 2]

Long trip on Monday

Expecting defeat

Rain running off my plastic seat

Phone checked on Saturday

Waiting for scores to update

All the late winners felt like fate

Hellberg talks bravely

Says this storm can be sailed

But every scruffy draw

Feels like the coffin being nailed

[Chorus]

Are we hanging on?

White knuckles on the rail

Hearts in our mouths

Are we hanging on? (Hey!)

Or is that trapdoor opening under us now?

If it comes to the wire

Don’t let it go

I don’t want that playoff road

Are we hanging on?

Tell me we’re hanging on

[Bridge]

Could be one big surge

Could be one bad slip

One loose touch

One wild deflecting kick

So sing it like a prayer

Shout it through the doubts

We’ve come this far

We’re not crashing out

[Chorus]

Are we hanging on?

White knuckles on the rail

Hearts in our mouths

Are we hanging on? (Oh Yeah)

Or are we headed for that two-legged doubt?

If it comes to the wire

Don’t let it go

I don’t want that playoff road

Are we hanging on?

Tell me we’re hanging on

Are we hanging on?

Tell me we’re hanging on

Birmingham's winning run was abruptly halted by Millwall last night and as a nice Brucey Bonus their midfield enforcer, Jhon Solis got himself sent off so will miss this game. Apparently he played a large part in their recent run of form so that could be a big advantage to us.

Birmingham's forum is here, no MDT yet as they're still licking their wounds from the Millwall defeat but it seems that quite a few of them don't rate Jay Stansfield, which is a bit of a surprise.

(Expensive striker turning out to be a disappointment? Hmm, that sounds familiar!)

Anyway as with all Boro games this season literally anything could happen. We could turn this poor form right around with a statement win like we did at Bramall Lane. Or we could draw (again.)

Or...we could lose.

Fun times.

No, Denzel! Be positive!

Talking Points

Will Hellberg make any significant changes?

Your lineup/formation?

Score prediction?

Favourite thing to come from Birmingham? (Other than 3 points for the mighty Boro...oh god now I've jinxed it, haven't I?)

Discuss.

Excellent song @Denzel Zanzibar We can only win now after that 👏

4-0 to the boro

I take a crumb of comfort that Birmingham lost last night because they were on a very impressive unbeaten run.

Had they continued the run then I do not believe we would have gotten anything above a draw.

Need to rely on our away form to kick start our campaign in a positive way especially for us mere mortals!

Games of real interest before we kick off as follows:

Portsmouth V Hull

Charlton V Wrexham

Coventry V Stoke

Sheff Wed V Southampton (due to their current form)

QPR V Sheff Utd (Boro play QPR next away)

Ipswich V Swansea (can they cause an upset?)

PNE V Millwall

Go out and stuff the scabby barstewards

Must win for me, it would boost the current mood .

This is must-win now, not just for the points but for the mood and confidence. In isolation, a draw here isn't a bad result, but four without a win and we've pretty much undone the hard work of January.

Points at Brammal Lane count the same as points at home v Oxford. We're just cancelling great results out with poor ones right now.

Sounds like Brum lost two key midfield players last night, one to injury and one to suspension. Fry back in for me, and why not give this new left back a go, sounds like he loves to hit the byline and cross. Strelec just has to play now and we have to pray he comes good - thanks to not signing anyone, he's all we've got.

Brynn

Brittain - Fry - Malanda - Munro

Hackney - Morris

Whittaker - McGree

Strelec - Conway

Edited February 26Feb 26 by SouthernSmoggie

Barring all the teams below us losing, I can't see a draw being a good enough result.

It's vital we get back to winning sharpish to halt the slide.

1-0 to Brum..........

41 minutes ago, TeaCider24 said:

Barring all the teams below us losing, I can't see a draw being a good enough result.

It's vital we get back to winning sharpish to halt the slide.

A draw away at Birmingham is still a good result, it’s gonna be a really hard game and we need to expect that.

If we want automatic promotion, we have to start winning quickly. It's a shame we're playing Monday because it gives Ipswich and Millwall further opportunity to put pressure on us. By the time Monday night come around Millwall could be within a point of us and Ipswich within 3. That'll feel very uncomfortable going into kick off.

12 minutes ago, LinoJo3 said:

A draw away at Birmingham is still a good result, it’s gonna be a really hard game and we need to expect that.

Trouble is we've lost the luxury of taking 'good draws' in tough away games by slipping up in our easy home games.

5 minutes ago, LinoJo3 said:

A draw away at Birmingham is still a good result, it’s gonna be a really hard game and we need to expect that.

It's not a good result if it takes away all cushion we had.

If Millwall, Ipswich and Hull had all won on Saturday, one defeat after this round of fixtures could see us overtaken by at least 2 of them.

We'd be on 64

Millwall on 62.

Ipswich and Hull both on 60 and playing each other the day after, so they're other both on 61 or one's on 63.

Not to mention the extra anxiety that being winless in 4 would bring at this point of the season.

1 minute ago, TeaCider24 said:

It's not a good result if it takes away all cushion we had.

If Millwall, Ipswich and Hull had all won on Saturday, one defeat after this round of fixtures could see us overtaken by at least 2 of them.

We'd be on 64

Millwall on 62.

Ipswich and Hull both on 60 and playing each other the day after, so they're other both on 61 or one's on 63.

Not to mention the extra anxiety that being winless in 4 would bring at this point of the season.

It’s not ideal no but it’s still a good result, they’ve been in good form and we all know it’s gonna be a really tough game. A win would be huge obviously and is pretty much needed at this point but I still won’t sniff at a draw down there. Hoping to see a reaction in the performance aswell, can we be back on it and looking ourselves again as we look like we’re losing our heads a bit.