Our Birmingham City and Aston Villa experts discuss the derby showdown
Sep 12 2009 by Colin Tattum and Mat Kendrick, Birmingham Mail
Our man at Blues, Colin Tattum, and our man at Villa, Mat Kendrick, discuss the big Second City derby
Fair play to Ridgewell for fronting up and apologising after that own goal, by the way. I’m sure most Villa fans would join me in wishing him a speedy recovery.
How the latest player to cross the Second City divide gets on – if he gets on at all – will be a different matter entirely.
Of the £100 million you rightly point out has been splashed by O’Neill, the £3.5 million spent on Emile Heskey has yet to be repaid in performances by the big man.
Whether it’s his Blues links, his slow start in claret and blue or the fact Villa changed their tactics to accommodate him and subsequently slid out of the top four last term, Heskey is about as much of a Holte End hero as Paul Tait at the moment.
Of course, stepping off the bench to score the winner tomorrow might change all that!
What kind of reception do you think Bruno will get from the Bluenoses, if he shakes off injury?
TATTUM: I think big Emile will receive a decent response. He was player-of-the-year in his first season at Blues, then in the relegation campaign battled manfully up front as the lack of a partner and dire creativity hurt.
He memorably said he felt like he was ‘flicking the ball on to myself all the time’. He is used to this sort of local tear-up, and that will be another factor for me.
Villa have more ‘form’ in that respect, players who know what it’s like and have experienced winning. What price Kevin Phillips coming off the bench to grab the winner?
Blues are running out of forwards – Cameron Jerome and Marcus Bent are injured – but he’s Cool Hand Luke in such situations, just like in 2006. Where do Villa believe Blues’ danger may come from?
KENDRICK: Well, O’Neill name-checked Benitez the other day (when I say name-checked, what he actually said was ‘that there South American boy’), so it’s clear that Villa are aware of the threat he poses.
Now, you’ve mentioned Super Kev, he should also be a concern, after all he has won more derbies than Lester Piggott.
With all due respect to Blues, though, I think Villa will be more concerned about how their own match-winners perform.
Agbonlahor’s pace could be crucial on the break, but I think Villa’s destiny will be decided by how the central trio of Reo-Coker, Petrov and Steve Sidwell take charge of the midfield battle, in terms of protecting an unfamiliar back four and launching forward raids.
It’s fence-sitting of the highest order, but I can see it being a 2-2 draw. How about you?
TATTUM: I would be surprised if it wasn’t close with few goals.
For me it’s how Blues cope with Villa’s numbers in midfield and the way they can hurt you quickly and at speed. Blues can’t let it be an open, end-to-end affair.
I have a sneaking feeling they will nick it, though, perhaps through someone like Lee Bowyer.
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