Birmingham are back in the Premiership and will receive a welcome from Manchester United on Sunday, early doors. Popular BCFC blog, Joys & Sorrows, has take a couple of minutes to talk to me ahead of match day.
1. What are your hopes for the season?
To stay up. Nothing more. We’ll be happy with 17th. Beating the Villa will also be good as well.
2. Are you happy with your business in the transfer market this summer?
It’s been OK but we could still do with another midfielder and a few younger players with pace.
3. Which teams do you think will go down?
Burnley, Portsmouth and Hull
4. Which team do you think will win the league?
I have a feeling that Chelsea will sneak it this season. I think you will be relying too much on Rooney and you know he will miss at least six weeks of the season with a broken foot.
5. Which player should United be most wary of on Sunday?
I don’t think United have anything to fear from us really but if anyone’s going to do anything it will be James McFadden. We are hoping our new striker Christian Benitez will make an appearance but it may be too early for him.
6. Which United player will you be most wary of on Sunday?
Rooney.
7. Will you be happy to see your team park the bus on Sunday or do you want
them to have a go?
I’d like us to have a go like we did at Chelsea on opening day two years ago. However I expect us to be dropping deeper and deeper as the game goes on.
Man Utd News 24/7
smart fan; knows the realities of his side, and has low expectations, hopefully he’s wrong about rooney…
When (not if unfortunately… it just happens) Rooney goes out injured with a broken bone in his foot I am sure that Fergie has a Plan B. Owen wtill be there as well as the up and coming Kiko and our local lad Welbeck.
I’m not [that] worried!
Off topic but just saw the Man City line up, TEVEZ the little sxxt is on the bench for them and that is making me laugh!
How long do you think it will take for him to spit out his dummy Channy? lol
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/2589177/I-dream-of-playing-with-Roo.html
shity 1 up adebarndoor.
adebayor just scored
I was about to say I would always pick Robinho and Adebayor before Tevez, and then Ade goes and proves me right…
But to be 4TH behind Bellamy must hurt Tevez
Dont hammer me lads ive got shity in my bet.
Drabik i think maybe Tevez is fifth, behind Santa Cruz. Maybe Santa gave him another dummy as early present .
Tevez only on the bench cos he’s not match fit.. It’s funny how everyone suddenly seems to think he is totally shit.
The guy might be a prick as a person but as a player he is for sure better than the other players they got.
I dont think he’s shit, but I do rate robinho and adebayor better than him. Tevez and Santa Cruz are about the same quality in my mind. Bellamy on his day is as good as anyone, just he very rarely has ‘his day’.
@Jack
I’m not surprised he wants to play with Rooney – just look at the fantastic personalities he has to share the dressing room with!
I am also afraid that something will disrupt Rooney’s season. It has become a repeating pattern. A metatarsal or a hamstring injury will always pop up. I truly hope he can be stay fit the entire season.
shitty off to a winning start.as do chelsea.shitty looked good to be fair.wright phillips looks some player.looked surprisingly good in defence.
Injuries happen to everyone. Injuries are not excuse if Rooney goes down Berba and Owen will have to step up. Would like to see us sign another young striker (22-25 yrs). With that said I am fully confident we will play a more fluid style of play do to the additions and subtractions.
Did anyone notice Tevez came off the bench? First team football huh? Starter huh? Makes me laugh…
costas.if that happens mate we are doomed.we also shud nt frget that rooney has missed parts of last 2 seasons but we kept on winning bcoz ronny never gt injured
Bloody villa beat my bet, ah well lets hope the champions start the season wiv a bang.
As Kevin says, hopefully that will be the moment that Berba and Owen step up. But Rooney offers something different from the other 2. Tev dropped for Bellamy. Oh dear….
The gooners looking great 3 up
Bloody hell. Everton are getting a right tonking from le arse. And i had pienaar in my fantasy football team. shows what i know lol.
Giggs to score against the Brummies. You heard it here first.
can we postpone our game wid da gooners.i m feeling afraid.postone it til their slide starts.that was sme performance by the gunners
One more reason not to rush Vida back for that game. We will need match fit players for that one. This result proves how much the tabloids know about football. They thought that Arsenal were commiting suicide by selling Adebayor.
why does everybody think Chelsea are gonna win it. It is seriously doing my head in. They’re shite.
It was just 1 of those days everything the gooners hit went in, fabregas top class performance, anyway we cud tempt em to ot.
Well thats it then. City will obviously go on to win the league now. They have won their first game.
Yeah, right. Same old decent start to be followed by a rapid decline and Robinho disappearing to Brazil to deal with ” Family problems” only to be pictured next week in the paper holding a drink with an umbrella in it next to a photo of Carlos Tevez looking his usual handsome self soaked in the rain at Citys world class training facilty at Carrington with the bye line – “Hey Robbie I need an umbrella more than you”
Press conference follows with Mark Hughes saying there is no disharmony and he has spoken to the player.
Following day Tevez pictured at Buenas Aires airport being consoled by Maradonna and Adebayor reveals he made mistake leaving Arsenal –
You can see it coming…………………
the pressure is on us and the dippers nw that shitty rentboys and gooners have won.however we are used to starting slowly .i wnt be surprised if we struggle tmmrw.
Yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if we will be a bit rusty in our first match, we’ve always been like that in the beginning of almost every season. I just hope we can get a goal in the first half and break them down quickly.
This is my lineup:
Foster
O’Shea – Brown – Rio – Evra
Valencia – Carrick – Anderson – Nani
Rooney – Berbatov
Bench: Kuzczak, Owen, Fletcher, Giggs, Tosic, Fabio, Macheda
I put Anderson in the starting eleven instead of Fletcher since he played 90 minutes for Scotland. If we’re having trouble breaking them down I want to see Giggs come in off the bench with some needed experience.
Did anyone notice that Tevez looked very uncomfortable with the City chanting.. He did not even go to celebrate Ireland’s goal with the fans…
Anyway not that it matters much, am sure he will do the kissing badge thing as soon as he scores..
This is Citeh’s new chant for Tevez: “Carlos Tevez is a blue, he hates Munichs”. Original ! Fucking cunts.
Very classy hey Kings? I didn’yt expect anything less from them.
I also expect tomorrow to be a struggle, unless we get one early and find the composure to attack them more.
aig – Chill out mate, United are a much different proposition to the over achieving Everton. Do you really think they will tear us apart like that? There is no pressure on us yet its only the first game and like you say we usually start slow. I do however think Arsenal have more chance at challenging us than the dippers or rentboys.
MUFC The Religion – Totally agree about the rentboys mate, said same myself earlier today. They have no width whatsover, ageing players and if Drogshite gets injured they are fucked. Coupled with the fact they will lose half their team to the African Nations Cup after xmas. Ancelotti will be fired by November. They have no creativity just long balls up to Drogba and Anelka.
Eveening Costas and Kings , although we do normally start slow we should do the Brum tomorrow. They have no defence , they are all injured and a couple of their midfield aint fit either. As for the Citeh chant they are a fucking disgrace. Just as the Spurs fans were hammered for abusing Sol, these cunts should be.
king eric.good evening mate.ill be frank wid you and i fear arsenal more ,not wen it comes to challenging for the title but wen it cmes to facing them bcoz they are the only team who have the ability to tear anyone apart unlike remtboys and dippers who play tactically in big games.of course that is what makes united arsenal games more exciting then other big games.to be fair arsenal have played better than us in the last 3 league games at old trafford.i agree everton were shocking but arsenal have made a statement with that performance.
Hi King Eric. The nerves are starting to build up for tomorrow. I thought i would have seen Corea or Suhayl here now that the season begins. I hope they come back eventually.
can’t fucking wait for tomoz, bishops blaize
By the way, i got mixed up when i was going to OT for the Valencia game and i got to the ground just in time to go to the Megastore. So i had not time to go to the blaize! I was so disappointed. Next time i will get it right!
aig – I know what you mean but I have just watched the game and as good as Arsenal were, Everton were shocking. There is no way they would get that time in midfield against Fletch and Carrick.
Costas – Cannot wait for tomorrow mate and like you the nerves are building already. I honestly don’t know why I watch football sometimes as I cannot actually enjoy the game when United are playing. Stomach just churns, can’t relax and this is before just the FIRST game of the season. I think it is so much more important now that we are level with the dippers that we don’t let them get back in front. So much pressure to win now. Oh god I have got myself worked up now!!
Vidic – May see you in there mate but I tend to just get a few can’s from the shop couple of doors down and just stand on the backstreets opposite the side of the Blaize soaking up the atmosphere.
I must admit I though Suhayl and the like would be on like North Stand, Failsworth Devil etc etc. Probably see them tomorrow.
No sources or quotes and maybe being paranoid but the Vidic rumours don’t seem to go away. Can’t help but thinking there is more to it, I won’t be happy till he actually pulls the shirt on and starts a game. Meanwhile one paper is saying we are going in for Shawcross. Why would we sell him then look to bring him back?
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-United-bracing-themselves-for-big-money-bids-for-Nemanja-Vidic-as-trio-set-sights-on-defender-article116655.html
I think that Shawcross has made progress beyond what Fergie imagined. I would like it if a deal got struck. With the defensive injury crisis neverending, we could use the backup.
Like you King Eric, i just want to see Vida put the shirt on. Remember that his manager has refuted these claims 2-3 times as has Vida himself. It’s probably crap from the Mirror.
Here’s the really good article : http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Eric-Cantona-I-can-t-understand-why-Ronaldo-left-Manchester-United-for-Real-Madrid-article116207.html
The Vidic transfer rumours are just typical redtop trash. AC Milan can’t afford him. Barca have internal problems with many insiders unhappy with Guardiola for buying a ridiculously overpriced Ibrahimovic and selling Eto’o. Plus I think Barca have pretty much wrapped up their major transfer business for the season. Inter have already bought Lucio who is similar to Vida and are looking for a Ferdinand-type ball-playing centre-half. Although they are probably the only ones who could afford him right now.
But the most important thing is except for saying once that he wants to stay Vida hasn’t made a peep and neither has Fergie so I doubt these rumours have any basis at all. Keep the faith. Nemanja is here to stay.
yes aye m8 got the new black top with valencia on the back, don’t finish work to 6 but who needs sleep when its match day, love it:)
@ Costas
Hey, my friend. Nice to hear i am not forgotten. I’ve just come back from the trip to the seaside. Shocked by the Arsenal result.
Birmingham Home
Burnley Away
Wigan Away
Must win games. Sick and tired of slow starts.
Hi Corea! I thought you had a good time buddy. You are definitely not forgotten. I agree with you. Lets win them all and start stamping our authority.
You know, this capital letters really look good, mate. ))
Good luck to the guys today. I am off. See you after the game, guys.
They sure do. Good luck to the team!
Rio is out.
NO RIO
Foster-Fabio,O’Shea,Evans,Evra-Valencia,Fletch,Scholes,Nani-Rooney,Berba
Carrick not even on the bench. Fucking England friendly!
O’shea Captain?
Shit no Rio.
Good squad. But i thought Nani was injured?
The back 5 line up is not calming my nerves i must say.
Costas.
Lol Foster in goal is not calming my nerves either.
Oshea captian?
I dont think we are going to keep a clean sheet. We just ganna have to bang in a few.
Hey Sketch. Not that i am knocking the selection. We don’t have other players available. Scholesy is a better option than Ando in order to keep the ball on our side., which could be crucial.
O’Shea is captain due to seniority i think. I think that’s the first time he is captain.
Nah he captained us against Derby last season.
Scholes could be a shout? he got the armband in the champions league final when Giggs came off.
Are we using the chatroom tonight? there seems to be no one in there during matches haha
Rooney!
el blanco pele!!!
ahhhh jcolas beat me to it!! 1 down.. 24 to go?
ROONNEYY.
Berba to score next
Evra saved us again. Wow. he is just so quick.
great save by evra on the line
Guys it’s 2 for Rooney this season. Charity Shield goals count too. That’s why Ruud had 150 goals for us and not 149. By the way, Rooney is on 99 now!
A weird first half. We lack Carrick’s composure i feel, but you can see that SAF has been working on some new stuff in attack. The last Nani-Evra combo was fantastic. You can see that we are working with a lot of overlapping from the full backs.
The best way to tell how vital Carrick is to our game is when he is not there. Really missing him today. He is what makes our attacking play tick.
Costas
Weird first half? I thought we were brilliant.
A very good First half.
Flecther and Scholes have been excellent (Ignoring the miss at the end)
Evra and Nani have a good partnership on the left.
Berba keeping possession well and getting into space.
Rooney making everything tick.Playing well with Valenica.
Fabio.. few dodgey tackles but dangerous going forward.
Oshea and Evans had little trouble.
Foster played well so far.
How did Nani recover so quickly? Wow. I thought he would be out for weeks.
Ginger Ninja bossed the midfield.
Weird in the sense that our attacking play seems to turn on and off a lot. One or two defensive scares also, but that’s understandable with no Rio, Vida or VDS.
Here’s the thung with Nani. If you get it dislocated, you can pop it back in at some point and keep on playing. But it’s vulnerable and you can easily dislocate it again. I am afraid that at some point he will have to operate on it.
Notice something? The goal came when Rooney and Berba played close to each other.
Fabio keeps getting caught out of position. Birmingham are really well organised and defending deep, denying Valencia and Nani the chance to use their pace to get crosses in. We need to get the defence to face their goal more. Looking forward to second half. They gotta tire soon. Giggs on for Nani.
Still 1 – 0 at home with injury blown Birmingham? Guys you should buy Frank Ribbery ASAP. Without CR7, you will not score a lot.
Can’t win jack shit for 4 years? You guys should buy an entire new team otherwise you won’t win jack shit. Scratch that, you are not only going to win fuck all you are also going to have spuds finish ahead of you. How about that you twat?
And Foster has earned his weekly wages
@20legend
Spuds will never go ahead of us even if they the entire Barca + Real Madrid team + Fernando Torres + Sir Alex.
They were one dodgy pasta away from putting your stinking lot into the UEFA cup. The arrogance of Arse-nal fans really gets to me. Barely holding on to 4th place, they sneer at those who finish 5th or 6th.
@20legend,
Watching your display against, Bayern, Chelski (mainly in the last 20 minutes) and today, tells me that the trophy will crowl to another home this season although that home won’t be Burj Al Manchester or Anfield.
Also we have a team that’s capable of playing attractive football and scoring stunning goals (whether we are poor or not), and this year, I don’t see us winning nothing. But its good for you to write us off. Because we are the dark horses.
Bloody hell, Michael missed again! But full credit to Ben. What a save that was! Pleased with the win, but worried about the injuries mounting up.
Rio has suffered a thigh strain apparently. I do believe we need to get another defender. I love Rio, but his problems don’t seem to go away.
we won. not a convincing victory though but win is important .owen should have scored. Guys this the season of the great ROONEY.
by the way who the hell this th14 is.
hi guys im back! haha good game from the lads Owen should have scored in front of us (stretford end) but it was close
ahh im a jolly bunny Woo we won! 
Injured players atm : VDS, Rio, Vidic, Neville, Rafael, Evans, Nani, Owen Hargreaves, Carrick (?), Obertan
10, possibly 11 players out injured. Why does this keep happening? Is United’s medical department like Newcastle’s now? You hear so much about AC Milan and Bayern’s top-class sports science departments. We could do with some of that talent. A top notch medical department has to be worth a few points a season.
Ash
He is a deluded Arsenal fan who is obsessed with united and seems to be here all the time. Just ignore him and he might go away
Owen should of scored. He should of went round the keeper.
I hope Carrick is not injured or anything..
That performance was frustrating at best – poor movement, poor passing, looking shaky in defence against BIRMINGHAM CITY? C’mon!? I’ll put it down to the first game of the season but we need big big improvements if we’re to challenge for the champions league. Foster and Roon easily our best players.
@TH14
u guys just play attractive football and dont win anything. u arent even in our league. hey ui say to us to but ribery , aguero or watever i say u first look at ur squad.
20legend i have the same question for over a year now. But it’s usually the same players getting injured, so i think it’s a problem with the players themselves. Evans has been carrying a knock since last season. Rio is prone to injuries as are Brown and Neville. Whatever it is, i hope it gest addressed quickly, because we could be without our best defenders against Arsenal.
@Ash,
Please don’t get angry of my comments. I don’t hate United as much as I hate Chelski. Still I want them to become the 2nd team after we win the league this season.
I hope owen starts against burnley. let that guy play for sometime.but i wont like to drop berba. oh i was very happy the way foster kept. i always rated that guy highly. he should be our number one keeper after vds goes.
TH14
1 fixture and its like you won the treble?
for fucks sakes this was EVERTON you played!
If we had our normal back line up we would have gotten more.
TH14
You seem to be very optimistic. You dont seem to Remember Arsenals display against Valencia? Short memories huh? Seriously keep your advice to your self.
And if the Valencia comment didnt trigger your memory maybe the score might do.
2-0 To Valenica.
Overall, a fairly comfortable win. Should have scored a couple of more goals, though. Foster was pretty good, only a couple of flaps on crosses. Notice he didn’t get too many balls played back to him? I imagine Scholesy will play in a lot of games with the likes of Birmingham. And Owen scores the difficult offside goal, but fails the easier chance. Hopefully we can get our back line fit over the next week (or two). Wigan are going to be no slouches, and Arsenal will run O’Shea ragged.
and i seriously think Owen should have scored from that… that was so very suit his style…
Berba tried too hard. Fabio was brilliant in patches.
But the most positive thing from the match was.. Ben Foster!
@Macheda,
Yes, it was the first game. But you couldn’t do the same. Our next game is Portsmouth and it will be another great result. Then we will travel to your OT and I hope you will not play Anti-Football that time.
@Sketch,
Valencia was friendly and nothing. It was not Community Shield or Audi Cup or Champions League final against Barcelona.
ahaha guys, just let TH14 be like that.. that is the best thing that has happened to them since 2005 i think haha…
i just feel pity for him that he has to come here to celebrate Arsenal’s win..
he’s a gooner after all..
@ Costas
Yeah a lot of these players have recurring problems but you expect a good medical department would be able to sort it out some way or the other. All the big English teams seem to have recurrent injury crises which are almost always far far worse than you see in some of the other European clubs. Is it because of our style of play? Or are we just really behind the rest of europe in terms of sports science? You would hope that with our resources, it wouldn’t happen at United. Fergie needs to sort it out.
@TH14
I don’t know what you are smoking but it must be one helluva trip. The best my shit does is make me hallucinate that Torres is Bruno. I know. Terrible.
@th14
hey guy if u hate chelski more then get out of here and go to there site and comment about them. 37 games are left kid so be calm.
i would just say know ur role and shut ur damn mouth.
@TH14 “Valencia was friendly and nothing. It was not Community Shield or Audi Cup or Champions League final against Barcelona.”
see that’s is what i mean! he has NOTHING else to be proud of lol. ONLY that 6-1 win.
at least we played in the final..lol…
@20legend
It could be our style of play and the fact that the preparation is not up to par with it. Although Vida never got injured with us. One thing is for sure: it’s not a case of bad luck! Something must be done immediately.
@cantona7,
You are very annoyed of the 6-1 win, yes. The bad news is, that was the last home defeat of Everton this season and the first of serial away wins for the Gunners.
@all the other guys,
Why are angry at all. Most people say that United will win the title this season so live in these dreams and don’t get annoyed boys. Arsenal is the dark horse. We will get at least 4 points against you, 6 against Chelski, 6 against Spurs and at least 4 against Liverpool. Then we will beat the rest.
annoyed? lol…. amused here… hahahhaha
TH14
But we also didnt play THAT badly! Champions league final you say. Atleast we got there.. Who knocked arsenal out? Ohh yeh i remember UNITED DID.
Community shield. Your sad excuse of a football team didnt even compete for that cup so i suggest you suck it.
Even your display against Everton wasn’t that impressive. Everton were unlucky to concede in the first few minutes as they were generally the better team.
Heres to another season with Arsenal competing until February only to eventaully step a side to watch the REAL champions take the premier league back home.
hey let this arsenal fan speak. he himselfs knows that these moments wont come again this or in anyother season. so let him speak.
What a surprise? Stevie Me is playing?
TH14 was the perfect example of an Arsenal fan…Loud in the beginning…Slow at the middle…silent at the end…
Not a very good game given we play against birmingham city rugby team…
Berbatov should get a goal…Owen too…but it just one game…we will get better…
Rooneyy….OOhhh Ahhhh….
Tonight I saw Roy Keane wearing 24 jersey…am I dreaming…
Go Spuds!! I feel kinda dirty now
Go Spurs! Don’t feel dirty 20legend. Anything to make the FSW miserable!
COME ON SPURS!!
Go bassong. On another note, Berbs had four chances in today’s game. One was cleared off the line, one was a stonewall penalty not given, one was a brilliant covering tackle by the defender and for the other, the ball was taken away from him by a defensive header. I’d give him an 8 out of 10 for that performance.
berbatov was unlucky today…so was owen…
Fletcher is an important first team player this season…
Fabio was quick…
Dissapointed though by Valencia crossing..hope he can get better…
Oh yeah definitely their year
oh my im so terrified by liverpool now…who are going to beat them…they are this year favourite…and they say alonso are nothing…
Nice to see a referee screw with us for the second consecutive game!