Watford Fc 3-0 Birmingham City - 20/03/2021

I was looking forward to playing Karanka's Brum.

We now face a Bowyer Brum which will have a bit of bite and a new formation. We all know what a big difference that can make to a side.

I think they will score, so it will be a matter of us scoring 2 or 3 to win, which we are more than capable of doing. Midweek subs indicate an unchanged side, unless Sarr is hurt.

 

Tough game with the new manager bounce plus the confidence of a midweek win. Less confident than I was but a game we will need to win if we want 2nd spot.
Must win game.
WFC 0 (Deeney missed pen) Brum 5 (Deeney, 1, 15, 25, Mooney 73, 85)

 

I too was hoping Karanka was still manager as I think he had lost the dressing room. Put £200 on Reading last night before they announced a change of manager so paid a heavy price. It will be difficult on Saturday without Karanka but if we are to be promoted it is a must win game.

 

I find Birmingham a strange team. I sort of forget they exist, kind of a big team, but not really a big team. Just absolutely nothing about them to like or dislike.

 

In the words of Gordon Forbes and his follow up to 'A Handful of Summers' it's too soon to panic.
However come Saturday morning I shall be full of angst.

 

This will be a far tougher fixture than it would have been only a couple of weeks ago. Then I'd have said this should be a regulation win and of course it still might be, but I think Brum will be far more determined, playing for a new manager.

We still should have enough to win, and we've had an extra 24 hours rest time over them, which should be a marginal benefit to us.

We're on a great run, but Watford always have a tendency to stumble and get the odd bad result when it's not expected. If we are to get an automatic spot, then this has to be a win, as does Sheff Wed after the international break.

Swansea and Brentford are bound to get the odd poor result over the next 10 games, but we cannot afford that to happen to us. We need to pick up 15 points from the next 5 games. Do that, then the last 4 will be a lot easier.

Norwich may even have won the league by the time we play them (or certainly promoted), so that game could be a little easier for us. We'd probably only need to beat Millwall and get a couple of draws to finish 2nd.

 

Sarr needs a rest (even tho he spends 20 mins a game laid down) - play Zinc RW first half and bring Sarr on second half if needed.?
Have to say... Can we wear the all black kit again on Saturday, its really growing on me and we win....

 

Why do people keep saying this. 9 games to go and you want to rest our best player!
Much like Rotherham, play full strength side and if we are winning comfortably then make changes. International break after this so quite a few can have a rest then. Wouldn't be surprised if Sarr doesn't join up with Senegal

 

Yes agree. The ideal scenario is that Norwich are already up when we play them, and B & S are resigned to the fact that it's almost certainly the POs for them and there's little incentive to win our match. The worst case of course is that Norwich need points from us to confirm promotion, B can still pip us by drawing/beating us, and Swansea can beat or draw with us on the last day to claim 2nd place. Swansea seem the poorest of the 3 but have the easiest run-in - hopefully we are out of their range on that last day and they are focused only on the POs as we will probably still need the 3 points to finish above Brentford..

 

Prediction: Watford 0 (Deeney missed pen 18, 36, 54, 72, 90) Birmingham 5 (Deeney og 90+1, 90+2, 90+3, 90+4, 90+5)

 

Birmingham’s new manager bounce, a bit of complacency on our part and Sarr’s injury. Got an away win written all over it.

 

You would have disliked them in the 80s. The team we beat in the quarter-final in '84 was thoroughly nasty.

 

Not even the highest new manager bounce of all time and the worst injury to Sarr imaginable would make this an even close contest.

We will blow them away as we did Rotherham.

Prediction

Watford 4, Birmingham City blown away
Sarr (22, 23, 24, 25, sent off 26)

 

Comfortable home win
Thats it

 

They had a great keeper though. It's still one of my favourite away games ever.

 

Routine win.

 

I am confused by this pole. Maths were never my favourite study - come to think of it neither was writing - but don't these top two categories overlap?

 

Famous last word... but since we've been on this run I haven't got any whiff of complacency in the team which is great. They seem to know they need to work hard all game, every game - indeed they seem to enjoy doing so. Big props to Xisco Inferno for building this team spirit.
If we continue the trend on Saturday, I'm sure we'll have too much for Birmingham. Life is good right now for us orns. Let's keep it going into the international break.

 

Was an absolute cracker of a game. I was there and I remember when they equalised in the 2nd minute I was thinking it was going to be a horror of a night. The penalty shootout was so nerve jangling even though we triumphed. Then, to leg it down the road to catch the last train back with all the Brum fans surrounding was equally nerve-wracking. Still, all's well that ends well. Birmingham City vs. Watford | Division One Play-Off Sem-final 2nd Leg 1999 - YouTube

 

Opps, wrong decade but they were still a nasty team in 1999 as were their fans

 

Weren’t too pleasant in the 82 QF. I sat in the away end for that one and was a tad scarey!

 

So with Sarr unlikely to feature who do we think should go on the right wing?

The most obvious solution would be to move Zink over to the right and bring in Gosling but personally I'd rather see either Success or Hungbo start there. I'd rather Zinc continue as our most advanced of the midfield three as he's starting to come into good form in this role and that's where he'll be playing in the foreseeable future so I'd prefer him to mould that spot as his own.

The other option which I see as scarily realistic would be Gray starting as striker with JP out right.... this would be disappointing for sure

 

I so hated that last para.

 

No.

 

If Sarr is out, we still have more than enough to win the game.

Bachmann
Kiko Ekong* Sierralta Masina
Hughes Chalobah Gosling
Zinckernagel Pedro Sema

*would rather Wilmot

That starting 11 should give Birmingham a difficult game and bring home all 3 points.

Bench: Foster, Ngakia, Wilmot, Cathcart, Lazaar, Sanchez, Hungbo, Success, Perica**

** Stupidly it will be Gray

Winning this game puts Swansea under massive pressure going into their game against Cardiff. They will know they are 6 points behind us, and that will play on their minds.

Will be even better if Brentford draw or lose against Forest before our game.

As I said a few days ago. I believe we will be 6 points clear of 3rd going into the international break. The teams around us then have to look at that for 2 weeks.

 

I can't see Sarr starting, and if he doesn't then I think we have to play Zinckernagel in his best position out wide on the right, that's where he played for Glimt and was statistically the 7th most creative player in Europe so seems extremely stupid to not play him there if Sarr is out especially becaue Dan Gosling can do a job if he is alongside Hughes and Chalobah. I watched a little bit of these last night they won but they are were not magnificent and in all honesty I expect a win.

 

Nerve-racking watching again - and I knew what happened! Real cup-tie stuff. But I thought we were talking about the FA cup??

 

That is probably the best idea. But also we could Kiko in as an out-and-out right winger and put Ngakia behind him.

 

I’d hope this isn’t going to be a banana skin due to taking Birmingham too lightly but I’ll go for a 2-0 win.

This one is on Sky for anyone unaware.

 

Both games were fantastic! For me the second leg in the play-off edges it. A couldron of noise at KO with Jasper Carrot egging 'em on, hanging on but being outplayed by 10 men in the second half, an unbearable penalty shoot out ending in pandemonium - we left the ground at exactly 11 pm, the latest I can ever remember leaving a match.

 

That’s not a bad idea!

 

Sarr will play. He's fine. Why wouldn't we play arguably our best player? He was hooked early against Rotherham and we're going into an international break anyway.

 

If Sarr can't play we simply move Zinc wide and Gosling into the midfield. It will all be fine.