MATCH THREAD: " CARDIFF CITY v BIRMINGHAM C " MATCH THREAD

CARDIFF CITY v BIRMINGHAM CITY
Wednesday 16th December, 7pm
Sky Bet Championship
Cardiff City Stadium 


Match to be played in front of no supporters, for information on how to watch the match on TV or to stream it - see below


Match now 7pm


Neil Harris says he has had to turn to Academy players due to injuries / suspensions.


Breaking: Kieffer Moore out for at least six games with a hamstring injury. Another crushing injury blow for the Bluebirds

Junior Hoilett 50-50 hip problem.

CCFC TEAM NEWS:


It doesn’t sound like Kieffer Moore will be back until after the third round of the FA Cup and Tomlin won’t be back in contention till at least the end of January.




Top scorer Kieffer Moore, is out injured for a while

Joe Ralls Suspended



Filip Benkovic is in full contention for the Bluebirds and will def be around least on the bench.

Fully fit

The Croatia centre back, who is yet to appear for Cardiff since joining on loan from Leicester 9 weeks ago.

Lee Tomlin, Isaac Vassell and Jordi Osei-Tutu are all still the long-term absentees.


How can I watch this match on TV?

This match is live on Cardiff City TV and Sky Sports Red Button.

About Birmingham City

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first team have competed in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.

As Small Heath, they played in the Football Alliance before becoming founder members and first champions of the Football League Second Division. The most successful period in their history was in the 1950s and early 1960s. They achieved their highest finishing position of sixth in the First Division in the 1955–56 season and reached the 1956 FA Cup Final. Birmingham played in two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finals, in 1960, as the first English club side to reach a major European final, and again the following year. They won the League Cup in 1963 and again in 2011. Birmingham have played in the top tier of English football for around half of their history: the longest period spent outside the top division, between 1986 and 2002, included two brief spells in the third tier of English football, during which time they won the Football League Trophy twice.

St Andrew's has been their home ground since 1906. They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with Aston Villa, their nearest neighbours, with whom they play the Second City derby. The club's nickname is Blues, after the colour of their kit, and the fans are known as Bluenoses.

Previous Meeting 

We drew 1-1 with Birmingham in January.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

Cardiff City: Smithies, Bacuna, Morrison, Nelson, Bennett, Vaulks, Pack, Ojo, Wilson, Harris, Glatzel

Birmingham City: Etheridge, Roberts, San Jose, Clarke-Salter, Dacres-Cogley, Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Sunjic, Clayton, Leko, Jutkiewicz

Form - Last Three Games

Cardiff City 0-2 Swansea City
Stoke City 1-2 Cardiff City
Watford 0-1 Cardiff City

Birmingham City 0-1 Watford
Reading 1-2 Birmingham City
Bristol City 0-1 Birmingham City

Match Odds

Cardiff City - 4/5
Birmingham City - 15/4
Draw - 23/10

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

Really need to put Saturday behind us and bounce back here 2-0

After the dire / passionless game with the Jacks, I expect nothing less than 3pts at Birmingham

Got a feeling we'll regroup and play a more expensive free flowing game.

2 clear goal win for us.

We might see benkovic and the other positional changes we've been crying out for after Saturday's debacle! So 2-1 or more if Harris gets it right

Personally I would drop all 11 of them from yesterdays game and give the reins over to Harris assistances.

With what we have got left we would most likely get slaughtered by the Brum but I just don't care atm. Yesterday was the most embarrassing 90 minutes we have produced and I have no confidence in those players that took part. Harris needs time out to look himself in the mirror and for the 11 that played for me they can start looking for another club.

Can't really say I'm looking forward to Wednesday if any of those 11 make the team.

CCFC TEAM NEWS:


Top scorer Kieffer Moore, 50-50 at moment

Filip Benkovic is in full contention for the Bluebirds and will def be around least on the bench.

Fully fit

The Croatia centre back, who is yet to appear for Cardiff since joining on loan from Leicester 9 weeks ago.

Lee Tomlin, Isaac Vassell and Jordi Osei-Tutu are all still the long-term absentees.

Etheridge is in goal, crosses, crosses, crosses please even if Glatzel is playing.

If we set out like the Swansea game with a must not lose attitude we will struggle again.

If we go out with a winning mindset and attack like Luton then we will probably win this 3-0

It's all down to the manager

We will see just before kick off

Etheridge is in goal, crosses, crosses, crosses please even if Glatzel is playing.

I agree
Loads of high balls and low loose shots and he will struggle. Put him under pressure all game. His only strength is long shots and diving saves . Hit them at him close and low and he will flap all game .

Championship Table:

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Personally I would drop all 11 of them from yesterdays game and give the reins over to Harris assistances.

With what we have got left we would most likely get slaughtered by the Brum but I just don't care atm. Yesterday was the most embarrassing 90 minutes we have produced and I have no confidence in those players that took part. Harris needs time out to look himself in the mirror and for the 11 that played for me they can start looking for another club.

Can't really say I'm looking forward to Wednesday if any of those 11 make the team.

I’m sure Smithies,Morrison,Moore and Wilson would have no problem finding bigger clubs to ply their trade.Those 11 players just won 4 out of 5 games and you want them out of door
Yes the players were shite Saturday but it was the formation too.

Cardiff win 2 nil

Wednesday's match with @BCFC will now kick-off at 7pm at Cardiff City Stadium.

Cardiff win 2 nil

Thank you.

We'll be one nil down after ten minutes and lump balls aimlessly up front. Then we'll decide to turn up in the second half and equalize. Harris will blame individual errors for their goal but praise the players for the fight back.
This is about as predictable as needing to rotate a tired team at the weekend. Not that Harris will do anything about it. Useless. He wont be forgiven for Saturday.

The pre-match facts:



Cardiff City have won five of their last seven home league matches against Birmingham (D2) since a 2-1 defeat in 2008/09.


Birmingham City have won two of their last 15 league matches against Cardiff (D7 L6).


Cardiff have lost four home league matches this season, one more than they lost in each of their last two Championship campaigns (3 in both 2017/18 and 2019/20).




Birmingham manager Aitor Karanka has lost his last two away Championship matches against Cardiff since leading Middlesbrough to a 1-0 win in September 2014.

Birmingham are below you in the league, but it doesn’t matter in this league?





NEIL HARRIS:


No, it’s top beats bottom, we don’t win for a period, win four in a row, lose to Swansea. I thought results across the weekend were crazy.

It shows where the game is at the moment, a little bit inconsistent.

You know, to get in the play-offs, you need 72 points in the Championship. There are always teams, i.e. Cardiff City, who came late like last season.

Birmingham are a big side, shape changes all the time and we have to be ready with how we want to play against them.

Harris

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Top scorer Kieffer Moore, is out injured for a while

Kick in the teeth to miss Ralls?




NEIL HARRIS:

Yeah it was. Joe stays on the pitch, does the result change? Possibly. Possibly not.

It doesn’t help conceding straight afterwards. No Kieffer, no Tomlin, no Vassell, Hoilett, is he going to be fit tomorrow or not, we’ll have to see.

Harris

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Junior Hoilett injury?


NEIL HARRIS:

Junior is a hip flexor, so he has missed the last two games. Whether we can get him back tomorrow night or back on the grass will be a real bonus.

Harris

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It doesn’t sound like Kieffer Moore will be back until after the third round of the FA Cup and Tomlin won’t be back in contention till at least the end of January.

As much as I'd love City to bounce back with a good performance and win tonight, I think it will be a draw. Birmingham have only lost 1 game away, only conceded 5 goals, and our home form is patchy at best. Come on City prove me wrong!

If Harris doesn’t make any changes we won’t get anything and he will be on thin ice.

If he does change it all around we will win and he can tell us all his changes were his great idea and we get to see those bucked teeth on the tv once again!!!!!

Breaking: Kieffer Moore out for at least six games with a hamstring injury. Another crushing injury blow for the Bluebirds

Only 3 teams have scored fewer goals than Birmingham this season but Sheffield Wednesday scored 2 against us and they are the 2nd lowest scorers in the division so I suppose it's which Cardiff City turns up. I have seen Birmingham a few times this season and Karanka does have them organised and with one dimension Harris IF they score first I won't be confident about us changing things around.

In Jutkiewicz and Hogan they have players who know how to score and in Etheridge a very decent Championship keeper but in the main Karanka keeps things tight hence the low goal scoring, but they did win 2-1 at Reading in early December despite playing 20 minutes with 10 men.

For me we need to play with intensity tonight from the first minute but with Pack likely to play in place of Ralls from what we've seen so far this season he will slow things to a stop, Birmingham will love that, so for me a draw is most likely.

What are the odds?

Cardiff City win: Evens
Draw: 9/4
Birmingham City: 3/1

CARDIFF CITY FC:

Cardiff City will be without their talisman Kieffer Moore for the clash at Cardiff City Stadium.

Bluebirds boss Neil Harris revealed that the striker will be absent until the New Year, having torn his hamstring in the defeat against Swansea City at the weekend, which is a huge blow for the Bluebirds.

Junior Hoilett is also a doubt owing to a hip flexor injury which has sidelined him for the last two games, so he could also be missing.

Lee Tomlin is still in rehab following his groin surgery, while Jordi Osei-Tutu's hamstring injury will keep him out of training until after Christmas.

Harris said it could be a case of 'looking at Wikipedia' for some of the players he is expecting to name on his team sheet, so it is likely a couple of academy kids could get the nod.

Isaac Vassell is still a long-term absentee.







BIRMINGHAM CITY:

As for Birmingham, Jake Clarke-Salter could be drafted in at left back, with Kristian Pedersen suspended.

Jeremie Bela has also been ruled out through injury, but Blues boss Aitor Karanka will otherwise have a fully-fit squad from which to choose.

Jon Toral and Maxime Colin, who were absent for Birmingham's defeat by Watford, are expected to be in contention for a recall against the Bluebirds.

Expect a BIG reaction tonight from the team performance and results wise 2-0 to the BLUEBIRDS come on city

Expect a BIG reaction tonight from the team performance and results wise 2-0 to the BLUEBIRDS come on city