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Albert Rusnak: The Next Loan Star?
Birmingham City yesterday confirmed the youth loan signing of Albert Rusnak from Manchester City. The 19-year-old Slovak u21 international has signed on a one month loan from the Citizens and will be available for the FA Cup game against Swansea City.
I have to be honest and say that I don’t know much about Rusnak. The official site has said that his favoured position is the “number 10” role – ie an attacking midfielder behind the front man and it would appear that his signing would indicate that Jesse Lingard will not be returning from Manchester United.
Although I’m never convinced by Youtube highlights from what I have seen he’s possibly the kind of player we have been missing for the last few weeks. Friends who support Manchester City tell me he can play across attacking midfield and like Lingard has a good touch and a bit of pace about him. One thing that has definitely been lacking is a bit of guile and a bit of zip in those areas and hopefully Rusnak can come in and offer us a little bit more off Nikola Zigic.
Rusnak started the season out on loan at Oldham Athletic but only made three appearances for the Latics without troubling the scoresheet before his loan was terminated early as it was felt he would be better served playing for Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad (aka reserves). The Oldham fans forum I looked at didn’t see to be too impressed with the Rusnak and they didn’t seem too flustered with his departure – this may have been due to the furore after Rusnak had refused to play for Oldham’s reserve side. Vieira was at the Blues v Yeovil game on Saturday.
After some of the doom and gloom it’s good to see that Blues have moved on and brought someone else in when it became apparent that Jesse Lingard wasn’t coming back. There are rumours that ther is another loan signing in the pipeline but from where or what position I don’t know – only that it is certainly possible we could have another player in by Saturday. It’s not ideal that Blues are having to bulk out the squad with these young unproven players from the big teams but this is unfortunately where we are at this moment in time – all we can hope is that investment will come sooner rather than later.
Tags: Albert Rusnak
72 Responses to “Albert Rusnak: The Next Loan Star?”
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Maybe we should rebrand the club as Loan Star Rangers FC and re-locate to Texas.
I echo your thoughts that the lad may bring something fresh to the team, but I also feel we should not have great expectations that he will do a lingard in his 1st game for us.
Time is running out for new arrivals, [ money being available of course, ?.
I’ll take either of the kids who scored versus the Vile lol
My immediate reaction was — this is a guy who was loaned to Oldham and wasn’t much cop there. Let’s give him a chance though.
I had given up after Yeovil, but this may be enough to persuade me to buy a ticket for saturdays match
I don’t know much about the lad, only what I’ve read recently, but we certainly need bodies to bolster the team/squad. We also need a central defender to replace Burn, who clearly will not return and another striker. Trouble is everyone wants strikers and the chances of being able to loan one, who is half decent, is remote and other clubs with better finances will outbid us should anyone become available.
we may as well give up then,
glad your not in the dressing room
Viera was at Saturdays game watching Reece Brown he left within 2 minutes of Brown being taken off
i hope he isn’t like morrison when he first arrived,he had issues which lc obviously had to resolve,before he became a first team regular.
What a strange comment, Ravel had a history of problems, this player doesn’t
We have nothing to loose by bringing in a player like this, i’m not concerned by the reports coming out of Oldham at all, if anything it shows he has confidence and rates himself and 9/10 in football players with arrogance like that turn out to be the starts. However i don’t see how we are going to accommodate everybody now. I thought Howard had a half decent game on Sat and it would be a bit harsh to drop him for somebody we don’t know much about. I have been reading a few articles in the BM with Clark and i have a feeling hes going to switch it around up top. I think we may see Novak upfront for a while with Zigic rested and coming off the bench, obviously i’m reading between the lines here and i maybe wrong its just a few things that i have picked up on. If this happens naturally it will lead to further debate so we will see. KRO!
G-d forbid we play Novak as a striker again. I saw him at close quarters at Burnley and dear me he was poor
Fantastic signing by Lee and his team. Can’t be easy convincing anybody to come to us at the moment. Lets hope he shines.
Why ? They still get paid and they play.
Would it be good for us if we end up being a Man City / Man Utd fininishing school for there best young stars?
BCFC have certainly proved over last 12 months how effective good coaching / game time helps.
Does short term loans for championship clubs still extend beyond January deadline day?
We certainly need something up front as Novak, for all his endeavour and Zigic are just not doing it.
LC has not been afraid to drop or even banish players and maybe Zigic needs a culture shock. Against Yeovil he just didn’t seemed bothered, did more arm waving and falling over than normal, admitted he probably deserved a penalty but did go down rather theatrically, which rarely fools a good referee let alone the one we had Saturday. Zigic is getting a bit of a reputation with referees now for his antics and not his football.
As for Albert Rusnak, he is young and raw, maybe he has a point to prove after his Oldham loan, he might be another Redmond, either way we should give him a chance.
KRO+DNM
there never a dull moment being a nose me personally I would like to welcome the young man………….if he truly wants to better himself then this is the place to be…………………BYE bye jesse………….
Daniel knowing he his attacking midfielder am i assuming he can play off both wings??
Wiki has him down as a right winger, I’d imagine he would be comfortable as a wide player in a front 3 but his preferred position is a No10
As none of our strikers are really hitting the net lately, why bother playing 2? Play 1 up front, with plenty of attacking options behind. 4-5-1 would accomodate all our best midfielders. Burke, Rusnak, Adeyemi, Howard, Ferguson. I think I’d be quite happy with that.
Totally agree, we look a better side with 5 in midfield
I think we have both been saying about one up front for some time now, I’m more with 3-5-1-1, that would give the attacking midfielder to float across the park behind the lone striker, then Howard, Rusnak, Adeyemi (if fit), Brown/Ferguson choose three with Burke, with Lee linking between defence and attack and Mullins as defensive Midfielder, (not a lover but play him where he is useful).
If LC is not using Packwood it would be Caddis, Robbo and Hancox in defence.
KRO+DNM
I think against both Swansea and Leicester, we need to be strong in midfield. I’m not sure if playing two teenagers (Brown and Rusnak) in there would be ideal. I’d opt for one or the other.. with Burke and Howard providing the experience.
I can see that staffs, I was looking at my 1 and 1, with Rusnak and brown sharing the role behind whoever plays the lone striker, maybe a half each to keep it fresh, which I would hope Ziggy has put his Yeovil debacle and will be in the right mind set to play against Swansea at least.
I am hoping that LC can find a decent enough striker to lead the line during the next week or so, and a defender, if resources allow.
KRO+DNM
If it’s a case of either or, it has to be a centre back Chris. Even with Bartley possibly back for Leicester and Packwood, we’re still a centre back down. Still, Lee Clark is full of surprises on the loan front… so fingers crossed eh.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hong Kong bunch don’t give the sofa another shake and come up with a fee for and either/or striker and defender.
Maybe wishful thinking, but like LC they can bring a surprise too. If I’m correct the loan and emergency loan are open till March.
KRO+DNM
Then god help us if we come up against anybody with any height up front.
If you’re short at the back, the idea is to stop balls coming into the box from wide. That’s why 4-5-1 would be best, with the wingers and full backs covering each other.
There’s short and there’s short! What happens on free kicks and corners then?
Ziggy will do what he always does and fall back into defence.
I have mentioned it before, but with his height I don’t know why LC doesn’t try him at cetral defence, can’t be any worse than we have got, i.e two short-a***s.
KRO+DNM
Everyone mucks in. I’m sure Zigic will do his usual job.
We did against Yeovil and look what happened, filling the midfield should contain them higher up the field forcing them to try and either play through us or hit long hopeful balls which Caddis and Hancox along with Randolph can handle comfortably.
Unless LC opts for Will Packwood in central defence.
Swansea play it on the ground more, so five should stifle them out, might not be pretty but I think it will be effective.
We can all offer options, opinion and pick, what we think would be our best XI, it is the varied that make this site a class above the rest, the intellect and freedom.
What matters at the end is that LC gets it right and the team give us their very best.
KRO+DNM
I would like to praise LC for his hard work in general and signing Ruznak in particular.
He deeply cares about Blues and feels as bad as any supporter when results are poor.
Keep up the good work Lee.
Hear hear Rich
On top of everything else, Lee Clark is forging good relationships with the likes of Man U, Man City, West Ham, Fulham, Newcastle, etc. They all know their players will be well looked after at Blues. That can’t be a bad thing.
Lee amazes me with his passion for his role and for us fans.
Paul,,
If I was earning over £250k pa and have the safest job in football it would be amazing!
His name is not Paul its Lee !!
So would I. Can I do the Terry Mac role for £150k and then every time we lose at home you can send me to do the post match interviews while you watch replays of the match. We can then both enjoy the fact that we will never get sacked because there’s no cash to pay us off and the owners are 5,000 miles away and don’t give a toss.
Are you related to him in some way?
i wonder if clark will revert 451 again??? it was successful in the past
we again rise from the ashes………….rusnak would not look out of place in that formation i dont think? definately worth a blast again at the swans…………
lets hope he is another good player his oldham loan sujjests
that albert is a very confident player who knows whre he is
going ..oldhams reaction sujjests that he needs to use his talent
as a team player instead of showbating …whatever we must
toast lee clark and his team for showing that this great club
of ours may be sleeping but are still showing our importance in
in the footballing world …showing we are still craving for the big time
again ….get in there clarky and his bluenoses we have a job to do
……. kro
know doubt the swans will play 4231 would combating the midfield with 5 this would include rusnak supporting zig………….. or do we match the swans for formation?? this just opinion i would drop zig to the bench simply because he not done enough for me to stay in the match 11. i would bring wade into the 5 man midfield, and push this lad rusnak as lone striker definately more chance of a passing game than lump up to no where….
if the game tight big zig could make impact maybe with 25 or 20 mins to go off the bench…………..all about opinions…kro
i think hes got to go 5 in midfield simply because of the amount of bodies and 1 up top,
burke, adeyemi, brown, rusnak, ferguson.
zigic…..play randolph, caddis, packwood, robinson and hancox at the back and that
will do me quite nicely…..its all about opinions i know but thats a team with nothing to
loose execpt a 4th round fa cup tie so lets go for it because the league and our status
in the championship is vital for a crack next season and better times ahead…hopefully.
KRO.
Amen! We only differ between Brown and Howard, but that’s not a lot.
yeah staffs, i just think that reece brown with his two performances so far deserves a
crack in the fa cup more so than howard but both will play anyway weather one starts
and one comes of the bench so were wait and see because you never know with young
lee clark….theres romour of one more player comming in before saturday….i just hpoe its
a centre half or a centre forward. KRO.
I think it’ll be a centre back dave. When Lee Clark was talking about Rusnak coming in, this bit stood out for me:
“The type of players that we now have in the midfield areas are all talented ball players and that gives us the possibility to change one or two things higher up the pitch.”
For me, that sounds like he could be thinking of going one up top. I’ve no idea if that will be Zigic or Novak.. but playing both just isn’t working.
To be honest neither have exactly set the world alight, bot have been sporadic and spluttering. With what we have it has to be Ziggy, with the balled played to feet and the pace of the young midfielder taking up the lay offs.
KRO+DNM
I just hope a couple of the midfielders can get into the box, or we’ll have no one in there.
Just shows how thin we are, I’m thinking maybe, and I don’t particularly like him, Lovenkrands can be the loner up front?
He has pace, can hold the ball up and has been known to score occasionally.
KRO+DNM
Can’t be any worse than the last few games. I still think we need to try something different. Teams have gotten wise to the Zigic route. They know that if they put a couple of big players on him, that’s our route to a goal snuffed out. We need more in-roads to goal.
if you look at saturdays game you could argue both cases, 2 poor goals given away in the first
20 mins and plenty of chances created but no end product, were suffering at both ends of the
pitch, but i think defence is more where we need cover than up front so no argument there…..
its just peoples opinions on who should be the loan striker, at the momment its zigic or novak
because everyone else is either midfield, defensive midfield or attacking midfield so the choice
is limited also.KRO.
If we’re playing one up front, that player has got to work his nuts off, holding the ball up, laying it off to midfielders, then getting in the box etc. Every fan will have their preferred choice who they’d have up there.
whoever we chose to play we must get ball into
box to shoot to get more goals ….i have a feeling
that this will be our glory day ..he who dares wins
and this squad of ours dares .come on brum.
feel the fame …make a name ….kro
Lee Clark will keep us up then he will leave at the end of the season. This is when the club loses more of the squad and season ticket revenue dries up because not many will renew.
Zigic had a bad game on Saturday because he was up against 2 tall strong defenders and the other 2 were not that small either. Some fans forget that he does good work for us back in defence and against Yeovil our 2 central defenders had no chance against their 2 strikers who were also heavyweights. What I don’t understand is why LC didn’t play Packwood at all after bringing him back from Bristol Rovers – he was warming up after we were 2-0 down but then sat down again and we never saw him again. Also, Brown was up against other ‘big’ players in mid-field and was getting hammered by them. In my opinion, Yeovil had no real skills but won through with brute force & ignorance. Having gifted them the 1st goal and conceding again shortly afterwards we had no answer to this, with or without Zigic.
As regards this week’s game, I agree with most of the above posts and I would pick; Randolph; Caddis Packwood Robinson Hancox; Burke Howard Rusnack Adeyemi (or if not yet fit enough Brown) Novak; Zigic. I realise that if you ask 10 fans for their selections you’d get 10 different answers but we have to trust LC, he sees them all in training during the week and it’s not his fault if they don’t perform on Saturdays.
We played Zigic on his own up front for the last few months of last season with Burke, Morrison and Ferguson in a three behind him and we were one of the form teams in the division. What we didn’t do was just lump it in his general direction from the back like we did against Yeovil and Barnsley. When we did get a cross in from a decent position against Barnsley he scored. Please not Novak on the left – a complete waste of time.
One player does not make a team and that is what is lacking at home, team players are needed not individuals.
It doesnt matter what formation we play the team are not together.
As for Albert nobody really knows where he plays.
Our shirt sponsor is cigarette based and there is an age limit to how old you can be to wear it, hence the different charity sponsor for the kids kits.
At the rate we are going, most of the match day squad will be wearing Harry sponsors and not Nicolites
Actually there isn’t an age limit – Nicolites offered the Academy kit to HHHO as a gesture of goodwill and to stop awkwardness…
My only issues is that whilst we are bringing in an attacking midfielder, we are not trying to get the best out of all the others. Brown is clearly better suited in the more advanced position (and despite being superb the other day I think we were missing a little bite), Howard has been brought in to play the advanced creative role. We have got Shinnie who is meant to be a talent here. We also have Koby Arthur. I appreciate that we need to make sure we progress, but do think we should use the time of being 5 points clear of relegation to develop our own players who in the case of Brown, Arthur and Howard clearly have the talent.
4-1-4-1?
——————-Zigic————-
Ferguson–Brown–Rusnak–Burke
——————Howard——————
Hancox–Robbo–Packwood–Caddis
—————–Randolph————–
I’d be happy enough with that!
Although, if Adeyemi is fit, I’d include him. We’ve missed his power and drive in midfield.
Rumour has it Adeyemi and Lovenkrands will be fit for Saturday, personally I would prefer them to play fully fit against Leicester on Tuesday, maybe have them on the bench.
KRO+DNM
I’m still a bit wary of having two young kids in the centre of midfield. But, you never know, it could turn out ok.
Cup games are the ideal games to experiment, we only have this one then it becomes serious money stakes and a dream of the ivory towers again.
I’m not saying this isn’t and a cup run would be welcome from a financial viewpoint, but with such a frail squad can we afford a cup run if it means losing league games.
We did that when we won the cup and look where we are now.
I’d rather we give it a go and experiment than risk further injuries, besides as you say, “You never know”
KRO+DNM
Adeyemi is definitely worth a punt if he is back to fitness.. I did not know that :)
As for the young lads in midfield im not sure what else to suggest. If you think we are over-reliant on teenagers in our first team now im unsure what you are expecting for next season? :p
Keep right on and delay no more!
Sorry if I didn’t make my point clear. It’s not the fact that we’re over-reliant on teenagers, I’m all for blooding the kids. My worry is, I’m not sure if two teenagers can run the centre of midfield against the likes of Swansea and Leicester, etc. Up against midfielders with experience and a bit of nous, they could struggle.
I see where you are coming from, that is why I suggested one each half, but the other thing is, as they are so young and raw they may give Swansea something more to think about.
I don’t like Mullins but I would have him behind the two youngsters in place of Ferguson, he hasn’t been at the races since he came back, In my opinion that is.
KRO+DNM
Am hoping Lee has pulled another master stroke with this lad like he did with Lingard.
Hopefully he can use his reputation in the game to secure others for us too.