Often Partisan

What Will Nikola Do? Leeds Preview

Blues take on Leeds United at St Andrews today with the whites hoping to continue the new manager bounce that has seen back-to-back wins under new gaffer Brian McDermott.

Leeds United

Brian McDermott has brought some much-needed cheer to Elland Road with back-to-back wins arresting a run of four straight defeats. However, Leeds lie only one place above Blues and their away record is pretty poor, having only won three times away all season with none at all in the league since beating local rivals Huddersfield on December 1. However, their last away win in all competitions was at St Andrews, when they beat us 2-1 in the FA Cup third round replay on January 15.

Steve Morison returns to the squad after being rested in midweek and Ross McCormack should be fit after a twisted ankle. Michael Brown returns from suspension but David Norris will miss the remainder of the season.

Blues

Blues have no further injury worries going into this game and have added Darren Ambrose and Koby Arthur to the squad that beat Bristol City 1-0 in midweek. Clark has hinted that rather than pushing two men up front for the home fixture he is likely to stick with the 4-5-1 which has worked so well away from home meaning that Wes Thomas is likely to start on the bench again.

As matches go this one is almost a dead rubber; whilst Blues aren’t quite mathematically safe it would take some seriously bad luck to go down from their current position and with Leeds being in a similar situation I’m not expecting the most frenetic of games. I don’t expect that Clark will experiment much with the side although I can see Koby Arthur maybe getting a slot on the bench to continue his footballing education.

For me though the most interesting player could be Nikola Zigic. He’s up against a team he loves scoring against… with a ref who seems to take exception to anything he does having shown the Serb three yellow cards in two games already this season. What will Nikola do this time?

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39 Responses to “What Will Nikola Do? Leeds Preview”

  • Atahualpa is a BlueNose says:
    April 20, 2013 at 4:26 am

    I hope that Ziggy again shows why we shelled out such big money on him and again destroys them. Leeds really do surprise me in how they still act and believe they are a ‘mighty’ club and deserve to be at football’s top table by right. Have never enjoyed going up there and will always want Blues to turn them over at every opportunity. Here’s predicting 2-0 to us with Zig scoring one and setting up another!

  • sutton apex says:
    April 20, 2013 at 6:17 am

    play 4 5 1 at home, feed the zig and he will score !

  • Blue Steve says:
    April 20, 2013 at 7:03 am

    451 suits our personnel. We have lots of attacking mid fielders who have the freedom to express themselves when there is 5 in midfield. Who know if we had played 5 in midfield at home for most games in midfield I reckon we could have made the playoffs.

  • Paul Carter the visionary he says:
    April 20, 2013 at 7:41 am

    I love Nikola and will never forget the good things he’s done for this club, however that love is not conditional and goes out the window totally when I think someone is taking the piss out of our club. The man should be the top striker in this league. When he’s on it he looks it but he’s only on it rarely these days cos he knows we pretty much have to play him plus he’s sitting pretty on the big deal he got which that judas McLeish gave him with no relegation clause.

    I hate to slag him but he has to have it when he’s floating about tippy tapping, not bothering to challenge or chase, everything at 50% commitment when around him our young kids are giving it all they’ve got. Lee had the right idea digging him out in public and I think he’d love to drop him but given our so called fans reaction he may as well play him.

    As I say if he’s on it he’ll give Leeds hell and they’ll know they’ve been in a game, if not oh well I’ll wait til after the game and read how brilliant he played on the net. Personally Id start with Thomas who at least tries then bring Zigic on as an impact sub in the 2nd half.

  • mark says:
    April 20, 2013 at 8:07 am

    Imo I dont think lighting will strike twice for Zigic, hey we all on here to be proved wrong. My hope is not about one individual but about the team. Clark will want this team to go out, and give a good show in front of our blood thirsty baying fans ……Today I hope leeds are on end of thrashing, and its team effort rather than individual one, and for once credit to clark there its due…….inclarkwetrust….kro.. Good to see this ref loves Zigic lets hope he stays on the pitch……

  • mark says:
    April 20, 2013 at 8:18 am

    http://www.bcfc.com/news/article/boss-wants-win-for-fans-781869.aspx inclarkwetrust kro

  • bluenoserob says:
    April 20, 2013 at 8:29 am

    what is it with this “judas” thing with Mcleish? He left us for a team in the prem , we were in a utter mess .This kind of thinking just makes us look like a bunch of sad losers with a villa complex.In return we got a better manager and some compo .as for him giving Zigic the that contract , do u really think managers negotiate the details in players contract deals? it isnt 1980 .Just seen who made that post ,explains everything?

    • chas says:
      April 20, 2013 at 8:41 am

      Rob, you have your opinions, others have theirs..Accept that fact..If you cant see or understand why others dont like McL then you havent been watching the last few years.I met a Blues Fan last week who still dislikes Macari (as I do) for theunderhand way he walked out on Blues.

      • mark says:
        April 20, 2013 at 9:42 am

        Terry cooper promotion 1991-92 fro div3 I think i got over Marcari…. chas…….the bigger picture in this sorry state of affairs was the club at that time…kumars in charge, gates average 12,000 which was dreadful, if you you were the last one to leave you got to close the gate….. funny was it…. nigel gleghorn top goalscorer with 20 somethink goals……and fans still whinning and moaning…..in joys and sorrows…….kro

        • chas says:
          April 20, 2013 at 12:16 pm

          Mark, the fault was not the Kumars..The cluib was on its uppers when they took over, thanks to the preceding couple of owners..It was bad luck that the Kumars bank went belly up , but they kept us afloat for that small window that enabled Brady to organise the take over..

  • Paul Carter the visionary he says:
    April 20, 2013 at 8:35 am

    Any manager it player of ours doing secret deals with the filth is a judas of the highest order. Sitting at his desk in our ground on the phone to Scum Park.

    comment edited – Paul… how many times. Leave it out. Also, don’t try and evade filters or I will just summarily delete your posts.

  • mark says:
    April 20, 2013 at 9:50 am

    Hi Dan you seemed to have removed Paul post?? was he not allow to express his opioion….regarding Mcleish??…..

  • Tony says:
    April 20, 2013 at 10:34 am

    Results cant lie Mcleish had us 9th in Prem and a major trophy in the cabinet ,Houghton Clark and all the others fall way behind give the man credit.

  • Marky mark says:
    April 20, 2013 at 10:52 am

    Mcjudas and CH ran away when the going got to hard, what a pair of cowards, CH failed to get us through the playoffs and took the first boat out Norwich micky mouse Norwich !

    Mcjudas, the worst football you could imagine dour and defensive, yes we won a trophy but it wasn’t down to his great management, look at him since an utter joke, and finally he wasn’t our best manager

    Harry Storer, Arthur Turner, Barry Fry

    All won trophies for blues and had a better win percentage, and one of them had us finish 6th in the top flight

    • chas says:
      April 20, 2013 at 12:21 pm

      You have forgotten Gil Merrick..19563 ring any bells?

      • chas says:
        April 20, 2013 at 12:22 pm

        1963 that should be, obviously.( and I was there, both games :-) )

        • Marky mark says:
          April 20, 2013 at 1:03 pm

          Good shout Chas

          Let us never forget Gil Merrick, another manager who was far better than Mcjudas

          • Ali Duncan says:
            April 20, 2013 at 11:40 pm

            I sometimes well up reading about the giant of a man that was Gil M. Local lad, part of birmingham’s history, stalwart player and manager of honour and integrity. I think he has been honoured correctly with a naming of a stand after him. It only needs the main stand to be renamed after our other favourite son. This should happen soon!

  • john from Oz says:
    April 20, 2013 at 11:45 am

    Subject: FW: CAN WE STILL MAKE THE PLAY-OFFS ??

    Hi,

    How about this analysis by me…………..

    Can it happen???

    Read on………………..can we make the play-offs?

    WE HAVE TO START BY WINNING ALL 3 REMAINING GAMES WHICH IS POSSIBLE and then………LEICESTER BOLTON & FOREST have to mess up as follows……

    LEICESTER to lose against PALACE & WATFORD and draw against FOREST(HIGHLY PROBABLE)
    BOLTON to lose or draw to BORO lose away to CARDIFF & lose or draw to BLACKPOOL at home(entirely feasible).
    FOREST to lose at home to BARNSLEY draw or lose away to MILLWALL & draw to LEICESTER as already mentioned.

    We also have to have BORO & CHARLTON results favouring us but on APRIL 27TH they play each other and they both cannot win.

    A draw would be perfect but if any team were to win I’d prefer Boro because of their goal difference.

    Hull drawing to BRISTOL last night was a good result as HULL can still be caught motivating PALACE,BRIGHTON & WATFORD.
    We live in blind hope.

    All the best from down under.

    John Bradbury

  • Texas Pete says:
    April 20, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    Still talk of making the playoffs. I love. Lets keep right on to the end.
    Also love Clark going to Barcelona….and emphasizing their youth program. He gains points from me for that.

  • bluenoserob says:
    April 20, 2013 at 7:09 pm

    i never said that i liked mc Leish ,i didnt, and i didnt like his style of football.But Managers cant be expected to be as devoted and loyal to a club in the same way that lifelong fans are .If they think they can get a better offer elsewhere they will go .Same goes for CH ,The club was such a good prospect then wasnt it? Thats why we had a huge line of top class mangers waiting to take over when he left for Norwich.

    oh and im not a villa fan.Just for the record

  • Tony says:
    April 20, 2013 at 7:39 pm

    Integrity Honour. this is Football were talking about not a Boy Scouts convention

  • Tony says:
    April 20, 2013 at 7:53 pm

    Mark Malarky, The old first division was a lot different to todays premiership no where near the talent thats on display today.
    Barry fry, omg are you serious he was a self proclaimed comedian two words to say about him Rickie Otto ooops I have said them.
    Arthur Turner never won a wembley final but had the best Blues team thats ever been apart from Freddie Goodwins side
    The final we did win was over two legs in the days when it was a mickey mouse affair.No Mr Mcleish got us to 9 in the premiership and won a MAJOR TROPHY all together now Thank you Mr Mcleish.

    • Marky mark says:
      April 20, 2013 at 8:35 pm

      Tony moany

      Arthur Turner v. Mcjudas

      Win percentage 44.6 is higher than 36.9

      6th place finish is higher than 9th place

      1 trophy each (but then Arthur lead us to a FA Final)

      And by your own admission Turner had the best blues team ever, who do you think put them together and managed them ? Oh and I don’t think Turner was blessed with millions of pounds to waste either

      Simple really, if you need anymore maths lessons let me know.

  • Tony says:
    April 20, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    Premiership im talking about not First division and I dont need no record books I was there you read about it. What a Malarky lol


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