If Michu and Bony can work together, we could fly up the table. Michu can hang back in his preferred role and come in late to pick up the pieces. Bony is now so much more of a threat than when they first played together, so defences will have to concentrate on him. This is bound to create space for Michu to do what he does best.
Too early to judge wherever the can't play together ,Bony was new to all manner of things , team , league , pace of the game , his lack of fitness . whereas we had Michu struggling with an injury ,trying too hard and getting used to playing in a more central role .Wait until he's back fit I say then we'll know for certain wherever they can play together .
So when is Michu due back - anyone know? Never mind, I've checked myself http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php 8th Feb 2014
100% correct. Bony wasn't firing at the start of the season and Michu was trying to do two jobs. With Bony in fine form Michu must play his midfield role properly - and keep out of Bonys way!
As long as we dont conceed stupid goals at the back.. To be honest, its not Michu im worried about its Vorm, tremble is costing us badly in nearly every single game, he has turned from number 1 last season into a calamity keeper, for his size he aint half a pussy under the high ball too, something with Vorm being a bit smaller you can forgive him for . Get Vorm back ASAP if we want to push up the league !!
Guys we have turned a corner! Injuries coming back one after the other, transfers coming in nicely, a good cup win on Saturday with positive vibes in the dressing room, Monk and Chico seen hugging and kissing tonight in Wind St, and a great win against Fulham coming up on Tuesday, the Jack Army is on the move again!.................
For his second goal he starts running from our half and really motors to get into the box to score.He is definitely no slouch!!
Sour grapes , took the money willingly enough when they were in the PL but now it's unfair (I agree but thats not the point ) Birmingham City 1 Swansea City 2 - Brian Halford's Big Match Verdict 27 Jan 2014 08:31 Blues give their Premier League opponents a scare, but the introduction of a £12m substitute puts an end to this year's FA Cup progress Share on print Share on email Chris Burke takes on Leon BrittonChris Burke takes on Leon Britton Birmingham City’s exit from the FA Cup illustrated, in a small way, the ongoing, perhaps terminal damage caused to English football by the formation of the Premier League. For 45 minutes, Blues dominated their top-flight opponents. They out-passed a team renowned for their passing, closed them down tigerishly, created chances and took a deserved lead when Lee Novak netted a glancing header from Paul Caddis’s superb cross. Half-time: 1-0. So far so good for Lee Clark’s side, which had performed every bit as well as can be as expected from a team seemingly in perpetual transition. But, in this era, so much loot is ladled into the coffers of Premier League clubs that even those in its lower reaches can, if properly run, splash mighty amounts of cash. Wilfried Bony, Swansea’s record signing, was left on the bench at the start and manager Michael Laudrup admitted he would have liked to have kept him there with a big game looming on Tuesday. But needs must and at half-time Laudrup played his £12 million trump card. Bony took pretty much every trick from then on. He had already been denied by a smart save from Colin Doyle and a terrific nick-of-time tackle by Caddis when he scored twice in three minutes midway through the half. Neither were goal-of-the-season or even goal-of-the-day contenders – just solid finishes. But it was the Ivorian’s muscular, marauding presence which unsettled Blues and created the space from which those goals came. Blues kept battling but it’s hard to compete with that sort of power off the bench. Their introduction, nine minutes from time, of Peter Lovenkrands, did not have quite the same impact. This, sadly, is the world that English football has created. Think of it in horse racing terms. Right now the leaders are about six furlongs ahead of the rest and the pack is getting more and more strung out every season. View gallery """""""""" Birmingham City v Swansea View gallery It’s only a question of time before the Premier League elite bullies the Football League into accepting its reserve teams. Where that all leaves Blues, stuck in limbo while the off-field situation takes ages to resolve, is a worry. All that Clark, his staff and players can do in the meantime is try to keep the boat afloat and at least there was some encouragement for their supporters as Swansea were hounded and distinctly rattled before the arrival of Bony. It was another home defeat, yes, but the performance and atmosphere were much different to the loss against Yeovil in the league seven days earlier. Reece Brown and Olly Lee showed their ability in the heart of midfield. Perhaps somebody should check Brown’s birth certificate – for a 17-year-old to play with such strength, authority and vision is ridiculous. Albert Rusnak showed glimpses of high quality. It was not a barnstorming debut from the Manchester City loanee but he will be better for having it under his belt. He always wanted the ball and appears to have the flair to worry Championship opponents, even the better ones like Leicester and Derby, fortunately, as they visit St Andrew’s on Tuesday and Saturday respectively. Rusnak could fill the hole left by Jesse Lingard’s return to Manchester United, though the most urgent gap to fill, in the short term, is central defence. Will Packwood did well on his return but Paul Robinson’s tenth booking of the season leaves him banned for the Leicester and Derby games. Kyle Bartley is close to fitness but Clark is aiming to sign a player by noon today – in time to figure against the Foxes. Leicester and Derby have the best away records in the Championship, both having won eight games on their travels already this season, but Blues will test them if they replicate their first-half football against the Swans. With Chris Burke influential, they took control early and deservedly led when Novak directed a header perfectly across Gerhard Tremmel into the far corner. Tremmel denied Rusnak, who also had a shot cleared off the line and, in a key moment, Swansea’s keeper turned Mitch Hancox’s 25-yarder round a post in first-half stoppage time. A second goal then and there might have been no way back for Swansea but on came Bony and Blues wobbled and then buckled. His double strike transformed the game in 180 seconds and there was no way back for Clark’s men. Their best opportunity late on came when Novak raced into the right side of the box but could not find Rusnak, in space in the centre, with his cross. Out of the cup went Blues. With honour intact but, in the end, bludgeoned out by Bony and all that Premier League loot.
Load of crap, and just a way to feel better about their loss. Comfort food for the weak more than anything. IF clubs stopped trying to buy their way into the Premier League then football wouldn't be in the mess it is in. And to say the gulf is getting bigger is crap, if anything the gap between the top clubs and the others is closing. The problem is, there is still that fear factor. The only two clubs for me, that have squads that are far superior is Man City and Chelsea, the others don't, they have their good players, such as Ozil, Van Persie, Suarez, and the like, but they are not a team of stars. And in our case, we have Bony, or as last season proved, Michu. We all have our star player, its how we use the rest of the squad that seems to matter. How can the likes of Jamie Redknapp have predicted us to be a contender for the top 6, if as the article suggests the top clubs keep pulling away? Granted it hasn't come to fruition, but thats not the point, it goes to show how we have been doing, that even the pundits had us down for bigger things. How can a club like Swansea, go from nobodies, to Premier League, and cup winners, to playing in Europe, with a small fan base, and lack of income streams. Yet a team like Birmingham, are using the excuse of less funds. Just goes to show, that not all clubs know how to use their funds to their advantage.
We need michu back asap, And when he comes back i want to see laudrup for the first time show some variation in the way we play otherwise it will be the same old rubbish of domination and less shots on target than the opposition that nearly always end up with us throwing the game away. We have the players we just dont execute their full potential the right way...We never play two halves the same, I want to see the training improved as the players have got lazy i have been told and there is too much of watch me watch me (laudrup) showing off his huge ego playing with the ball while the players are standing around talking to one another as they have seen what laudrup can do with the ball a thousand times. The confidence building starts on the training ground and its just not their atm. Never mind this rubbish of who drives the pink car this week and start to knuckle down with some proper training and perhaps we can cross that fine line between winning and losing...
Dai. I wonder if you would do me the courtesy of explaining your contrary positions regarding Laudrup's use of Bony? ( as outlined above)
One player does not make a team....football is a team sport and it does not matter if you have the best striker in the world in your side if they don't play as a team....As for you trawling through old posts then when bony came to us he was unfit and overweight and to slow and was not showing his true potential at that time, there were plenty of fans saying the same thing on here at the time. Today he is much fitter but he cannot win us games on his own can he..
Try again but this time try to make some sense and address the question. Why should Laudrup have rested him in favour of the Prem game then but should have started him against Brum with our most important Prem game in ages 3 days (2 rest days) later?
