So, game #25 for the Bluebirds sees us travel a relatively short distance for this Tiwxmas fixture up the road to Mole territory for a visit to the pale imitation CCFC, Coventry City (game #24 for them as they are still playing catch up from earlier in the season). It's fair to say our recent record against the Sky Blues has been a little patchy, with our away form against them suffering in recent seasons after successive 1-0 defeats on the road at the Ricoh/Coventry Building Society Arena during our last 2 visits. These results coupled with the 1-0 reverse at the CCS earlier in the season mean that we've now lost 3 of our last 5 league games against our acronym twins. The game at the CCS back in October was yet another example amongst so many for the Bluebirds this season where we came away cursing a little bit of bad luck and a whole heap of poor finishing following a really poor first 45, during which Coventry deservedly led via an excellent Gyokeres goal but a much better second 45 during which the Bluebirds had perfectly good Callum Robinson goal ruled out for offside. We later received an apology from the referee's association for the incorrect decision, sadly sorry doesn't add points to our desperate struggle. You can see from Robbo's face, he just knows this is being chalked off despite being a perfectly good goal. No doubt the "sorry" from the ref afterwards went a long way to dulling the pain! Times have changed massively for our hosts since that game in October, with them flying up the table to now sit within a couple of points of the play-off places. Quite some effort from our hosts to haul themselves from the foot of the table up to 11th spot. You can only admire the job Mark Robins has done for the Sky Blues in often tough circumstances. Oddly enough our defeat to Coventry at home followed a defeat away at QPR, let's hope history doesn't once again repeat itself! Early Bluebirds Team News After a disappointing though solid 0-0 against high(ish) flying QPR it owuld once again be no surprise to see Mark Hudson stick with the same starting 11 to our Boxing Day line up, however, there will no doubt be some temptation to change things to try and unlock the frustrating puzzle of how to score more goals without weakening our recent defensive solidity. After a quiet showing on Boxing Day, we may see Philogene dropped back to the bench, possibly in favour of Mark Harris or Gavin Whyte. Alternately O'Dowda could be moved higher up but at the risk of the inconsistent Nkounkou coming back in or could we see a rare appearance from Joel Bagan (not sure of he's fully fit yet)? Personally I wouldn't mind seeing Robinson moved slightly wider with Colwill given the chance to sit just behind Etete, with maybe Ralls dropped in favour of Rinomhota and encouraging Wintle to be a little more advanced.... but then I don't have any coaching badges to I'll leave it to the experts. It's still unlikely we'll see either of Isaak Davies or Ebou Adams for this one with maybe the Blackburn game a possibility for Davies? Fun Fact Our hosts were founded in 1883 by Willie Stanley, an employee of local cycle firm Singers. The club as a result was known as Singers FC until 1898 when the name was changed to Coventry City. Prutton Predicts Davey boy is still enjoying his leftover Turkey at the moment and so hasn't predicted Thursday's games yet. Skybet however have the Sky Blues as overwhelming favourites for this one. Home Win 6/5 Draw 23/10 Away Win 23/10 Sharing The Love Making the list for this return game is a widely respected goalkeeper who made loan appearances for both teams, the current City stopper and a couple of historical strikers, one of which was a record sale for the Bluebirds at the time (£500k), plus one hysterical one who scored nil goals for us. So, can we make a Mole mither about the result? Will we make the Sky Blue's blue sky turn grey?? Can we finally manage a trois (points)??? All I know is that I'm posting this early again as I'll be heading back from Wales and an overnight stop with Mrs Brizzle at Llanerch Vineyard on the 29th so doing my best not to shirk my duties during the festive period. Safe travels to all that are heading up and let's all pray that BlueSculls credit card doesn't take too much of a hammering at the bar!! Personally I think it should be winner buys the drinks Bloooooobirds...
Great matchday thread again Brizzo. Two absentees from your "sharing the love" list are the great Aron Gunnarsson and magnificent Ian Gibson.
Cheers Sparkey. Must confess, Ian Gibson was an oversight but Gunnar was covered in depth on the home Matchday thread, hence his absence here. This one will be yet another tough test for us. I like the fact we've become hard to beat now but the lack of finishing prowess is killing us How much could we do with a player like Gyokeres on our side??
Excellent.......description of Madine!!! Big Ben Turner missing or was he on the home post? I've been to the Ricoh (I prefer that name) 3 times. We won each time. Sorry I can't make it this week. Enjoy, all those travelling.
Enjoyable read again. Not holding out too much hope but neither did I at Boro so let’s wait and see eh
Brizzle you literary genius you. A fantastic read as always sir. Thank you. Do we have a molecule of hope or will we be molested?
Bloody hell cling!! Those are the best two over Christmas hahaha I think after yesterday we might could be struggling with another injury, so a draw will be most welcome. Don’t worry, Brizzle I’ll be buying scull a couple
Our guys will need to be careful before the game and at half time. When I have been there, there has been a very sweet smelling fog hanging 3 feet from the ceiling, particularly in the gents area. For some reason the second half always seemed better.
Not had a punt on City winning for a few weeks now - bloody good job too. The odds were far too short for me to take on for both the Blackpool and QPR home games, but tonight there's just a glint in the eye of the chancer. We're on offer to win this @ 5/2. I've looked at the win with a one goal handicap and that's @ 7/1............. Nah, discretion is the better part of valour even for me - 50 quid gone on the win by any score @ 5/2. Please note at least I'm putting this on record on here before the event so am prepared for egg on face.
Resorted to watching on I pad. Do City players practice shooting? Some decent moves but the lack of quality in final third again apparent.
We look really poor again tonight. Working hard but our passing and link up play just isn't there without the quality of Robinson.
