After the joys of watching Craig Bellamy’s Welsh wonders (who doesn’t enjoy an Iceland home delivery eh?) we return to league action and the Bluebirds’ continuing battle to haul themselves up the table, a task made all the tougher following back to back defeats in our last 2 and for the first time under our (still) interim boss Omer Riza that have dropped us back into the relegation spots. We head up north for this one with a visit to Sheffield Wednesday and a classic old stadium that hasn’t been too unkind to us in recent years, Hillsborough, a ground where we’ve only suffered 2 defeats in our last 5 league visits (conveniently ignoring the dreadful FA Cup result last season), something that we’ll be hoping to continue this weekend. Who Are You? Wednesday are one of the grand old clubs of the football league being founded in 1867 (initially just called “The Wednesday Football Club” and having played their matched at Hillsborough since it was opened in 1899, though it was actually called the “Owlerton Stadium” up until 1914. The Owls have been managed by Danny Rohl since October 2023, enjoying a win % of 42.11 under his stewardship. This is Rohls first senior appointment with him previously having been a coach at RB Leipzig, Southampton & Bayern Munich, as well as being assistant manager of the German national side, working under Hansi Flick. Wednesday finished 20th under his guidance last season but given they were 7 points from safety when he arrived that was a decent job done. Our hosts have a pretty mixed bag of a squad with some experience and a smattering of young guns too. Former Bluebirds Callum Paterson is still plying his trade for the Owls, together with of course the ever ‘dangerous’ Ike Ugbo (0 goals in 14). In goal, the on loan (Brighton) James Beadle appears to be first choice, despite being just 20 years old. Defensively, Yan Valeri catches the eye as does Di’Shon Bernard – apparently the Jamaican is keen as mustard and a hot property, these two are complimented by the experienced and long serving Liam Palmer as well as Dominic Iorfa. The midfield contains the industrious Barry Bannan, someone we’ve mused about on our board.. at 34 (almost 35) you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d be slowing down a bit but he’s played 15 times so far this season, scoring 2 twice along the way. Joining Bannan in midfield you have huge experience in the attack minded Josh Windass (4 goals this term) and Marvin Johnson, whilst also having younger legs in the shape of NI international Shea Charles who is on a season long loan from Southampton. Michael Smith (3 goals) has tended to share the striking duties with the lethal Ugbo. Last Time Out & Form Last time out (ignoring the aforementioned FA Cup farce), we saw the Bluebirds triumph at Hillsborough with City’s goals coming from Karlan Grant (via a deflection off Akin Famewo) and a calamitous own goal from the same Wednesday player after an unfortunate series of rebounds between him and the keeper after Etete caused panic in the box in a late, come from behind victory. The perfect Christmas gift from our hosts and a win which lifted us up to 10th spot under the now long gone Erol Bulut. If truth be told, it was one of those wins that in reality we probably didn’t deserve which were a bit of a feature under Bulut in that 1st season. Wednesday appeared to be hitting a decent patch of form a few weeks back but 2 defeats in the last 3 (including a painful derby defeat to Sheff Utd prior to the international break) has set them back just a little. Hillsborough also hasn’t been the fortress that the Owls would have hoped, with just 3 wins in 11 home games (1 less than we’ve enjoyed at the CCS) and a minus 1 goal difference in those games suggests that the crowd may not be fully supportive of the team if things aren’t going so well, however, with our away form being 3rd worst in the division we’ll do well to create unrest early on in the game. In, Out Or No Sign Of Them About Following the international break, it seems our players that were away have managed to come back unscathed thankfully, though whether the break took a fair bit out of them is yet to be seen. Rumour also has it that both Joe Ralls and Callum Robinson are once again available for selection, though there was some bad news in the shape of both Arron Ramsey and Kion Etete who have both suffered setbacks in their recovery form injury and so neither will be in contention for this one. With Alex Robertson once again ducking out of the Aussie squad we can fully expect him to be in alongside Turnbull once again. They are likely to be partnered by Rubin Colwill, who inexplicably got zero minutes with Wales over 2 games and a hopefully re-energised Ollie Tanner, who was just previously starting to fade a little. Predicted Starting 11 Alnwick Ng Chambers Goutas O’Dowda Tanner Colwill Turnbull Robertson Robinson El Ghazi The Odds Bods This former Bluebird winged his way into our hearts during his time at the club. The sky (blue) was certainly the limit for him though, when he played a key role in a cup final upset (and a spot of revenge for a suffering a previous defeat in a 1981 replay), before eventually ending up at Hillsborough for an 18 month spell, during which Wednesday suffered relegation from the top flight. Top Of The Flops Trumps As we know, we’ve had some real issues with forwards at the club, and there is a distinct chance that 2 of our worst recent ones may be on the pitch at the same time… so rather than Top Boys, this week we have Top Of The Flops…. It really is hard to work out which is worse. If anything, looking at the stats I’d have to go with Kanga right now. Match Day Melody As we wait for Saturday, let’s hope it’s a grey day for Wednesday eh? And let’s face it, we all love a bit of Friday don’t we?? (2 for the price of 1 this week you lucky so and so’s) Blooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!!!
Quality per norm What would be the odds on either Ugbo (where’s JK) or Wilf netting or both Di’shon; that’s a bit against the grain isn’t it
Ah well here we are back to the money corrupted club game. After watching our brothers playing with national pride as their motivation, I was struggling to get back into Bluebirds mode. Thankfully, we have among us a gifted soul with the ability to enthuse with the written word. Thanks as always Brizzle for yet another masterpiece. I think the break came at the right time for us and I'm sure the disappointment of the last two games will have been.shaken off. Let's get cracking again. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds.
I think Sparks would give pretty heavy odds against either of those putting the bag of air in the onion net. A mate of mine, a Wendies fan, was giving me pelters about how good Ugbo was in the second half of last season. He's been a bit quiet since August. I hope Ugbo's lack of any form continues so I can pile a bit more flack on my mate tomorrow. Yet another brilliant composition BB.
While today's game could be called off with heavy snow up't north, Derby would have postponed it on Wednesday as it was a bit cold!!!
They've only got to open the fridge door in the canteen and they panic and start closing surrounding roads to the stadium!!!
His presence didn't even register. Nope, I'll stand by my statement. Willock is the only attacking option on the bench.
Fortunate to be on terms. It doesn’t look easy playing football in that weather but it’s easy for Bannan.
