Norwich City v Birmingham: Preview

A new look Blues side make the trip to Norfolk to face the Canaries.

A new look Blues side make the trip to Norfolk to face the Canaries.

Build Up

Harry Redknapp was busy in the last few days of the transfer window with 6 new players joining the ranks at St Andrews in the final week. Harlee Dean, Maxime Colin, Jeremie Boga and the clubs record signing Jota could all start for Blues at Carrow Road.

Redknapp’s team will be looking to take all three points away at a Norwich who are in the bottom three and have conceded 12 goals in 5 games already in the league. It will hopefully be the kick start the Blues season needs after an uninspiring start which included a loss away at Burton Albion and the most recent defeat at home to Reading.

Redknapp's 14

With the last week being an international week Harry will have had a few players away on international duty. Cheikh N’Doye was an unused sub for Senegal whilst Jacques Maghoma came on as a late substitute then played a full 90 minutes for DR Congo in their two matches against Tunisia.

The players Harry has had at Wast Hills will have been working hard in training to impress the boss and push for a starting place.

Norwich will be looking to bounce back from a 4-0 defeat away at Millwall. They had a quiet transfer window but did bring in former Newcastle and Blackburn defender Grant Hanley to help sure up the leaky defence.

Canaries boss Daniel Farke bemoaned the international break stating “As a coach you hope there is not too much load on them after a really hard period.” The former Borussia Dortmund reserve team boss wanted his players resting instead of travelling across Europe for their respective Countries.

Opposition Opinion

With Norwich having a poor start i asked City blogger Connor Southwell how things have gone so far this season.

It’s evidently been a slow start for Norwich, many were expecting Daniel Farke’s free flowing philosophy to click straight away, but they are still firmly rooted in the transitional stage. With eight goals conceded in two games, Farke has purchased Grant Hanley in an attempt to solidify the leaky back line.

New signings like Marcel Franke, Mario Vrancic and Christoph Zimmermann are still yet to adapt to the ‘rough and tumble’ of the division. Timm Klose returns from a prolonged injury and could partner (or be a cog of a three at the back) the colossus Hanley.

An opening day draw with Fulham and a home victory against QPR are where Norwich has gained their points. It’s been a process which has taken, and still continues to take, education both on the pitch and off of it. This ‘experiment’ is still in the embryonic stage and the hackneyed approach was always going to be a journey.

There have been signs of positivity and hopefully Norwich display more on Saturday.

There has been a serious disconnect between the thirds of the pitch but hopefully Birmingham will meet a galvanised Canaries on Saturday. If Birmingham can score an early goal, they will unsettle the Carrow Road crowd. Hopefully the many offensive options present in Norwich’s arsenal shines through

Lineups

With a handful of signings in the final week of the transfer window, Harry is likely to make big changes to the side that lost to Reading last time out. Below is our guess at a likely lineup.

This week we have former Blues winger Paul Devlin picking his team for the game. By his own admission he hasn’t seen Blues play since the Brisol City game, however he’s still given it a go!

Previous Meetings

Blues have met Norwich 66 times over the years, but the most famous meeting between the two sides is the Play Off final of 2001/2002. Blues won that day on penalties after a 1-1 draw after extra time. Iwan Roberts scored in the first minute of extra time before Geoff Horsfield equalised.

Solihull born Darren Carter scored the winning penalty to take Birmingham into the Premier League for the first time in their history.

Wednesday 15 Apr 1970 – League Division Two

Norwich 6-0 Blues

Blues heaviest defeat to Norwich was 6-0 away back in the second division during the 1969/70 season. After Stan Cullis resigned in March 1970, Freddie Goodwin took over and after a tough season Blues finished 18th while Norwich ended up 11th.

Saturday 8 December 2001 – League Division One

Blues 4-0 Norwich

Blues biggest winning margin over  Norwich is 4-0 and has happened on a few occasions. The most recent being 2001. A Tommy Mooney hat trick, including arguably one of the best goals ever scored at St Andrews, and a goal from Marcelo gave blues all three points on that day in front of seventeen thousand home supporters.

Saturday 28 January 2017 – Championship

Norwich 2-0 Blues

The most recent meeting between the two sides from former Blues striker Cameron Jerome and Timm Klose gave the Canaries victory at Carrow Road.

Played For Both

Cameron Jerome

As mentioned above, former Blues striker Jerome joined the Canaries in 2014 from Stoke City. The striker made 181 appearances for Birmingham and scored 37 goals. The highlight being his wonder strike against Liverpool in the Premier League during the 2009/10 season.

Nathan Redmond

Birmingham born Redmond came through the youth ranks at Blues and made 62 first team appearances before leaving for Chris Hughton’s Norwich. Redmond Left Carrow Road for Southampton in 2016 and made an appearance for England earlier this year as a substitute.

Tom Adeyemi

Adeyemi started his career at Norwich. After joining Blues in 2013 he played 35 times before moving onto Cardiff. Now part of Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich team after loan spells at Leeds and Rotherham.

Kyle Lafferty

Played 6 times for Birmingham after joining on loan from Norwich in 2016. Is now at his 9th club Hearts in the Scottish Premier League

Referee

Saturdays match official is Simon Hooper.

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