One to watch from a Brum point of view

ross1

23rd placed Charlton are the opponents for this weeks fixture which will take place tomorrow. Confidence after the international break should be high with the likes of Cotterill and Donaldson featuring for their countries whilst the others got a well earned and well needed weekend off in order to prepare for the Charlton Athletic game.

Usually, we see Birmingham City under perform against teams that are in the bottom half of the table. Most notably this was against Blackburn in the mid-week fixture just a few weeks ago. Normally, I like to choose a player who will cause us havoc. If I believe we will dominate the game, then my one to watch is a defender or goalkeeper in contrast to the oppositions striker being one to watch if I think that we will have a tough game. This week, I have chosen a winger, someone who will cause us trouble in an attacking sense and he is Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

Other than winning the award for the longest name in the Championship (this is a joke and may not be factually accurate,) Johann Berg Gudmundsson is a real threat when it comes to any form of wing play. I have not shied away from telling you all that I believe Grounds and Caddis have had a few tired performances recently and they certainly won't jump at the prospect of having to play against such a brilliant player.

As always, I shall start with the numerical figures that shows why he is my one to watch. In 36 league games this season, Johann Berg Gudmundsson has managed to assist 10 goals and score 3 himself. Any winger who is able to contribute to the scoring is certainly someone to look out for. It is the same with Derby's Tom Ince. It means that the full back cannot switch off even if the ball is on the other flank because Johann will be looking for the cross.

He also has 4 yellow cards in this time with 23 fouls. This may indicate that he likes to track back and help out his defence wherever possible. These hard working wingers are the hardest to play against because communication between our full back and winger is paramount at all times as well as being able to get past him. If Johann and the Charlton wing back both drop, then it will be 2v1 on our winger which puts them at the advantage.

Overall I think that Johann Berg Gudmundsson has all of the ability and skill to give Grounds a very torrid time. However, if we can restrict the ball getting to him and stifling any attacks before he can get involved, then we have every chance of preventing him whipping in crosses.

Read more: http://www.birmingham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=440975#ixzz44bbwtYPR

Tutt-Tutt

A lot of guesswork in this. We all know that Gudmunsson isn't an orthodox winger. He starts on the right and cuts inside onto his left to join in the play in the central areas, allowing the right back to overlap on the outside. The opposition left back has to make a decision to go inside and close him down or to hold his position and hand him on. As time has gone on, opponents have used their central midfielders to pick him up as he moves inside and have closed down the areas where he was previously causing problems and scoring goals. Rotherham away last season was a perfect example.

JBG also plays in the hole behind the front two or lone striker in some formations and as we know he is also weak in defensive play, as illustrated by the penalty he gave away in the Bristol City home game. I think his agent wrote the line about tracking back and hard working.

I suppose the Brummie fella had to pick someone to highlight. Can't understand why Reza wasn't chosen?

Six-a-bag-of-nuts

"A real threat when it comes to any form of wing play"
"Whipping in crosses"
More likely to give Grounds a very big surprise