Full version of the BirminghamWorld Q&A.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Charlie, starting with Wolves, a huge win away at Everton to get themselves off the mark in the Premier League season.
00:05 They now go to Crystal Palace. An incredibly tough test awaits with Hodgson wanting to make things right as well now.
00:15 Yeah, I think the one at Everton, a second consecutive actually away at Everton, a late win.
00:20 Last time it was Ryan Aitnuri. This time, Sasa Kulajic.
00:23 I think a lot of Wolves fans very happy to see him on the score sheet.
00:26 No surprise it was a header given his height. Someone who should be adding another dimension to Wanderers this season.
00:33 Got a goal against Everton, of course, got a goal against Blackpool midweek as well in the Carabao Cup win.
00:38 A thrashing that was. So lots more confidence now. Goals actually being scored, albeit just one at Everton, plenty against Blackpool.
00:47 But Crystal Palace is a team that is quite the bogey team for Wolves.
00:51 In the last kind of six years, I believe it is, it's only been one win for Wolves in that time away at Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
00:59 It's a tough, tough place to go. We all know that. Selhurst Park, some of the biggest teams in the league sometimes suffer defeats there.
01:05 It's a very good atmosphere always. One of the best fan bases in the league.
01:09 Unfortunately, myself, I'm a Brighton fan to say that, but I do have to admit it.
01:13 So I think Wolves will probably struggle, but they'll take confidence from those goals.
01:17 And as well, two clean sheets, I think is very key as well.
01:20 Jose Sarr seems to be back to his top form and that's very important.
01:23 You need that solidity between the sticks. Towards the end of the last season under Loppe Seggi, he seems to have lost all his confidence,
01:29 but now he seems to be back to his best, which could be very key.
01:32 Charlie, it's been a positive few weeks for Aston Villa, obviously starting off their Europa Conference League campaign,
01:39 you know, with an absolute thrashing away at Hibs.
01:42 They have to hold on to that now, but they can probably rotate and save legs for their incredibly tough trip to Anfield on Sunday.
01:50 I think that will definitely be the case.
01:52 If it was a slightly easier fixture in the Premier League on Sunday,
01:55 then maybe they would have been a bit stronger and given a bit more respect.
01:58 But at this point, Unai Emery has done his duty with respecting Hibernia.
02:01 And he did that in the away leg in Edinburgh last week.
02:04 The field is a very strong team and they won 5-0 for that reason.
02:08 There was such a disparity in class between the two teams.
02:10 Now is an opportunity to play some youngsters and some players that might not usually get that game time,
02:15 or to just try and build some partnerships.
02:17 I've been doing my Predix 11 this morning, and I do think the likes of Carlos and Paulo Torres will start to give that partnership a bit more of a run out.
02:25 The likes of Callum Chambers, Seb Revan, maybe even Namaari Kellyman, John Duran, Selimans, Den Donker, Bertrand Traore,
02:34 all these kind of players that have been on the edge of the starting line-up but not quite making it into it.
02:38 I think they'll probably get some game time.
02:39 So an exciting opportunity for them.
02:41 I think John McGinn just has to start the second successive reunion with his former side of Villa Park under the lights.
02:48 I think that's quite a romantic reunion.
02:50 But other than that, as you say, lots of rotation to be had because the game away at Liverpool is going to be incredibly tough.
02:57 We've seen this season they've started as they're meaning to go on a win away at Newcastle United.
03:02 Very dramatic, despite having 10 men.
03:04 It seems as if they're not playing their best, but they're back to that position of getting those results even when they're not playing at their best.
03:10 And just at Anfield, you expect that to be even more the case.
03:14 So a very tricky test for Villa, and I think it will show exactly where they are at the moment.
03:19 Charlie, just Leicester City with more points than Birmingham City in the championship at this time.
03:25 I mean, an incredible start.
03:26 They are mixing with the big boys at the top.
03:28 They need to take that confidence into Millwall at home.
03:31 Who expected this and what is the current situation at Blues?
03:35 Because it's all seeming quite fantastic, really.
03:38 That is exactly what it is.
03:40 Against Plymouth, our goal last day for that one, Jay Stansfield, the young Fulham striker, signed on loan less than 48 hours before he got the winning goal.
03:48 That 95th minute it was, he flicked over a defender's leg and half-volleyed it into the roof of the net.
03:54 An amazing goal.
03:55 St Andrew's, the roof nearly came off.
03:57 And as you say, that's 10 points out of 12 for Birmingham.
04:00 They have been knocked out of the Caribo Cup against Cardiff City.
04:04 A red card for Lukasz Dukiewicz, a club legend.
04:06 A bit of a harsh one, perhaps, for a late lunge on a Cardiff player.
04:10 But nonetheless, they're out of the cup.
04:12 I think it could weirdly be a blessing in disguise.
04:15 Although everyone loves a bit of a cup run, being out of that competition means that Blues can just focus on the league.
04:21 John Eustis has been talking about how he wants to just focus on getting 50 points again and staying in a division.
04:27 But Jay Stansfield, for example, a player who's just come in, he was told the ambition is more top six.
04:34 So I think Blues fans will be very happy to hear that.
04:36 And some amazing signings so far.
04:38 More to come as well before the end of the window, I'm sure, so they can strengthen.
04:42 It's just about trying to keep up that momentum.
04:44 And the game against Millwall, it's a tough one.
04:47 They're a club that last season were really fighting for playoffs.
04:50 And they were in playoffs.
04:52 And this year, I think, although a dodgy start, they'll be trying to do the same thing again.
04:56 So, yeah, tough one at home. But at St Andrews, I think anything can happen.
05:00 And that's what showed against Plymouth.
05:02 Charlie, finally, West Brom, you know, two wins from the last three.
05:05 It's looking more positive as the weeks go on in the championship.
05:09 Obviously, touching on the away form, we've mentioned it multiple times.
05:12 It's not really up to full scratch.
05:14 But if they do get the wins at home, they can still start to build on that.
05:17 And obviously, your man, Jeremy Sarmien, to actually go on the score sheet as well against Middlesbrough.
05:22 What's it like for West Brom?
05:24 The host Huddersfield next. Surely, I'll look at that as in the three points.
05:29 You think so. Last season, I remember they were really struggling towards the tail end away from home.
05:34 And then they had a couple of successive 1-0s at home.
05:36 One of them was against Huddersfield.
05:38 So maybe flashbacks to then.
05:40 But the problem is they need a 1-0 at the moment.
05:42 They keep conceding goals even when they're winning.
05:44 A 3-2 against Swansea, a 4-2 against Middlesbrough.
05:47 Plenty of excitement at the Hawthorns.
05:49 But it's not what Carlos Corbijn will want.
05:51 He's always been a manager to grind out the 1-0s, the 2-0s, the 2-1s.
05:55 Defensively, they've just been pretty appalling, to be honest, West Brom.
05:59 And against Borough, they only had four shots on target and they scored from all of them.
06:03 That's not going to happen every single week.
06:05 In terms of shots, Middlesbrough had far more in that game.
06:08 It just ended up being more clinical from the baggies.
06:11 If there's a game where they're not so clinical in front of goal,
06:13 then they're definitely going to struggle even at home.
06:15 So I think that needs to be the priority.
06:17 On Sarmien, I did feel quite smug when I saw that goal go in.
06:21 After last week saying that he is going to be a player that,
06:24 off the bench or starting games, is going to have a big impact,
06:27 I think that's going to be the first of many for Sarmien.
06:30 So the Ecuadorian, of course, from Brighton, my club that I support,
06:34 I know how much talent he's got.
06:35 And I think going forward, he should be starting plenty of matches.