One To Watch: Tom Clarke

So far this season, it has been a joy to watch Birmingham City play no matter who the opposition is and we have waited quite a few seasons to say that. Tuesday’s game will have just as much excitement as the last two games and with that excitement this time comes expectation. A requirement of 3 points is a must in home games like these and Rowett will be hoping that the ‘Blue Boys’ can play good football whilst also getting a good result.

As always I like to look at the opposition and choose a player whom I think will be a thorn in the side of Birmingham City in the upcoming fixture. Being a northerner myself, I have seen Preston North End, the visitors to St Andrews tomorrow, quite a lot recently and I have consulted numerous fans. As I think we will be on top due to superior quality and home advantage, I was just looking to see who the best Preston defender was because that might be the difference between picking up a single point or adding to our points tally by 3.

The unanimous decision appeared to be Tom Clarke. He is one of those defenders that is completely old school in the fact that he isn’t afraid of getting the ball clear. In fact, he looks rather ungainly and not very elegant but he gets the job done successfully and this is all you can ask of a defender. In 11 appearances so far this season, he has made 81 clearances. Just as a comparison, his centre half pairing Wright has had 8 league appearances this season and only managed 41 clearances whilst fellow defender Cunningham has played 12 games and made 44. This is just a small stat but it does show the impact that Clarke has on the team.

He is also a very courageous defender. He will get to the ball first no matter how many heads he has to hit on his way through or whether he gets caught with a stud in the face. He really is a committed defender and as a team who often like to play through and if wide men do start, then we may have to pull back the ball to Tesche and company rather than trying to outmuscle Clarke in the centre.

His one main weakness however is his pace. He isn’t the quickest and I hope that Adams is playing in order to exploit this weakness. If he has a run, whether they be next to each other or whether Clarke gets a head start, I still fancy Che to win the dual and it often leads to Clarke diving in and committing a foul. Therefore we need a high intensity in order to really try and isolate Tom and so we can gain a lot. It won’t be an easy game considering the opposition but I think we should be winning it.