Luke Turner takes a look at where Blues could win or lose against The Tractor Boys…
Birmingham City return to St Andrews tomorrow for a crucial clash with play off rivals Ipswich Town where a win could see Blues leapfrog their opponents.
Gary Rowett`s side are on the back of an impressive 3-0 victory at Derby whilst Ipswich had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Preston before they were knocked out of the FA Cup by League Two Portsmouth.
Here’s where I think the game could be won or lost for Blues?
The presence of a strong striker?
Blues centre backs Michael Morrison and Paul Robinson were quite lucky at Derby last week as they didn’t have to face a strong centre forward until the final 20 minutes, where Blues were already in complete control.
The Rams left Chris Martin on the bench which was probably beneficial for the defenders. However, this time around, I don’t think they will be so lucky.
Ipswich striker Daryl Murphy is the club’s top scorer with eight goals to his name and is likely to start for Mick McCarthy`s men.
The Irish forward was top scorer in the Championship last season with an impressive 27 goals and, so, the Blues rearguard need to be wary of him.
Murphy is a big, strong old fashioned forward who loves a good old tussle with defenders. Both Morrison and Robinson will have to play sensibly with him and not get drawn into anything.
Ipswich are likely to play direct to the big man and he will control those balls that come into him and lay them off to team mates.
It would help if the centre midfielders help out the centre halves and get in and around Murphy to prevent him from getting a good control of the ball.
If we swarm bodies round him then he will be a lot less effective and this could frustrate Murphy.
He is an intelligent player so any lapse in concentration could be costly. Murphy is also an excellent finisher so Tomasz Kuszczak will have to be ready and alert when the ball is at his feet.
Continue to feed off confidence and energy?
Blues are in very good shape at this present moment. This was typified by the performances at Nottingham Forest and Derby last week.
The players need to continue to be confident on the ball and take inspiration from the likes of Jacques Maghoma who is in great form.
They also need to feed off the energy from Maikel Kieftenbeld in midfield. The Dutchman runs himself into the ground and we will need this type of performance from each and every player on Saturday if we are to get a result.
Naturally, the game we play is based around good energy in the attacking third of the pitch and this should be no trouble.
Ipswich may sit back, like other teams have done previously at St Andrews, so Blues might have to adapt a bit.
But, we showed at Derby in the second half last week that we can control a game in possession and go onto punish teams.
Blues may have to be patient so if it takes over an hour to get a break, then so be it. What we can’t have is Blues running out of ideas, being unable to break down the Ipswich rearguard.
Key player for Blues?
The man whose goal everyone was talking about last week, Maikel Kieftenbeld. His performances have been nothing short of phenomenal and we need another big one from him tomorrow.