With the greatest of respects to England’s second city, trips to Birmingham while convenient are often a grind. St Andrew’s is just one of those stadiums, and Blues one of those teams that, although not be the most aesthetically-pleasing of outfits, are always effective and a right old pain to play against.
Last season’s encounter for Bristol City was all this in microcosm, with the Robins initially in the contest only to be battered and bruised into submission and emerge with a 3-0 defeat, unable to counter the Blues' power play. "Rotten" was how Nigel Pearson described that night in November.
City are a much better side 12 months on and, as Pearson insists, one with a greater sense of character, personality and, you’d imagine, confidence but while they are still playing some nice football on the ball, still need to snap this four-game winless run.
With injuries in defence and suspensions in midfield but bountiful options up front, here’s how we think the Robins will line up against Birmingham…
Goalkeeper and defence
We’ll start with the simple part before it gets a little more complicated further up the field but Dan Bentley will remain in goal following a fourth clean sheet in his last five home games and a performance that further cemented his status as the Robins No1.
Bentley wasn’t particularly busy against Coventry but had to make a vital save towards the end to deny Viktor Gyokores when the odds were very much on the Swede scoring when placed 1v1.
The City captain does have additional pressure and competition now with Stefan Bajic waiting in the wings, along with Max O’Leary, but that seems to be bringing the best out of him.
In previous weeks, forecasting the make-up of the defence was a bit of a straightforward routine: (from right to left) Zak Vyner, Kal Naismith and Rob Atkinson.
However, with the middle component of that established trio now out for around 10 days, Pearson has some changes back there to make and we’ll try and discuss all the possible permutations.
Firstly, to get Tomas Kalas out of the way, the Czech is set to return to training in 10 days and based on Pearson’s words this week around his general fitness, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we’ll see him back in action before the World Cup break.
But, existing in the here and now, if the City manager wants to stick with his tried and trusted back three, Naismith’s place is going to be take by either Timm Klose, who’s trained this week after a knee issue and personal matters to deal with, or Andy King, who delivered an accomplished display there in the second half against Coventry.
Pearson did drop a few hints on Thursday, but they can also be taken either way, depending on your interpretation. With Naismith not fit, City have lost one of their main distributors at the back and someone who can carry the ball into midfield, but also a vocal leader.
If the City boss wants to replicate all those qualities then King fits the bill. He’s an organiser who, as a midfielder, is excellent on the ball, can step forward and also replicate Naismith’s sweeping passes from deep.
However, to state the obvious a bit, he’s not a centre-back. In a three, you can compensate for that a bit given City could go man-for-man with Troy Deeney and Scott Hogan with Vyner and Atkinson, leaving King to sweep as the spare man.
But there is a concern that Birmingham’s aerial threat, and potential mismatches because both Blues strikers are smart and seasoned Championship campaigners, that King could get isolated 1v1 against one of them. After all, as good as his display was against Coventry, Gyokores still had some joy.
That lends itself to starting Klose, who had been earmarked for the right-sided centre-back role in pre-season but lost out to Vyner and has since been on the bench or injured. Being in the middle fits his profile a little better, plus he’s not a bad passer himself.
There’s the added consideration that Pearson could want King to play in midfield, providing a shield in front of the three anyway and bringing his leadership in that area of the pitch.
As for the wing-backs, with Kane Wilson sidelined, it’s hard to see much change from Mark Sykes and Jay Dasilva, with George Tanner and Cam Pring waiting patiently for their chance this season.
Midfield
Alex Scott is back from suspension and is a near-automatic pick given the creativity, poise and just overall quality he brings to the midfield. The 19-year-old has been good to great in pretty much all his appearances this season and, although it’s easy to say now, had he played against Coventry, City probably would have won or, at the very least fashioned a far greater volume of high-quality chances.
Scott then needs to replace one of King or Han-Noah Massengo - City’s starting two on Tuesday - with Joe Williams a substitute for Naismith and suspended for this game anyway, and Matty James injured.
Massengo had a pretty good game in midweek and hasn’t done a lot wrong so it’ll be a tough decision for Pearson to leave him out, and certainly breaks with the code he abides by as a manager - if you get your chance, and you take it, you’ll stay in the team.
The Massengo question, in turn, then answers the King one, which bring us back to the defence and should the Frenchman start alongside Scott, then the veteran moves into the three at the back.
In front of those two will be Andi Weimann whose influence has been a little limited since he returned from international duty having suffered a slight knock but is just too important a player to leave out.
Attack
Much like the defensive line-up, the regularity of typing “Nahki Wells plus Tommy Conway” has been disrupted by the return to fitness of Antoine Semenyo who, after waiting patiently, started his first game of the season on Tuesday alongside the Bermudian.
Semenyo had some moments where he really troubled the Coventry defence, opening them up, before he was withdrawn in the second half as he started to tire slightly.
Now, based on performance, there was probably enough from their individual performances to suggest that Semenyo and Wells will start once again together at St Andrew’s but there are a few considerations that complicate matters a little.
Firstly, Conway came on and, as his manager quite deliberately noted, his first touch was a header at goal. The Scotland Under-21 international just consistently impacts the penalty area and, perhaps, most crucially just possesses that instant chemistry with Wells.
There was a moment when Wells held the ball up just outside the area and without even looking knew when and where Conway was going to make a run and flicked the ball into his path. It didn’t click like that with Semenyo and, as Pearson also said this week, he felt his two frontmen played too far apart.
It’s a partnership that’s a work in progress and it will be a huge call to leave out a fit Semenyo but, then again, Pearson may want to slightly manage the minutes of the Ghanaian and keep him in mind for a starting berth against Preston North End on Wednesday. Or, the flipside to that, is Conway will be in the XI at Ashton Gate.
It’s a very nice conundrum to have and whoever is alongside Wells, the person that misses out has sufficient attributes and quality to be an excellent option off the bench.
That limits the chances of Chris Martin or Sam Bell making an appearance but both should be among the substitutes in the Midlands.
Bristol City (3-5-2): Dan Bentley; Zak Vyner, Andy King, Rob Atkinson; Mark Sykes, Alex Scott, Han-Noah Massengo, Jay Dasilva; Andi Weimann; Antoine Semenyo, Nahki Wells
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