This week’s edition of the Keep Right On Podcast wasn’t as doom and gloom as recent episodes. A much needed victory for Birmingham City over Coventry prompted a much more positive conversation.
Alex Dicken, Brian Dick, Ben Hawker from Blues Breakdown, and Ryan Deeney gathered to analyze Birmingham City’s 3-0 victory against Coventry, focusing on Ivan Sunjic’s impressive performance in midfield, the ongoing relegation battle, and the upcoming matches against Rotherham and Huddersfield.
The Blues are set to face Rotherham next Saturday and then travel to Huddersfield, who are just one place and one point behind Birmingham in the Championship table. The season will wrap up with a match against Norwich City at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
In their Q&A segment, they delved into discussions about Sunjic, Krystian Bielik, and Alex Pritchard. You can find the full transcript below.
If Sunjic was willing to take a pay cut, would you give him a new deal?
Brian expressed his satisfaction with Ivan Sunjic’s performance but emphasized the need for midfielders with ball-playing abilities like Paik to move the team forward. He mentioned not wanting to make a complete turnaround based on just one game.
Alex speculated that the eight senior players whose contracts are expiring probably have a good sense of whether they’ll be offered new contracts, given the proximity to the end of the season. He mentioned that players like John Ruddy and Keshi Anderson haven’t indicated any ongoing contract talks.
Brian reflected on the surprise of Birmingham’s recent performance, especially after their disappointing showing against Cardiff. He highlighted that their ability to regain control of their fate was unexpected, though he noted that Garry Monk’s Blues dismantling a strong Fulham side in the past was one of the most surprising performances he’d witnessed.
Was the decision to play Bielik at centre half a Mowbray recommendation? How much talk is going on between the two managers?
Alex: “I’m aware that they are talking to each other. Rowett suggested they have been having conversations at a recent press conference but I don’t think the decision to play Bielik would have had anything to do with Tony Mowbray. Rowett wants something completely different from his centre-backs to what Mowbray wanted.
When Mowbray moved Bielik earlier in the season he said Bielik could become a midfielder-defender hybrid and play a John Stones type role. Rowett doesn’t necessarily want Bielik to be doing that kind of thing, he wants his centre-backs to be centre-backs and stay in their positions.
Bielik was the best option and Rowett made it clear from the outset that Mowbray has given him his blessing to do the job his way and I’m pretty certain Mowbray wouldn’t have had any influence on that decision.”
Was there an issue with Pritchard and the staff on Wednesday that led to him being dropped from the squad?
Brian discussed Alex Pritchard’s role and positioning during the match against Cardiff, noting that Pritchard initially played as a number 10 but was shifted to the left when Gary Gardner entered the game.
This move seemed to confuse Keshi Anderson’s positioning as well. Brian mentioned that Pritchard may have sought clarity from the bench, although he acknowledged not knowing the specifics of their exchange.