Eustace making big impression in difficult Birmingham circumstances - Interview Wednesday, 26th Oct 2022 16:43 by Clive Whittingham Birmingham, like Reading, were widely tipped for a relegation struggle this season, but under the guidance of our former coach John Eustace they've started relatively well and our mate Matthew Elliott is impressed with what he's seen from the side. Well you guys must be pretty pleased with the start you've made relative to pre-season expectations? Absolutely. Really happy. As you know I thought we were almost guaranteed to go down. There's only been two maybe three games where the team have actually performed poorly. Birmingham league results so far… Tell us about John Eustace the manager - what's he changed, what's the style, what have you made of it so far? Eustace first and foremost has changed the culture within the first team squad and the club as a whole. Everyone is in this together from the top to the bottom. There's a no excuses policy for mistakes and poor results, fines for being late etc. You can tell him and his staff are very good coaches too. The side is so well drilled and organised, the shape of the team in and out of possession is very good, we play to the players strengths and his substitutions tend to always make an impact. We set up 352, press high up and play with pace and intensity. We are keeping the ball a lot better now too, it still very much a work in progress, but that side of things is slowly developing. My personal belief is this is the best football we've seen since Hughton was in charge.
How did your transfer window go? It went a lot better than expected and all of the players have played a big part in the progress of team so far. John Ruddy on a free was a masterstroke, he is probably the most commanding and consistent goalkeeper we've had since Ben Foster. Kristian Bielik (loan) is the type of ball playing midfielder we've been crying out for for years. Add in the pace, energy and creativity of Tahith Chong and Hannibal Mejbri (loan) and I think we've got a pretty special midfield. Centre-back Auston Trusty (loan) from Arsenal and wing-back Manny Longelo from West Ham (loan) have brought some much needed power and pace to the left side and Dion Sanderson (loan) adds some ball playing ability from the back. The only area lacking was up front, but I hope that'll be addressed in January. Ins >>> Tahith Chong, 22, AM, Man Utd, £1.5m >>> John Ruddy, 35, GK, Wolves, Free >>> Auston Trusty, 23, CB, Arsenal, Loan >>> Dion Sanderson, 22, CB, Wolves, Loan >>> Przemyslaw Placheta, 24, LW, Norwich, Loan >>> Hannibal Mejbri, 19, AM, Man Utd, Loan >>> Krystian Bielek, 24, DM, Derby, Loan >>> Emmanuel Longelo, 21, LB, West Ham, Loan Outs >>> Fran Villalba, 24, AM, Sporting Gijon, £450k >>> Ivan Sanchez, 29, RW, Valladolid, £90k >>> Ryan Woods, 28, CM, Hull, Undisclosed >>> Odin Bailey, 22, CM, Salford, Undisclosed >>> Kristian Pedersen, 27, LB, Koln, Free >>> Jeremie Bela, 29, LW, Clermont, Free >>> Connal Trueman, 26, GK, Millwall, Free >>> Sam Cosgrove, 25, CF, Plymouth, Loan >>> Ivan Sunjic, 25, DM, Hertha, Loan Stand out players and weak links in the team? This might sound like a cop-out, but it's hard to really pinpoint one or two players, there's a real togetherness with this team and as a collective they've all done really well. With regards to weak links, again, I don't feel like there's one player or players, but at present it just feels like we aren't clinical enough in front of goal. Revised expectations for the season? It's a season of transition and consolidation. I'd be quite happy with anywhere between twelfth and sixteenth... but I do think there is something special happening under Eustace, so who knows what might happen... And what's the latest off the field, with ownership, with the stadium etc? Look, I've enjoyed answering these questions, do I/we have to ruin it with this? Currently we are still waiting for local businessman Paul Richardson and former footballer Maxi Lopez to complete their partial takeover. They've allegedly paid the deposit and already started making decisions in house, but the general message is that any takeover is being held up by the EFL's investigation into our current murky ownership. We'll see what happens, I'm not convinced by the current suitors and the names mentioned in association with them, but I hope I'm proved wrong and it all works out for the best. Work is dude to be carried out on the stands during the World Cup break and then again at the end of the season with the hope of things being sorted by the start of our Premier League campaign in the 23/24 season... Links >>> Birmingham City official website >>> St Andrew’s — Ground Guide >>> Small Heath Alliance — Message Board >>> We Are Birmingham — Podcast >>> Birmingham Mail — Local Press The Twitter @loftforwords, @MatthewBlue1875 Pictures — Action Images Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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