Many thanks Chris for your historic and contemporary preview that contrasts the Victorian values and brash new money of the modern game. Everyone is now in a hurry and that means spending big and expecting results now - gone are those days of pondering how to stay fit outside the season, most Championship players probably wouldn't have the energy to pick up a cricket bat during their few weeks off in the summer (if they're not involved in some international tournament) before getting back into a grueling preseason training.

It does seem like players are now out injured far more than they did a few decades ago - though Jones and Malander sound like minor problems that should see them fit again after the break - though if Jones is called up by Canada he could likely play 3 games before we get him back - Chile, Peru and then the 'friendly' grudge match against the USA - hopefully they'll be no 'blue on blue' incidents as our own US contingent get fired up by the crowd!

Sounds like a tough game awaits at Birmingham on Saturday - just that one defeat against Norwich this season but 4 draws and 2 wins sees them just outside the top 8. Hopefully Boro go into the break on a high as three weeks is a long time to dwell on another missed opportunity...

Excellent work, Chris. Thanks for putting that together for us.

Quite a tough game to call, this. Though I feel like we have a decent recent record at St Andrews.

With such a long break on the horizon, I just want to come out of it feeling positive to carry us through the tumbleweed weeks ahead.

Great read thank you Chris involving history and the current state of play.

This is one, given our recent history at St Andrews, I would have expected us to take all three points but our continuing inability to manage games over 90 mins gives me cause for concern.

A draw at best but I am fearing a “typical Boro” performance to leave us deflated during the break.

The one lingering hope is that it is still early in the season and there is time to put things right and it is about how you finish not how you start, as we all know too well over recent seasons. 😎

There will always be room for disagreement but I for one am massively impressed by the way that KH is prepared to talk honestly about the games, the tactics, the mistakes and the positives. He seems to be a really decent person who understands that MFC is the emotional heart of the town.

I admit to being 100% on board with the direction that the club has followed over the summer and the way that they have created a squad of real potential, real spirit and real youth. That latter point is maybe the most surprising. This squad is young and should get significantly better and more understanding of each other as time passes. With their ages, they could easily play together for the next two seasons or more and get better and better each year.

Everyone on this blog has been through the ups and downs of the club and it's perfectly reasonable to query what we see as faults, problems or mistakes but I hope that, at the same time, we can all take pleasure from this new version.

UTB 

@werdermouth 

The US have 4 games in the break the last on Tuesday 6th in Minnesota, so any selected players probably not back until the Thursday before the Wolves game on the Saturday, although looking at some US sites they are predicting only Berhalter to be picked. Squad named on Thursday. Thinking about international football the Asian Cup is in January next year, so likely that we will lose Mcgree for an extended period in the New Year, if he stays fit.

Great work, Chris - full of info and background for Saturday’s game. 

I think, as fans, we’ll be expecting to have a chance of winning every game this season - obviously that’s not going to be possible, but there aren’t many teams we should fear. 

We’ll be on a train from Köln to Bruxelles when the game kicks off. Here’s hoping for on board WiFi. 

Many thanks, Chris. It’s a lovely opener which brings in a bit of real history, a bit of tongue-in-cheek history ( I loved the Peaky Blinders!) and a good analysis of where the two clubs stand at present. Very enjoyable. 

We do have a very strong record against them in recent years. Boro have won all of the previous seven games and have also won seven out of our last eight away in the league at St Andrews, including the last five in a row. That’s a quite remarkable record, and must make us one of their chief bogey teams. Birmingham have also drawn all three of their home games so far this season. They’ll be desperate to win this one.

Personally, I can’t see us extending this amazing winning streak this time out, principally because I have little confidence in our ability to stop the opposition scoring. I’d like to win obviously, but I think a draw would still be a positive result. UTB. 

Thank you everyone for your generous feedback.

In truth, writing the preview was a welcome relief from wallpapering. We have a normal-size house but it is beginning to feel like decorating the Taj Mahal.

UTB

Adding my thanks @chris-from-barlby. That was a excellent read the other morning and I apologise for only "liking" it at the time, but I didn't have the time to scribble something in a proper reply. 

I does appear we are going to be meeting Birminghame at just the wrong time. It is to be hoped that they will not sit deeply at home. otherwise we will (on current evidence) struggle to break them down sufficiently. We can score goals, the only thing is we currently have that tendency to concede them.

It was refreshig to read what KH had to say and I still have anawful lot of faith in what he is trying to do. I just wish he would pick Sol Brynn, who I think would give the defence a better sense of security. I noted Andy_R saying he would not have blamed Vitek for the first goal (well for either) against Millwall. I am sorry to have to disagree though (which I very rarely do with your (Andy's) take on things. Regradless of Ayling giving the guy the space, a giant the length of Vitek should never have let that in at the near post. I could be swithered on the second goal, but after watching it over and again and again, I still think he should have intercepted (or at least tried to intercept) that ball getting played back into the danger zone. That is his area to dominate and while I agree the ball was moving at a reaonable pace, he was not prepared to move to cut out anything, unless the ball had been played directly at him. While I am ranting, I also was only marginally impressed by the "great" save he made to stop Millwall re-taking the lead. The ball was headed down and bounced up directly at him. If you look, he is not on his toes, but flat footed. Had that header gone either side of him by 3 feet, I am not convinced he would have been able to react and get to it. Even as he did flap at the ball he neither caught it or got it away and fortunately for him ad us, Luke Ayling was first on hand to clear the ball to safety.

I need to stop this obsession ....

Thanks Chris for a very interesting and well-written piece. The way you have integrated your background research so seamlessly into such a readable and entertaining narrative is a real achievement. Greatly appreciated.

Good news only Barhalter of our Americans is in their squad for the friendlies in the upcoming window. Alfie Jones is in the Canadian squad . The site I looked at originally had him listed as a Vancouver Whitecaps player so I missed him.

@chris-from-barlby   That was a very nice piece, and a Headliner to start more debate.

Which Boro will turn up, typical or untypical?

I expect us to score goals but will it be enough. As Clive said, we concede too many despite what Kim says. I cannot see us getting more than a point, but a loss will make it a long miserable wait until the next tough game against Wolves.

Riley Mcgree in the Socceroos squad. Fortunately they are only playing two games against Brazil and the second is on the 29th of September so he should be OK for the Wolves game.

A great starter. A good home debut like Phillips had at Riverside. Enjoyed that.

We cannot call Birmingham a bogey team versus Boro. Look at the stats given by BBC:

Birmingham City have lost each of their past seven Championship games against Middlesbrough since a 2-0 win in October 2021 under Lee Bowyer.

Middlesbrough have won seven of their past eight league visits to Birmingham, including their last five in a row since a 2-1 defeat in October 2019.

But it won't be easy to keep our record at St Andrew's. Still, I hope we keep our record of two points per match after the visit to Birmingham. The season wiĺl be long but we must collect as many points as possible.

Up the Boro!

@mw-in-darwin. Assuming he doesn’t pick up an injury whilst on international duty! 😉😎

@k-p-in-spain RMcG injured? Surely not!

Cozier-Duberry, Lankshear and Philips in England Under 21 squad. The furthest they have to travel is to Cork, they have two home games as well.

@mw-in-darwin   It’s looking as though we will be missing a few players. I wonder if Strelec has been picked. At least he would hopefully get some minutes.

Slovakia have four games to play, last one on the 6th. Looks as though Strelec is in the squad.

Bayern Munich beat Union Berlin 7-nil. Kane scores two and achieves the fastest 100 goals.

Latte Lathe is substituted at half time. 

Thank you for that tremendous opener, Chris! Very historical, and as readers will know I'm fond of history.

I have a bit of history with Birmingham City myself, or rather, the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Family have lived there in the past, and I have been to both St Andrews and Molineux as well as the Riverside. I do recall buying a ticket for Wolves vs Ipswich at the last minute back in 2015, at a time when there was a possibility that we could be facing either team in the play-offs were our automatic promotion bid to go wrong (as we know, it did). I remember walking into the town quite content, not feeling particularly worried about either side based on what I'd seen. This was the day after I'd gone to a nearby pub to watch us bravely battle to a 1-0 win at rivals Norwich in one of my finest memories of the Aitor Karanka era, so you could argue I was doubly contented with the possibility of the title still there. Little did I, and we, know...

But this is about Birmingham City. And on both occasions I've visited St Andrews, both with family, I've received warm welcomes and the wins that I've oddly never had in any of my visits to the Riverside! The first of these was in early 2004 when Wimbledon, in the pre-MK Dons and pre-AFC Wimbledon days, came to town for an FA Cup tie. The Blues started out strongly, Bryan Hughes netting very early on (and I remember not even seeing him score as from my point-of-view, either Clinton Morrison, Stern John or both were in the way!) but it became a real scrap after that and Wimbledon made a game of it. That goal, in the end, was enough.

Two years later I came back - and so did Robbie Savage, who'd played for the Blues against Wimbledon but was now wearing a Blackburn shirt as Brum took on Rovers in a game they really needed to win. That they did, late-ish goals from Nicky Butt and Mikael Forssell either side of an - of course - Savage goal really lighting the place up. Although in the end Portsmouth overtook them in the survival battle and that era, where Steve Bruce seemed to have entrenched the Blues as a Premier League fixture, was ending.

I think, for some reason, I always held Boro victories at Wolves and Brum closest to my heart as, when my family lived there, I knew it would probably be my best chance of seeing the lads live if I didn't get to Boro. (Thankfully I rectified that.) It doesn't take me too long to think of my two favourite St Andrews victories - one's from over two decades ago, the other's from this year, and both feature three Boro goals each! I'm talking about the Mark Viduka first double which set us on our way to our first league win and goals of 2005-06, in a 3-0 win where Franck Queudrue got the third, and that time last season where our on loan left back was literally on Targett twice over before the home team pulled a goal back - luckily David Strelec's header would send us into dreamland again.

At this stage, I'd like to pause for thought and draw a parallel. I noted that the Birmingham of 2006, while they arguably possessed more technically gifted players than the class who preceded them in 2004, were less fluid and coherent - and sadly I'm seeing a similar thing with Boro this season, that being, the overall flow and synergy disrupted while the new men either try to find their feet or don't look quite in place. It appears an even tougher task for a team to click when the club has signed what feels like an entirely new side, and this is leaving us heavily reliant on individualism.

I don't want to be too nitpicky. Given how many players have come in and how unsettling that can potentially be, I think we've actually done remarkably well. But after the midweek instance of dropped points at home and a very long break ahead, the pressure is on us to precede the forthcoming pause in our calendar with something special.

We can but hope.

Thanks for the great intro Chris. Only been to St.Andrews twice, once I enjoyed the day we played First Division football for the first time in my lifetime and won 3-0, and then in the same season the 1-0 defeat in the Sixth Round of the FA Cup. I think that we may have to settle for a point, although Birmingham do have a few injuries, but so did Millwall.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/patrick-roberts-injury-latest-birmingham-34634003

Injury news from CJ:

Ahead of the game, Kim Hellberg confirmed his hope that Adilson Malanda will return.

The question then will be whether there are then any other changes after the midweek half-time triple change that inspired Boro's comeback against Millwall.  Arfsten and Sarmiento impressed, so we'll see if either/both are handed starts today.

Three changes in the starting XI:

The thoughts of Chairman CJ on the line-up:

Three changes for Boro then with Malanda, Arfsten and Peart-Harris in for Borges, Berhalter and Conway - all three of whom are on the bench.

Suspect, because of the inclusion of Arfsten, that will be a back three with Malanda joining Phillips and Ayling in the defence. They can have Malanda push into the midfield, as we've seen.

Peart-Harris getting the start is an interesting one. Thought that might happen, and went with him in my predicted team. Birmingham have started the season being a lot more direct, so as well as his physical presence, he's a good ball carrier too.

Suspect it will be a forward three, with Cozier-Duberry and McGree either side of Lankshear.

@stircrazy 

I suspect playing the extra defender/defensive midfielder will allow Arfsten to get forward more than defend - he will offer the pace down the left to complement Cozier-Duberry on the right. McGree and Peart-Harris offer some ball-playing skills up front - much will depend on what Birmingham offer as a threat but since they're at home we might not see them parking the bus.

CJ after 30 minutes:

Boro aren't being given time to really play any of their usual stuff. Birmingham had the majority of possession. Boro just not quite getting to grips with it. Defending well enough, but little of note at the other end.

Vitek's had a couple of saves to make... 

Well,  0-1 at last but still all to play for with Boro making hard work of it against a functional Birmingham side; a great run and control inside the box by Cozier Duberry to provide Arfsten with the opportunity to score.

Not a lot of quality on display from either side, both of whom have spurned good opportunities including Lankshear hitting the post.

Not sure why we are playing Milander in midfield when we have midfielders on the bench? 🤔😎

Arfsten gives Boro the lead in the 45th minute after good work by Malanda & ACD, who's credited with the assist!