The Match
Birmingham come into this matchup buoyed by the goalscoring exploits of loanee Jesse Lingard, who scored four goals on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday on the weekend. That win was much-needed, as prior to that the Blues had taken only four points from their first seven league games, and must surely have been low on confidence. They'll have to find inspiration for this one from elsewhere though, as Lingard and on-loan Swansea defender Kyle Bartley are both unavailable due to the conditions of their loan deals.
Swansea are likely to be about as confident as they have been since their promotion to the Premiership back in 2011. Scintillating performances against Valencia and Palace have left both the team and their fans confident of success against any opponent, so the chance to start off their cup defence against a team in a lower division, and who are struggling for form, should be welcomed with relish. It's likely Laudrup will rotate his squad heavily so it'll also be a chance for fringe players to stake their claim for a place in the first team.
Prior Form (Most recent at top)
Team News
Birmingham will be, as mentioned, without Kyle Bartley and Jesse Lingard for this fixture, while David Murphy is likely to be rested after only returning from a long term injury lay-off on the weekend.
Swansea should have Neil Taylor back from injury after recovering from a badly bruised thigh, but Ashley Williams is liable to rested after seemingly aggravating an ankle injury against Palace. Pablo Hernandez remains out with a hamstring injury.
Swansea should have Neil Taylor back from injury after recovering from a badly bruised thigh, but Ashley Williams is liable to rested after seemingly aggravating an ankle injury against Palace. Pablo Hernandez remains out with a hamstring injury.
Completely guessed lineups
Statistics & Trivia
- Despite their lowly league status, Birmingham have actually conceded less goals per game so far this season, with 1.38 compared to Swansea's 1.4.
- The Swans have won five of their last seven away games in the League Cup, losing the other two.
- Swansea are unbeaten in four matches (in all competitions).
- Birmingham's first and second round matches both went to extra time, with the 2nd round match against Yeovil needing penalties to decide it.
- Birmingham won the League Cup in 2011, and have won five of their last seven in this competition against PL opposition.
- The Swans have won only once in their last seven games against Birmingham.
- Conversely, we're unbeaten at St Andrew's in three. Go figure.
- The Swans have averaged 1.4 goals this season, compared to Birmingham's 1.0.
Straight from the horse's mouth
Birmingham manager Lee Clark is philosophical about his sides chances, admitting it's a big ask to get
"We've got a tough game on Wednesday. In my opinion, it's the hardest tie outside of the (Premier League's) top six for various reasons. Swansea's a club on the up, not just the team as it's been a club on the rise for many years. They are the holders of the competition and they're sweeping everybody aside at this moment in time in no matter what competition they play.
"I was at West Brom and Swansea won that game comfortably. They went to Valencia, not an easy place, and won that game comfortably and then they did the same at Crystal Palace over the weekend. They will make changes but I think their squad is that strong and the philosophy of how they want to play never changes that we know it's going to be a tough game."
Read more at http://www.bcfc.com/news/article/20130923-the-preview-blues-v-swansea-city-1072697.aspx?#moetES1lOxTeJTIs.99
Swansea 'keeper Gerhard Tremmel is keen to embark on another cup adventure:
“This is the start of the journey for us. Hopefully we will be in the next round of the draw on Wednesday night. It’s a dangerous game because they are a Championship team who are targeting a scalp from the Premier League. But we know what this cup is all about and what it’s like to win it. Lifting the cup at Wembley was an amazing experience. No-one can take those memories away from us.
“Those memories have made me hungry to get another trophy. Yes, I have won the first one of my career but now I want more. I want the feeling of lifting a trophy again in front of a big crowd because that was an amazing experience – one I will never forget.”
Read more at http://www.bcfc.com/news/article/20130923-the-preview-blues-v-swansea-city-1072697.aspx?#moetES1lOxTeJTIs.99
Analysis
Since bodging the image together for predicted lineups (on Paint, I might add - I'm classy like that) I've learned that Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle is likely to replace Randolph in goal. What that means to the Swans...I've got to be honest I've not much of an idea. I feel bad that I've lost touch with the Championship given our three year stay, but in truth I found myself surprised to see Birmingham struggling down towards the foot of the table. We've lent them a player and all!
If you read the full article linked in the quotes above, Lee Clark is clearly trying to get his team playing some football, but he doesn't appear to be having that much success at the moment. In fairness to Brum, their losses have come against teams you'd expect to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, so it's possibly harsh to judge too much by their league standing, however it can't have done their confidence levels much good.
The danger with trying to play any kind of passing football against the Swans is you're likely to get butchered unless you're better than us at it. Clark has acknowledged we're superior in this regard and has also spoken of the need to get in our faces, but given he's trying to instil a footballing philosophy at the club it's probably not something which will come as first-nature any more (doing the whole "they don't like it up 'em" thing), and my gut instinct is we should be able to told on to the ball very well. If that's the case, we could well see another in what's been an excellent run of results, and it would serve as a nice confidence-booster heading into this weekend's clash with Arsenal.
We could see quite a deal of squad rotation, and it's also possible Rory Donnelly will get a run out. I've got a growing soft-spot for Donnelly and hopefully he'll get a goal the next time he gets a chance, as for a young striker there's nothing better than a goal to boost your self-belief. Fingers crossed. Elsewhere, Leon Britton could start after only seeing 20 minutes off the bench against Palace, and Alejandro Pozuelo could also be in for a start.
In defence I'd really like to see Garry Monk get a game. He doesn't appear to be anywhere near the first team at the moment and games like this are perfect for him - he's still more than capable at this level and will let no-one down, of that you can be sure. With Neil Taylor and Dwight Tiendalli likely to feature, along with (you'd imagine) Jordi Amat, his organisational skills and leadership qualities will be more than useful if we're to keep a clean sheet.
Last but not least, let's hope Gerhard gets a game. The guy was outstanding, and I mean outstanding, last season and I feel it's such a shame he didn't come to the Swans five or six years ago - if he did I think Vorm would have to worry about his place a lot more but as it is, his place as no1 stopper is assured. That being said, Tremmel will be keen to show what he can do and if given a chance he'll be looking to put in a calm, composed showing and to show that he can distribute the ball effectively.
Much like the Palace game, I'm pretty confident heading into this one. Let's be fair, if ever a Swansea fan was going to be confident, it'd be right now, so I'm predicting a Swansea win, with a clean sheet to boot. More of the same please, lads!
If you read the full article linked in the quotes above, Lee Clark is clearly trying to get his team playing some football, but he doesn't appear to be having that much success at the moment. In fairness to Brum, their losses have come against teams you'd expect to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, so it's possibly harsh to judge too much by their league standing, however it can't have done their confidence levels much good.
The danger with trying to play any kind of passing football against the Swans is you're likely to get butchered unless you're better than us at it. Clark has acknowledged we're superior in this regard and has also spoken of the need to get in our faces, but given he's trying to instil a footballing philosophy at the club it's probably not something which will come as first-nature any more (doing the whole "they don't like it up 'em" thing), and my gut instinct is we should be able to told on to the ball very well. If that's the case, we could well see another in what's been an excellent run of results, and it would serve as a nice confidence-booster heading into this weekend's clash with Arsenal.
We could see quite a deal of squad rotation, and it's also possible Rory Donnelly will get a run out. I've got a growing soft-spot for Donnelly and hopefully he'll get a goal the next time he gets a chance, as for a young striker there's nothing better than a goal to boost your self-belief. Fingers crossed. Elsewhere, Leon Britton could start after only seeing 20 minutes off the bench against Palace, and Alejandro Pozuelo could also be in for a start.
In defence I'd really like to see Garry Monk get a game. He doesn't appear to be anywhere near the first team at the moment and games like this are perfect for him - he's still more than capable at this level and will let no-one down, of that you can be sure. With Neil Taylor and Dwight Tiendalli likely to feature, along with (you'd imagine) Jordi Amat, his organisational skills and leadership qualities will be more than useful if we're to keep a clean sheet.
Last but not least, let's hope Gerhard gets a game. The guy was outstanding, and I mean outstanding, last season and I feel it's such a shame he didn't come to the Swans five or six years ago - if he did I think Vorm would have to worry about his place a lot more but as it is, his place as no1 stopper is assured. That being said, Tremmel will be keen to show what he can do and if given a chance he'll be looking to put in a calm, composed showing and to show that he can distribute the ball effectively.
Much like the Palace game, I'm pretty confident heading into this one. Let's be fair, if ever a Swansea fan was going to be confident, it'd be right now, so I'm predicting a Swansea win, with a clean sheet to boot. More of the same please, lads!