Birmingham Mail

Never before have Blues had so many French-speaking players among their number (who are they? answer at the end . . . ).

Then there's Oubina and Wilson Palacios, whose native tongue is Spanish.

Fortunately it's not been so much of a problem as all of the 'Frenchies' are fluent in English, and Olivier Kapo is getting there, slowly but surely.

And coach Eric Black's French is excellent, as befitting someone who spent five years in the country playing for Metz.

It's probably more of a headache when they first arrive and need help off the field with housing and so on.

Blues are one of the few Premier League clubs who haven't got a full-time player liason officer, who speaks several languages, so press officer Andy Maxey and Black usually have to do the honours.

When we spoke the other day at the training ground, Black was taking calls relating to schooling and houses for Kapo and his family, for example.

Blues and their French foreign legion roll up at Anfield on Saturday, hoping to pull off a shock. It's been a decent hunting ground in the past for Blues, Liverpool, in the Premier League.

Clinton Morrison's 90th minute equaliser springs to mind, and Darren Anderton's tapped-in winner, which was Blues first goal in seven hours and 50 minutes that season.

Xabi Alonso's own goal, in the 88th minute, gave Blues another draw on Merseyside.

Not a bad record - just don't think about FA Cup quarter-finals at home . . . .

* Blues French-speakers: Rafael Schmitz, Mehdi Nafti, Franck Queudrue, Johan Djourou, Olivier Kapo, Radhi Jaidi, Fabrice Muamba, Olivier Tebily.