Birmingham 1 v 1 Tottenham Hotspur Quick Post Match Thoughts
Before a few critical comments, I have to say that I was impressed with our never say die attitude today. We battled to stay in the game all afternoon and particularly after we went 1-0 down. Actually that seemed to spur us into life. (Excuse the pun!) Not for the first time this season, a non forward scored for us – a defender, Liam Ridgewell – popped up to resucue a point.
It COULD have been better though. Chucho missed two chances where he was one on one, chances you KNOW Defoe wouldn’t have missed. I have to say, I’m getting concerned about Chucho. He is fast, and beats the back line quite often – however his return IS poor. We must have at LEAST 1 more striker before 17.00 Monday.
The other notable criticism is our lack of penetration prior to the last 10 minutes. We need a bit of pace, guile and creativity on either flank. We played some nice football, and we did break through enough times, but for much of the afternoon I thought we were a bit predictable. Seb and McFadden worked hard, but looked below par – I’m not surprised they were substituted. They need some competition for their places I think.
Take nothing away from Spurs, I thought they looked well organised and looked dangerous whenever they came forward. Defoe pounced on a free ball mid-way through the 2nd half, and Harry must have thought they had won it, but they hadn’t accounted for our unwillingness to give in!
So, well done Blues – on the whole a good response to Wednesday, let’s not forget that Spurs are going for a Champion’s League place.
Oh, and I called the result correctly in my preview! 
Birmingham City v Tottenham Hotspur Preview
We return to St Andrews after two games on our travels. Today sees us play Spurs who are looking for at least a european position and possibly higher.
A Few Facts
In our meetings to date, Birmingham have won 28 and Spurs have won 44 with 19 draws.
In the Premier League Birmingham have won 3, Spurs 6, and 3 draws.
We have just 1 victory from our last 5 Premier League games, scoring 3 goals. Spurs have lost just 1 from the last 7 Premier League games. They have only conceded 2 goals in those games.
Team News
Spurs
New signing Eidur Gudjohnsen, was signed too late to figure and Aaron Lennon, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are all out. Ledley King may play a part however.
Blues
Alex McLeish must decide who starts up front. I thought that Fahey did well against Everton and McFadden played well especially in the first half. I think Fahey deserves a shout, but you wouldn’t blame the manager for reverting to the Jerome Benitez partnership.
As far as I know there are no other worries through the side. It is expected that Michel and Gardner will be on the bench.
I saw McLeish on SSN saying that the players need to treat wednesday’s result like dandruff and just shake it off. This is what I like about him, he doesn’t make a big deal about losing or winning – he treats them the same. I believe the plays can and will shake off wednesday’s result, and will provide a decent performance. However, Spurs are a much improved side and I only expect a point from this game, but I’ll take that.
Prediction 1-1
Farewell to Man Mountain Plus One
You wait for ages for an article from Nat, and two come along together! Here is his take on the two players who left the club today, both of whom have played key roles for the club in the past.
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Anyone who regularly looks at the forum on Joys and Sorrows will know that my favourite Blues player is, or maybe it should now change to was, Martin ‘Tiny’ Taylor. It all stemmed from the fact that in my old Season-Ticket seat in the Railway, he became a bit of a cult figure for his cumbersome stature. Many a game there would be where someone around me would start a ‘Tiny for England’ chant.
But, despite a pretty obvious lack of pace or agility, there was a sharp and, in my opinion, rather unappreciated Footballing brain. He may have had his limitations when chasing after the likes of Drogba, but I don’t think he was ever out-thought by any Striker. His reading of the play and positioning was excellent. You would hardly ever see Tiny make an error in judgement.
But, at the risk of sounding patronising, it wasn’t Tiny’s ability that made him stand out. It was his attitude, on and off the pitch, which was exemplary. Perhaps the most notable example was after his (and I stand by this adjective) innocuous tackle which was desperately unfortunate to break the leg of Eduardo. When people who should’ve known better, such as Arsene Wenger, condemned him for what was an accident, he didn’t bite the bait and rant, he (after apologising to Eduardo) picked himself up, dusted himself down, and just got on with it, such was the placid nature of the man.
But it wasn’t the only example of having a mindset which unfortunately belies many players today. It’s fair to say that in all his time at Blues, under Bruce and Big ’Eck, he was never a concrete regular starter in the team. But you’d never have known it. Despite the haphazard nature of his selections, he never once spouted his mouth off. He just bode his time, kept himself sharp and was always ready if needed. That is the hallmark of being a proper Professional. The most prominent example probably being at the end of last season. Left out of the Preston debacle at home, he came in for THAT game at Reading, marked Kevin Doyle out that match and we won Promotion.
I wish him the best of luck now that he’s moved to Watford. But I doubt he’ll need it. For a free transfer, Malky Mackay has made a very shrewd signing for that level of football, and Watford have a great defender for the next few years.
Today also saw the news which, to be honest, I greeted a lot more enthusiastically. Gary McSheffrey has been offloaded to Leeds in League One until the end of the season, when after his contract expires here he’ll presumably move on for good.
For too long now we have been hoping against hope that he would turn into the McSheffrey he was for a few months until the start of 2007. When I write that down now it looks incredibly daft. At most clubs, someone who hadn’t performed well on any consistent basis would’ve been bombed out long ago. But Bluenoses were, inexplicably in my opinion, determined that, sometime soon, Gary Mac would be back.
For a while I have been saying it was time to cut our losses with him. He hasn’t scored from open play in the League since we beat Stoke 1-0…in February 2007. In our last Premier League season, he was picked on a regular basis (thirty-two appearances altogether) yet, in my eyes, never came close to coming up to scratch. He looked lacklustre, lazy, generally lethargic. And yes injury hampered him last year, but even before his spell out he didn’t look great, and his subsequent loan spell at Forest wasn’t brilliant. I think it’s fair to say Billy Davies wasn’t falling over himself to clinch his signature permanently.
For me, when I’ve watched him in the past few years, his performances and body language on the pitch are of a player who looked like he didn’t really want to be at Birmingham City. Hopefully a new club and a significant drop in the standard of football my re-invigorate his career. Leeds is a big club, who should go up to the Championship and will be one of the biggest clubs in that division if they get there. Maybe he can be a part of that and rediscover the magical form of when he first joined Blues.
Nat
Post Chelsea: where do we go from here?
Nat, one of our forum regulars, has written this article post Wednesday!
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Looking back, I can still barely believe it. Birmingham City going fifteen games unbeaten whilst in the top-flight, a team that less than a year ago huffed and puffed like the Big Bad Wolf in getting out of the Championship. A team at that point that did well to string fifteen passes together, never mind results. It has to be written down to be believed, draws in the league at home to United, Citeh and Chelsea, and then more draws in the league at Anfield and Goodison. Smash and grab raids at Wigan and Stoke, and to top it all, a place in the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in four years, as a result of our first win at Goodison since Ken was born.
But it’s over. We barely even had time to raise the white flag before Malouda bagged the first. Lampard effectively ended the contest and our unbeaten streak before half-time. You can try and point to different reasons for the collapse but I think the reason for our comprehensive defeat is the same reason Chelsea are top of the league. We were playing against a top quality side, who would blow away most teams if they play to anywhere near their best.
It gives us a right bump to earth though. I think even the most optimistic Bluenose realises that, deep down, the European tour we sing about remains nothing more than a pipeline dream in terms of qualifying via the Premier League. Wednesday served as a reminder that we are still a bazillion light-years from regularly being able to go toe-to-toe with the elite of the elite. Finishing in a comfortable mid-table position would still count as a great season for us, anywhere higher than that and Alex McLeish gets the keys to the city.
Of course, I am discounting our Cup run. A juicy (and VERY winnable) tie at Derby leaves us, not within touching distance, but relatively close to Wembley. We’re only two games from the Semi-final and what would be my first visit to our National Stadium. If (and it’s a huge IF) we could even get to the Semi-final, or dare I dream, the Final, it would probably top off what is turning into an incredible season, the pride I’d feel watching Blues at Wembley for the first time would surpass seeing us play twice at the Millenium Stadium, what a great end to a fantastic season it would be. Still, we’ve got to get past Derby first. I once saw us lose a Fifth-round tie against a second-tier Sunderland when we we’re in the top-half of the Premier League under Steve Bruce, so I’m taking nothing for granted.
To get anywhere quickly though, there was a clear need for reinforcements. Our backline is well covered, and the two (in my opinion) shrewd signings of Michel from Sporting Gee-hon and Craig Gardner from the Sty gives us a boost in the middle. But as everyone knows, we need strikers. It’s not as if Chucho and Cameron are particularly bad players, they’ve done relatively well together, but behind them we have Kevin Phillips (I’d be quite surprised to see him start another game for Blues), Gary O’Connor (I’d be very surprised to see him start another game for Blues) and, returning from a glorious loan spell at ‘Boro, Marcus Bent (I would be in two minds as whether to leave a match if I ever saw him play for Blues again).
Quite simply, we need an extra option. At the time of writing, a deal to bring Aruna Dindane to Blues is apparently all but agreed for £4million. I’m not particularly enamoured with the prospect of him coming in, especially at the price. He just seems to be all tricks but no delivery, ala Quincy perhaps. But I suppose we could do worst than him for back up. The more exciting prospect is the on-off deal to bring Roman Pavlyuchenko to Blues. The lad has strength, height, skill and an eye for goal, four things that when rolled into one make him a class act. Colin Tattum says the deal could be on between us and Spurs, and the lad wants to come, which would be great. I genuinely seem him as a cornerstone of turning Blues from also-rans into genuine challengers in the top half of the League.
Still even if we don’t nab him, I won’t be too perturbed. We’re in a League position which means we aren’t desperate for points. We aren’t in a need to sign whoever we can get. We’re comfortable. Our pre-season objective has pretty much been achieved already, we can pick and choose who we sign. If the right player comes along at a reasonable price, then sign him. But if that player is unavailable then not to worry, there will be more available in the Summer and beyond.
Portsmouth and West Ham in the past few months have shown us the consequences of spending money willy-nilly. They are in a total mess right now. We need to maintain that our house remains in order, whilst still having the ambition to progress continually. And then there’s the fact that mad signings could upset the applecart in the dressing room. The players we have, just by looking at our do or die performances recently, have a strong bond and a fluency that comes from playing with each other week-in week-out. Why upset that now? Bring in players who could provide alternatives to the players we have if need be, but only bring in ingredients that would garnish the recipe, not alter it.
Still I’m looking too far ahead, as Big ‘Eck would preach, take things one step at a time. We’ve got two big home games coming up. Spurs at home tomorrow will be tricky, but aren‘t an insurmountable challenge. They play good football under Twitch, and are pretty much impregnable at White Hart Lane, but for me never seem to be the same grizzly monster outside their own cage. Our last home defeat came towards the end of September, and who’s going to whole heartedly bet against us tomorrow?
Then next week the Dingles come to town. A tough game in a different regard. Whereas Spurs offer a multitude of talent, Wolves are probably the most untalented footballing team I’ve seen in the Premier League this season, with the possible exception of Blackburn. But Mick McCarthy seems to have rallied them to the point where they have half a chance of survival. They don’t score many goals, and aren’t totally competent in their own penalty box, but Wolves always give 110% every game. In a local derby where they will be kicking and scrapping for every point they can muster in what for them, in my opinion, will be a desperate battle for survival for the, they present themselves as tough opponents.
Two tough games, but both winnable. Two wins and six points would mean we are sitting thirty-nine points at the start of February. And then we’re laughing, right?
Keep Right On (hopefully to Wembley!)
VIEW FROM THE SOUTH – CHELSEA vs BIRMINGHAM CITY
Here is Bazza’s match report from last night’s game.
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All successful runs in sport come to an end sooner or later and the smart money was on Chelsea to put Birmingham in their place and so it was to prove on a cold January night in West London. Blues had been receiving plaudits rightly for the high standard of their defending over the season so far but this was evidently lacking after only six minutes of this encounter when Joe Cole who normally marauds down the left for Chelsea and England was switched to the right to exploit the obvious deficiency that we have in the left back berth. This is not meant to be a criticism of Liam Ridgewell personally but a statement of fact. He is not, and never will be, a left full back and he lacks the pace to deal with truly top class wide men coming at him especially as James McFadden cannot be relied upon to add much in the way of defensive help. Cole aided and abetted by Ivanovic got behind us far too easily and this was to be a long evening for our much vaunted defence as a result. Cole had all the time in the world to dink over a simple cross to the waiting Malouda who had a completely unchallenged and therefore free header right in the middle of our six yard box. Where the rest of the defence were is a matter for debate but the outcome of such diabolical defending could only result in the game virtually being over with most of it yet to come.
Chelsea proceeded to strut their funky stuff for the rest of the half with the outstanding Frank Lampard the pick of the Chelsea midfield whose collective pace, power and movement made a mockery of Birmingham’s recent reputation for being tough to beat. Blues did manage to settle after the early setback but were under the cosh for most of the time offering no threat going forward. Apart from a couple of easy catches Cech in the Chelsea goal had more chance of perishing from hypothermia than conceding a score. Blues looked tired and listless and spent their time chasing shadows. However, they stuck to the task and kept their illustrious hosts at bay until the 32nd minute when Lampard, 25 yards out was not closed down and anyone who has been watching Premier League football over the last few years will know how dangerous the England internationals shooting can be. It is easy to be critical of one’s own team for not going to the ball in this situation but Lampard still had a lot to do from where he was. His shot skimmed across the turf like a bullet to caress the netting attached to the far post. I cannot describe how good this strike was. Two or three inches nearer to the diving Joe Hart who had another impressive game and the keeper would have saved it. The tiny gap that Lampard found was the only place he could have selected to score and he needed the necessary pace on the ball to convert the chance; a truly beautiful goal and a pleasure to watch.
Blues were better in the second period and showed a little more going forward but even so Chelsea remained by far the better side. Fahey came on for Jerome after 56 minutes and McFadden was pushed up front with Benitez. The latter created a glorious chance for McFadden with twenty minutes to go but the Scot’s right footed effort across the keeper was so wide it was never threatening Cech who calmly watched the ball skid by. Our only other worthwhile attempt was from Fahey who once again fed by Benitez, toe poked the ball goalwards. The shot destined for the top corner was well saved by Cech and that as they say was that. Blues tried manfully to give the travelling faithful something to cheer and did have a go at Chelsea towards the end and it was to cause their downfall for the remaining goal. Caught up field, Chelsea broke with pace and Malouda put Lampard in for an easy finish for 3 – 0 in the final minute. Some might feel that this was a little harsh on a brave but outclassed Birmingham side but the simple fact of the matter is that Blues were comprehensively beaten by a better team who to my mind are the champions elect. The depth of their squad and the talent they have to return from Africa should deliver the title come May.
It is not all doom and gloom where Birmingham are concerned. Chelsea were terrific last night and played beautifully. They came very close to scoring on a number of other occasions and in one case, I counted no less than 18 passes without a Blues player getting anywhere near the ball despite their best efforts which were considerable and could not be faulted. It was just that last night, Chelsea were just too good and even at 3 – 0 there was no disgrace in defeat. The lads have been fantastic during the run which I will remember for the rest of my time on this earth. I have been privileged to have witnessed all the games except the Wigan and Everton matches. We do need to bounce back from this however and not rest on the laurels of a great run and look to set off on another one. On another positive note, Michel came on for his debut for the last twenty minutes or so and from this little cameo the signs look good. He is a much bigger man than I’d expected but he is comfortable on the ball has good touch, gets his head up and obviously likes to pick a pass. Hopefully a new striker will arrive before the deadline but we desperately need a top quality left back soon – Gareth Bale? Should get a look at him one way or another on Saturday eh?
KRO SOTV
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