Post Portsmouth Musings!
As you can imagine, after Saturday’s game – the forum was full of disappointment, pointed comments and suggestions of how we could have won.
Here is a hotch potch of those thoughts and some of my added comments.
I’m of the opinion that straight after the game is not the time to analyse, hence a 24 hour wait! Emotions run high and the taste of defeat is raw. So hopefully some of these thoughts are a bit more reasoned today.
The first thought begins like this.
I can’t remember being as gutted about a Blues result for a long, long time. More than the disappointment or anger of watching a linesman and referee make a human error, I’m bitter and twisted over the fact that at least three Portsmouth players saw that the ball had crossed the line and yet, did not speak up. I was angry with Keith Fahey last week when I believed that he cheated to gain us a win over Wigan.
But this week, I’m absolutely furious over the fact that David James – a man who is almost forty – could not find the strength inside to be honest with a referee and say that he had conceded. I know that these days, the game and winning is more important than honestly and integrity and as I watched, I felt myself falling out of love with the game just a little bit more. It’s not about people, honesty and emotion any longer. It’s about cheating, misdirection and who can do what to get the best over his opponent whilst baring following the spirit or rules of the game.
Just… meh, can’t remember being this bitterly disappointed for a long time and just wanted to express absolute anger at a player and a man who would, I hoped, have been a bit more honest.
I totally understood this point, but when you look at the replays it is understandable why it was missed. I don’t particularly blame James, it’s not his job to give the decisions.
HOWEVER I do agree that footballers SHOULD be able to say to the referee – no I didn’t touch the ball, yes it was hand ball, the ball was over the line. It SHOULD happen, but it won’t – yes I know it is fanciful, but at least some of the feelings of injustice would be removed for fans, after all that is the biggest barrier we have to climb! 
(Oh and before you get cross, read the 3rd point – but not before the 2nd point!)
The second point.
The country got the result it wanted so who are we to have a moan about it? Some of the coverage has literally made me feel sick to the stomach. At half time, Blues were great value, playing well, etc, etc. By full time, Portsmouth ‘fully deserved the win’ and their loan players ’showed that they cared as much as any Portsmouth fan does.’ Gah, the stuff you could lose your lunch to.
The club I love has been reduced to a footnote in the season of a club who has pulled the wool over the eyes of the footballing public and media with lies and deceit. They’ve financially mismanaged themselves and apparently, this makes them ‘deserve it’ and ‘earn that little bit of luck’. Why? Because they can’t manage and haven’t played very well this season?
Now I totally agree with this. I don’t have an axe to grind with Portsmouth fans, for them this must be a hideous situation – but action should have been taken by the FA or Premier League. We were relegated when Portsmouth’s administration, (excuse the pun), bought big and kept them up. Since then they won the FA cup – however have been racking up the debts. Any other business would not have continued, they just can’t support the large wages and relatively lower gates. The sums don’t add up.
In effect, they have taken advantage of other sides by playing players they couldn’t afford to pay which brings the whole Premier League and FA cup into disrepute. If the FA and / or the Premier League had stepped in earlier, this mess may well have been avoided.
Right, before you jump down my throat saying it is sour grapes, read the next point!
I felt we didn’t deserve to win, although we were never really stretched in the first half, in the second we needed to step up, and to do that we had to offer more in wide areas. Fahey was very poor and Larsson had an off day. I thought Chucho actually looked interesting wide on the left and I hope Gardner starts on the right next game. If we aren’t going for width, why not play 4-3-1-2 with McFadden behind a front two.
Totally agree. Although we were well in charge in the first half with possession and defence, we never really looked like scoring either. We didn’t come out of the changing room until 75 minutes were on the clock and it was too late by then. Portsmouth played well for 15-20 minutes and scored twice, as a result deserved to go through.
I really don’t understand why Chucho and Jerome didn’t start. I appreciate that Alex has tried to keep an unchanged side wherever possible, and that is a positive – however the performance against Wigan was lethargic and I think that Benitez would have bought some life up front. Fahey will become a very good player IMO, but he been poor for a few games now and should be rested.
So it is now all about whether we finish 7-14th, perhaps a little disappointing in that we aren’t playing for something – but at least we know we are going to be playing in the division again next year and with some new faces at the club – maybe we could do EVEN better!
Who’s going to be the top marksman?
Well we are out of the cup and there’s still a quarter of the league season to go but goal scoring remains a problem. The failure to sign a striker in January could well be telling. It looks like whoever ends up our leading scorer this year will do so with under ten goals but who do you reckon that is going to be. The current standings including cup goals are,
Lee Bowyer 6
Cameron Jerome 5
Seb Larsson 4
James McFadden, Christian Benitez, Kevin Phillips, Liam Ridgewell 3
So while the total might not be great, who do you think will end up Blues top scorer. Vote in the poll on the right.
In our last poll only 15% correctly predicted that we wouldn’t get further than the quarter final with almost double that thinking we would win it. That’s what optimism does for you..
VIEW FROM THE SOUTH – PORTSMOUTH v BIRMINGHAM CITY
Filed under: Blues News, Match reports, Matches, Players, Reports By Bazza
I had to re-type this, the tear stains on the original prevented me from copying it straight over. 
Over to Bazza:
I have found it very difficult even the day after to find the heart and energy to write my report on this game such is the sense of disappointment that I am sure is shared by every Blues fan this morning. Fratton Park is a simple train journey for me even though it still takes an hour and a half. Having arrived at Fratton station and walked to the ground I met ‘Sandwich’ Bill and Alan in the disabled car park who had travelled down from Birmingham after an early start. We must thank the football authorities at this point for putting our game on early despite the length of journey for the away side and their fans when the Fulham-Spurs tie would have been better suited; reminds me of the time when we reached a semi-final against Leeds and the match was played on a ‘neutral’ ground at Hillsborough!
Anyway, moving on Alan and Bill are some of the most long suffering noses I know and I have seen them many times before at away games. Alan, as he usually is, was smoking a fag in the back of the car and as he flicked the ash the slight breeze kept taking it onto Bill’s lap sitting in the front passenger seat with the door open. “Hey!” Bill kept saying flicking the ash off himself “watch what yow’er doin!”
After about the sixth time of asking Bill stood up protesting still but onto the deaf ears of Alan who simply lit up another having seconds before put the last one out. Both these boys are professionals when it comes to smoking which they continued to do whilst we reminisced about previous games against Pompey. “At least they got a roof on the away stand nowadays,” lamented Bill. We had all been at the game about 12 years ago when it rained incessantly and we all got soaked through to the skin. Four cigarettes later (Alan won the gold medal for smoking in the Olympics in 1964 
) it was time to walk round the other side of the ground to our seats. Pompey may have invested in a roof for the old open stand and over-invested in players they couldn’t afford but the investment stopped short at the toilets which remain pretty basic and have been so all the time I’ve been going to Fratton Park. As they say in these parts avoid the heads unless you’ve got to.
Well I’ve put off talking about the game for long enough so here goes; I thought Portsmouth would fly at us and we would have a torrid first twenty minutes. Apart from a weak shot from Belhadj in the first minute they offered very little and in fact Blues were the better side in the first half controlling the midfield in a calm composed manner but offering little threat. Jerome had a snap shot following good set up work from McFadden and Bowyer which was well saved by David James.
McCleish had started with the same formation as for the Fulham and Wigan games which surprised me as it hadn’t really worked at Fulham when the opposition scored our only goal and against Wigan we only won because we were given a dodgy penalty. Despite this I believe that with a half decent striker we would have gone into the break 2 – 0 to the good. As it was it was 0 – 0 and although we hadn’t made our overall dominance count there was little to complain about. I felt we were more than a match for anything they had to offer and would snatch the necessary winner at some stage purely by the law of averages.
Those hopes were dashed in three second half minutes when a lucky deflection led to a toe poked effort towards Hart who having appeared to grasp it, had it kicked out of his hands by Scott Dann challenging for the ball simultaneously. The ball flicked up off Hart’s leg to present Piquionne with a tap in from inches out that my arthritic granny could have scored to give Portsmouth the lead against the run of play and on the basis of their performance so far, one they scarcely deserved.
However, how typical this is of Blues. Failing to score when you are on top has cost and will continue to cost them which make their position in the Premier League all the more remarkable having scored only 26 goals all season. Blues were shaken and found themselves two down before they had cleared their heads. Piquionne twisted Roger Johnson inside out when the defender got isolated and a fine cross shot was buried into the bottom corner; oh for a striker of this quality! On came Kevin Phillips and Chucho for Fahey and McFadden and latterly Gardner for Larsson, a change that was made at least 45 minutes too late in my view, in an attempt to salvage the tie.
Ten minutes from the end a corner from Larsson was powerfully headed down towards the bottom corner by Roger Johnson only to be brilliantly saved by James. The rebound was headed in by Ridgewell at the far post but despite the ball being clearly over the line the assistant referee failed in his duty of actually watching what was going on and allowed James to claw the ball back from a foot behind the post. Television evidence shows clearly that the goal should have been awarded; it wasn’t and with that decision went Birmingham’s last chance of Wembley glory.
I rang Will after the game on the train home to get his take on the game from the television perspective. He made several valid observations that the formation meant the team was unbalanced as McFadden is not a centre-forward and Fahey is not a winger. Double Agent Ridgewell was our best player and provided the only width which says it all and I agree wholeheartedly. Larsson was truly dreadful both in the persistent way he kept turning in field instead of staying out wide and as for his set piece deliveries, enough said. Jerome was shocking in thought and movement and gave one of the worst performances I have seen from him. He normally at least works hard despite having the touch of a rapist and other shortcomings but this was a lacklustre performance and we saw little of his much lauded pace. Benitez when he came on showed nice touches but it was too late by then. Phillips and Gardner were introduced too late to have any impact. McFadden held onto the ball too long when well placed and the final ball from midfield generally especially to the players in wide positions was too often badly weighted or misdirected.
Portsmouth didn’t win this game; Birmingham lost it. They have themselves and themselves only to blame. This is such a shame given the season we have all enjoyed to date. One of the highlights was the win at Everton and although I wasn’t present for that one our first half performance was outstanding by all accounts. That day we went with McFadden and Chucho up front together. This may be an option to consider next week if McCleish is going to insist on playing McFadden as a centre-forward. Jerome was so poor it may be time to rest him. The same goes for Larsson; Gardner must be given his chance although he is better suited to a more central role and I really want to see Michel get some game time.
The needs of the squad were brutally exposed if further evidence was needed; two decent strikers and fast specialist wide players. Then and only then we may start offering a threat and win these big games when they present themselves. It has been 54 years since Birmingham last contested a FA Cup Final; it’s 55 now!
KRO SOTV
Birmingham City v Wigan Preview
Tomorrow sees us face Wigan at St Andrews in the Premier League. I am going to be at this one as it also the latest fans forum at the club – more on that next week!
After a couple of disappointing results in the league, we will be looking to win and secure the 40 point mark – just to MAKE SURE that we are safe!
After the fantastic run came to an end at Chelsea, we have struggled a bit. It is interesting that the squad has had a few changes too because of injuries. According to the news I have at the moment, we are back to full strength. It looks like Barry Ferguson is available again, of course he may not go straight into the side.
The other player who has missed a couple of games is Chucho. I didn’t see last Sunday’s game, but I gather that McFadden did pretty well up front with Jerome. Despite this, I think I would bring Chucho back in. This is the sort of game that he could get his first St Andrews goal. I get the impression, that he could go on a scoring run then.
As far as Wigan, they are going through a difficult time at the moment. They have only won one Premier League game since the end of November, a 2-0 away victory at Wolves. During that time was our 3-2 victory at their place, a mauling by Manchester United and they have failed to beat a number of clubs who are in the relegation fight.
Titus Bramble and James McCarthy are likely to miss the game due to injuries, but as far as I can tell, they don’t have any other problems with players.
With the greatest respect to Wigan, this is the sort of game we should be winning as we look to cement ourselves as a mid-table Premier League side. I hope that Alex McLeish gets us to go on the offensive and look to get the crowd going with an early goal.
It would be nice to see us win comfortably, however I would take a 1-0!
As long as we return to our the defensive organisation that we were getting credit for during the unbeaten run, we should win.
I’m going for a 2-0 to Blues as a confidence boost before we face Portsmouth twice in a week in the cup and the league.
VIEW FROM THE SOUTH – DERBY COUNTY vs BIRMINGHAM CITY
Like many supporters of the Royal Blue the expectations of a positive result from this encounter were high in my mind but that did not hide the nagging doubts that any away tie in the FA Cup brings regardless of the opposition. We had of course negotiated tricky ties against Forest following a replay and the Daddy of them all Everton whom I have to say I did not expect to get past at Goodison. After all that we couldn’t fail at Pride Park could we?
The 147 miles from home to a potholed muddy car park near the ground went without hitch. I travelled up alone for this one since Will had failed to get his act in gear in time to get a ticket before they were sold out. I rang him having just enjoyed a truly delicious hot roast pork bap with sage and onion stuffing; yes proper meat! I had a pint in my hand and was among the faithful throng and said to Will that I could not believe that he was not with us instead of being at home romancing his wife. “She wo’ appreciate it Will” I said “Sod off Baz” came the rather disgruntled reply. I promised to keep him posted although he was going to be sitting by the radio all afternoon; logic eh? He may as well as come to the game if he was going to ignore his missus anyway! 
Blues were back to the eleven that have served us so well over the last four or so months and for the first twenty–five minutes appeared to control the game well although there were no clear chances for either side. The poor weather had clearly taken its toll on the Derby pitch and the surface was in poorer condition than the one we have got used to at St Andrews. This made it difficult for the Blues to get their passing game together and may explain the greater use of the longer ball into channels and onto the pacy Jerome. Derby did play a high line encouraging this ploy presumably to squeeze the midfield and stifle Bowyer and Fergusson. These tactics started to pay off in the last 15 minutes of the half when Blues got sloppy and began to give the ball away cheaply. Derby were working very hard and gave us all a reminder of what it is like to play Championship football week in week out with an industrious, in your face, attritional performance which began to pay off with threatening crosses into the Birmingham box. The game plan appeared simple to get it wide, get it in and fight for the scraps.
It took half an hour for the first chance on goal when Bowyer getting his head down and going for goal from well outside the area. The shot lacked the power to trouble Bywater but the keeper needed to be mindful of the bumpy pitch which could have taken the shot in. This effort seemed to act as a catalyst for further chances as they came and went in a flurry. Christian Benitez connected with a weak header that was gathered easily and by far the best chance of the half fell to Jerome when his strike partner put him clean through for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. His side-footed effort was well saved round the post for a corner but Jerome should have scored. This was for me a defining moment in the game because I believe that if this goes in Blues go on to win this match comfortably instead of the heart stopping event it became.
Derby buoyed by their fortunate escape grew in confidence aided by sloppy play from Blues to create one or two chances of their own just before the break. Stephen Pearson drilled a fierce shot into the chest of Hart standing at his near upright in the first half after a neat exchange of passes with Michael Tonge and then Shaun Barker was denied by an exceptional point blank save from the keeper that was cleared finally by Dann. Blues were lucky to get away with this and shouts of ‘wake up’ could be heard among the large contingent of away fans.
Like many, I had hoped that McCleish would get Blues refocused following what had been a careless, complacent and sloppy 15 minutes that a better team than Derby would undoubtedly have exploited. Unfortunately, the stuporous torpor continued and Blues allowed Derby too much play. Derby are what they are; a below average Championship side but they were working their socks off and were first to every ball at this stage and deservedly took the lead on 55 minutes. From a remarkably similar position to Bowyer in the first half, McEveley hit a highly speculative shot from over thirty yards across Hart who appeared to have it covered. He seemed to go down too early so when the ball kicked up wickedly off the pitch (I’ve seen ploughed fields flatter that this) over him into the roof of the net. Alex McCleish said in one of his interviews after the game that it looked like we were going out of the Cup and for the 18 minutes that followed the goal so did I. Derby’s tails were up now and they continued to harass our midfield. Changes were needed and they duly came on 65 minutes when the disappointing Benitez was replaced by Kevin Phillips and Fahey came on for the ineffective Larsson who had not had one of his better games. This seemed to wake Blues up and Derby started to defend deeper. However, we were not really threatening Derby’s rugged defence but corners and free kicks were stating to happen more. On 73 minutes there was salvation. McFadden’s in-swinging corner was won by Scott Dann whose powerful downward header squeezed in at the foot of the post despite the presence of a defender on the line. The 5,500 Blues fans erupted the previously taunting home fans silenced. The game was opening up now and both sides went full bloodedly for the win. Derby were now under the greater pressure as fatigue began to get the better of their valiant midfield still led by the classy Robbie Savage who, whatever we all may think of him, is a cut above anything else Derby currently have in their side.
Big Eck made the last of his substitutions on 82 minutes when McFadden got the hook for the oncoming Craig Gardner. This was to prove decisive. In time added on, a free kick given away by a tiring Derby defender was lined up by Gardner. He fired it in but I’m unconvinced he caught it as cleanly as he would have liked. The ball nevertheless came fast at Phillips standing round the penalty spot. The little fox in the box controlled it swivelled and sent a shot off in the direction of the goal in one flowing, instinctive movement only for the ball to thump against the foot of the post. What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion. The ball ricocheted across the goal spinning as it did so but agonisingly slowly. Unhindered the ball would undoubtedly have crossed the line to complete a truly brilliant strike but with two defenders nearby it would probably have been cleared. Liam Ridgewell who seems to be making a habit of being on the far post when needed lunged at the ball and from two inches crashed the ball into the net for the winner. The roar from the Blues fans was tangible and the fat bloke next to me hugged me like a long lost cousin; a dramatic end to a full blooded, no quarter given cup tie. There was still time for Joe Hart to redeem himself from his misjudgement earlier. Robbie Savage, of all people, cracked a wonderful thirty yards volley which dipped viciously and was destined for the top corner before Hart dived acrobatically to get both hand to the ball to send it over the bar to safety. It only remained for Phillips, Jerome and Gardner between them to play keep ball in the corner for the win. Another tricky tie negotiated for Blues. Derby will feel they deserved a replay and I have much sympathy with that view. They will claim that they had periods in the game when they were the better side but this is illusory. Savage, Tongue and Commons were excellent for Derby with our old player being the pick. However, despite their hard work and laudable unsettling of their Premiership opponents, they were never really good enough to hold on once they had got ahead. They were undone by the fact that they failed to defend two set pieces properly and that will cost you whatever level you are playing at.
Derby: Bywater 7; Hunt 7, Barker 7, Buxton 7, McEveley 8; Tonge 8, Green 6, Savage 9, Pearson 7; Hulse 6, Commons 8
Birmingham: Hart 6; Carr 7, Johnson 7, Dann 9, Ridgewell 8; Larsson 6 (Fahey 64 7), Ferguson 8, Bowyer 7, McFadden 6 (Gardner 82 6); Jerome 6, Benítez 6 (Phillips 65 
Referee: Martin Atkinson 7
Attendance: 21,843 (amazed that for a local derby with a quarter-final place at stake that Pride Park wasn’t packed. We did our bit though! )
Man of the Match: Robbie Savage worked tirelessly all afternoon and is still a stand out player despite the ravages of time. I enjoyed the incident when he inadvertently kicked the ball into the nether regions of the assistant referee in the first half. He behaved impeccably despite enormous provocation from the Blue Army and he only reacted once when he gestured towards us by rubbing his fingers together in response to “there’s only one greedy bastard!”
KRO SOTV
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