Sometimes there aren't enough words to sum up performances like the one today (other than a lot of effing and blinding) but somehow I've managed to find some. Ten things that we all learnt today...
Number 1, and probably the most important: 4-5-1 just doesn't work at home. We can't play it at St. Andrews. Cameron Jerome, bless his little heart, runs his legs off to no avail because whenever he gets the ball, he looks up and there's... no one there. We scored goals playing 4-4-2 at the start of the season; we change formation and we score none. Maths isn't needed - but 4-4-2 is. (Although, it doesn't help that the fans are chanting it at Alex: he's a clever man, he's worked it out for himself.)
Second point: Keith Fahey is not and never will be a winger. He doesn't have the pace; he doesn't have the ability to stay on the wing for more than five minutes without drifting into the middle. He is a good, Premier League quality, player. But just not on the wing.
Thirdly, blaming Cameron Jerome is foolish. The ball goes out of play... "FOR GODS SAKE JEROME!" He doesn't chase down a ball in the 70th minute after running the line on his own for the whole match... "USELESS! HOW LAZY ARE YOU JEROME?" He runs to get the ball, controls it, looks up and there's no one to pass to... "YOUR'E USELESS JEROME!" The world ends... "FFS CAMMY, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" - You get the picture. Funny thing is, it isn't his fault. I actually felt sorry for him today; he needs a partner. And from what I've seen, it's not Zigic.
That brings me onto my fourth point: we need to play Matt Derbyshire. We've seen what he brings to the team, albeit through a substitute performance against Blackburn and two cup games against lower league sides, but the runs he makes are superb and he is just who we, and Jerome, need. Jerome to chase down the balls and win the headers; Derbyshire to be there to link up with him. Or visa versa, really.
Number five... pretty straight forward point, as I have to talk about the match at some point: Everton deserved that today. In one sense, I'm happy for them... in another I just want to cry and shout and stamp my feet. But we deserved nothing, and nothing is what we got. Credit to Everton.
My sixth point is Roger Johnson. Of late, I don't think he's been playing well. Today, he finally broke his St. Andrews duck... in the wrong end. I felt so sorry for him, really I did. But then I thought, hold on, Roger is one player in the team that won't be fazed. It was a stupid, stupid own goal to concede, but in true RoJo spirit, he just got back up again and carried on fighting. Thank you Rog.
Man of the match is my seventh point. No one deserved it. The fact Ridgewell got it, was because of his goal line clearance in the first half (which was fantastic, may I add) But other than that, no one performed how they can play. They need a think about things and hopefully this break will do them good.
Number eight; we've been sussed out. We can't play how we used to play, because teams know our little tricks and our style. Beausejour was injured today, but when he is back playing we need him in the team, while McFadden is out at least, for that speed down the wing. Our play right now is so slow, we need something to surprise people and to speed it up a little.
Nine: As well as Everton's second goal, the thing that summed it up for me today was when Zigic and Dann both left the ball for each other... and then five minutes later, they both went for the same ball, and Zigic head butted Scott Dann. It really was unbelievable. Just... words fail me. You had to laugh otherwise you'd cry.
Number ten is just a little thank you, really. Thank you for this incredible run Blues. No one would of believed we could go a year unbeaten at home, but we have. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that we've lost this run though: now there's no pressure to carry on the run, and maybe now we can go out to win home games, rather than try to just defend our title.
Full Time: Birmingham City 0-2 Everton
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