Victory In Defeat

I’ll admit that I approached this fixture as doom merchant. I was adamant Man City would put at least five past us – or even more. But I’m always happy to be proved wrong and as was the case last night: we didn’t win, but we came away from the Etihad Stadium far from disgraced and embarrassed; in fact we exited the competition which we did so well in last year with our heads held high.

We held on fifteen minutes before City eventually broke the deadlock, and with more accurate and astute defending I’d say we could have prevented the ball falling to Owen Hargreaves to score on his debut. I’m not sure where people get the impression from of Hargreaves being a poor player. His injury list is nothing short of disastrous and would put most clubs off the idea of having ‘sicknote’ in their team but, and I’m sure most Manchester United fans would agree, he is a very good player, and a goal of such quality last night adds weight to this argument.

Even with eleven changes City managed to field Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Kolo Toure; something we can only dream of being able to do, but this second string had control of the first half and doubled their advantage before half time, this time everybody’s favourite live-wire Balotelli finishing off a lovely move to give City more than an edge in the game.

It could have all gone downhill from here and the floodgates could have well and truly been opened, but all credit to Blues as they fought back second half, having spells of possession and chances on goal. Jean Beausejour, Guirane N’Daw, Chris Burke and David Murphy, amongst others, all had chances to make a game of it. But it stayed at 2-0 and we can consider it a moral victory, and definitely take positives out of the game.

The first positive obviously being that we didn’t lie down and take a beating. We fought, and because of that we didn’t disgrace ourselves nor did we look like we couldn’t be bothered. Although we don’t really need to progress in the Carling Cup – not only have we been there, done that won the trophy, but we already have a minimum of 55 fixtures to fulfill this season - it is true that every game you play in you should want to win. And the players last night showed real intent to get something out the game, and very nearly did.

Another positive from the game was the return of Nikola Zigic, who will prove to be a real asset in the Championship especially with his height which is bound to cause problems. This has now bolstered our attack meaning we now have Chris Wood, Adam Rooney and Marlon King – as well as youngster Akwasi Asante – all vying for a starting place.

We can draw on another positive after Colin Doyle’s performance between the sticks, namely after his double save to deny first Tevez and then Toure after the rebound. Curtis Davies is another player who deserves the plaudits, after another expert defensive display which even saw him add his name to the score sheet for the second time this season, after his first-half overhead kick was saved on the line.

So 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium isn’t too bad considering the circumstances, especially as a lot of Premier League teams this season will leave Manchester after a much heavier deafer than what we witnessed last night. Credit to the team for doing well, and another positive we can take is that we can now concentrate on the league and of course the Europa League.
The memories of the Carling Cup last season were never going to be repeated, but they’ll last us a lifetime anyway.


Full Time: Manchester City 2-0 BLUES
Goal Scorers: Hargreaves (17) Balotelli (38)
Star Man: Curtis Davies
Next Up: Barnsley at home - Championship

Goal scoring issues: resolved

Our problem is scoring goals and that's been our problem for a while now. However in the two games prior to this match we'd actually scored six goals in total, playing the fan-favoured 4-4-2 formation, as a posed to scoring one or maybe even two if we were lucky playing Alex's preferred 4-5-1 layout. Sometimes, the more defensive option is needed, but sometimes; the fans are right. Most of us would rather lose 2 or 3 nil trying to win a game and going all out, than being really defensive all game and just losing 1-0.

Tonight wasn't much different. We set out in a 4-4-2 formation up against Manchester City's tremendous attacking line-up of 4-3-3, with Silva, Tevez and Dzeko all starting up front. Scary, but nothing should phase Blues nowadays. Unfortunately though, we let Man City get a very slopping goal in the first few minutes coutosy of Carlos Tevez and some sloppy defending. The one thing you don't do is let Silva and Tevez have their own way, and we did just that, and left only ourselves to blame.

Never to be shot down though, we kept going at it, and eventually got the equaliser through Nikola Zigic, who had looked lively all game. After coming close with an excellent but casual volley minutes before, Zigic took advantage of some questionable Man City defending from a Bentley free-kick and slide the ball through Joe Hart's legs to put the Blues on level terms.


In between Zigic's chance and Zigic's goal was a heart stopping moment: Barry Ferguson turned and fell to the ground in agony. From where I was sitting I could see the pain on his face, and it did not look good. The whole ground as one watched with their heart in their mouths and their head thinking about the Carling Cup final and relegation battle, and watched on as Sir Barry eventually rose to his feet, limping slightly, to carry on with the game. Relief all round.

There was another, more serious, injury later on in that half which saw seven minutes added time. Micah Richards and Nigel De Jong collided, leaving Richards out on the floor with a scary head injury, and was stretchered off with Kolo Toure coming on to replace him.

After playing well Blues were again the masters of their own downfall, conceding a free-kick right on the edge of the area. I said before Kolarov took it that he would score. I was right, and he did score. The wall wasn't strong enough for his bullet of a shot and we should have been aware of that. So we had to do it all over again in the second half, yet again!


If we started the first half in the same way we started the second half we would be laughing. Not for the first time we came straight out the blocks and went for it. Bentley and Carr were a joy to watch down the right hand side and an equalising goal came agonisingly close a number of times. Kevin Phillips came on to save the day again, and gave a little helping hand towards the goal by winning a penalty.

When I first saw it, I thought we were lucky but after seeing replays you can see why the referee gave it. Add that to the fact we've had some complete stonewallers turned down this season, not I nor any other Bluenose cared about the nature in which we were awarded this penalty. Joe Hart did his usual distracting techniques but Craig Gardner gave him the eyes and blasted it down the middle to equalise. After that, we honestly could have gone on to win it, but City came so close at the death with yet another free-kick from Kolarov who shot just inches wide.


Also, it was great to see England's number two back at St. Andrews last night. He came, he conceded, he danced. And he also left with a black eye! There's only one Joe Hart!

In the end it was a great result and a good game, which either team could have won in the end. From our point of view it was a great point, and we'll take that performance and the two that came before it into Sundays 'six pointer.' And hey, we score goals now! What's there to worry about...

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-2 Manchester City

Footnote:
Thumbs up top the guy who jokingly shook the hand of every steward in front of block 6.
Thumbs down to the snatch squad who fronted up to him and frog marched him out.

A well deserved point

Us and Man City. We're quite similar, really, if you think about it - obviously not including the money or the fame - but we are similar. Both Blues and Man City fans have had to endure years upon years of disappointment, albeit with the moments of success, like Blues' brilliant season in 2009/10. Both teams are seemingly 'inferior' to their nearest but certainly not dearest neighbours in Manchester United and Aston Villa respectively. We are both seen as the noisy neighbours. We are both seen as smaller clubs in terms of our rivals. We've both not won or even done much in the last few years. But now Man City have the money and the big stars, you'd think the gap between us and them would be a big one. Not on this afternoons game. No way.

In all fairness, I wasn't expecting much. Last time I went there was last season and we lost 5-1, and their team is better now, with even bigger stars like Yaya Toure to boast about. Fortunately for us, not only did we play brilliantly, Man City just simply didn't. I would have bitten your arm off at the start of the game for a point, now I'm thinking we could maybe have even cheekily snached all three.

The first half was your average really, especially upon viewing Blues' previous few performances. Man City got the ball, tried to pass it into the net, and the defence dealt with it. Repeat a few times, then add in a couple of snail-paced Blues attacks and you have your first half. Oh, and add in a cheating little Argentinian, and you definitely have today's first half.


If an impressive new ground means that it turns into a complete library, then I am quite content with little St. Andrews, thank you very much. It was pretty dire for 40 odd thousand, and when a travelling support of around 1,000 that you're mocking for coming 'in a taxi' are out singing you, well, you look pretty stupid singing about their support being crap, really.

The second half was backs to the wall type stuff from Blues. A real brilliant performance from the back five, especially Roger Johnson who is still to be called up to the England squad, and God only knows why as well. Carlos Tevez who? Roger had a field day defending against him. The midfield kept calm and did try to attack, but we ended up just passing it around a bit before losing the ball. Jerome and Zigic ran a fair bit, won a few headers; but you couldn't really see us scoring.

And that was pretty much it really. Hleb came on to inject a little bit of class for the away side, and he really is a joy to watch when he plays against the more passing teams of the division, like Man City today, because he gets the ball. He's so intelligent and perfect, it's just the fact the rest of our team aren't. They're good, good players. But not as technically able as Mr. Hleb.


Of course, this match report can't go without a mention for one Joe Hart. He played his part brilliantly today and he loved every minute of it! Being sung to by the away fans more than he was by the home fans; laughing and smiling as he tried to concentrate on the game; making a mistake and being serenaded with 'England's number two!' and then coming over to applaud us at the end. He is a class, class goalkeeper and I wish him all the best. He really is a Blues legend, and we both still have love for each other. I had tears in my eyes at the end of the game when him and Dave Watson, the man who has helped to further his career, shared a hug. It was a brilliant moment.

A resilient, great away performance from Blues today at one of the hardest places to pick up points from in the Premier League. And how do we get rewarded? A lace in the bottom three! But, the league finishes in May not November, and the target now is to make sure we're not here come the end of the season. And I've got faith that we will be a few places above the drop zone by then - or 17th, I'm not fussed!

Full Time: Manchester City 0-0 Birmingham City

Who deserves the most credit for the making of Joe Hart?

Two days ago, 23-year-old Joe Hart walked out at Wembley for his first competitive game in an England shirt. His performance was just the normal Joe Hart performance - if you’ve ever seen him play - solid, confident, and slightly cocky, but in a good way.

Hart has received many plaudits over the last few weeks, especially after his displays against Spurs and Liverpool and now his rock solid performance against Bulgaria. But who deserves the most credit for how far Joe Hart has come, in a very short space of time?

In a sense, Joe Hart would have been spotted by a professional team wherever he lived. It just so happened to be Shrewsbury, for whom he made his competitive debut in 2004 at just 17 years of age, after being a non-playing substitute just a year earlier. Shrewsbury deserve credit for helping make Joe Hart because they were, quite simply, the team that found him. They were the team that started to mould him into the player he is today, and their credit has come in the form of £500,000 which they received upon Hart making his first competitive start for England on Friday night; a nice little ‘thank you’ gift, if you will.

Manchester City also deserve a lot of praise for the rise of Joe Hart. In 2006 they ‘found’ him at Shrewsbury and signed him for an initial fee of £600,000. After making his Man City debut in 2006, Hart then went on a couple of emergency loans to Tranmere Rovers and Blackpool respectively, which helped him to gain a little more experience before playing regularly in the Premier League.

He then cemented the number one spot at City, and that was that. Or so it seemed. He was playing brilliantly; he was a big prospect for not only Manchester City, but for England as well. He made his England debut in the second half against Trinidad and Tobago in June of 2008, which sparked the start of his England senior career.

Hart didn’t put a foot wrong at City, so it was a surprise to many that in January 2009 City signed Republic of Ireland international Shay Given from Newcastle, who came straight in and took the number one jersey from Hart; who one moment found himself on top of the world, and the next he found himself sitting on the bench.


This brings me onto the next team who deserve to be credited: Birmingham City. It was a deal which worked for all parties; Blues needed a keeper, Hart needed a team, and City needed to send Joe out for some much needed experience. So in Summer 2009 Hart made a loan switch to Birmingham; starting off a year to remember for the young goalkeeper.

But just before he made the loan move to Blues, he played in the Euro Under 21 tournament, which brings me to someone else we should give credit to for the making of Joe Hart: Stuart Pearce. The Under 21 Coach first called Joe up to the squad in 2007, and the trust he has put in Joe Hart over the years is phenomenal. This summer tournament also helped him; especially after saving a couple of penalties and then taking one himself in a shootout to get to the final! Pearce has stood by Hart for years now, and he deserves credit for helping Hart take the next step in the football ladder.

Now back to Blues… in his first few games he looked a little shaky. With crosses and with his kicks, mainly. But that was improved quite quickly, all thanks to one man who doesn’t get the praise and credit he deserves. That man is Birmingham goalkeeper coach Dave Watson.

Being young himself after having to retire through injury, Watson immediately bonded with Hart, and so it was easy for them to work together and build on the skills that Hart already had. The rest, as they say, is history: Hart had a phenomenal season for Blues, the turning point probably being Liverpool Away in November 2009; McLeish had a selection dilemma after Maik Taylor had played superbly in a game against Man City, which Hart was ineligible for. McLeish stuck to his guns though and picked Hart who played an absolutely brilliant game, making save after save, keeping his team in the game.

Throughout the season, Hart got better and better. His confidence went through the roof, as did his popularity. The loveable Shrewsbury-born lad was earning plaudits here there and everywhere, and there were calls for him to be England’s number one. He won player of the season at Birmingham, was nominated for PFA young player of the year, and made it into the PFA team of the year.

This season at Blues had completed him. Joe hart was now the finished article; after the moulding from Shrewsbury, the step up at City, the coaching he received from every club he was at especially from Dave Watson and Stuart Pearce, the call ups to the England team - both Under 21 and Senior - and finally the fine tuning and polishing off at Birmingham. This was it. Joe Hart was now ready. He had come through the stages, the phases, and he is the perfect example of how English talent can break through and get to the top.

Just 17 months after being overtaken and put on the bench by Shay Given, Joe Hart has worked his hardest to do what Given did to him: and he is now the number one at Manchester City, with Shay looking on from the bench. After everyone calling for him to be England’s number one also, he now seems to have cemented his place as just that, much to the delight of Shrewsbury, Manchester City and Birmingham City: the teams that made him.

But who deserves the most credit for Hart? Of corse, the teams did so well in helping him along the way, but I believe it’s mostly down to someone I haven’t given credit to yet, and that’s the man himself.

Being the modest man he is, he wouldn’t admit that to you, but without his aura of complete confidence or his desire to make it to the top, Joe Hart would not be the player he is today. If he wasn’t so determined to make it, or so completely in love and infatuated with the beautiful game that he will do anything to play it, then he wouldn’t be as good as he is now. That man is an absolutely brilliant idol for any young child to look up to. He is the perfect example of how hard work and determination can most definitely pay off.

In hindsight, he owes a lot to the teams, coaches and managers who helped to form what a great goalkeeper he is now, but in all honesty, Joe Hart deserves the most credit for what he has become; and that is a number one goalkeeper for both club and country. He has become what he always wanted to become, and most importantly, he’s done it all with a smile on his face. There is nothing more pleasing that seeing a man who loves football so much, do so well in football.

Here’s to a great future for Joe Hart. And it’s all down to him.

the annual tonking of the season

well it's not surprising that we lost given manchester city's home record, but to lose 5-1? just where did it all go wrong, or did it? i'm still trying to figure out if man city were that good or if we were that bad. i think i've come to the decision it was neither.

man city started well with possession, but we seemed to be defensively intact as ever, and any threat was blocked off by our solid defence. the city fans seemed slightly restless, and i learnt after the game that they really were. that was until mr adebayor came along.. he tangled with blues players in the box, it was inconspicuous, and we have not seen replays of it because (surprise surprise) they did not replay the incident on the big screens at eastlands - word is though that it wasn't a penalty. and maybe the game would of been different had tevez not score it, because blues looked like they could deal with the wave after wave of attacks man city came up with.



the goal shook the blues team up, and two minutes later man city got a corner, which was headed in by nedum onuoha - two nil city, blues deflated - you could really only see it being on eway teaffic from then on.

blues got a goal back though, in a nicely worked piece of play, a cross from mcfadden fell nicely onto jerome's head, who would have done well to miss from there, to net his tenth goal of the season. and then there was abit of belief, if we could get to half time like that, then maybe the second half we could get a draw out of the game. sadly, with blues fans still celebrating, maik taylor decided to be a defender, came out to the by-line, and city restored their two goal advantage through adebayor.



half time: manchester city 3-1 birmingham city