Deadline Day: Ins and Outs

As the transfer window slammed shut at eleven o’clock last night Birmingham City were left to assess the damage after the player exodus continued; with Scott Dann and Cameron Jerome making their way through the exit door. Nevertheless, it could have been worse. Only two went out and two – plus an 18 year old – came into St. Andrews on deadline day, with both departures very much expected ones.

Since relegation former England U21 player Scott Dann has attracted attention from Liverpool, Arsenal and even Chelsea no less. But his deadline day move to Blackburn Rovers raised a few eyebrows, seeing as they are one of the favourites to suffer relegation from the Premier League this season. After his move to Stoke City earlier on in the transfer window fell through – whether that was due to Blues being too stubborn or reported high wage demands we don’t know – but Blackburn came in and Blues seemed to be happy to sell the player for a reported fee of £7.7 million, and Dann himself seemed to welcome a move back to the Premier League. All the best to the young defender who has a big future ahead of him; it was a shame for him to get injured when he did but I wish him the best of luck in the future: a great lad on and off the pitch who deserves success. Always believe in…

The next deadline day mover was striker Cameron Jerome, who has more than divided opinion amongst the Birmingham fans since his arrival in 2006. After seeing the club through two promotions, two relegations and a Carling Cup win, as well as being part of the invincible team of 2009/10, the Huddersfield-born forward has seen it all, and before his departure yesterday he was one of the longest serving players in the current squad. Although not blessed with goal-scoring ability – ironic seeing as he plies his trade as a striker – you can’t fault his work rate, and that goal at Anfield will never be forgotten, nor is it likely to be repeated by Jerome! With Stoke City his new employers – a club on the up I must add – I wish Jerome luck there, though he’ll have to work hard to become first choice striker, especially with the addition of Peter Crouch to Pulis’ ranks also.


Despite late interest from Newcastle United regarding Liam Ridgewell, who had a transfer request rejected by Blues yesterday, Dann and Jerome were the only two movers on deadline day, so it really could have been worse for Chris Hughton and his management team, who already have the mammoth task of bringing in reinforcements for a tough Championship and Europa League campaign. And that brings me to the players coming into Blues yesterday.

The first deadline day addition came in the form of Jack Deaman; an 18-year-old who signed a one-year professional contract with the club, and a clear ‘one for the future’ singing by Hughton. A highly rated centre half, Deaman was realised by Welsh side Wrexham and after a successful trial period at the club was snapped up by Hughton and his management team.

After securing the loan signing of midfielder Guirane N’Daw early last week it looked like that would be the last summer signing, of note, to be made by Hughton. But late on last night the services of first Wade Elliott and then Pablo Ibanez were also secured.

Elliott, scorer of the magnificent goal which took Burnely into the top flight signed a two year deal late last night; much to the dismay and disappointment of Burnley fans who rate him highly. The midfielder spent the last six years at Turf Moor making 280 appearances, and the 32 year old adds a wealth of Championship experience to Hughton’s side.


A late move for Pablo Ibanez saw him leave near neighbours West Bromwich Albion to join Blues on a two year deal. The centre half came through the door just as Scott Dann left, and is an appropriate replacement for the much-loved Scouser. Ibanez, a Spanish International, was signed by West Brom from Atletico Madrid and so has Europa League experience – as well as Champions League appearances under his belt – and will prove a good squad player for Hughton to utilize with so many games to play already this season.

After a transfer window of players coming in on frees, spending money – although ‘undisclosed' so we don't yet know how much was spent – is a welcome change for the fans of Birmingham City, who hope to see their manager secure some loan signings in the next week or two to bolster the squad further.

The two outgoing players were expected, and after all we could have lost Ridgewell, Jean Beausejour – who was linked with a move to Wigan Athletic – or even worse Stephen Carr. So like I said: it could have been worse.

Observations

There's one thing you don't want to do when you go to Old Trafford, and that's concede inside the first five minutes. Unfortunately for Blues, we did just that, and that's when you know the next 90 minutes will be even more of an uphill struggle than you expected.

It may have been a different story had we not conceded so early. Yes, we still would have lost. I don't think many teams go to United expecting it to be easy or to get all three points, you can hope, but the reality is it probably isn't going to happen. But conceding so early on gave United the rest of the game to score even more, which of course they did. Two nil, then three nil before half time. And couple more after to take the grand total up to five before they decided they didn't want any more.

But enough about the cockneys, lets talk about Blues. The team with passion, fight drive, desire... that has gone missing this season. We knew it would be hard, we knew we'd be in a relegation battle, but were it not for the fact we were in a Carlin Cup semi final and on the verge of Wembley, I think many a Bluenose would be searching for the rope. No, I'm joking. We've been through all this shite before and we knew we'd have to go through it again. It's part and parcel of being a Bluenose and we wouldn't have it any other way... although once in a while it'd be nice to have a little change.


Now, onto what I actually wanted to talk about in this rather lengthy blog post. Just a few observations from the match. So, number one: we miss Scott Dann. I think everyone knew we'd miss him, but not how much we would. Although Johnson has a gob on him, Dann comands the back line throuhout the game and that's what we miss. In the past two games the defence sometimes look worried, confused and un-organised. Also, Scott Dann's replacement. We have a perfectly good experienced centre back on the bench in Jiranek who we brought in as cover should one of our centre backs get injured. Yet we're using Ridgewell instead, who is much better at left back than he is a centre back, even though by trade he's a centre back. And we're playing Murphy on the left who is a good left back but not as good as Ridgewell. This might confuse you, but I know what I'm getting at: play Jiranek in the centre. We bought him for this.

Next observation; Hleb. He is a fantastic player and some of the football he plays makes me want to shed tears of joy. However; what we need right now is players who will fight for absolutely everything; track back whenever needed; and run like someone has just shoved a rocket up their arse to help out a team mate. Hleb doesn't do that. Hleb will give everything going forward, but tracking back, his body language seems to say 'my job is to attack, someone else can do the defending job.' He is without doubt a brilliant player, but in a relegation battle he might not be someone we need. Just a thought.

Staying on the subject of classy midfielders, lets talk about David Bentley. He's great, isn't he? It's such a shame he's cup tied because we could do with him on Wednesday. His speed, skill and trickery; along with his excellent crossing and distance-shooting is just what we need. A bit of creativity to get us our of trouble. Something different. He offers you all of this and I just want to thank Spurs for letting us have him on loan! Brilliant.


Observation number three: I thought Jordon Mutch had a good début today. It must have been tough for him being thrown in at the deep end and being handed the task of keeping world class players at bay, but credit to him he did well, and he is a player we need to keep hold of because he will be big.

This Larsson fiasco is getting a bit silly now, isn't it? Revelations in the paper coming out that he was told he could go, told he had to stay, told this, that and the other, and it's all quite confusing and makes my head hurt. What is clear though, is that he doesn't want to be here any more. You saw that when he came on. He was okay, he will still work for us when we play him, but he won't put that heart in that he did before. He doesn't love us any more and a lot of the fans don't like him either. I'm not sure what's gone on, but I think we should let it die down now, because he's probably going to be here until the end of the season.

Although we lost 5-0, it doesn't really feel like it. I think if I had been lsitening or watching at home it would have been more painful, but when you're actually at the game it doesn't feel quite as bad. The Blues fans were excellent today. Humorous as ever and in full voice, it made me proud to be a bluenose. And 5-0 down, I looked around Old Trafford and it made me think how happy I am to support Blues instead of a team like United. Sure, we don't win everything, well, anything. We're in a relgatation battle. We'll never win the Premier League. But shit me, I have so much fun supporting this team. At 5-0 up, United fans were leaving. Leaving!! Christ, we're winning 2-0 and the whole ground stays to applaud the players off the pitch. 5-0, fuck me, we'd be partying all night long. I guess that's why I like supporting a smaller club.

And we certainly know how to have a laugh. The Norwich chants were brilliant, as was the look on the United fans' faces when we were cheering corners and singing "we're gonna win the league" - I wouldn't swap that for anything. This is what it's like to be City, and I for one absolutely love this club.

So, forget this game. It was coming, we all knew it, but the 1,800 blues there yesterday: we all had fun, didn't we? And this is to all blues fans now: we're all looking forward to Wednesday, aren't we? Forget losing 5-0 to a great team (who I haven't really praised throughout this - United were brilliant yesterday. Period.) Lets look forward to Wednesday. We're 90 minutes from Wembley, lets do this.

Full Time: Manchester United 5-0 Birmingham City

We've just won away

I'm sorry if this isn't coherent or long or what have you, but we, Birmingham City Football Club, just won away. It's an important event in the life of a Bluenose seeing as our last away win came all the way back in march 2010 at Portsmouth. And boy did we need this win, because it has pushed us up to 15th in the League and not out of danger, but above it for now.

The diamond that caught Ian Holloway out when we played them at St. Andrews came back to haunt him and from the off Blues had numerous chances to go ahead, with Derbyshire inches away from latching onto a good ball placed temptingly across the goal mouth. Cameron Jerome also had a couple of good chances, and it was clear we had come here to fight and to, most importantly, win.

The attack-minded formation was working for McLeish's men against a side that love to attack, but unfortunately for them this means they get caught on the break easier. With that in mind, Blues could have easily been winning from minute one, and throughout the first half we had the bulk of the possession and the bulk of the chances; and the opener for the away side came after 24 minutes. Defender Stephen Crainey made an awful mistake which gave Hleb the perfect opportunity to take the ball from right under the nose of the defender and run a few yards before calmly looping the ball over the head of Richard Kingson. After being under fire of some Blues fans after his, shall we say, misunderstood comments prior to the Arsenal match; but I think it's safe to say all was forgotten when he scored and reeled off in celebration with a big smile on his face.



Blues continued to dominate much of the first half, and while Blackpool threatened, the defence and Ben Foster - who had an excellent game - did enough to stop the home side from equalising, and went into the break a goal to the good and most importantly, half way to an important three points in this season's relegation battle.

It was clear as soon as the second half started what Holloway had said in his half time team talk: score a goal. And that's just what Blackpool set out to do. Now it was Blues on the back foot and Blackpool on the up. Ben Foster earned his wages in this half saving a wave of shots that came his way, the most impressive of the lot probably being from Charlie Adam's 20 yard effort was palmed away by the Blues number one, who has been saviour for his team so many times this season most if not all of us have lost count.

After a wave of Blackpool attacks it was Blues' turn to counter. Larsson, who ha been substituted on moments before, fed the ball through to Cameron Jerome, who dinked the ball over Kingson but was denied only by the post: will the man ever score?! This miss prooved to be vital though, as just minutes later the resiliant Blues back-line were eventually beaten, but as just as determined Blackpool strike-force. With 68 minutes on the clock, Gary Taylor-Fletcher nodded down a cross into the Blackpool box which fell to ex-Blue DJ Campbell, who volleyed past Ben Foster and unto the net. Although it was a knock for Blues, the only thing that made it easier to watch was the muted celebration from the man who helped us to promotion in 06/07; a great sign of respect from a great little player.


With the goal to boost their confidence, Blackpool were now in search of a winner, however the open nature of the game made it hard to see just which team was going to come out on top. It was exciting end to end stuff, and a joy for any natural to watch; but it was hearts in mouths time for both Blackpool and Blues fans as the game edged closer to full time. And, thankfully for us, it was Blues who came out winners. Beausejour's cross was nodded across the box by Roger Johnson, and Scott Dann controlled and finished almost Kevin Phillips-like, sending the travelling fans and the rest of the team into a frenzy!

First away with on the season; first double of the season; and most importantly, three points to add to the total and to help us climb up the table ever so slightly. We're not out of the mire by a long way yet, but this game could really give us the boost we need. Well done Blues.

Full Time: Blackpool 1-2 Birmingham City

A little bit of luck and a lot of character

Handball? Maybe. Foul? Could have been. Offside? Possibly. Absolutely brilliant? Yes yes and yes again. Once again our never say die attitude and not knowing when to give up paid off, and we got a really, really big point tonight.

With the irony of Manchester United fans labelling us cheats, I've found it hard to construct thoughts into a proper blog post because I'm laughing so much. It really is brilliant isn't it; in fact if it was offside, it it was a foul and if it was handball, I'm glad. Actually, I hope it was all of them because it would make it even funnier. I think they call it karma...

I wouldn't say either team truly 'deserved' anything but really no one 'deserves' anything out of a game unless they play the other team off the park. Man United started well, which was to be expected; even as the home team you have to expect a team like United to come at you. But Blues didn't just gift United the ball and let them do what they pleased with it, those players actually fought for the ball and for each other, and didn't stop until the final whistle - something which was missing from the previous game against Wolves.


In fact, everything that was missing in the blip in the previous game was back again. The desire was clear in all the players and they stepped their game up a notch, like we always do when the big boys come to town. Ben Foster had a little something to prove after not having the best of times at Man United; and with a few good saves and a solid performance, he left the field with a smug smile on his face.

The Blues defence were again rock solid, and the only times they were torn apart were for Berbatov's goal and for a spell after United's goal when they had the stuffing knocked out of them a little. Other than that, it was akin to the shut out against Chelsea a few weeks ago, with Roger Johnson and Scott Dann winning plenty of balls in the air, coping well with an off the pace Wayne Rooney, and Ridgewell and Carr doing a superb job too.

The midfield really gave it their all, and Bluenose Craig Gardner could have even given his team the lead in the second half, when a short corner was played back to Bowyer, whose blocked shot found Gardner but he could only manage a shot straight at Van Der Sar. Barry Ferguson ran the show again and picked up man of the match, which is getting quite boring now actually! He drives the team forward and will pick out a pass no one else could see, as well as picking out the easy passes to keep the game flowing, in short, he's just brilliant. Jean Beausejour also known as Dave - for ease - got a start, and had a great game. He's someone we need: a player that can beat a man, a player with pace, and a player with a good cross on him, and hopefully last night gave him a bit of practise. I was impressed.


Although Berbatov's goal knocked it out of Blues a little, you can't fault their attitude. Heads dropped a little, but the desire was still there and those players kept on pushing until the final whistle, where they got a reward for all their hard graft; and we have Roger Johnson, Nikola Zigic, Lee Bowyer and a little bit of luck to thank for that.


Maybe it was handball, it could have been a foul leading up to the goal, and it probably was offside, but throughout the game I was thinking "are we ever going to get any luck?" and we may have go tit in the 89th minute... and about bloody time too.

With another big game against a top team Saturday, a repeat of this performance wouldn't go amiss, and after all; anything can happen at St. Andrews (maybe sometimes with a little bit of help from the officials).

Full Time: Birmingham Ciy 1-1 Manchester United

A point in London

Who would have thunked it. It's not that we always play bad against London teams, it's that we never get rewarded. Time and time again we play London teams and come back to Birmingham empty handed, but today we finally picked up a point in the Big Smoke, and on the first half performance and the second half defending it was a deserved one at that.

It took us just 19 minutes to break the deadlock; against the run of play too. Alexander Hleb showed his real class for probably the first time this season, and broke from the half way line on a solo-run and unselfishly fed the ball to Seb Larsson who expertly found the back of the net. I have not yet seen this goal but apparently Hleb's run was absolutely magnificent.


The goal really stunned the home fans, and Blues went marginally on top then for the rest of the first half. Ben Foster and his defence were superb and their positioning was excellent as ever; Roger Johnson and Scott Dann, who have been talked up big time for England call-ups this week, dealing with everything in the air that came their way - surely just another reason to add to the list of why Fabio should take notice of them. Blues dealt with the onslaught of Fulham attacks well, and fought back with a few attacks of our own, none of which came to any avail. With Zigic dropped to the bench to make way for Hleb, Cameron Jerome was having to lead the line on his own, and didn't get too many sniffs of a goal himself as the game went on.

The second half started just as the first half with Fulham the brighter team. The two teams are relatively easily matched on paper, but with Fulham's good home form at Craven Cottage - disregarding last weeks heavy loss against Man City - and the fact that they were 1-0 down, they had an incentive to play better in the season half and to go on to find the equaliser: which they eventually found in the 53rd minute.


Blues failed to clear a Fulham corner and Clint Dempsey was there to put it into the back of the net to make it 1-1. It got a little worse for the away side some time after too, as Hleb, who had just hit his form and got back to full fitness, picked up an injury that led him to be stretchered off the pitch. Zigic filled the gap Hleb left and Blues went 4-4-2, but it was very much backs against the wall stuff as Fulham continued a barrage of attacks. It didn't go all Fulham's way in the second half though, as we still had a handful of attacks, with a penalty claim being turned down by referee Howard Webb after Jerome was brought down, and the corner following that being hit against the crossbar by Scott Dann.

Blues kept their heads though and defended till the death. - something which we have just come to take as normality with Blues. They coped with everything Fulham threw at them, and went on to pick up a well deserved point to move them up to 14th in the table - one place above their bitter rivals from 'up the road'.

A point in London? Well, it's more than we got in all our games down there last season!

Full Time: Fulham 1-1 Birmingham City

The Kings of Comebacks

Contrary to what Match Of The Day lead you to believe, it wasn't actually West Ham Versus no one for the first 60 minutes. Although at times it did feel like that. It's true, we didn't get in the game until late on, but we were actually playing in the first half. Just what we were playing at though, I'm not too sure.

The performances in our last three games have been great. At Arsenal we were strong, and can take pride in the fact we almost got a point from there. Against Blackpool we were brilliant, the new formation worked and like Holloway said, we stopped Blackpool from playing their game. At Villa we were resilient, we played with passion and very almost clinched a victory. Today, against West Ham, we were poor. Nothing seemed to work; even what should have been the most talented play on the pitch in Alex Hleb, didn't work. We lacked not only lustre, but pretty much everything else.

We seem to fall into the trap sometimes of starting quite brightly, and then letting the opposition get more into the game. When we do that, like we did today, the other team become more confident. And then we get driven more and more out of the game, until the game is flipped on it's head and we're no longer in control. We pass the ball about brilliantly at times, and you can see the class and the skill is still there amongst the players, but the end product, that final bit of magic; it just isn't there sometimes. And after playing so well in the games prior to this match, you wonder why.


There were two things that happened in the first half: the first was the sprinkles coming on in the first when West Ham were on the attack - only at Blues! - it was comical and gave the crowd something to smile about at least! The second was that the Hammers nearly took the lead - and most of the crowd thought the ball had gone in the back of the net - but Ben Foster managed to tip the ball onto the post, which rolled across the goal-line to Scott Dann who booted it out of play. Chants of 'England's number one' rung out around the ground from the home support, and rightly so.

It was a game of few chances for Blues, and so West Ham deservedly took the lead just after half time. It came through a quick move that split the defence and allowed Frederic Piquionne (remember him?) to slide the ball past Ben Foster, who could do nothing but stand there and watch the ball go past him.

It got even worse for Blues exactly 10 minutes later, when a similar move saw Behrami find the back of the net after being set up by Carlton Cole - who had a good game himself.

McLeish decided to change things around, and bought on Beausejour and Gardner in place of Fahey and Hleb, and Blues began the comeback. Larsson's cross found the head of Zigic, who nodded it down into the path of Jerome, who from a yard or two out calmly hit the ball into the back of the net. Game on.


Blues seemed to wake up then, and again despite what the BBC want you to think, Blues had several chances to make it 2-2, with Beausejour amongst others being denied. Blues found the equaliser in the end though: Larsson's free-kick was parried by Rob Green, into the path of Ridgewell who firmly slotted the ball home and ran away in celebration.


Blues almost went on to win the game with Jerome being denied, but with the way the game went, the home side were more than happy to get a point, but we all know the performance needs to be stepped up for the next game. However, a special mention goes to Stephen Carr - someone who was retired a few years ago - and seemed like the only player who cared throughout the whole game. Super Captain Carr: man of the match. And deservedly so.

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-2 West Ham

Que sera sera...

At 90 minutes, we were out of the Carling Cup. At 91 minutes, we were back in it again. It's strange how football works, because if teams that deserved to win actually won, we wouldn't have equalised in the 91st minute to send the game to extra time. As it is, not everyone gets what they deserve in football.

To say Brentford were the better team throughout the first ninety minutes would be an understatement. We honestly didn't turn up at all. O'Connor and Derbyshire are probably still in the back pockets of the Brentford defence, and our own defence is lucky that 1. most of Brentford's shots were wide of the mark, and 2. (and no one normally says this) that Maik Taylor was in goal behind them.

The best of a bad bunch was probably Michel, who got man of the match for Blues. It has been mentioned before that he is being moulded into Barry Ferguson, as he is a good passer and distributor of the ball like Barry himself. Michel played well in midfield; won lots of headers, played intelligent passes, and for a Spaniard he doesn't half get stuck in. I was impressed with him. Shame I can't really say that about many of the others. Especially Lee Bowyer, who had an absolute mare, to then go and and sky his penalty - which pretty much summed up his night.


Another special mention needs to go to Nathan Redmond. Although at times he got caught up a bit in play, you can tell what a great player he is going to be. He has pace, skill and agility, and with the crowd getting behind the young lad, there is only one way he is going to go - and that is up.

Kevin Phillips' equaliser, after Sam Wood put the away side ahead, knocked the stuffing out of Brentford, and it was clear that in extra time they were happy to settle for the lottery that is the penalty shoot out. And they got it.


I didn't know Scott Dann and Stephen Carr were penalty takers, but I would let them take them again and again after their efforts last night. Craig Gardner and Kevin Phillips also slotted theirs away like true professionals calm under pressure, and with a smart save by Maik Taylor for Brentford's last penalty, Blues wrapped up the win and booked a place in the last eight of the competition.


Credit goes to Brentford FC - their players and their fans - they took the game to us and almost won. Their fans were brilliant throughout and I honestly wish them the best of luck for the rest of the season. I spoke to David Hunt, one of their players, on Twitter this morning; congratulating him on how well his team played and how unlucky they were. He is a credit to his team as he replied back, and wished Blues good luck. I will keep an eye out for their results this season, as if they play their league games like they played last night, I have a feeling they will do very well indeed.

Three games away from Wembley kids. Three games.

Full Time: Birmingham City 1-1 Brentford (4-3 on penalties AET)

That's more like it

A much more spirited Blues performance and a much better crowd saw Birmingham come out winners today against a lively Blackpool side – scoring two and even keeping a clean sheet, setting the players up nicely for their next league game: the derby with those up the road.

Playing Blackpool, you know what to expect: a team that will come at you; a team full of little battlers; and a manager with his heart on his sleeve. But, you don't know how they're going to play. That's the thing. It's like us last season – no one knew our style of play, so it took teams a while to figure us out, and figure out how to beat us. It's like that this season with Blackpool, and combine that with the amount of passion and drive Ian Holloway forces upon his players, they have been a tough test for many teams already this season – just asked Liverpool.

As it was, Blues played brilliantly today. Every single one of them. Ben Foster is improving every game, much like Joe Hart did under goalkeeping coach Dave Watson. The back four were as solid as... a very solid thing. As always. How Roger Johnson, at 27, is still yet to be called up to England is a mystery. Liam Ridgewell played great again as well, with a goal on the score sheet and a great performance to his name too. Him and Stephen Carr, well, I've not seen them play so far up the pitch all season.

It wasn't so much 4-4-2, well, that was the intentional formation. But the tactics we played meant that Ferguson – who had his best game so far this season for Blues – played just behind the midfield and did his brilliant job of sweeping the loose balls up. Fahey played a more central role, and had a good few chances and a much better game than his previous few. Seb Larsson and Alex Hleb also had good games, with Hleb, like Fahey, having one of his better games in a Blues shirt – until he went off injured, that is.

Moan about him as much as you like, but one thing you cannot fault Garry O'Connor for is his work rate. Call him fat, call him whatever, but he will run for you all day long; he will win headers all day long; he will make runs and chase down the ball. All. Day. Long. And he had a good game today, I was willing him to score Blues' third just to shut the haters and the moaners up.

Zigic seems to have found his feet in the Premier League, and with another goal today it proves he can cut it in this league. He's now playing with confidence, winning balls in the air and picking out good passes. He's not the fastest of players, but he'll get into the right positions for you, and him and O'Connor seem like a good partnership.

The difference between this game and our last home game against Everton, was confidence. The Arsenal game, although we lost, seemed to have given these players a bit of a boost. The 20 yard passes are now being pulled off. The balls across the park are actually reaching the players. The neat one-touch football we played last season is being introduced back into our game. And the crowd can see this too. The atmosphere today was great; the fans got behind every single player,. And it gave the Blues team even more drive and confidence to go on and score more and create more.

Last season we lost to Arsenal in October, won our next home game with Ridgewell being first goalscorer and went on that amazing unbeaten run. This season we lost to Arsenal... in October... won our next home game... with Ridgewell being first on the score sheet. I'm not saying we will replicate what we did last year, but if that's not a coincidence, I don't know what is.

Full Time: Birmingham City 2-0 Blackpool

To sumarise...

Writing a match report for every game is starting to get a bit boring, so I’ve decided to vary it now. Today I am doing ‘Ten things we learnt today’ - Enjoy!

1. Gone are the days that Liverpool can just turn up and expect to beat teams. If I had to describe them inn one word, it would be ‘ordinary.’ they’re not better than us right now, in fact if you looked at results and the table, we are better than them at this moment in time. They are rather lacklusture, and simply create too little to be competing with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.

2. Also, gone are the days where you can walk out the ground after drawing against Liverpool being happy and content with a point. I was disappointed. Honest to God, I was disappointed because we could, and should, have won that.

3. It comes to something when Liverpool have to dive to try and beat you. Lucas being the main culprit. I can see why Liverpool fans don’t like him much; he spent more time diving today than Tom Daley.


4. I’m not sure what it is, but we always seem to be able to nullify Torres when he plays against us. We are the only team Fernando Torres has faced more than once in the Premier league and never scored against. Nice fact for you there. Like last season, Roger Johnson had him in his back pocket today; Fernando Torres was his bitch. It was lovely to watch.

5. Which brings me onto the Roger and Scott for England campaign: Matty Upson and Joleon Lescott are still getting called up. Tell me why this is. Of corse I’m being biased, but tell me two English central defenders, right now, that are better than Dann and Johnson. Today, they were both superb. Absolutely superb.

6. Pepe Reina is brilliant. Without him today, Liverpool would most definitely have lost. The saves he made in the first half, especially from Jerome’s header, were really, really good. At the moment, he’s their best player. Which speaks volumes considering he is their goalkeeper.


7. The best thing Aston Villa ever did (except put Enckleman in goal) was sell us Craig Gardner. I would right a personal letter of thanks to Randy and co. but I wouldn’t want to waste my money on a stamp.

8. The same can be said for Rangers selling us Barry Ferguson. For me, he was probably man of the match today. He is a midfield genius. Everything just revolves around him, and I hope to God he’s at Blues until the end of his career.

9. James McFadden is not lazy. Please, lets stop labeling him as this, because he is a class player. He really is, and today he showed this class. Yes, we wish he’d do it all the time, but that’s what you get with James McFadden: he picks his moments, and today was one of those moments.

10. No team comes to St. Andrews expecting to win anymore. I said at the start this was ’10 things we learnt today’ when in fact I’m saying this and we already knew it, but I’m pointing it out again for the benefit of any fan that thinks otherwise: we will grind and grind and block and block and push and push until those 90 plus minutes are up. The fans will sing their hearts out, taunt your players and make fortress St. Andrews live up to it’s name. You can’t go there expecting to win, in fact, you’re lucky to come away with just a point nowadays, like Liverpool were today. Nearly a year unbeaten at home now, I wonder how long we can go on this run for…

Full Time: Birmingham City 0-0 Liverpool

Footnote: after proof reading I’ve realised how biased this is. Oh well, it’s a different kind of bias to that you witness on the BBC, so I’d be grateful if I were you.

And so it begins

After starting the game slightly pedestrian, Blues game back from 2-0 down to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light earlier on today.

With Foster recovering from the back injury that kept him out of England’s friendly against Hungary on Wednesday, he was the only new signing to feature for Blues, with Serbian Nikola Zigic resigned to the bench, after McLeish preferred the O’Connor and Jerome partnership up front.

Sunderland started, and stayed, very much on top for most of the first half, and it was a day of defensive errors for Blues, as Stephen Carr gave away a penalty, albeit a questionable one, on the 25th minute, which Darren bent calmly slotted away, leaving Ben Foster to pick the ball out of his net even after diving the correct way.

Sunderland were the team on top, with new goalkeeper Mignolet having little to do in the first half. But with half time approaching, Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole was sent off after he received a second yellow card for a nasty challenge on Lee Bowyer, which left the home team having to defend their one-goal lead for the whole of the second half. However, changes were needed for Blues if they were to get anything out of this game.

Half time changes for Blues meant McFadden came into the fold, with Fahey making way for him. The eleven men started brighter, and the second half looked more promising for Blues. That was until the 56th minute, when Stephen Carr popped up again much to the delight of Sunderland fans, this time flicking the ball over his own ‘keeper Ben Foster's head and into the empty net; an embarrassing own goal for the Birmingham captain, and a two goal lead for the ten men of Sunderland.

Big Zigic made his premier League debut with half an hour to go. It was surprising he didn’t start, given he fact he offers a lot, and judging on pre-season games Blues also play better when he’s in the team. That theory was again proved today, as Blues started to up the anti when Zigic was introduced, and they literally threw the kitchen sink at Sunderland in search of a goal to get them back into the game.

On the 77th minute Blues got that much-needed break through; McFadden’s short corner was played to Larsson, which found the head of Scott Dann, and ultimately the back of the Sunderland net! Blues were back in the game now, and desperately in search of an equaliser.

As Blues fans, we know we always leave everything till the last minute, no matter what. So it probably didn’t come as too much of a surprise that the final goal in this game went to the away team. Just ten minutes after the goal that got them back into the game, Blues found an equaliser in the form of Liam Ridgewell, who is more than accustomed to getting last minute goals by now! Ridgewell found the net rather scrappily: a Larsson free kick found Scott Dann, which then reflected off the legs of Ridgewell who ran off in celebration of his last-gasp goal.

It was a great comeback for the Blues, but there are still negatives in the performance. We had to come from two goals down, and at the top league we can’t afford to be doing that very often! The first half was poor, but the second half we played slightly better, albeit against only ten men.

A great point under the circumstances, but we will have to perform better if we’re to continue our great home form against Blackburn next Saturday.

Full Time: Sunderland 2-2 Birmingham City