When we're good we are quite good but when we're bad we're...

...awful.

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

good things come to those who wait

we all know that this season has been one of the best seasons in our history, and all that was missing was a maybe trip to wembley and a double over our local rivals. but all this expectation is being put on the players for next season like talks of europe again, but blues fans need to realise what we have achieved this season was something the club had planned would happen in about two years time.

we'd all love for this season to happen again, but maybe with the couple of added bonus' this time like the ones i mentioned earlier. but realistically, next season will all be about 'second season syndrome' and our target will be mid table safety and maybe a good cup run or two. anything else would be a bonus.

since the unbeaten run, our 'invincibles' have had a lot of pressure put on them, and now we are seeing the price of success - our players are tiring. in the summer we will need to strengthen. the club needs to be built up from the bottom to the top, and the first step is buying and selling players in the summer.

we need to sort out the goalkeeping situation, which at the moment we won't know anything about until the summer, but the most likely options seem to be either: a) kidnap joe hart or b) look for a new keeper. sadly, the latter is the most likely option. the next thing alex needs to look at is the strike force; our main problem this season has been scoring goals - but he is definitly onto the case of that one already and hopefully we will get a good few strikers in.

that leads onto people creating goals; we need to strengthen that area aswell - our wingers just aren't fast enough so counter attacking is slower than some teams, manchester city for example who have players like adam johnson and shaun wright-phillips that can counter attack with so much pace they leave their defenders for dead. we may need to look at the defence aswell and bring in some 'players for the future,' but that is right down at the bottom of the list.

with our new board we should have a successful summer of new players coming in and players leaving the club that have had their time here. with the money we have at hand we should be able to get a mixture of good, talented players and maybe some younger or more robust players from the championship, because we've seen that it has worked with roger johnson and scott dann making the step up brilliantly, so it shows it can most definitly be done.

moving onto the real subject i wanted to talk about, the next thing the club needs to do - and they are doing it already it has to be said - is to tell the fans the plans and targets for next season. because some fans (the more fickle ones, i must point out) are expecting more of the same that we've seen this season, and a push for europe. this season has been more like a one off - none of us expected it to happen, we never believed we'd go on an amazing unbeaten run, or be this good at home - but we have done. and we might have done it a bit too quickly. once we've built on what we have, i believe the season after next we can start that push, but if we start it now, with a lot of new players coming in, it probably won't work, and the fickle fans will walk away from the club (again) because they are expecting too much.

my message to those fans is this: do not expect next season to go as well as this one has, because you'll probably be let down. i'm not saying this group of players can't reproduce the heroics they've produced this season, i'm just saying that the likelyhood of that happening isn't very large, and we need to prepare for a harder season next time around, because it will be. we were fortunate enough this season to have, and no disrespect, at least five teams that we were better than.. which has turned into eleven teams as the season went on!

next season i'm sure will be a good one, and we have enough in us to stay up again. but a push for europe is too soon in my opinion. we need to set realistic targets to be a successful club, and setting ones too high too soon will spell disaster - the fans will turn against the players, the players won't perform, etc. - think 05/06 when we all expected us to stay up again like we had the seasons before. we just expected it. like liverpool expected to finish fourth this season - rafa even told them they would get fourth, and what has happened now? fans angry, against the manager etc. all because even the club's own targets were not realistic, let alone the fans'.

i'm not saying the team won't try to do the best they can, you've seen the fighting spirit each and every one of them has shown throughout the season - i'm meerly saying you need to lower your own expectations of the players, they are no super heros.

so my message; don't set targets yourself. let the club set the targets and let them do the talking on the pitch. we're moving in the right direction, but don't try and make it move too quickly. so yes, to coin a phrase; good things come to those who wait. and seeing as we've waited all our lives for some success, it wouldn't hurt to wait for a little while longer, would it?