Here is another article from Blues News, Blues match day programme. Once again we have been given permission to re-produce. I had intended to pop it up earlier in the week, but have been busy. Anyway here you go, better late than never as they say!
Cameron Jerome walked away with the top scorer and goal of the season awards tucked under his arm after the 2009/10 end of term party.
And the Blues front-man is on course to net at least one of those accolades again at the end of this campaign – although Liam Ridgewell might have something to say about that! Jerome marked his return to the starting line-up following a month-long injury lay-off by scoring against West Ham in the last home match here at St. Andrew’s. He was unlucky not to claim a brace after barging through the Hammers defence late in the game and beating Rob Green with his shot only for Daniel Gabbidon to deflect the effort onto the bar. The 24-year-old did find the net again three days later at Stoke to take his season’s tally to three and the smart money is on the former England under-21 international finishing on top of Blues’ goal pile again.
This season has followed a similar pattern to the last for the swashbuckling striker who missed an early chunk of 2009/10 due to an ankle injury. This was one of the main reasons that it took until early November for the former Cardiff City man to register his first goal of the campaign. But once he’d got in on the act there was no stopping Cammy as he banged in a total of 11 goals to fire Blues to their highest finish in over half a century. This term he has again showed no signs of rustiness after returning from four weeks on the sidelines due to a knee injury, plundering two goals in as many starts.
Talking exclusively to Blues News earlier this week, he admits: “It was a setback getting injured but you just make sure that you’re focused and come back stronger and more determined. Since I’ve come back this season I’ve felt good and not really been affected by the break. It’s good that the games are coming thick and fast now.
“I’d be very surprised and disappointed in myself if I didn’t hit double figures again this season. The team are scoring goals. I would have liked to have scored a few more myself and, if I’m being honest, I probably should have got a couple more. But, like all strikers will tell you, you’ve got to be in the positions to miss them. I’d be more disappointed if I wasn’t getting in the right areas. We’re getting good support up from the midfield and the wingers are putting some fantastic balls in, so it’s up to the strikers to go and attack them, get chances and score goals. That’s what every striker loves doing and we thrive off that pressure of having to score.”
Boss Alex McLeish recently admitted that he was still looking for the right blend in the forward areas. Jerome has lined up alongside summer signing Nikola Zigic in the last few games and the number 10 feels there is more to come from the new-look strikeforce, although he can see promising signs.
“Ziggy has taken a little bit of time to settle in and find his feet in the Premier League. It is difficult for the foreign lads to come in and they’re expected to settle in straightaway,” says Jerome. “With us having such a small squad, a lot of pressure is on you and you’re expected to perform week in and week out. I think Ziggy has done alright. We’re all starting to realise how he plays and it’s about getting that understanding together. The more we play together, the better we’ll become. I think we’ve done okay so far but we can both do a little bit more, although there is room for improvement throughout the team, not just in our department. If we can get even better service into the strikers then I think that would see the team score more goals.”
He adds: “It’s always nice to challenge yourself when people lay the gauntlet down to you and ask for more out of you. It always brings the best out of players when it’s put across in the right way.”
Blues have lost only once in their last six outings and that was to a very late goal at the Britannia Stadium. But four of the games have ended in a draw and Jerome admits that the key to climbing the table is to turn the one-point hauls into three. He continues: “We have got a couple of draws here and there and the defeat at Stoke was a little bit hard to take after getting ourselves into a great position having been 2-0 down. We need to start picking up wins and it’s vital that we do get a little bit of a run together. It’s obviously good not to lose but a point doesn’t really get you anywhere in this league. You need three points and the sooner we start getting a consistent run together and a couple more wins under our belt, I’m sure we’ll start to climb up the table.”
There were certainly no moans about two points dropped after Blues returned from Eastlands with a highly creditable draw last weekend having kept much-fancied Manchester City at bay during a gritty 90-minute display. Jerome admits: “It was a morale-boosting point and well deserved. We went there with a game-plan and stopped Man City playing a little bit and frustrated them. The game opened up in the second half and we felt that we could have got even more out of it, especially towards the end. But we were more than happy with a draw away to one of the ‘Big Four’, so it was a brilliant result for us.”
However, the Barclays Premier League table didn’t make for palatable reading as Blues fans sat down at their breakfast table with the Sunday newspaper last weekend. Despite the battling draw against City, the team had dropped into the relegation zone for the first time this season. Jerome is not overly concerned by the team’s current position, although he admits: “It does obviously help if you are a little bit further up – but it’s early days. Three points separate our position from the top half, it shows how tight the league is at the moment and everyone is beating everyone – there have been a few shocks. We’ve just got to continue our good home form and try and beat the teams in and around us – that’s the key to it really. Last season we were winning those games and we were top of our mini-league but this year we have struggled a little bit against those sorts of teams.”
A different kind of challenge lies ahead for Blues at the start of next month. It won’t be the pressure of picking up league points, instead local bragging rights and the chance to reach the last four of a major cup competition. McLeish’s side go head to head with Second City rivals Aston Villa in an eagerly-awaited Carling Cup quarter-final contest under the St. Andrew’s floodlights.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to progress in the competition. Quite a lot of the big boys are out, it’s the quarter-final stage, only two rounds away from the final, and anything can happen,” insists Jerome. “We’ve been lucky so far to get all home ties and this one is the game of the round, a big local derby and hopefully we’ll go out and put in a good performance. We know how much it means to the fans.
“This is an opportunity for one of the smaller teams to get to the final and perhaps win it. You’ve seen plenty of shocks this season through the cup. We’re hoping we can provide a couple more of those and be in the mix for the final and a chance for silverware.”
Before the Villa game it’s the bread and butter of the league as Blues face a double header against teams from West London. Next week Craven Cottage is the venue as McLeish’s troops travel to the capital to take on Fulham. But today reigning champions Chelsea have made the opposite trip and Jerome insists that the players aren’t daunted by the challenge ahead.
“We’ve got some good games going up, hard opposition but they’re matches that we think we can get points from,” he says. “We did the same last season, we had a tremendous home record against some of the big teams and we know we’ve got a massive task ahead of us this weekend against Chelsea. As last weekend showed, they can be beaten. They’ve got a few key players out. If we take the game to them early and get in amongst them, they won’t like it. They didn’t enjoy coming to St. Andrew’s last season and we came out with a creditable draw when we were probably the better team. They were quite happy with a draw and I don’t think they’ll relish it this year either.
“We’ve still got to be wary of Chelsea. They are the champions and a very good team. They won’t have been happy about losing on their own patch against Sunderland and we’ll expect a reaction from them. They’ll be looking at this game as a chance to bounce back and pick up three points. But we’ll approach the game in a positive manner too and look to do the same.”
Leave a Reply