I had to watch this game in front of the computer. I had looked into the possibility of going up to the match but the only feasible way of doing it would have been to fly and try though I might to get an affordable ticket that allowed me to come back the same day was nigh on impossible. I certainly wasn’t going to drive since having spent four very happy years on Tyneside as a younger man; I know just how far away Newcastle is especially from the South of England. My love of all things blue does not stretch to a six and a half hour drive each way!
It was difficult to get a decent stream but I eventually managed to find one although an irritating pop-up advertisement for under floor tiling every few minutes did not make for an enjoyable experience. I managed to see most of the match but I did lose the stream one point halfway through the first half but to be honest up to about 35 minutes I didn’t miss much. However the key incident early on in the match cannot pass without comment. Stephen Taylor jumping with Birmingham’s lone striker, Cameron Jerome commits a deliberate, cowardly, violent and disgraceful elbow assault into Jerome’s cheekbone. This sort of challenge has no place in football and whilst I live in hope that the FA will take action retrospectively, as the referee failed to do so, I’m not holding my breath. I reviewed this matter on Match of the Day last evening and the challenge looks even worse than on the less than optimal pictures I saw first time round. The Newcastle player should undoubtedly have been dispatched to the dressing room and it is arguable that the outcome of this match would have been different. As it was, Taylor goes on later in the half to score what will ultimately prove to be the winning goal. I am certain that the irony was not lost on Alex McLeish and the Blues team.
Just before Taylor’s goal, a corner taken by man of the match, Joey Barton was handled by Liam Ridgewell as the ball was headed back across goal. In mitigation, Ridgewell heads the ball down onto his arm accidentally but it is for the second handball that the referee gives a penalty. I have no argument with the correctness of the decision but I am not totally convinced that it merited a red card. The red card has to be given because the incident is deemed a goal scoring opportunity. At this point the ball is actually travelling away from goal, admittedly towards Nolan. Nolan’s flailing foot attempting to propel the ball back towards the net was more likely to injure Ridgewell than connect with the ball which is at shoulder height. I defy anyone to not instinctively take protective action of your head when there is a boot hurtling towards your face. I think it is for this reason that Liam Ridgewell lifts his arm and connects with the ball. It is a penalty but I would contest that a yellow card was a more appropriate punishment, as in my view, having seen it again, the incident does not constitute a true goal scoring opportunity as there was at least one other Blues defender in addition to Ridgewell blocking Nolan’s way even if he had been able to connect with the ball.
As was the case last week at a similar time in the match, Birmingham’s chances of getting anything out of the game left along with Ridgewell. Shola Ameobi dispatched the penalty beautifully into the bottom corner past Ben Foster’s despairing right-hand despite the custodian diving the right way. The kick was perfect, Newcastle United were 1-0 up and Blues were undone having been comfortable to that point. A couple of minutes later another corner by Barton was headed in by Stephen Taylor (who else) off the shin of Sebastian Larsson standing on the line. Ben Foster clearly felt that the Swede should have done better and so do I. One-nil and down to ten men is bad enough; 2-0, 43 minutes gone and there was no way back that was until immediately before half-time sloppy, careless defending from a route one ball towards Cameron Jerome resulted in a goal back for Blues. Krull comes flying out like a demented banshee, Coloccini and Taylor although able to hold up the Blues striker initially, the ball broke to Bowyer whose left footed effort from 18 yards is deflected off Coloccini into the net to make it 2-1.
Blues fought bravely in the second half despite being under the cosh for sections of it. It has to be admitted that Newcastle had the lion’s share of the possession and as the statistics show over four times as many efforts on goal as Blues. However, as was the case against Wolves last week, Birmingham were resolute, solid and resilient and could have snatched an unlikely point when the Newcastle keeper, Tim Krull dropped the ball right in front of Sebastian Larsson whose shin this time looped the ball agonisingly over the bar. The young Newcastle goalkeeper was very lucky to get away with this for had Sebastian Larsson been a yard further away from him he would have had time to have placed the shot into the bottom corner. Krull is shaping up well and could make a fine keeper to join that well known Academy of dodgy keepers at Villa Park alongside greats such as Enklemann and Sorensson. 😀
There is no doubt that Newcastle deserved to win the game but they made very heavy weather of it against ten men Blues and towards the end were content to shepherd the ball down into the corners and cling on for their win. The result leaves Newcastle completely safe and able to plan for next season. As for Blues, there is still work to do and the elusive win that would guarantee safety will have to wait hopefully until next week against Fulham. I keep telling myself that it is highly unlikely Blues will find themselves in the bottom three on the last day but mathematically the prospect is all too real and with key players such as Craig Gardner and now Liam Ridgewell missing from the line-up Birmingham will have to play at the top of their game next week to secure safe passage for another Premiership season.
The Good: Ben Foster’s goalkeeping! The England man was absolutely outstanding and without him our goal difference this morning could have been looking every bit as bleak as that of the teams occupying the bottom three positions. The team’s second half performance which in the circumstances was excellent. Our fans that could be heard from high up in the Gods
The Bad: Our defending from the two set pieces that led to the goals.
The Ugly: Stephen Taylor’s appalling challenge on Cameron Jerome.
NEWCASTLE (4-4-2): Krul 5; Simpson 6, Taylor 6,Coloccini 6, Enrique 7; Barton 9, Nolan 7, Tiote 7, Gutierrez 6; Lovenkrands 7 (Ranger 6, 71), Ameobi 7.
Subs (not used): Harper, R Taylor,
Ferguson, Donaldson, Tavernier, Kuqi.
Booked: Tiote.
Goals: Ameobi 36 minutes (pen) Taylor 43 minutes
BIRMINGHAM (4-5-1): Foster 9; Carr 7, Johnson 8, Jiranek 7, Ridgewell 4 Larsson 5, Ferguson 7, Fahey 5 (Derbyshire 77, 6), Bowyer 7, Beausejour 8; Jerome 6.
Subs (not used): Doyle, Phillips, Bentley,
Parnaby, Hleb, Davies.
Booked: Bowyer, Jiranek, Larsson, Jerome.
Sent off: Ridgewell (36min).
Goal: Bowyer 45 minutes
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside) 5: I thought Mr Foy had a poor game and gave far too many free kicks for innocuous challenges and then completely missed the stuff he should have taken action on! I agree with a penalty decision but for the reasons given, I don’t believe Liam Ridgewell should have been dismissed.
Attendance: 47,409
I know its a Birmingham website, but give credit when credits due. We were lucky to only concede two goals.
Hi AB,
Good review. Am a toon supporter living in Hove. I was there and agree with your comments, namely:
Taylor should have been red carded.
Ridgewell deserved a yellow, not red.
Krul was lucky when he dropped the ball to Larsson (who, I’m afraid, didn’t impress me)
Foster was immense.
As was Carr (he was never that slim at Newcastle) – especially his towering leap above Ameobi to stop him scoring a header in 2nd half.
I wish you well in your last two games.
see you next season 🙂
With respect Sam, I do actually say that without Ben Foster our goal difference could have been severely dented so I think I have acknowledged that Newcastle battered us at times. We could easily have conceded more than two but we were up against it with only ten men against a very good side.
Doctapaul, thank you for your remarks.
Bazza
Johnson an 8? Really!? I thought he had a relatively poor game, made a few errors and mistakes
Ten men or not another poor game to be honest I would have no hard feelings if we are relegated easily one of the three worst sides in the league and a poor advertisment for the premiership
Yes Azza, I gave Roger Johnson 8 because I thought he was awesome for the second week on the trot playing in a side a man short. All players make errors but some are more costly than others. The number of blocks that he and the other defenders make have saved countless goals this season and we just ought to cut the lads a bit of slack. Figo you think we are worse than the three Ws? Well you are welcome to your opinion but we have been without Scott Dann, Obafemi Martins and Nikola Zigic and Hleb was unfit for weeks until recently. Bentley and Beausejour wer also injured recently just as the were beginning to show why we brought them in. I would suggest that any side in the Premier League apart from the top four or five would be the poorer without those sort of players. We have also just been hit with suspensions to two of our best performers this season so if we survive it is something to be applauded against that back drop not wishing relegation on your own team. I’m surprised at you. We should all be getting behind the team in times of adversity not getting down on them. Sure our football is hardly sparkling but speaking about yesterday Newcastle didn’t exactly put on a spectacle especially in the first 35 minutes until they got a break but that’s the way it goes sometimes and things have gone against us the last couple of matches. C’est la vie!
I do not wish us down but ultimately you have to be honest and the truth is we are a dull unentertaining side who set up not to be beat. Now the players you have mentioned yes they have had injuries but when they are fit don’t get picked. And to be honest in a world of over paid mediocre players I deserve the right to challenge what I see desperate negative sportsmanship. Good luck fella in your blue bubble.
I watched the game on stream too, and we never looked like scoring. We were pedestrian in midfield and are only form of ‘attack’ was the long ball for the hapless runs of Cameron.
I think that the time has long since past for Cameron to be left out. How long is it since he scored….? It’s one thing having a willing runner, but ultimately, we need some goals from our strikers.
When Cameron was put clear prior to the goal, I knew that he wouldn’t take the opportunity.
His touch around the keeper was heavy, and but for Bowyer being on hand to pick up the loose ball, the chance would have been lost.
The runner up front tactic is failing miserably. It’s one dimensional and easy to read as the Sun newspaper. Even when Jerome does get clear, he always always fluffs the chance.
I so desperately want him to do well, but time and time again, I end up with my head in my hands as he misses gilt edged opportunities.
We are running out of time and could get overhauled at the final hurdle if we don’t win on Sunday. Our superior goal difference could easily get overhauled if we lose our final games, and teams below us pick up points. Two losses for us will reduce our goal difference by at the very very least 2 goals. Wins for the teams below will increase their’s by a minimum of one.
Who’s to say we won’t get panned at Spurs by a few goals on the last game?
The time has come to make changes up front. If Zigic is fit, he should start with super Kev. If not, we should start Derbyshire with him. We need a new dimension, because the current one sure as hell isn’t working.
I watched the game from across the pond with my Son-in-Law (who’s No. 1 team Borrussia Mönchengladbach won again yesterday and have a realistic chance to escape relegation from the Bundesligaeins having propped up that table for much of the season) and I have to once again agree with my brother’s complete and fair assessment of the game but I also have to agree for the most part with figo and theguvna. I have made many comments before about the very subjects these guys allude to so I won’t repeat them here. While I do actually think that we will survive, I also hope that both Wolves and Blackpool do too, although realistically I do think that one of them will go down. I have admired the winning attitude exhibited by both sides (stemming from their respective managers) which is in total contrast to ours. Given that I think that we actually have more talent (in terms of numbers of talented players in the squad and of individual players at certain positions) overall than either of them, and notwithstanding our injuries, our failure to be in a more secure position is down to an overly cautious, defeatest approach that I have whinged about before. As for Super Kev, he has been totally wasted by our manager and I hope that he can play a significant part with another team in the Premiership. Given his age, I doubt many of the bigger treams will be interested but I would not be surprised if he winds up with one of the teams coming up from the Championship where he could see significant playing time. Good luck to him in any case, he still has something to give and deserves better. Having said all this though we should be true to our fight song: Keep right on TILL the END of the road.
Thank you all for your comments which are fully accepted. Just one final aside from me to Figo; I don’t believe that I live in a ‘blue bubble’ as you put it. I’m a realist but I’m also a supporter. I know we’re no great shakes and we are dull but I don’t believe we are one of the three worst teams in the Premier League either. The blue bubble jibe is a bit of a cheap shot. OK disagree with me but leave out the insults. I try very hard to be impartial and fair when I write reports and I just tell it the way I see it. Tribalism and partisanship is not my style and I’m certainly not delusional.
I’m a supporter too Bazz , but I have to say that I can kind of see where Figo is coming from ( not in his unfair side swipes at you ) but generally . Inspite of our injury catalogue ( most notably Dann , McFadden , Hleb and the other loan player who looked potentially bright up front , Martins ) we do tend to set up to avoid defeat .
There is a time and a place to do that when you have limited resources of both talented and fit players , but we make a habit of it ! and you will always ( over a full season ) end up in the bottom 6 doing that .
As for Jerome , I have had a feeling for the last several seasons that ” THIS is his time ” with the added niggle that IF we ever do let him go , he will start doing it somewhere else , and we will have it rammed down our throats week in week out on MOTD etc , well I think the time has come to wish him all the best ( and I mean that ! ) and let him go . I think there will be takers in the Prem , and I still think he will do it , but the only time he’ll probably score at St Andrews any time soon in the future is against us.
‘Watched Wolves v Albion yesterday , we can’t play like that , Albion were putting some really good stuff together that was just not quite coming off , and Wolves ( although totally out classed ) were chasing every ball , running every man down and basically fighting for their lives . Let’s see how we shape up on Sunday when the chips are finally down .
If we need to go to White Hart Lane for a result forget it .
It wasn’t a pop at you i was pointing out a state of mind that a lot of blues fans have that you must support and not be seen to say anything negative but it certainly wasn’t a pop at you. Just be nice to not play by percentages all the time.
OK Figo mate; I accept your apology if I can assume that is what your explanation is. I do accept your views and those of TR7 who make a number of valid points. We have been negative at times and have come unstuck as a result. I fully accept it is a recipe for a struggle repeatedly setting up not to lose as we have done throughout the season but I also maintain that we have had a rotten run of injuries to key players which have made options difficult from the manager’s perspective. I’m just trying to see things from his side a little that’s all. We just don’t have enough pace in the side to go after teams in the way that Albion did against Wolves who were dogged and fully deserving in the end of their win although it has to be said they rode their luck a bit. We need a bit of the run of the ball next Sunday as sure as hell little has gone our way of late.