THE66POW: Birmingham City 0 v Barnsley 2

Saturday 24th February 2018

SkyBet EFLChampionship

at St. Andrew's Stadium

Birmingham City (0) 0

Barnsley FC (2) 2
Oli McBurnie 12, 36
Attendance 19,822 (inc. 1240 away fans)

Since embarking on a mini revival (of sorts) to edge (just) out of the relegation zone, that culminated with a convincing 3-1 away win at Hillsborough, Birmingham City have lost their last five games in a row; a run which has seen them eliminated from the FA Cup, in a replay at St. Andrew's against Huddersfield Town (1-4), followed by four Championship defeats on the bounce, including today's wholly deserved loss against fellow strugglers

Barnsley, who warranted the win regardless of how their hosts played. It's been an unenviable run, during which time Blues have failed to register a single goal against: Aston Villa (A), Millwall (H) and Brentford (A), which, if the match 'highlights' recording I've seen is anything to go by, was an error strewn 0-5 reversal.
Hull City's 1-0 win against Sheffield United last night, saw the Tigers leapfrog over Birmingham in the league table... the sound of alarm bells ringing at St. Andrew's has suddenly become deafening.

Barnsley, for their part, had won just once during their last eighteen outings (at bottom placed Sunderland, on New Years Day) prior to today... and subsequently the Yorkshire based side began the game in twenty third place, two points and two places behind their hosts, but with a game in hand over Steve Cotterill's Blues.
However by virtue of this result... hmm, you do the maths, eh!?

Come 4.50PM, Barnsley had clawed their way out of the bottom three, while their hosts plummeted headlong right back into the mire.
The recently installed Tykes manager José Morais, said in the build up to this afternoon's game: "I believe we can get a result in Birmingham, I believe we can get a result in Hull, I believe we can get a result against Derby. I believe.

"I believe that they are very, very important games. I believe that we have a kind of excitement to say lets do what we have to do, lets really go for it and challenge ourselves in terms of what we can do."

Apparently, it would seem that this Mr Morais character is a believer then... even though he must be seriously wondering why, after such a lengthy career, that encompassed coaching experience at the likes of Benfica, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea and AEK Athens (among a whole host of other clubs), a manager of his calibre has ended up at Oakwell.

Given his impressive previous employment record in football circles, Morias certainly must have learned a thing or two about the game by now. On today's evidence, he most obviously knew his stuff when it came to preparing for how Birmingham would play and set out his stall accordingly.
Not so much as to nullify their (apparent) strengths, but to exploit their weaknesses.
Though, if truth be told, there are probably far more of the latter to work with than the former.

This was a must win game for Blues (and Barnsley too, of course). That is to say: even a draw wouldn't have been acceptable, for either side, because a point would have been neither use nor ornament in the current circumstances; while losing would be tantamount to fiddling about while Rome is ablaze.

In the final analysis, both teams got exactly what they deserved, on a bright but chilly afternoon at St. Andrew's... and on the back of today's result, Birmingham City have just a dozen more games left to salvage something out of what has become yet another season of despair.

It's gone beyond squeaky bum time at St. Andrew's and reached the point where it might be a good idea for the Blues faithful to attend games with a spare pair of underpants tucked in their pockets, just to be on the safe side.

Mr Cotterill laments that he doesn't have the squad he wants and is hampered by the fact that he couldn't add players during the transfer window, to replace some of the overpriced and underachieving squad players at his disposal... and of course, he has had to make do and mend around several injuries and suspensions.Y'know, just like every manager at every level of the game does.

I'm genuinely not looking to make the guy a scapegoat, because the problems within Birmingham City are deep rooted and can be traced back a long time, way before he was ever on the scene.

But I can't be alone in thinking that Steve Cotterill is not the right man for Birmingham City and by the same token, nor is Birmingham City the right team for Steve Cotterill.

But he is rapidly becoming a pivotal component of the problems that the club is beset with, rather than offering any solutions.

Harry Redknapp went on a spending spree with the club's chequebook at the outset of the current season and bought in a lot of these square pegs, that are obviously never going to fit in, or be able to adapt to the requisite attributes required for knuckling down and digging out results on days like today. They're not all at fault or guilty of letting their manager, fans and selves down, but the set up at Blues (or any team battling against the drop) has no room for luxury players, or anybody that drifts in and out of games and isn't putting a full shift in.

I won't name names, mainly because I don't need to... the vast majority of 19,882 eye witnesses present today, will know exactly to whom I am referring to already anyway.

In the aftermath of this unacceptable defeat, Cotterill scored a massive own goal, when he shifted some of the blame for this inept showing onto the supporters (something he did in a lesser way after the midweek drubbing by Brentford), claiming that: "They (the team) look frightened to play at home and teams coming here to play will know that." I dare say that a good number of the home fans found watching this game to be a terrifying experience too.

Might I also be so bold as to suggest that the majority of his failing team, bar a couple of notable exceptions, looked nervous and reluctant to come out of their shells on the road at both Villa Park and Griffin Road earlier this month too. The fear factor is a two way street and everyone connected with Birmingham City need to 'Keep Right On', heading in the same directions.

The Blues supporters have got a hell of a lot of passion for their club, and they're certainly not the ones going through the motions in a royal blue shirt at present and picking up a decent wage, for being decidedly average, at best, and seemingly barely committed to the cause at all.

In fact the fan base are the ones who are going through the wringer, yet again, as the club that they hold so dearly to their hearts, lurches out of the latest frying pan and into yet another fire.

Blaming them is well wide of the mark.

Some of the home crowd turned their anger on to the manager today, chanting for him to be levered out of the club, while one person sat near the dug outs threw a plastic bottle at him and another allegedly launched his season ticket into the technical area.
The joke doing the rounds on the internet, is that the club are taking action against the fan who threw his season ticket and he is going to be severely punished... they are going to give him it back to him.
It wasn't so long ago that a good run of results under Cotterill, appeared to the the beginning of something.

But alas, a growing percentage of those who stump up their money at the turnstiles, are beginning to feel that the something in question, is actually nothing more than an end to Birmingham City's Championship status. An air of pessimistic (realistic?) resignation seems to have set in, along with a mindset whereby many people are already reluctantly accepting that regrouping and rebuilding in League 1 next season, is their probable destiny/best case scenario. It appears to have worked for Wolverhampton Wanderers and seems to be giving Blackburn Rovers a rejuvenating shot in the arm right now too.

Now that really is the question.

But the club previously known as Small Heath Alliance, aren't like Wolves and Rovers, they need to start winning ugly games of football from now on, if that is what it's going to take to stay up stay up at all costs.
On Tuesday night Hull City and Barnsley both play their game in hand over Blues at the KC Stadium, against each other, so rejoice Bluenoses, they can't both finish the night with three points apiece.
Where there is hope, there is always a chance, albeit a very slim one... or so I'm told.

1240 Barnsley fans

I appear to have broken my New Year's resolution of: no more OTT self indulgent and overly opinionated rambling, political soap-boxing, gossiping, over analysing, eulogising and unduly pontificating in blog reports, while also smashing the back doors in of a world word-count record attempt; so without further ado, hold on tight because it's going to be a bumpy ride, but here is some stuff pertaining to the actual match itself.
You lot at the back can pipe down with your "Why are we waiting!?" stuff now.

Birmingham City:
David Stockdale, Marc Roberts, Maxime Colin, Craig Gardner, Harlee Dean, Che Adams, Cheikh Ndoye (Jota 66), Sam Gallagher, Jacques Maghoma, Jeremie Boga, Carl Jenkinson (Cohen Bramall 83).
Unused subs - Connal Trueman, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Jason Lowe, Josh Dacres-Cogley, Michael Morrison.
Barnsley:
Nick Townsend, Zeki Fryers, Joe Williams, Liam Lindsay, Oli McBurnie (Christoph Knasmullner 77), Andy Yiadom, Adam Jackson, Kieffer Moore, Brad Potts, Gary Gardner (Matty Pearson 87), Mamadou Thiam (Connor Mahoney 60).
Unused subs - Adam Davies, Tom Bradshaw, George Moncur, Dimi Cavare.

During a fairly evenly matched opening spell, both sides went close to opening the scoring, when Zeki Fryers flashed a shot just over David Stockdale's bar from outside the area, while at the other end, Nick Townsend (a former Blues youth team player) did well to keep the home side out with a double save, initially pushing Jeremie Boga's goal shot away, before thwarting Che Adams who got to the rebound first.
In the thirteenth minute, Barnsley were ahead, when Andy Yiadom took a throw in on the right level with the home sides area to Mamadou Thiam, and he knocked the ball back to the Tykes number seventeen who turned away from the approaching defenders and played a back-heel down the line to Thiam who had continued his run towards the bi-line, from where he whipped a low cross to Oli McBurnie, who made light work of steering it across the face of goal and into the far corner of the net.

In recognition for his goal scoring prowess, Birmingham then granted McBurnie the freedom of final third of the pitch for the next five minutes and only two top drawer saves from David Stockdale prevented him from adding to his tally.
The ex Barnsley defender Marc Roberts, presented his former team with a penalty for old times sake, when McBurnie went to ground under his challenge ten yards from goal and got back up to take the spot kick himself... and struck his shot low and with precision, but Stockdale did well to get down to his left and turn the ball away, while the Blues fans behind his goal celebrated and raised the tempo in anticipation of a comeback, with the save acting as the vital key moment that would turn the shape of the game on it's head as Cotterill's side went on to pick up the three points that would rocket them up the table towards safety. But both teams decided to ignore that version of events entirely and as Sam Gallagher took Adams cross in his stride but poked it just wide of the post, Barnsley took up the initiative again.

As three Blues players dithered in the corner, pondering over who was going to take responsibility for clearing the magical white orb that they all seemed afraid to approach, Thiam outstripped them all for pace as he sprinted round their static group and hooked the ball towards the far side of the six yard box, where Keiffer Moore's header back across the face of goal was poked home by McBurnie from close range, as Stockdale vaingloriously tried to gather the ball. With just thirty six minutes on the clock, the game was slipping away from Birmingham already.
As half time approached Gary Gardner hooked a long range shot just over Stockdale's bar and then at the other end of the pitch when Townsend could only parry Adams' strike and Roberts pounced, the flag was already in the air for an offside, before he planted the ball into the back of the net.
HT: Blues 0 v Barnsley 2

Between checking scores elsewhere at half time, I read the pre-match interview from on the home side's website, where Steve Cotterill was asked if he'd ever been a position like this before. Apparently, he couldn't recall having such a thin time elsewhere, however lets see if this jogs his memory... and maybe even offers a few crumbs of comfort to the beleaguered Blues hordes in their hour of need. Excerpts from a brief resume' of Cotterill's managerial record at Nottingham Forest (six years ago), who by way of a coincidence, will provide Birmingham's opposition at the City Ground next weekend.

Cotterill began his Forest reign with a 2–0 win over Middlesbrough and a 2–1 win at Blackpool. The turnaround was short-lived however, as a run of seven games, without scoring a goal, during which time Forest suffered six defeats, left them in the bottom three at the turn of the year...
But without taking up even more column inches, reciting Forest's subsequent results as the current Blues manager turned things around down by the banks of the River Trent, I'll skip forward to the happy ending of this tale.
... and this culminated in Forest finishing 19th and ten points clear of relegation.

Blues huffed and puffed with slightly more vigour after the interval, but as they struggled on, Barnsley looked far more composed and assured and dealt with their hosts frantic efforts to get back into the game.
Cheikh Ndoye jostled with Moore for a number of high balls in the middle of the park and though their personal tussle finished just about honours even, this battle for the land of the giants it was obviously not providing the home side with any momentum going forward, so Ndoye was replaced by Jota shortly after the hour mark.
Fryers and Matt Mills looked solid in defence for the visitors and were seldom second best in their quest to prevent Sam Gallagher from taking advantage of Birmingham resorting to some traditional, up and under direct stuff, which even saw Stockdale aiming for the Blues striker with some box to box punts.

One thing that I personally think stood out glaringly, was that Barnsley actually looked like they were actually enjoying the game, while a number of the home players appeared to be getting increasingly frustrated, both with their teammates and themselves.

Thiam and Yiadom had combined well throughout the first half, giving the Tykes the edge creativity wise while terrorising the out of sorts Blues defence... and the visiting fans rose as one to applaud Thiam from the pitch when Morais made a tactical switch midway through the second half.

Though it would be easy to focus on a number of Birmingham's shortcomings this afternoon, because their was an endless list of ifs, buts and maybes to pick away at, the overriding reason why Barnsley won the game, was that they had been more daring, creative and by and large the better team.

Blues didn't entirely throw the towel in after being put to the sword before the break, but they lacked that necessary incisive touch inside the final third.

Harlee Dean and Graig Gardener both had chances to reduce the arrears but put the ball past the wrong side of the upright.

Carl Jenkinson got down the flank and delivered a few dangerous balls into the visitors area and Gallagher wasn't too far away from scoring when he glanced a header wide after connecting with one of Jenkinson's crosses.

Gallagher set up a great chance for Adams, but with Townsend stranded, Lindsay made a timely block. And right near the end Jota and Jacques Maghoma, took turns to hit speculative, but barely worthwhile, efforts over the crossbar... a really bad day at the office for Birmingham City and a massive three points for Barnsley.

FT: Birmingham City 0 v Barnsley 2