SkyBet EFL Championship
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (0) 0
Brentford (0) 0
Attendance: 23,909 (inc. 787 away fans)
In the aftermath of what turned out to be quite a tetchy encounter, the visitors manager Thomas Frank, appealed for more protection for his striker Neal Maupay... might I suggest, ever so politely, that the person the Bees number nine needs the most protection from is himself and his tendencies to dive and assimilate situations, that go way beyond what you could call gamesmanship, or part and parcel of what goes on off the ball, but belong, emphatically, under the heading of blatant cheating.
When the Bees took Maupay off in the sixty seventh minute and sent on Said Benrahmaat in his place, it wasn't to spare him any rough stuff from any of the opposition players, as Frank claimed, but to save him from picking up a second yellow card, after the match referee Peter Bankes had belatedly decided to get to grips with former France U21 striker's unacceptable conduct.
When these two sides met back in October, Maikel Kieftenbeld was red carded for 'allegedly' striking Maupay in the face and Blues manager Garry was also sent to the stands and given a touchline ban for protesting that Kieftenbeld was innocent.
Subsequent video evidence proved that Maupay had clutched his face and fallen to the ground, even though the Birmingham player had committed no offence whatsoever, and consequently the EFL appeals committee rescinded the red card and cleared Kieftenbeld's name, although Monk still had to serve his ban, even though Maupay wasn't punished for his episode of blatant cheating.
This afternoon Maupay threw himself to the floor as the players jostled for position to deal with a Brentford corner, it was an obvious exaggeration and the ref saw right through his antics as he held his face and feigned having been struck once again... but, only gave him a lecture about his conduct, while keeping his cards in his pocket.
When these two sides met back in October, Maikel Kieftenbeld was red carded for 'allegedly' striking Maupay in the face and Blues manager Garry was also sent to the stands and given a touchline ban for protesting that Kieftenbeld was innocent.
This afternoon Maupay threw himself to the floor as the players jostled for position to deal with a Brentford corner, it was an obvious exaggeration and the ref saw right through his antics as he held his face and feigned having been struck once again... but, only gave him a lecture about his conduct, while keeping his cards in his pocket.
The incident upped the heat out on the pitch and aggravated the home crowd who made their feelings known in a time honoured way, as a string of flare ups unfolded, to cause an already frustrating game to become even more of a stop/start affair... and I hardly need say who was pivotal to all of this feisty turn of events.
As so often happens, when a referee treats a petulant brat of a player like an adult, and cuts them a bit of slack, they don't appreciate the lee-way they have been given and behave accordingly, but push their luck still further instead, to see just how much more they can still get away with.
I wouldn't expect a manager to badmouth one of his own players in public, or behave in any way other than how Frank did after the full time whistle. But, in the private confines of the dressing room, I hope Maupay got a proper bollocking, while being reminded that football is a team game, and not about stroppy and selfish individuals, thinking they are beyond reproach and not responsible for their actions, or the adverse effects that the consequences of them thinking they're above all that kind of thing has on their teammates... and let's be frank about this; Brentford struggled to regain their shape or make much of an impression on the game, after they had to bring Maupay off and reorganise things. Which in effect, meant: time wasting in the extreme for the remainder of the game.
Whereas Blues finished the game on a high, as Brentford had to resort to some fairly robust stuff to keep them at bay, picking up five yellow cards between them, from an official who might have prevented the game from deteriorating into the messy stalemate it became, if only he'd have shown his authority a bit earlier in the afternoon.
It was ironic that the Brentford manager bemoaned the lack of protection from match officials for his own number nine, when it seemed to be open season on Blues opposite number: Che Adams, whom it almost seemed as if the officials had instructed the away team prior kick off, that they could kick lumps out of him with complete impunity, because that is just about what they did until until he was substituted with just over ten minutes remaining.
Shots on target by either side were a very rare commodity; Jota had a long range effortt held by Danny Bentley down to his left, but the former Bees winger hadn't hit his strike particularly clearly and it lacked any real power to trouble the visitors keeper.
Ironically the nearest that Blues came to scoring was when Julian Jeanvier nearly sliced a cross from Kieftenbeld past Bentley and was relieved to see the ball skim just past the right hand upright.
While at the other end, Lee Camp twice denied Brentford, when Jeanvier got his head on Josh McEachran's corner and diverted it towards Blues goal...then Ollie Watkins went close to breaking the deadlock late on, but the former Northern Ireland (and England U21) goalkeeper kept the ball out, to preserve his third clean sheet in a row.
FT: Birmingham City 0 v Brentford 0
If you're looking for positives, then, from a Blues perspective, they have now built up a four game unbeaten run, picking up seven points out of the last available nine, and it's three hundred and fourteen minutes since they have conceded a goal... and having made a slow start to the current campaign, Monk's side have ended 2018 well situated in an impressive seventh place in the Championship..
Next year, or 'on Tuesday' as it is also known, Blues visit Hillsborough for a Championship fixture against manager-less Sheffield Wednesday (who drew 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion today), while Brentford 'entertain' Norwich City at Griffin Park (who lost 3-4 against Derby County this afternoon at Carrow Road, after being 3-2 ahead with just three minutes remaining).
Asked to make a ten second 'snap judgement', just after the full time whistle today, I responded thus: "Blues frustrated Brentford early on, Brentford frustrated Blues late on and the referee just frustrated everybody all afternoon... and that Maupay is a bloody horrible player". Maybe I should've just used that as my overview/report instead.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
