SkyBet EFL Championship
at St. Andrew's Stadium
Birmingham City (1) 2
Jota 13, Che Adams 90+2 pen
Jota 13, Che Adams 90+2 pen
Nottingham Forest (0) 0
Attendance: 24,325 (inc. 3,074 away fans)
Thanks to my good friend Mr Dan Westwell, for
the use of two of his photographs from this game.
Guedioura picked up the ball ten yards inside the hosts half and relished in the momentary void that appeared in front of him, but with Kieftenbeld approaching to close the Reds number five down, he rushed his shot from twenty five yards out... and was approximately half of the same distance as that, width wise, off target with his effort.
Daryl Murphy had a half chance too, but once again, was forced into rushing his attempt on goal as Blues put the squeeze on him and he directed his shot straight at Camp, at the sort of height that even the most adventurous of keepers catch comfortably instead of parrying or trying to punch.
If you can't beat them join them, seemed to be the order of the day as O'Neill made a double substitution, sending on Forest's top scorer this season, Lewis Grabban and Leo Bonatini in place of Milosevic and Murphy and switched to two up front, a whole hour after he probably ought to have done in the first place.
Five minutes after being introduced to the fray, Bonatini spotted Lolley in a good position and fed the ball to him, .but once again, he had to snatch at his chance as Morrison homed in and slashed the ball straight into the waiting hands of Camp.
Forest were by now seeing a lot of the ball, but not creating very much in the way of any goalmouth action, unwittingly become the latest victims of this Blues side propensity to revel in these type of situations, whereby they close ranks and do some of their best work while they're not actually in possession. This kind of strategy gives the impression that the opposition are dominating the play; but the truth is, Blues are actually dictating things by letting other teams hog the ball, while only allowing them access to areas of the pitch where they aren't likely to prosper from.
If this all sounds fanciful, then you will just have to trust me at this juncture and take my word for it, on the basis that I've seen this same tactic employed on a fairly regular basis throughout this season.
With the game heading towards the final whistle, the visitors made a breakthrough and almost levelled things up, when Lolley's blocked shot rebounded towards Bonatini who's well struck half volley deflected wide of the upright, off of one of his own teammates. All the organisation in the world, needs to be accompanied by the occasional slice of luck too... but, hey! Adams was denied a penalty towards the end of the first half, spthese things balance themselves out.
Isaac Vassell got another late run out, as he builds up his fitness after a lengthy lay off and he almost created a second goal for Blues as Adams almost got on the end of a cross he drilled across the face of the Forest goal.
Deep into stoppage time, the lively Vassell battled his way into a crowded Forest area and went to ground under a challenge, but the referee played the advantage as the loose ball fell to Adams, whose goal bound effort was blocked on the line by Benalouane's arm.
The Forest defender was red carded and their keeper went the wrong way as Adams confidently stroked the resulting penalty towards the right hand side of the net, to make the points secure for Blues.
FT: Birmingham City 2 v Nottingham Forest 0
Thanks to my good friend Mr Dan Westwell, for
the use of two of his photographs from this game.
Birmingham City:
Camp. Harding, Morrison, Dean, Colin; Jota (C Gardner 85), G Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Maghoma (Kerim Mrabti 81), Jutkiewicz (Vassell 78), Adams.
Unused subs - Dacres-Cogley, Mahoney, Lubala, Trueman.
Nottingham Forest:
Pantilimon; Janko, Milosevic (Grabban 60), Benalouane, Robinson; Cash, Guedioura (Carvalho 72), Watson, Osborn, Lolley; Murphy (Bonatini 60).
Unused subs - Yacob, Goncalves, Pele, Steele.
Unless you have been hibernating over this last week or so (and nobody would blame you for that, during the current cold snap), then it won't have escaped your attention, that the last transfer window of the Football League season, closed at 11PM on Thursday night.
Subsequently, the cover of this weekend's Made In Brum fanzine didn't need captioning, after the lid of all of speculation about where Che Adams would be playing for (at least) the remainder of this season, had finally been nailed tightly shut. Which was obviously a massive boost (and relief) to everyone of a Blues persuasion.
Garry Monk's only signing during the January window, under the terms of the club's restrictive embargo sanctions, was that of Swedish international midfielder Kerim Mrabti, on an eighteen month deal, a couple of weeks ago. Mrabti arrived at St. Andrew's as a free agent, having been released by Djurgardens (a top-flight club in Sweden) back in November, he made his Blues debut this afternoon, when he was introduced from the substitutes bench for the final ten minutes.
Meanwhile, Dan Scarr as moved out to Walsall and Viv Solomon-Otabor to Portsmouth, where the latter will be joined by Omar Bogle, who had his loan at Blues from Cardiff City mutually terminated, before the Welsh Premier League side, farmed him out yet again, to Pompey.
Ironically, Bogle features on the February page on the official Birmingham City 2019 calendar.
In the aftermath of defeat, the Forest manager said: "I'm disappointed to lose a game that I don't think we should have lost", before going on to claim that the moon is made of Gorgonzola cheese and that he was right to leave: Joao Carvalho, Lewis Grabban and Claudio Yacob, out of today's starting line up.
Personally, although I've got a lot of respect for Martin O'Neill, I would have to say that his view of this game must have been impaired terribly by the sun going down over the Kop, opposite his vantage point, if he really doesn't think that the home side thoroughly deserved the three points today.
The recently installed Reds boss and his newly appointed assistant, have evidently got their work cut out if they want to mold the side that they have inherited from Aitor Karanka, into the serious promotion contenders that they were tipped to be at the outset of this term, into anything that even resembles a play off chasing side.
A visiting support of over three thousand had made the trip to the 'Second City' today and their impressive vocal support of their team for the majority of this game was a feature of the afternoon, as was their falling out among themselves, amid finger pointing and raised voices on the walk back to New Street Station.
Someone was ranting that: "O'Neill is a fucking dinosaur! Crap selection! Crap tactics! The man is just... err, fucking crap!", while others responded with "He's a legend! Give him time, you don't see what he does at the training ground". Nearby three other disenchanted Reds began a chorus of the "Aitor Karanka!" La Bamba reworking... and were quickly shouted down: "Karanka! That useless twat was even worse than O'Neill... in fact, no, scrub that; they're both as bad as each other!"
I think it is fair to say that short-lived feelgood factor among a good few of the Forest faithful, after last week's fairly routine win against a very limited Wigan Athletic side, seems to be dissipating down the plughole fairly quickly.
And then it happened: "Fucksake! How have we lost to a shit team like Birmingham? They were nothing special, but we couldn't even beat them!"... 'Right! That's quite enough of all this rubbish', I thought, as I cleared my throat to make a speech, that would establish a the facts and put this grumpy bunch of malcontents straight on a few things.
But then something very strange happened, I had a very rare attack of common sense...bloomin' heck! Where has that stuff been hiding for all of my life, previous to today? A quick headcount told me that there were roughly forty plus of them, with a growing number of unfamiliar faces waddling along just a short distance behind me too.
But, I was in a minority of one, approximately ten minutes walk away from the people I was meeting up with after the game, so I decided to let these new found companions read all about it on this here blog instead, when I eventually got home and got my laptop fixed. I mean, they're bound to be regular readers after all ;-) doesn't just about everybody read THE66POW these days!?
And Blues strategy of playing Maikel Kieftenbeld (AKA 'Dutch Mike) at the back of that diamond, to provide extra cover for the defence, was one of the pivotal decisions of the day; with his robust, but perfectly legit tackling style, being implemented with perfect timing and no small amount of brute force, nipping the visitors attacking intentions in the bud at their source, time after time.
Joe Lolley, is renowned for being the hub of Forest's creativity going forward, but notwithstanding his effort that crashed off of the upright inside the opening exchanges, he was shackled for the most part and he, along with his teammates, was forced into rushing into taking any further chances that fell his way, before steadying himself and getting the opportunity to unleash the ball properly, which meant that any subsequent shots were easy meat for the hosts experienced and increasingly popular keeper, Lee Camp.
Gary Gardner too, was in an uncompromising mood on the right hand side of midfield, marshaling his domain authoritatively and all but rendering Adlene Guedioura, who'd scored one goal and created another just a week ago, as a virtual spectator.
Inside the first five minutes, the Reds big brute of an enforcer, Yohan Benalouane, spotted (G) Gardner's strength in the tackle on one of his sidekicks.... and went flying went into him with one of those hefty challenges, that is used by way of an introductory calling card, to let opposition players know early doors, that you mean business, with the intention of putting them off of their stride. But Blues number twenty merely shrugged the challenge off and nonchalantly jogged away to pursue the ball, while Benalouane hit the deck, obviously in no small amount of pain.
Garry Monk's only signing during the January window, under the terms of the club's restrictive embargo sanctions, was that of Swedish international midfielder Kerim Mrabti, on an eighteen month deal, a couple of weeks ago. Mrabti arrived at St. Andrew's as a free agent, having been released by Djurgardens (a top-flight club in Sweden) back in November, he made his Blues debut this afternoon, when he was introduced from the substitutes bench for the final ten minutes.
Ironically, Bogle features on the February page on the official Birmingham City 2019 calendar.
Forest, as expected, were busy recruiting during the week leading up to this game and they've bought in four new faces to boost their squad, namely: Leo Bonatini from Wolves, Molla Wague from Udinese and Judilson Mamadu Tuncara Gomes (who prefers to be called 'Pele') from AS Monaco... all three of who are on loan, and Alex Milosevic, who was freed by the current Swedish champions AIK last month, who will be looking to make his move permanent in due course.
O'Neill has also taken Roy Keane on board as his assistant, which was widely expected, while sending Jason Cummings and Zach Clough out on loan, to Luton Town and Rochdale (for a second spell) respectively.
Personally, although I've got a lot of respect for Martin O'Neill, I would have to say that his view of this game must have been impaired terribly by the sun going down over the Kop, opposite his vantage point, if he really doesn't think that the home side thoroughly deserved the three points today.
The recently installed Reds boss and his newly appointed assistant, have evidently got their work cut out if they want to mold the side that they have inherited from Aitor Karanka, into the serious promotion contenders that they were tipped to be at the outset of this term, into anything that even resembles a play off chasing side.
Someone was ranting that: "O'Neill is a fucking dinosaur! Crap selection! Crap tactics! The man is just... err, fucking crap!", while others responded with "He's a legend! Give him time, you don't see what he does at the training ground". Nearby three other disenchanted Reds began a chorus of the "Aitor Karanka!" La Bamba reworking... and were quickly shouted down: "Karanka! That useless twat was even worse than O'Neill... in fact, no, scrub that; they're both as bad as each other!"
And then it happened: "Fucksake! How have we lost to a shit team like Birmingham? They were nothing special, but we couldn't even beat them!"... 'Right! That's quite enough of all this rubbish', I thought, as I cleared my throat to make a speech, that would establish a the facts and put this grumpy bunch of malcontents straight on a few things.
But, I was in a minority of one, approximately ten minutes walk away from the people I was meeting up with after the game, so I decided to let these new found companions read all about it on this here blog instead, when I eventually got home and got my laptop fixed. I mean, they're bound to be regular readers after all ;-) doesn't just about everybody read THE66POW these days!?
So here goes... in a nutshell, the main reason that Forest didn't appear to play very well today, is that Monk's well drilled and hard working team didn't allow them to aspire to very much, for long spells of this game. So if you just want the shortened version. that's the jist of it and you can bail out now if you want to. But if you're a glutton for punishment, then read on, because I have collated several pages worth of scribbled notes, by the way of evidence to back up that theory.
The visitors had set up their stall to play so deep it was hard to fathom out whether they were utilising the same 4-1-4-1 formation that they had used against the Latics at the City Ground last week, or if they had opted for a far more condensed 4-5-1, with an aim of grinding out a draw, while knowing that this game would probably either be won or lost as a consequence of the battle for the middle ground... which effectively it was. While Blues added a twist to their 4-4-2 approach, by employing their midfield in a diamond formation, with scope for rotation.
The visitors had set up their stall to play so deep it was hard to fathom out whether they were utilising the same 4-1-4-1 formation that they had used against the Latics at the City Ground last week, or if they had opted for a far more condensed 4-5-1, with an aim of grinding out a draw, while knowing that this game would probably either be won or lost as a consequence of the battle for the middle ground... which effectively it was. While Blues added a twist to their 4-4-2 approach, by employing their midfield in a diamond formation, with scope for rotation.
Joe Lolley, is renowned for being the hub of Forest's creativity going forward, but notwithstanding his effort that crashed off of the upright inside the opening exchanges, he was shackled for the most part and he, along with his teammates, was forced into rushing into taking any further chances that fell his way, before steadying himself and getting the opportunity to unleash the ball properly, which meant that any subsequent shots were easy meat for the hosts experienced and increasingly popular keeper, Lee Camp.
Inside the first five minutes, the Reds big brute of an enforcer, Yohan Benalouane, spotted (G) Gardner's strength in the tackle on one of his sidekicks.... and went flying went into him with one of those hefty challenges, that is used by way of an introductory calling card, to let opposition players know early doors, that you mean business, with the intention of putting them off of their stride. But Blues number twenty merely shrugged the challenge off and nonchalantly jogged away to pursue the ball, while Benalouane hit the deck, obviously in no small amount of pain.
"You're going to have a big bruise for doing that, it serves you right you big daft apeth! Get some ice on it and gerron with it!", shouted out a frail looking elderly lady sitting nearby. Y'know what? I don't think that I've heard anybody use the words 'daft apeth' for a very loooooong time. It made me chuckle.
Wide left, though just as likely to pop up anywhere across the centre of the pitch when required; Jacques Maghoma put in a great shift for Blues, getting down the left in support of the attack, while tracking back as extra cover for Maxime Colin (covering seamlessly and defiantly at left back, while Kristian Pedersen serves a suspension for being dismissed at Swansea City just before half time in midweek) and putting in a string of heavyweight tackles as part of the successful blanket coverage of midfield and suffocation of any freedom of movement that the visitors would have used to their own advantage.
The home defence looked so solid, there was no way of telling, that they had been picked out of necessity and in the case of Colin, out of position too. Wes Harding came in and slotted into Dean's regular right sided berth, while Michael Morrison and Harlee Dean have developed such a good understanding between themselves in the heart of the defence, that they almost make all of their hard graft, focus and determination look effortless, something that it most certainly isn't. The pair of them never let up, or seem to have an off day.
At the spearhead of the diamond was Jota, linking up with Che Adams and Lukas Jutkiewicz, was Jota, who also weighed in with a few meaty challenges around the centre circle while tracking back... yes! That's the Jota and meaty challenges, that you just saw together in the same sentence, in case you were wondering.
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| Photo credit: Dan Westwell |
It was Jota who scored the opening goal of the game too, after thirteen minutes, pouncing to snaffle up Jutkiewicz’s flick, showing a great touch to bring the ball under control, before pinging it just inside the upright and beyond the reach of Costel Pantilimon.
The giant Romanian keeper, is generally the master of all that he surveys in the air around his goalmouth, but he wasn't ever going to get down quickly enough to reach Jota's precision finish.
Pantilimon did manage to get behind Jutkiewicz's strike, following some neat build up play from Adams, just moments after Jota had drilled another chance over the bar.
Right at the end of the first half, Milosevic pushed Adams in the back as he advanced into the Reds area, causing him to topple off balance, but the referee, David Webb, obviously saw things differently and waved away Blues appeals for a penalty.
Daryl Murphy had a half chance too, but once again, was forced into rushing his attempt on goal as Blues put the squeeze on him and he directed his shot straight at Camp, at the sort of height that even the most adventurous of keepers catch comfortably instead of parrying or trying to punch.
If you can't beat them join them, seemed to be the order of the day as O'Neill made a double substitution, sending on Forest's top scorer this season, Lewis Grabban and Leo Bonatini in place of Milosevic and Murphy and switched to two up front, a whole hour after he probably ought to have done in the first place.
Forest were by now seeing a lot of the ball, but not creating very much in the way of any goalmouth action, unwittingly become the latest victims of this Blues side propensity to revel in these type of situations, whereby they close ranks and do some of their best work while they're not actually in possession. This kind of strategy gives the impression that the opposition are dominating the play; but the truth is, Blues are actually dictating things by letting other teams hog the ball, while only allowing them access to areas of the pitch where they aren't likely to prosper from.
If this all sounds fanciful, then you will just have to trust me at this juncture and take my word for it, on the basis that I've seen this same tactic employed on a fairly regular basis throughout this season.
Isaac Vassell got another late run out, as he builds up his fitness after a lengthy lay off and he almost created a second goal for Blues as Adams almost got on the end of a cross he drilled across the face of the Forest goal.
Deep into stoppage time, the lively Vassell battled his way into a crowded Forest area and went to ground under a challenge, but the referee played the advantage as the loose ball fell to Adams, whose goal bound effort was blocked on the line by Benalouane's arm.
The Forest defender was red carded and their keeper went the wrong way as Adams confidently stroked the resulting penalty towards the right hand side of the net, to make the points secure for Blues.
FT: Birmingham City 2 v Nottingham Forest 0
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| Photo credit: Dan Westwell |
I'm glad that I didn't have to pick out man of the match today, because although Kieftenbeld was the most likely candidate, the other three midfielders and Colin also produced stand out performances.
Blues head to QPR next Saturday, as this Championship campaign continues to build up a head of steam, while Forest entertain Brentford at the City Ground. Rangers lost at Wigan today, while the Bees won handsomely at home against Blackburn... and both West London clubs have FA Cup replays in the week.
O'Neill's side aren't the first side to lose against Blues, while pointing to the Opta stats, that say they've had the lions share of possession.
But, going all Freudian on you by way of an explanation, I'll just say... it's not what you've got, it's how you use it. And of course, having a prolific strike partnership like 'Mister Assister' AKA Lukas Jutkiewicz and the rampant in form striker that is Che Adams, never hurt anybody.
As my train home pulled in to Derby station, a group of Forest fans got off and as one of them was leaving, he said: "I'm not a fan of Karanka or O'Neill as our manager... if we want to make a go of it next season, we could do a hell of a lot worse than getting Garry Monk in".
But he already has a job my good man, so jog on!
