Ouch. Losing hurts, doesn’t it? I’d almost forgotten what it feels like. Losing to Manure at Old Trafford didn’t really register, it was kind of expected. Losing at
I’m not saying I expected us to cruise past Charlton. Far from it. I felt before the game that I’d be satisfied with a point. Not only are Charlton on a bit of a roll at the moment, but they’re exactly the kind of side Steve Bruce is trying to emulate. They work incredibly hard for each other, are notoriously tough to break down and are actually a better side away from the Valley. And then there’s Scott Parker. I’m a long time admirer of Parker. He does for Charlton what a fully fit Savage does for us. Only arguably with a little more finesse.
Unfortunately, we were missing a fully fit Savage. In fact, we didn’t have any kind of Savage and maybe because of this the whole team’s tempo seemed to drop. I thought Cisse had an OK game protecting the back four, but he doesn’t run around like a loon in quite the same way as Savage and because of this the Charlton midfield were allowed time to get comfortable on the ball. This was a privilege not afforded to any Blues players. Parker and his co-workers in the Charlton midfield snapped at ankles and didn’t give anyone time to dwell. I lost count of the number of times we were robbed of possession, partly because Charlton were in so quickly, and partly because other Blues players weren’t quick enough to provide decent options for the man with the ball.
On the positive side, Maik Taylor was superb. He’s been so well protected before today that it’s been difficult to judge him. True, he made a great save at
And what about the rest of them? Well, I felt Hughes did well when he came on. I refuse to bother defending Dugarry any further as his performance tonight said it all. In the second half in particular, he took Charlton on single handed and almost won us an unlikely point. Amazingly, he occasionally loses the ball. Name me a Blues player that doesn’t? And then name me one that not only never loses the ball but also has half the skill of Dugs? Hmmmm. Not easy, is it?
Strangely, I was a little disappointed with our defence. Charlton cut through us on numerous occasions, and only the alertness of Taylor prevented them from claiming a comfortable victory. Is it because we were chasing the game? Probably. Is Tebily a weak link in that previously impervious back four? Possibly. As far as I’m concerned, the quicker we get back to being ‘boring, boring, Birmingham’, the 0-0 draw specialists the better.
I’ll save my final comments for David Dunn. I was disappointed with him today. Too often, it seems, he runs down blind alleys or makes poor decisions. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe he’s an exceptionally talented player, I just think he can perform better than he did against Charlton. Maybe I’m expecting a little too much of him. Perhaps I’m suffering from the same kind of blindness to the good things he does that afflicts those who criticise Christophe. I don’t know. I just think he can be better for us. If it was up to me, he’d be playing in the centre of midfield either at the forward point of a Sven’s England style diamond (with Cisse at the back and Savage and Clemence as the other two), or alongside Savage with Clemence or Lazza on the left and Hughes or DJ on the right. But then, if it was up to me, I’d be playing left back. So it’s probably just as well it isn’t.
I’ll be off now then. I’ve got to plan how I’m going to watch next week’s game against Wolves. In theory, it should be easy, but as my in-laws are now staying with us, and sleeping in the same room as the TV, waking them up for a 4.30am kick off might not be the most popular move I could make.
Keep right on,
BiLiB.