Blues 1 Stoke City 0 .. Match Report

Last updated : 12 February 2007 By Richard Barker

Gary McSheffrey's winner settled footballing matters, but there were plenty of other issues that developed on this cold, dreary Sunday and it seems all is not well at St Andrews.

I'm not going to go into a terrible amount of detail about the game itself for a change, for three main reasons. Firstly, it was pretty diabolical as a spectacle. Secondly, it was on TV, so if you weren't there, chances are you've seen it anyway, and if not, refer back to my first point - you didn't miss a lot. Thirdly and finally, I can't really be bothered.

Anyway, what I will say about the game itself is that Stoke came with a plan to frustrate Blues, and did it fairly well. It was a performance typical of a Tony Pulis side - he's not got the reputation he has in the lower divisions for nothing. His sides are hard to beat, and Stoke's surprising form this season is a testament to that. Blues toiled though, with little real quality, and a moment of magic from Nicklas Bendtner set up the win, as he danced past a few defenders and lifted a superb cross to the far post where McSheffrey headed home. Job done. There's not a great deal else for us to worry about on the footballing side of things.

So, to these other issues…


1) The crowd.

The crowd was dreadful, not helped by kick-off being on a Sunday morning, the game being live on Sky and having been re-arranged just eight days prior to its intended date. None of this is going to encourage people to come, and nor, it seems, are the current ticket prices at Blues. This is a touchy subject, and not one I'm going to go into in any detail. David Sullivan's had his say, and personally I can understand his frustrations, but by the same token I can understand that the way in which he says some things does rub people up the wrong way.

A crowd of about 15,000 at this stage of the season, with things going as they are is pretty woeful, but on the other hand, had stewards stopped all 15,000 on the way out to collect the £29 there'd have been a riot after that match - it was probably worth £5 at best. Some games this season possibly have been worth £29 with hindsight for the entertainment they've brought, but they're in the minority. Matches like that aren't going to encourage people to come, but I do feel that there is a bit of blip in football in general. Had it been £20, I'm not sure there'd have been any more than 17,000 or 18,000 there as it is. Had it been £5, there may still have only been 22,000 - people seem to be disillusioned in general.

There'll be more on the crowd below, as it's a bit of a theme in all that went on...

2) Nicklas Bendtner.

There's people who sit around me, and I'm sure there are those who sit around you, who spend 90 minutes shouting "Bendtner, you lazy git!", "Bendtner, you idle so'n'so!" and other such things. I'm quickly beginning to think that these people have had their brains removed.

Bendtner didn't have his finest couple of hours in this match, but was still at the heart of the few things Blues did well - a stunning first half volley after some superb control on his chest, a header that he just failed to direct properly, a jinking run in the second half capped with a fierce shot that was well saved, and then, of course, there was setting up the only goal of the game.

What do people want? Whoever we pick, we have always have players bombing around the pitch at 100mph, and you need those. Filling your team with them isn't what you need though. You need players who can create and bring other people into the game - without that you'll get nowhere. Bendtner does that for Blues, and it's a good job that he does, because lately Blues have been pretty bereft of creativity.

Watch Thierry Henry play - at times he'll not chase lost causes, he'll take his time coming back from offside positions, he won't chase down passes from his team-mates that are crap and have gone to the opposition. Are Arsenal fans on his back though? Don't be silly. Those fans who want every single player to chase down every single ball and run around like a headless chicken are probably the same fans that believe we should be promoted already by now. Well we undoubtedly we could fill our team with workmanlike players who chase, tackle and pressure people, but then we'd be just like Stoke. Or Hull. Or Coventry. Would we swap places with any of those? Give me players who can provide quality all day long - I'd rather watch that than someone eho runs around for 90 minutes but does sod all.

Bendtner did actually work fairly hard against Stoke anyway, which made it more baffling - I've seen him look less interested in other games this season.

3) The Damien Johnson situation.

I hate to say "I told you so", but, well, I told you so. After the Colchester game I wrote that Steve Bruce's insistence on picking Damien Johnson would result in a backlash. I'm not going through it all again - read that report again if you want to see what I said.

Anyway, Johnson was selected on the right wing ahead of Seb Larsson again, which is ridiculous in itself at the moment, in my honest opinion. After about an hour of this game, Steve Bruce opted to bring on Rowan Vine for Cameron Jerome and Larsson for Stephen Clemence. Each substitution was greeted by boos, the latter by the louder, and then a chorus of "You don't know what you're doing!"

Vine for Jerome, well, people can have their opinions, but it's like for like, and whilst Jerome's pace may be an asset chasing a game, he hadn't done much. Maybe DJ Campbell should have come on, but Vine did ok (nothing spectacular) when he came on, so fair enough. Whilst that substitution was like for like, it seemed that for Larsson to come on and play wide right, as he did, Johnson should have come off. Even now though, this would have been greeted by cheers, and it'd have been like Palace at home all over again - because of Bruce. Johnson moved into the middle though, Clemence was sacrificed, and the crowd reacted to that. People are baffled by the treatment of Johnson.

I feel sorry for Johnson - he was no more deserving of being replaced than anyone else, but had done no more to deserve to stay on than anyone else. Once he went into the middle, he made one mistake which could have been costly, but he actually did well and pushed forward more than usual. In saying that though, his treatment by Bruce is leading to one big problem. I don't want to go over everything I said last week, but all Bruce is doing now is drawing attention to what's going on, and one day Johnson is going to feel the backlash of the crowd, because he's become the symbol of it. It's not his fault, he's a good player and doesn't deserve it for what he has done for this football club, but it will happen, because when people are in a crowd they react without thinking, and more will come off this - even still. You just wait.

So, that's that - plenty to mull over, but at the end of the day, a first win in the league this year, a decent enough position in the league and still plenty of points to play for. All does not seem to be well though, and really and truly, most parties involved have to take their fair share of the blame for that.