Our Birmingham City articles are reproduced, with permission, from Kev at Joys and Sorrows, an excellent site which features a forum and blogs by Birmingham City fans.
Post-Portsmouth Musings
As you can imagine, after Saturday’s game the Joys and Sorrows forum was full of disappointment, pointed comments and suggestions of how we could have won. Here is a hotch potch of those thoughts, and some of my added comments.
I am of the opinion that straight after a game is not the time to analyse, hence a 24 hour wait! Emotions run high and the taste of defeat is raw. So hopefully some of these thoughts are a bit more reasoned today.
The first thought begins like this.
"I can’t remember being as gutted about a Blues result for a long, long time. More than the disappointment or anger of watching a linesman and referee make a human error, I’m bitter and twisted over the fact that at least three Portsmouth players saw that the ball had crossed the line and yet, did not speak up. I was angry with Keith Fahey last week when I believed that he cheated to gain us a win over Wigan.
"But this week, I’m absolutely furious over the fact that David James – a man who is almost forty – could not find the strength inside to be honest with a referee and say that he had conceded. I know that these days, the game and winning is more important than honestly and integrity and as I watched, I felt myself falling out of love with the game just a little bit more. It’s not about people, honesty and emotion any longer. It’s about cheating, misdirection and who can do what to get the best over his opponent whilst barely following the spirit or rules of the game.
"I just can’t remember being this bitterly disappointed for a long time and just wanted to express absolute anger at a player and a man who would, I hoped, have been a bit more honest."
I totally understood this point, but when you look at the replays it is understandable why it was missed. I don’t particularly blame James, it’s not his job to give the decisions.
However, I do agree that footballers should be able to say to the referee – no I didn’t touch the ball, yes it was hand ball, the ball was over the line. It should happen, but it won’t – yes I know it is fanciful, but at least some of the feelings of injustice would be removed for fans, after all that is the biggest barrier we have to climb!
The second point.
"The country got the result it wanted, so who are we to have a moan about it? Some of the coverage has literally made me feel sick to the stomach. At half time, Blues were great value, playing well, etc, etc. By full time, Portsmouth ‘fully deserved the win’ and their loan players ’showed that they cared as much as any Portsmouth fan does.’ Gah, the stuff you could lose your lunch to.
"The club I love has been reduced to a footnote in the season of a club who has pulled the wool over the eyes of the footballing public and media with lies and deceit. They’ve financially mismanaged themselves and apparently, this makes them ‘deserve it’ and ‘earn that little bit of luck’. Why? Because they can’t manage and haven’t played very well this season?"
Now I totally agree with this. I don’t have an axe to grind with Portsmouth fans, for them this must be a hideous situation – but action should have been taken by the FA or Premier League. We were relegated when Portsmouth’s administration (excuse the pun) bought big and kept them up. Since then they won the FA cup, all the while racking up the debts. Any other business would not have continued, they just can’t support the large wages and relatively lower gates. The sums don’t add up.
In effect, they have taken advantage of other sides by playing players they couldn’t afford to pay which brings the whole Premier League and FA cup into disrepute. If the FA and/or the Premier League had stepped in earlier, this mess may well have been avoided.
Right, before you jump down my throat saying it is sour grapes, read the next point!
"I felt we didn’t deserve to win, although we were never really stretched in the first half, in the second we needed to step up, and to do that we had to offer more in wide areas. Fahey was very poor and Larsson had an off day. I thought Benitez actually looked interesting wide on the left and I hope Gardner starts on the right next game. If we aren’t going for width, why not play 4-3-1-2 with McFadden behind a front two?"
Totally agree. Although we were well in charge in the first half with possession and defence, we never really looked like scoring either. We didn’t come out of the changing room until 75 minutes were on the clock and it was too late by then. Portsmouth played well for 15-20 minutes and scored twice, and as a result deserved to go through.
I really don’t understand why Benitez and Jerome didn’t start. I appreciate that Alex McLeish has tried to keep an unchanged side wherever possible, and that is a positive – however the performance against Wigan was lethargic and I think that Benitez would have brought in some life up front. Fahey will become a very good player IMO, but he been poor for a few games now and should be rested.
So now it is all about where we finish between seventh and fourteenth, perhaps a little disappointing in that we aren’t playing for something – but at least we know we are going to be playing in the division again next year and with some new faces at the club, maybe we could do EVEN better!
Read more from Kev at www.joysandsorrows.co.uk
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