01/03/09 - Birmingham Match Thread

[Linz]

12:15 kick off

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Date??

 

[dingledog]

Date??

I knew your retort in the jobs section about not being able to afford you was a hint that your are an international Giggalo SEB!!!!

Birmingham Game is March 1st, so for us Blades is it a case of 'in like a lion out like a lamb' for the month of March.

 

[Linz]

Date??

T'was too early

 

[DazBlade88]

I've found out that Birmingham have only sold 300 tickets. That's abysmal.

 

[Linz]

I've found out that Birmingham have only sold 300 tickets. That's abysmal.

Saving their money for their Premiership season tickets?

 

[MAQ]

Saving their money for their Premiership season tickets?

Ahh very presumptious(*sp)

 

[SotonBlade]

they haven't been very well supported at all this season as far as i'm aware, fans have stayed away.

 

[Linz]

Onwards and upwards... the bookies had us down as favourites to win this one when I was doing the Brokelads earlier (which is usually a bad sign).

What about the team? Will Killa make it back? How badly hurt are Hendrie and Naysmith? Isn't Morgan banned?

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

At least a few more come back into contention, all the loanees to start with!

 

[Monty's_Girl]

Early team news.....

Lupoli, Ward, Beattie, Bromby & O'Toole available v Birmingham (Sun, 12.15pm).
Henderson back from ban. Hendrie, Naysmith & Sharp doubtful.

 

[SotonBlade]

With the above and also Monty and Killa doubtful, my prediction for a lineup would be:

Paddy
Naughton Morgan Bromby Sun
Cotts Halford O'Toole Quinn
Lupoli Henderson

Subs: Ward, Webber, Beattie, Walker, Bennett

 

[Linz]

That'll do nicely.

Some very dodgy decisions from the referee but I'm informed that at least one dodgy decision went our way and that Henderson was offside when he set up Webber for the goal.

MOTM poll is up

 

[The One]

50/50 for the MOTM for me.

Morgan or Cotts. But i've gone Morgan.

Much better performance.

 

[keenzy]

cotts finding form and picking himself up an tackling. Monty great again putting the boot in and doing passes howard should... morgan a rock at the back again! top stuff

 

[Linz]

Some pictures (viewable to registered members only)...

 

[keenzy]

Bromby for worst free kick seen at the lane???

 

[silverfox]

I know times are hard and it was on the box but what a pathetic attempt at an away crowd by Birmingham.

Shameful.

 

[Linz]

Bromby for worst free kick seen at the lane???

That was a right chuckle

I know times are hard and it was on the box but what a pathetic attempt at an away crowd by Birmingham.

Shameful.

Aye... and it looked like about half of 'em got thrown out after their goal too.

Here's a piccy of their wonderful support...

 

[beightonblade]

Nesh twohat Cotterill MOM for me !

 

[Linz]

I've got a genuine question to ask all the Monty knockers... what did you think of today's performance?

 

[The One]

I've got a genuine question to ask all the Monty knockers... what did you think of today's performance?

There were still several near where I sat slagging him off at every opportunity.

 

[happyhippy]

There were still several near where I sat slagging him off at every opportunity.

I'll see you and raise. Bromby was told to go away in jerky movements by some of our brethren before he'd even stepped over the white line.

 

[Greasy Chip Butty]

Morgs MOTM, solid and had Costly in his pocket for the first half and Jerome hardly had a sniff in the 2nd. Great performance, Cotts looked dangerous.

Great pic of Howard and Captain Blade at HT linz, was great watching that

 

[Bladesman]

Morgs man of the match for me.

Pretty much won every header ashame about the OG.

Mind you we may of been the better team today but both our goals should of not of been allowed. Perhaps the officials were making it up to us after their fellow colleagues poor performance on Thursday. Although not sure where they got 5 minutes injury time from! They seemed to make it last for what felt like 10 minutes.

 

[eckington_blade]

morgs motm for me also thought he was solid

 

[Billyblade]

Good God, where did that come from?
Top performance by the Blades today. We were completely in control especially second half. It was great to see us getting the ball down and actually passing it for a change.
Cotterilll was fantastic today. He was running at defenders, getting decent crosses in, tackling back, going for headers and the lot. Has he been threatened with a loan spell at Worksop if he doesn't buck up? Top performance capped off with a coolly taken pen.
Monty was immense too, great tackling, some good distribution (yes I did type that) and running for the full 100 minutes
Today we showed everything we should have been doing all season. We're more than capable of doing it with the players we've got and with some consistency we should have been walking this league. I've seen no-one so far who scares me that much.
Few more points:-
a) Piss poor following from Birmingham, second in the league?, Englands second city? Hang your heads in shame.
b) Brombys free kick - WTF? Even young BB was pissing himself.
c) Pats on back today for Naysmith, Morgan, Monty, Cotts, Halford.
d) Howards frigging about with Captain Blade at HT:- What if he'd got seriously injured? They shouldn't really be pissing about like that. Who else is gonna wear that costume if he gets seriously injured?
e) Somebody needs to explain the offside rule to Danny Webber.

Good day today especially with the results yesterday, lets hope they can keep it up. UTB!

 

[Bladesman]

Not only Webber but the linesmen need to look up the offside rule aswell.

 

[metalblade]

I've got a genuine question to ask all the Monty knockers... what did you think of today's performance?

As one of his biggest critics what can I say other than awesome, he gets my MOTM vote. As a team performance what Billyblade said.

 

[Linz]

As one of his biggest critics what can I say other than awesome, he gets my MOTM vote. As a team performance what Billyblade said.

By the same measure, I've said all season that Cotterill has not been living up to the promise he showed towards the latter end of last season.

He got my MOTM vote today because he actually got stuck in and there were spells of real quality throughout the midfield with some spells of sexy one-touch football

We played well... and Birmingham were rubbish really. Apart from their goal, how many chances did they have?

EDIT: A good report from The Times...

Sheffield United cash in on rare good fortune

Who wants to be a multimillionaire? Who wants to compete for extraordinary riches in the Barclays Premier League next season? To judge from the evidence at the weekend, nobody. The race to not win the Coca-Cola Championship is bewildering in the extreme.

Of the top-ten teams at the start of play on Saturday, only two – Preston North End and Sheffield United – went on to win. Of the top three for most of season – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City and Reading – all lost.

At least United showed an appetite for the fight yesterday, deservedly beating Birmingham to move into fifth place. However, the win was secured with some slices of good fortune.

Darius Henderson appeared offside when nodding the ball down for Danny Webber to give United a first-half lead. And the late penalty, awarded when Stephen Carr no more than nudged Craig Beattie, seemed harsh. David Cotterill stroked in the spot-kick. Yet considering that United had had to endure gross bad luck in the 2-1 defeat by Hull City on Thursday night, it was perhaps payback time. Kevin Blackwell, the United manager, thought so.

“Poetic justice?” he said. “I suppose it goes some way towards it. I think we deserved a bit of good fortune. Any team in the top eight can be looking at automatic promotion now. It’s there for the players if they want it.”

Birmingham, with a win, would have joined wobbly Wolves at the top but, after Marcus Bent had looped a header on to the crossbar early on, their endeavours amounted to little more than aimless punts forward. From one of their few incisive moves, David Murphy’s searching cross was diverted into his own net by Chris Morgan, the United captain.

Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager, blamed Lee Mason, the referee, and his assistants for the defeat. “They didn’t do their jobs correctly,” he said. “The penalty was absolutely ludicrous.”

This morning, perhaps he and his players should also look in the mirror.