Odds and sods
I was walking home last night when Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” came onto my iPod. I turned it straight off. We’ve had too much of all this tub-thumping and emotionally stirring stuff recently. It has been exhausting, even as a spectator. A good rule of thumb in life is to avoid any music that might appear on an compilation album with “Ibiza” in the title, but I needed something peaceful so turned to FC Kahuna’s “Hayling”, which is both very relaxing and geographically relevant to our trip to Portsmouth (near to Hayling Island). Much better. The break from football will be quite welcome.
Jimmy Bullard is allowing himself to dream:
“I know it’s early but if we can start next season in the form we’ve finished in, God knows what might happen.
“You’ve got to get off to a good start in this league.”
The Guardian has a report card.
More Franck Queudrue, this time from the mouth of Brum Chairman David Sullivan:
“We bought a pile of rubbish last season and Franck Queudrue has disappointed me the most,” Sullivan told Sky Sports News. “We also brought in a third-choice keeper, Richard Kingson. He was a waste of space, too. I could go right down the list. Nobody has really shone out.”
This is, to put it mildly, very unprofessional. Franck Queudrue’s a comedy favourite of mine so I’m obviously going to disagree, but whatever your opinions, you don’t talk like this if you own a football team. And poor old Richard Kingson too! Kingson - Ghana’s regular goalkeeper - is not a waste of space. He made one appearance and made a bad mistake, but that happens to goalkeepers. He may or may not be Premiership quality, but I’d suggest that his international record is in his favour on this one. It must be a difficult time to support Birmingham.
Everyone’s jumping right into the summer squad rebuilding thing, but I haven’t the energy for that now. We have no idea what’ll happen and there aren’t even any rumours yet. We all have our own ideas about who should stay and who should go, but I’m going to let the dust settle for a few days before getting into that sort of thing.
Sullivan is clearly an idiot - what a stupid comment to make.
I like Jimmy’s optimism! To be honest I’m not sure what I hope for next year - an improvement which leads to mid-table mediocrity, or another relegation battle as exciting as this one!
On the subject of Bullard - was it just me or was Sunday his worst performance in a Fulham shirt by quite a way? I lost count of the number of times he was caught in possession in dangerous areas. It seems to have gone unnnoticed on the messageboards and in the media (who as usual have him as man of the match)… I suppose the free kick for the goal was the champagne moment that everyone remembers.
Bad form for sure. To do it publicly is offensive and I would guess and he has only made himself look like an idiot to most everyone. I am guessing he has come out and said all this because the media is attacking him for prematurely getting rid of Bruce and now Sullivan is striking back by saying Bruce made bad decisions. As you say Rich, has to be tough for Birmingham fans right now.
Sullivan is demonstrating just how many imbeciles are in charge of our teams with comments such as these. What an idiot. Sadly, he cannot hide the fact that the manager he let go, went to Wigan and kept them up, to the detriment of his own side. Its not like McLeish had nothing to spend either (James McFadden?).
As a semi-neutral observer, I can confirm that Bullard had a wretched game on Sunday. But who cares, eh?! I’d probably have named Hangeland MOTM personally.
Hangeland was immense, and stopped a number of dangerous situations.
Any other observations, Mart? You’re probably as well placed to comment as anyone. I can’t remember much about the game at all.
I’d say Kamara was a bit aimless at times, but he always seemed to have that threat - not least from his pace, and the cul-de-sacs he ran down often provided free kicks. Keller tidy, fullbacks good, the midfield did okay, but just didn’t seem to have any space. Oh and Clattenburg was awful.
He was wasn’t he? Really annoyed me, lots of silly free-kicks. Obviously in a game like that we have little tolerance for anything that isn’t hugely in our favour, but he still managed to get himself noticed.
I think the space thing is very pertinent too. Portsmouth are very good at that. Perhaps explains why they’re almost better away this year, choke the game then strike when the home team over-commits.
Also worth noting that Roy was worried we’d be too gung ho too early! Everyone else was wondering when we’d try to bust it open. He knew what he wanted and it worked, but my word….
back to Brummie, I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who believes that Sullivan used his little soapbox to blame Bruce for the relegation. I thought that Wigan had the worst personnel in the league in August. The fact that Bruce kept them up is admirable. I can’t ever remember a board member singling out a player for blame before either. I understand that Sullivan was still a little shakey after being abused by the fans, but the Birmingham board is clearly to blame for what has befallen the club. The NON-takeover was handled in Three Stooges fashion. The reasonable start the side had under Bruce was squandered after he was forced out.
thank goodness for MAF.
on the match, the highlights I’ve seen and the comments from GJ make it seem as if Keller had a very calming influence back there, and that the back four — especially Hangeland — had solid matches. Did it seem that way to you guys?
I’ve thought about this a lot and, to be honest, whenever Niemi’s played in the past the defence has always been somehow less than the sum of its parts. Yes, Niemi makes spectacular saves and Keller doesn’t, but somehow we have conceded fewer with Keller in goal. It doesn’t add up when you look at it like that. I don’t believe it’s because Keller’s had less to do (although we could easily check this, and I will) either.
Somehow his presence, his solidity, is a very good thing. There was a moment that sticks with me from Sunday. We’d just scored and, while happy, were absolutely petrified. Portsmouth had a series of corners after that and I remember one where I could hardly watch. Keller almost seemed to walk out and just plucked the ball out of the air, oblivious to the chaos around him. It was just what we needed. There’s no doubt he’s done his bit in keeping us up.
I used to think the same thing about EVDS and Maik Taylor. EVDS was, in many ways, the better goalkeeper, but I always felt safer, and I think our defence always looked better, with Maik behind them. Solidity is definitely the word - Maik had a stockier build and as a result he *looked* literally more solid, has more ‘presence’, was more commanding at set pieces and better when coming off his line.
Since his injury Niemi has continued to make good saves but his nervous manner and hesitancy gives eveyone, including our defence, the heebie-jeebies. Keller’s made a massive difference, along with Hangeland.