Looking Forward

Birmingham City  (Home)

Premier League

Monday 26th December 2005

Birmingham City are on a poor run and currently sit one from the bottom of the table.  Steve Bruce's side has been hit by injury, but then the value in a squad with depth is that you have sufficient quality in the squad that you can replace the players who are out with others from the pool.  The spending that Bruce has done might therefore have brought players of a lesser quality to St. Andrews.

There are players in the side who can be dangerous, such as David Dunn, who is just returning to the side after a long period out, Emile Heskey and Walter Pandiani, but the application of some of the others is questionable.  Heskey is a big lump, but when he gets going, he can be a hard player to stop.  However, he is reliant on the service he receives from Lazaridis, Clapham and Jermaine Pennant.  The first two are entering the veteran stage of their career, while the other seems to attract bad news.  A player who had an undoubted talent at a very young age has not progressed as perhaps those in the know thought and finds himself trying to revive his career at Brum.  He needs to be watched carefully, as he can inspire moments of danger, but if things do not go his way, he fades from the action.  The loss of Mikael Forssell has been a blow to Birmingham and Pandiani has not filled his boots, leaving them short of firepower.

Goals at the opposition's end have been the problem for Birmingham this season.  The most prolific scorer has been on loan from Chelsea midfielder Jiri Jarosik and his height and power make him a formidable opponent.  However, I hope he will be tied up on defensive duty and have few chances to get forward, although at any set-piece, he will be a threat.  Some of the rum midfielders will be coming home.  Stephen Clemence spent the early stages of his career here and although he lacks a little pace, he has a good range of passing and can get stuck into a tackle.  Neil (Oh my God, they) Kilkenny is a local lad born in Enfield, although brought up in Australia via the Arsenal Academy.  Breaking into the side this season, he got sent off in his first appearance, showing he learned a lot at the Gooners.  Muzzy Izzet will still be out injured, while Nicky Butt has not exactly hit it off with the Birmingham fans and has seemed frustrated in some matches, as he tries to emulate his Manchester United days.  Former Palace man Julian Gray might feature in midfield or defence and he can be a tricky customer on his day.  Good when he is running with the ball, when dispossessed, he can leave a hole behind him, where we might be able to get some space and create something.  Damien Johnson has also established himself as a midfielder at City, but he cannot aid the forward department, as his work appears to be mainly defensive.  A tough character, he sometimes gets embroiled in battles in midfield rather than playing his own game.

The defence will be without Mario Melchiot, who is a very good right back and his absence will be felt by the Blues.  That leaves veteran central defender Kenny Cunningham and Matthew Upson to stem the tide.  Upson has many admirers, including Sven, with a series of good showings this season (he has a lot of involvement in each game with Birmingham playing poorly), he has been one fo the positives for Bruce.  However, this does prompt speculation about moves elsewhere, with Liverpool and Newcastle often mentioned.  Cunningham has lost a lot of the pace he used to have, but he reads the game well and Republic of Ireland tem-mate Robbie Keane will be looking to give him a bit of a runaround on Boxing Day !!

Maik Taylor has proved his worth in goal over the years, but has often been suspect to drop a clanger ... sometimes in his own net, which is why Bruce has been selecting Belgian Nico Vaessen between the posts of late, until he was sent off against Manchester City recently.  An agile keeper, his handling is good, but sometimes, his positioning lets him down.  He will be available again for this match and it will be interesting to see who gets the nod.

With Tottenham getting into goalscoring mode with three in each of the last two matches, they should run out winners in this game, but Birmingham will come to keep a clean sheet and try to sneak something on the break.  With the players available to Spurs, they should be able to keep the visitors occupied in their own half for long periods of the game and if Birmingham sit back, they might invite a siege of their goal and once ahead, they might find that Tottenham are a different proposition to times gone by.

A Happy Christmas for Spurs as they ease to a win ...

PREDICTION : -  Tottenham Hotspur  3    Birmingham City  0

For more information on the opponents and their history, including full result history of matches between the two teams, click here.

Coverage

TV :  
For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
If available on BBC radio, it can be heard in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne) SEN  -  116 AM  Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 1500 matches
Australia (Syndey)  Radio 2  -  1611AM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 12.45 Match
Singapore Media Corp Radio  -  93.8 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
South Africa  SABC (Radio 2000)  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
Uganda  Radio 1 (English) 90.0 FM, Radio 2 (Lugandan) 87.9 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
North America (USA, Canada, Mexico, Carribean)  Sirius Satellite Radio  Live transmission: Saturday - 12.45, 15.00 (TWI) & 17.15 (BBC) Sunday - 14.00 & 16.05 (BBC) Mon, Tue, Wed - Various times (BBC)

Internet :
www.spurs.co.uk   Live webcast  - subscribers only
Planet football - http://play.www.planetfootball.servecast.net/downloads/sky/spurs-pl04-kean0.ram (free - only available when match is on)

Robinson

Stalteri
Dawson
King (Pamarot 68)
Lee

Lennon (Defoe 58)
Carrick
Davids
Jenas

Keane (Brown 73)
Mido

Unused subs: 
Cerny
Rasiak

Maik Taylor

Cunningham
Martin Taylor
Upson
Lazaridis (Dunn 72)

Pennant (Pandiani 83)
Izzet
Kilkenny
Jarosik
Gray

Heskey

Unused subs: 
Vaesen
Butt
Clemence

Tottenham Hotspur

Keane 58 (p)
Defoe 90

None

    
Stalteri (foul) 41
Carrick (foul) 51
Pamarot (foul) 68
Davids (foul) 90

   
Izzet (foul) 26   

    
Izzet (diving - second yellow) 66 

The Christmas hangover didn't just affect the Spurs crowd, but looked like it had spread to the players as well.  Their lethargy in facing the second-bottom side Birmingham City made hard work of a win that looked like it would not arrive.

Once more, Tottenham were thankful to Paul Robinson for pulling out two very good saves and also to Mido; not for his forward work, but for nodding a header from Upson over the bar, when it looked like it would fly into the net.

Steve Bruce bemoaned the fact that two decisions went against his side, thus turning the game in Tottenham's favour.  However, the other side of the coin indicated that there was much that Bruce failed to comment on.  Every time Mido went to win a ball in the air up front, he found Upson all over him with his arms pushing him or pinning his jump down ... very few of which were spotted by Mr. Dowd or his assistants (surely a misnomer on some occasions ?).  The referee also awarded free-kicks against Robbie Keane for backing into Taylor or Upson as the ball was played up to him.  It looked to me like he was holding his ground, but the referee thought differently ... until later in the game.

The match started off with Birmingham passing the ball about well, but the obvious lack of a goalscoring threat showed that they did not really have the finish to any of their moves.  The nearest they came was when Lazaridis crossed and the ball came to Jiri Jarosik at the near post.  Whether his flick would have gone in is questionable, as it was a very acute angle, but Paul Robinson reacted by diving to his right to push the ball round the post for a corner.  Spurs had already given the Brummie defence a scare, when they failed to deal with a bouncing ball and Aaron Lennon, in for the injured Andy Reid, raced onto it and he was just unable to get a shot away before a defender closed the little winger down.  Everyone was pleased to see Lennon back, but he was not given the ball enough to cause problems and Lazaridis, playing at left back, did well to position himself to cope with a direct run by Lennon and also in a place where he could cut out any cross-field pass to the wide-man. 

Even the subdued and stomach illness affected Martin Jol was quiet.  Spurs were finding it hard to break through the massed midfield, who dropped back to their last third as soon as they lost the ball, with only a couple of low crosses into the six yard box which didn't have Spurs men on the end of them.  The first clear chance came when a corner was controlled by Ledley King and his shot was straight at Maik Taylor, who beat it out.

A strange event happened at half-time.  Not free-styler Billy Wingrove doing his tricks to entertain the crowd, but five minutes before the restart, Birmingham came out to warm-up on the pitch.  This seemed a good idea, as they roared into Spurs from the kick-off and had two quick chances.  The ball was played left to Julian Gray and Robinson ran out to provide a barrier to his way to goal and he pushed the ball out.  From the corner, a header from Upson was heading past the moving Keane on the line, but Mido ensured it wouldn't get that far by heading it over the top to save Spurs going a goal down.

With the decisions going against Keane in the first half, it was a surprise to all of us that Mr. Dowd pointed tot he spot as Keane tried to turn Upson and was thrown to the floor by the ex-Arsenal central defender.  Keane got up to grab the ball, confident even after having the spot-kick at that end against Sunderland saved, and stuck the ball past Taylor who dived the wrong way in the 58th minute.

Keane didn't do as well when Edgar Davids played a through pass and Keano run onto the ball, but got caught by Lazaridis and hurried his shot that Taylor saved at head height.  With 65 minutes on the clock, a pass by Gray found Izzet going into the box and Dawson challenged him, prompting the referee to go straight for his whistle.  I thought he was going to put the penalty count level, as some referees like to even these things up over the course of a match, but instead, he pointed for a free-kick for Tottenham as he adjudged the Blues man had dived.  In doing so, he pulled out a yellow card, to go with the one he picked up earlier for a foul and made his exit down the tunnel.

Spurs were also down to ten men for a short time when Ledley King went off after being pushed over by Heskey, whose physical approach was allowed to go unchecked by the match official.  It ended with him being substituted by Noe Pamarot and the groin problem might keep him out of Wednesday's game at WBA.  Michael Dawson also crashed to the floor after another aerial challenge, coming up to play on, but holding his shoulder to give Martin Jol a few worries on the selection front.  Pamarot took little time to make his mark in his first game back since April last year when he injured his knee at St. Andrews.  Within seconds he was in the book for a raised foot, despite the fact that Hesky's foot was just as high.  Steve Bruce would have made a lot of such a caution.

As Birmingham went forward in search of an equaliser to earn a point, Spurs had some defending to do, but Birmingham never looked like doing so.  One long pass upfield found substitute Jermain Defoe running through and pushed out to the right corner of the area, he dragged his shot across the goal and the diving Taylor.

A late free-kick which saw Edgar Davids pick up another yellow card, was cleared to Jermaine Jenas, who was having his shirt torn off his back by Dunn, but managed to get a pass off to Defoe, who ran into a similar channel, but as it looked like a return pass across the face of goal to Jenas might be the preferred option, he unleashed a shot that ripped into the net past Taylor, who barely moved.  Placed right into the top corner, it was a fine piece of finishing and gave Spurs a win that could have been added to when Mido had a late chance, but was crowded out when he dithered on the ball.

At the end, it was a good win for Tottenham, which had been expected before the game.  The reality was a little different and it was a harder game than it looked on paper.  For all that, the game was won without putting on a sparkling performance and we are all waiting to see what happens when we do finally click !!

MEHSTG TOP MAN : -  MICHAEL DAWSON

Benny the Ball

The first half was largely a non-event, with things so slow and sloppy that Michael Dawson and Robbo indulged in a bit of ball juggling.  Dawson, without any Birmingham player pressuring him, headed a through ball up in the air and did a couple of keepy-ups before the ball got away from him and went back to Robinson.  Unable to pick it up, he performed a couple of keepy-uppies himself before launching the ball upfield.  Perhaps the skill coaching of Ricardo Ortiz is paying off !!  It didn't quite match the Spurs free-styler Billy Wingrove's ball juggling at the break, when he balanced the ball on his head and ran from the halfway line to the penalty area, then volleyed the ball into the net.

The disgruntlement that poured down from the seats when the side were passing the ball around in possession does not bode well for any European ambitions we might have, because some fans might not realise that it will be like this a lot when we face European opposition.  It wasn't a great performance by the team, but winning was the aim and that was what was achieved in the end.

A goal from Birmingham at the start of the second half might have made that more difficult, as they hit Spurs from the kick off and forced Robinson to a good save from Gray and then saw Mido head over his own bar, facing his own goal, to stop Upson putting them a goal up.

Spurs took the lead when they got a penalty.  Keane flicked the ball around Upson and found himself being pulled around by the defender's arms and the ref pointed to the spot.  It was a similar move to the one that lead to a penalty against when Breen handled Keane's flick.  Perhaps the skill coaching of Ricardo Ortiz is paying off !!

Keano got up and claimed the ball for the spot-kick and he hit it low to the keeper's left, as Taylor dived to his right and put Tottenham ahead.  Keane could have put the game out of Birmingham's reach when set free by Davids, but he dallied after taking a poor first touch and hit his shot straight at Taylor.  Mido wasted a late chance when he got the ball tied up under his feet and in between Defoe hit a low shot past the left hand side of the goal, as he came in from the right.  After nasty piece of work Izzet was sent off for diving and picking up a second yellow card (he had made a number of fouls during the game before he reached his lowest point of the game), Spurs cleared a corner and Jermaine Jenas picked out Defoe's run and he took it on and smashed a powerful shot into the top corner past the static Taylor.  It was a cracking goal and a moment that showed what Jermain Defoe is all about.  Keane's first touch not great, as it is often too far ahead of him to make his second touch a difficult one.  While Keano is currently scoring, he will not be sold, but long term, it looks as though Jermain Defoe would be a better long term bet.

The eagerness of the referee to get his card out leaves Edgar Davids one booking off a two match ban.  It looks like he might be one of the dirtiest players in the Premiership because of the number of cautions he has received, but some of it really appears to be reputation.  Mind you, the whole team are building a reputation for themselves and it is one which is making teams approach games against us in a different manner.

Peter Gill