Sunday, December 20, 2009
Everton 1-1 Birmingham City: Unbeaten record
guardian.co.uk
It is a mark of Birmingham City's serene return to the Premier League that Alex McLeish can identify with the causes of Mark Hughes's demise at Manchester City. He can only hope Carson Yeung is not the kind of foreign investor who wants his expectations both raised and realised before Christmas.
The Birmingham manager was ebullient at Goodison Park after his side dipped below par against Everton yet departed with a point and their unbeaten record improved to nine matches. Sandwiched between City and Liverpool in the table, they displayed a resilience that underlines their seamless transition but not the invention to hurt an Everton side immersed in the club's worst home run since 1972. Ideas of Europe, therefore, will not be encouraged from the manager yet.
"It is difficult sometimes for the owners because they can be like supporters and think we are going for Europe now and that is not right," said McLeish. "But I'm sure they know we have a fragile squad and if we lose key players, and we will to injury and suspension, it could be difficult to maintain the type of form we have shown." He also suggested City might "rue" the day they dispensed with Hughes but, unlike the Welshman, the Scot at least has opportunity to sustain a club's radical improvement.
Here, they were fortunate only a five-matching winning streak came to an end. It was a source of annoyance and bewilderment to Everton that the game should have been beyond Birmingham long before the visitors equalised with their first attack. David Moyes's decision to deploy Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Steven Pienaar on unorthodox flanks was vindicated immediately as the home side made a vibrant, incisive start that suggested the two clubs occupied false positions in the table. From a throw-in on the right by Tony Hibbert, Louis Saha chested the ball into Bilyaletdinov's path and the left-footed Russia international stepped inside Lee Bowyer to sweep his fourth goal in nine Everton games past Joe Hart.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/20/everton-birmingham-city-match-report
guardian.co.uk
The Birmingham manager was ebullient at Goodison Park after his side dipped below par against Everton yet departed with a point and their unbeaten record improved to nine matches. Sandwiched between City and Liverpool in the table, they displayed a resilience that underlines their seamless transition but not the invention to hurt an Everton side immersed in the club's worst home run since 1972. Ideas of Europe, therefore, will not be encouraged from the manager yet.
"It is difficult sometimes for the owners because they can be like supporters and think we are going for Europe now and that is not right," said McLeish. "But I'm sure they know we have a fragile squad and if we lose key players, and we will to injury and suspension, it could be difficult to maintain the type of form we have shown." He also suggested City might "rue" the day they dispensed with Hughes but, unlike the Welshman, the Scot at least has opportunity to sustain a club's radical improvement.
Here, they were fortunate only a five-matching winning streak came to an end. It was a source of annoyance and bewilderment to Everton that the game should have been beyond Birmingham long before the visitors equalised with their first attack. David Moyes's decision to deploy Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Steven Pienaar on unorthodox flanks was vindicated immediately as the home side made a vibrant, incisive start that suggested the two clubs occupied false positions in the table. From a throw-in on the right by Tony Hibbert, Louis Saha chested the ball into Bilyaletdinov's path and the left-footed Russia international stepped inside Lee Bowyer to sweep his fourth goal in nine Everton games past Joe Hart.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/dec/20/everton-birmingham-city-match-report
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