NOT GOOD ENOUGH-----BIRMINGHAM CITY VS MAN UNITED REVIEW!


Well considering the circumstances in the end, a point at St Andrews was not all that bad. We were down to ten men at just about the time you thought that United would go on to get a winner. More to that it was one of our most important players, Fletcher that got sent off.
The fact is that despite how good we played yesterday, we could easily have been beaten. I think Tomaz K deserves some plaudits for keeping Birmingham out several times when our back line was breached.

I thought that Rooney was a bit wasteful with the couple of chances he had one on one with Joe Hart. Rafael was slightly careless and Scholes was better than we've seen in recent weeks but he needs more time on the ball than current footballers are willing to give him. Evra was our best performer---he really does make for a good captain.
United were expected to win this game after the shocking events of last week, but the manager seems to be content with a point. The bottom line is despite our improvement in performance from last week, Chelsea were the winners at the end of the day---and that they have achieved without kicking a ball. They can now extend their lead over us to four points---not unassailable but it's one step forward, and two steps back right now.

More than anything else, the report card at St Andrews should be that we do not have a cutting edge. We seem to b too elaborate with the ball outside the box and yet all it takes to score is to shoot. Given the number of bodies that Birmingham put in the box, there was no way we would get to Hart. Time and time again, I've preached about the value of shooting within 20 yards from goal. It's what makes players like Lampard and Ronaldo what they are. You only have to pick your spot. It's surprising that the likes of Arsenal are shooting more than us. Yesterday they got two deflected goals thanks to the willingness to shoot. I really hope Carrick and co can pick a leaf.
We've had two games in 2010 and so far we don't seem like we've hit top gear for the run in. The least we can do is to keep the title race as interesting as possible for as long as possible.

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