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A Springboard To Better Things?
Birmingham City hauled themselves out of the bottom three with a morale-boosting 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town, despite having Kyle Bartley sent off for a second bookable offence with the referee deciding that he had been over-exuberant in his celebrations for his second goal.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the trip up to the game so I cannot comment on individual performances and I’m reliant on the reports of others with respect to the sending off and other contentious events. That being said, I think we can all agree that a win was much-needed as it has lifted Blues up to 18th and although the team now head into an international break it could hopefully be the springboard to a better run of results.
I have to say, I was impressed that Lee Clark didn’t try to drastically change things; the team was only one player out from the one I’d have picked (I’d have picked Ferguson instead of Novak) yet from reports I’ve seen online the former Huddersfield man had a great game against his former club so Clark was vindicated in his choice.
I’m disappointed that the ref sent Kyle Bartley off. I’ve not seen it so I have to reiterate I can only go on what was said but I think that a referee has to use some common sense. Bartley didn’t remove his shirt and he was only going up to the away fans so there was no incitement there either; a booking is one thing but I think it’s wrong to send off a player purely because he got excited in scoring what could be a huge goal for his team. There’s been a theme of poor refereeing around Blues games of late and it does worry me that every time I write a ref report it seems to be another one who has had a bit of a mare with us previously. That being said having seen the penalty in the Chelsea-WBA game poor standards in refereeing seem to be endemic.
With Blues now out of action until the visit of Blackpool on November 23, attention at St Andrews turns to the Ladies’ team with Blues Ladies hosting FK Zorkiy Karsnogarsk on Wednesday in the Women’s Champions League. The Ladies hold a 2-0 lead having beaten the Russians 2-0 thanks to goals from Izzy Christiansen and Jo Potter with a place in March’s quarter-final ties at stake on the road to the final in Lisbon on May 22. The match on Wednesday kicks off at 7pm and is priced at £6 for adults and £3 for concessions.
Tags: FK Zorkiy Krasnogorsk, Huddersfield Town, Kyle Bartley, Lee Clark
50 Responses to “A Springboard To Better Things?”
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I couldn’t agree more with the ‘common sense’ factor. I don’t know why it’s a straight yellow when most players make several bad tackles before their first yellow. Understandable if they haven’t already had one but why spoil a game by giving the second and therefore a red?
I also have to say that we seem to play more confidently when Jesse playing for us as can be seen from the score lines. I think it’s a shame we can’t play like that when we have just our own players on the pitch. Let’s hope our youngsters can pick up a few tips from the young man before he leaves us.
He will surely be a future Red Devil for many years to come.
Congratulations to LC and the team for a much needed win.
Let’s hope next week bring better news than this week!
Today was really a must win for Clark, fair play to him on the build up to the game, he rallied the troops and got them fired up for this one, massive win, would be nice to get a result in the next game now as apposed to the normall not turning up, great win and nice to move up a few places
Such a tremendously important win. Let’s hope everyone gets healthy over the break and that the Blues break out on Blackpool!! Keep Right On!!
Lovely result and one that I’m sure has perked everyone up. After all the courtroom shenanigans, a 3-1 away win is a perfect way to end the week. Pity about the red card though.
There is a Vid of it on the Refs Article, DocD. alongside the sending off of our Goalie against Crystal Palace, it must rank as the most ridiculous cards of all time.
Looks to me as though the ref has got a little hot & bothered about a number of players kicking the hoarding(hardly Ketsbaia standards)the close proximity of a ball boy to the ‘incident’ and Bartley was the fall guy making the ref feel a little better & showing he was still in control.
If this is the standard of modern refereeing then the future looks bleak,but more importantly a vital 3pts taken.
So why this week and not last week. Dont give me the LC firing them up because if that is so his success rate in that department is very poor.
Yes I am glad we won but I am also angry at the teams apparent disregard to consiistancy and only turning up when they feel like it.
LC obviously still does not understand what makes them tick it is all a bit of a lottery.
A disregard for consistency?? What a bizarre statement. The team is full of young players who, because of their age, will be inconsistent. Lingard had a wonderful 1st game for us, but hasn’t quite reached that level since, though did look good yesterday. Reilly has also been short of form recently but looked somewhere close to his best yesterday. With a team as relatively inexperienced as ours, fans need patience and the players need support.
KRO + DNM.
Realy enjoyed the game today! Blues fans were in fine voice and it’s was a good performance especially the 2nd half. I was well impressed with Novak today and Ziggy was very effective. Got to say Huddersfield were very poor though. KRO
Just back from the game. Clark made some great calls today – Bartley for Burn, Novak for Ferguson/Gray down the left and the tactics in the second half when we defended in numbers and counter-attacked at speed. Novak had his best game yet in a blues shirt but I would still give my man of the match to Zigic for his goals and countless simple, precise lay offs and headers that kept our attacks moving forward quickly. The only black spot was Burke who was ineffective and a yard off the pace throuhout the game. Did not look a happy bunny. After a failed run the down the right in the second half he decided to sit down on the pitch, demand medical attention and was then subbed. Something not right there. By the way, Bartley had already been booked in the first half so that’s why he was shown red after his celebrations. In that incident he went over the advertising boards and up to the blues fans. It was all innocuous stuff but by the letter of the law I’m afraid he gave the ref a difficult choice. Shame because he looks like he is growing into that role.
Yeah I agree totally. It’s a shame about Burke at the moment he looks leggy and of the pace. Looks like Burke has been found out :-( hasn’t looked like the Burke we know and love in the last few games KRO
Burke’s form has slipped after being told he’s not being shipped out in January?
Usually a yellow card is given for going into not up to fans
The sending off was unnecessary, common sense should have prevailed, but then this is a referee, and maybe 6 or 7 top referees not many have any common sense. Kyle was pushed into the advertisement hoarding by the rush of team mates and if he hadn’t gone over the hoarding could have been badly injured, my take on it anyway
The referees today see themselves as god on the pitch and unquestionable or answerable off it.
Back to the game, I was surprised with Novak to Ferguson too, but Novak seems to be playing better lately and probably justifies his place and is grown in confidence since his goal at Derby.
Even when Huddersfield scored I still thought we would win, we played the better football and had that hunger which seems missing at St Ans.
The crowd were in full voice and kept the Huddersfield faithful quiet, that is something the home crowds are lacking, they sing and shout but the noise levels are not the same, we need some je ne sais quoi… to intimidate the opposition.
All in all, even with the red card, a good day all round, and despite the conditions the M1 was a happy place.
Will be their to cheer the ladies on on Wednesday, might even book my Jollies for Lisbon….
KRO+DNM
Referees cannot show common sense, no matter how much they would like to. There is an assessor sitting in the stand making notes and watching their every decision. If they don’t apply the letter of the law they will suffer the consequences.
That is just an excuse, iMirkwood. Week after week we see Refs make terrible decisions and nothing is done about it so I cant see the FA being worried about a little bit of common sense.
Do these assessors do anything when a referee gets things wrong though?
Week in week out you see referees getting decisions wrong on the pitch and nothing done, or at least seen to be done, they still referee their next game, except in very exceptional circumstances which involved Premier clubs and TV cameras and the national news papers.
The FA and Football League should reverse decisions, award/disallow goals or replay games, there is too much at stake to rely on the decision entirely on one man, the referee, technology is out there use it.
In Kyle Bartley’s case, all games should be reviewed and where a player goes up to the crowd, i.e. Shane Long, then a booking should be given, if they had already received a yellow then a red and instant one match ban enforced.
As with the rules of football, they must be adhered too, the red or yellow cards only issued at the referee’s discretion, but there must be uniformity too.
The relevant football leagues and referee managers have to take action and seen to take action to get consistency and fairness.
…………..an offence such as bartleys in the situation that blues are in with the pressure that’s on the players to do well is understandable …the referee has done his job,now if the powers that b e love football they will show common sense and let bartley off with a strong warning ,..as clemency at the right time ,and under the right ctrcumstances by the powers that be can go a long way to bring sanity back to the beautiful game …….these players at blues are true to themselves true to their manager and true to their club others in power should be true to them
Sadly I can’t see that happening, the people in power lack common-sense or clemncy.
KRO+DNM
The people in power lack anything of substance Chris.
Too true Staffs
KRO+DNM
Or honesty and integrity Chris.
‘The Powers that be show common sense’ ..Ah, I see a flaw in your argument. ;-)
Burkey seemed lost again today and novak would be my man of the match, what an engine!
the booking offence for bartley was for leaving the field of play not the beating of his chest in celebration……
The Baggies were robbed !! Without a doubt the ref favoured the ‘ Bigger team ‘ .Great result for the Blues to get away from the dreaded drop zone .KRO
Just watched the Chelsea penalty again. I don’t know about Ramires looking for the pen…. the referee certainly was. Then I noticed it was Andre Mariner. Nuff said.
I thought it was a harsh Pen, but Reid did himself no favours, he went out to charge the Chelsea Player and it was a dangerous tactic in the Visiting Area. Having said that, I cant see Albion getting a Penalty for that up the other end. Bad reffing again. I hope the assessor noticed ;-)
No way was it a pen.Ramires was already falling when he collided with Reid.
great the the players showed a lot of balls in my opinion got stuck in even at 1-1 did not let their heads drop, and start the show more consistency in your performances home and away…..imo i believe we are in false position, and the players need show this in their results………
We are not in a false position.
We continue to be inconsistent but please would LC spend as my time watching the video as he did last week and work out what he did right and remember it!
well done lee clark and the team – great result, MUST WIN NEXT HOME GAME !!
The fans always judge a team by home performances ( and whether to pay £28) – vital for the moral of the club to beat blackpool – KRO
We have 6 games coming up before Christmas…. 4 of them at home Blackpool, Doncaster, Middlesborough and Forest. Then there’s Barnsley at home on New Year’s Day. That’s a possible 15 points. If we could win all, or most, of those and pick up the odd away point, we could be sitting in a healthy top of the table position starting the new year. Consistency is the key.
I like the plan Staffs, but I think you are forgetting this is Birmingham City what looks a simple task on paper and Blues will do it the hard way… But nice to see someone else whose glass is half full….
KO+DNM
The way we’re playing at the moment it would be better if 4 of the 6 were away from home.
Would Rooney, Lampard or the like have been booked for doing a similar celebration? I somehow doubt it, but then refs have been appalling in England for years. And the FA have the cheek to say players and managers bring the game into disrepute. Kettle Pot Black comes to mind
Dan- is it worth blues appealing the decision???
I think you can appeal a red but not two yellows. I stand to be corrected though.
Correct
Staffs I stand corrected I believe it a one match ban maybe dan can confirm this!!
if it had been a top premier club the sending off would never have happened, in the 30 seconds the bbc generously allotted to us last night in the league show I saw absolutely nothing wrong, double standards IMO, total lack of common sense
Can anyone confirm where the field of play ends? Is it at the white line, or at the end of the grass?
Samuel Eto’o went up and hugged the fans when he scored. Shane Long went up to the Albion fans.. and would have gone further if a steward hadn’t stood in front of him.
Bartley approached our fans in celebration and was not inciting the opposition, unlike Ings of Burnley who, when he scored at Stans last season, was clearly goading the home fans in the Kop corner, no action was taken against him though.
Same goes for Troy Deeney’s antics in front of the Tilton end after scoring Watford’s winner at Stans on the first day of the season – far worse than Bartley and no action taken by the ref whatsoever! What makes it worse is that this scum-sucker has the Blues logo tatooed on his left calf muscle and claims to be a life-long bluenose!
I am very pleased with how Kyle Bartley played & thoroughly pleased with that result we really needed that win, I just hope it gives us the confidence to get some points from the next five games as I believe these are pivotal for our season. Kro sotv
Clark got his tactics and selection spot on again. Many don’t seem to understand that this collection of kids, loans, oldies and average players is going to be up and down all season and inconsistent. We have played better than a lot of the stayaways realise but do not have the consistency of teams with better players. Good to hear Blues fans singing Clark’s name and asking for a wave too
Anyone who knows anything about the game knew that this would be an up and down season right from the off. After all, Lee Clark has, effectively, had to start almost from scratch again.
As for tactics, formation and selections… of course they have to change with each game, to take into account each different opposition. If they have a 6′ 4″ striker, it’s no use playing at 5′ 10″ centre back against him. If they have a flying right winger… it’s no use sticking Robbo at left back. Horses for courses. As all managers will tell you, you have to match the other side first, before you can impose your game on them. But, no one gets it right every time.
Well done Blues, much deserved. Abject was about right for our performance. Good luck for rest of the season