Often Partisan

We Should Be So Lucky – Ipswich Review

Here are my reflections on the Birmingham City v Ipswich game at St Andrews

1) We were lucky to win

We will play much better than that this season and lose. In fact, we have played much better than that and lost; in honesty, I can’t believe we managed to scrape a victory. Don’t get me wrong, Ipswich were absolutely awful but Blues weren’t much better. We seemed to lack any penetration into the final third, and when we did get a chance Zigic headed it at the keeper. I guess we were lucky in the end that we could pull a Stoke and win with a couple of throw-ins.

2) Zigic

I can understand why people get infuriated with the big Serb. The easiest chance of the night – an absolute beauty of a ball to the back post, perfectly weighted and flighted; free header – and he plants it into the keepers arms like a defender nodding back a clearance. On the other hand, a flukey back headed goal from a throw in and then a bundled in chance from another throw in – and he’s got two goals. To be fair, Zigic actually had a decent game, he won headers, played little balls and did all the little things right that he normally does – the main difference today was that he got his name on the scoresheet. Let’s hope that inspires him with the confidence to do it again at the New Den.

3) Burke

I was frankly amazed that Chris Burke got MOTM; I thought it was one of his poorer games in a Blues shirt and totally undeserved. I like Burke, he’s a good outlet down the right but against Ipswich he was poor, losing the ball at times and when he did get a cross in, hitting it behind or over players. I’d be honest enough to confess that I thought he should have been taken off for Redmond rather than Beausejour – although Beau wasn’t any better, Redmond is a better player on the right side and probably would have been more effective there.

4) The penalty claim

Let’s be honest – it was a pen. I thought it was a pen when I first saw it; the player’s reactions convinced me of it and now I’ve seen a replay I remain unmoved. I wonder if the linesman was a man and not a woman would a fuss have been raised about Jewell’s comments – or if Jewell would have made those comments at all. The most amusing thing of all is that the Ipswich fans on the boards I’ve seen are all happy to jump to the defence of the lino cos it might help them get rid of Jewell.

All in all, one of the poorest games I’ve seen this season and one that doesn’t inspire confidence – however, in saying that it’s the mark of a team that is going to finish near the top when they can play poorly and win. Let’s hope that is the case.

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20 Responses to “We Should Be So Lucky – Ipswich Review”

  • Shane says:

    what were Pannu’s comments in the program today s i had to work this evening?

  • ScudMuffin says:

    ziggy wa better than you gave credit for. How many balls into players that didn’t react? how many setups for attacks? on top of that at least five shots on Target. he was on fire. didn’t deserve the win? did you see the way that ipswitch pressed? blues had the better of the chances and attacks. the headed miss was down to the keepers position. head that anywhere in at that angle without sustaining injury and the keeper gets to it. burke was anonymous, so was Redmond. the wings also needed to synchronize with the forwards and midfield better so cross’ meet. Carr wasn’t there to sweep, johnny doesn’t sweep, cauldwell forgot. goal.

  • emo_1973 says:

    Agree with your comments on Burke. One of his quietest performances for BCFC, which meant no real outlet for us. Same for Beausejour too (will he ever go round the outside of a full back) who never got in it either.
    Thought Zigic had his best game for a long time, but was it possibly his last the way he gave away his shirt to the Tilton at the end?
    Praise for Keith Fahey too who tried to get things moving and drove forward on a few occasions to open things up & Marlon King for work rate and hold up play.
    Really can’t agree with the penalty though. I was in the Tilton so couldn’t see at the time, but having watched it back on Sky, 2 things come to mind. 1) how can Paul Jewell expect the lady linesman to give it. No linesman would have with that many players to look through from the sideline. 2) The one player that did not appeal was the Chopra who had the ball, until his mates started complaining afterwards.
    Another 3 points however, still under the radar. Really wish some so called fans would start coming back to St Andrews. It surely can’t be prices so why not turn up? Do we now only have a hardcore of 12-15,000? CH and the lads giving us a really good season which people should be backing, but not from their armchairs! KRO

    • AuldBertie says:

      Ziggy gave his shirt to someone he had spotted with a Serbian flag which he then duly wrapped around himself as he trooped off the pitch. Perhaps his actions were no more sinister than that?

      • emo_1973 says:

        Very much hope so after his performance last night. If he continues in that vain he’ll be a great asset. I seem to remember him ‘clicking’ this time last year during January & February.

  • JohnR says:

    Yes Blues played poorly and it was probably our worst home performance of the season. It’s no good criticising individual players as no one really had a good game (although I would give credit to Zigic for his two goals). Having said that we did have a lot of chances and a win by 3 or 4 goals would not have flattered us. For once it’s good to get a win after a poor performance. We have played a lot better in some matches this season only to lose. It’s three points, we move on.

  • Alex Turton says:

    I have 3 comments….
    1.)Zigic should have got man of the match. He won every header, passed accurately and scored the 2 goals…. The only dampner was heading straight at the keeper when under no pressure
    2.) The worst player on the pitch by far was Spectre. That wasn’t even Sunday league standard, and this in turn impeded on Burkes game as he had to defend more. I haven’t seen a worse indivudual performance since Davies’ first game for us against the Baggies. Lets hope he improves in the same vain.
    3.) I was sat in the GMU (so had a good view) and I have never seen a more blatant penalty. Not only that, it should have been a sending off too as Chopra had only the keeper to beat at 10 yards. I wont complain about getting a bit of luck for a change though! :)

  • poppa999 says:

    To be fair, not the worst team I have seen down there this season and certainly more about them than Wolves on Saturday. Like Lee Martin, thought Ipswich deserved more from the game. King hitting the post was unlucky too.

  • Joe says:

    Almajir whats your views on Chris Wood going to Bristol city and not coming back to blues..do you rekon we’ve got someone else lined up or genuinely missed out seems like a strange decision considering what hughton was saying only last night.

  • Alex Turton says:

    I reckon CW went to Bristol City to get regular 1st team action and nothing else.
    He hasn’t started that many of late, and when he did he had become rather in-effective

  • Bluehobba says:

    Goals breed confidence and Ziggy got 2. By god he needs confidence. Lets hope his confidence grows now.

  • BluePenguin 76 says:

    Almajir, I totally agree about Wood he’s very much a work in progress and thought he looked abit lost towards the end of his spell with us.

    He has probably been guaranteed starts for Bristol City so fair play to him!!, he did a great job in truth.. but younger players can go off the boil tho and I dont think he’ll be missed overly!.I hope he
    does well down there.

    I doubt we’ll be getting anything better in tho, due to our financial constraints but heres hoping eh?.Maybe CH will unearth a gem on a loan??.

  • alexjhurley says:

    I’m a bit late on this, but does anybody think that gomes is totally out of his depth? Ok spector was poor, but to be fair ipswich had sussed his weakness in the air and made an excellent job of exploiting it (overall ipswich weren’t too bad a side I thought) but at least he kept going and didn’t hide. Gomes just does nothing. Maybe I’m missing something, but everytine I see him I think the same.

  • happy says:

    Hi alj. is everyone missing the point on woods. He scored 10 goals thats very impresive. Albion are run by a very capable buisness man in peace and i suspect bcfc cannot afford woods wages and loan fee.

  • quokkasskip says:

    I agree with Alexj that Gomis is out of his depth. He is a very average player… but according to CH he has been training like a demon and deserved his chance. No coincidence that the game he comes back into the team we look pretty poor again. Curtis Davies stated in inverviews that Mutch was the main man earlier in the season and he is right. I am hoping Mutch starts tomorrow at Millwall. As for Zigic, as per last year he takes about 3 months to get going/fit so lets hope this is the start of him tearing up the championship.


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