Birmingham 1 West Ham 0 Pathetically Predictable To Everybody Except Zola!

Before kick off I wrote:

"Then there is Bowyer, arriving late in our box. It will be Kovac's job to mark him so it is a pretty safe bet that Bowyer will score!"

And at half time I blogged:

"Bowyer has been allowed two shots inside the box already - he will connect sweetly if we allow him another two in the second half...If you had to have money on the result at this stage, it would be on a 1-0 Birmingham win, with Bowyer scoring."

So tell me, if I can work out what is going to happen, why can't a brains trust of Zola and Clarke and the brainless idiots they are sending out onto the pitch? Against Hull we had to keep Bullard quiet. Did we even try? No. Against Manchester United we had to double up on Giggs. Did we do it? No. Against Birmingham we knew that Bowyer had to be tracked as he ran into the box. Did it happen? Of course it boody didn't!

Remember Liverpool's first goal against us at Upton Park? Hines playing a pass to a Liverpool player left of centre inside our half? Wasn't Stanislas in the almost exact same position when he gave away the ball for Birmingham to score today? Why does it happen? Trying to play pass and move football inside your own final third is crazy and right footed players playing on the left naturally look to come inside, into traffic in a congested area of the pitch. The result is pretty bloody predictable if you think about it! I blogged at half time that Stanislas was again on the wrong flank and so it proved. Why? If we can see it, why can't Zola? The guy is a bloody minded fool, that's why!

He picks Kovac to track opposition midfield runners. Can Kovac do it? No. How many times does Zola have to see this to understand it? Diamanti is not a forward, nor is he a right winger. Why the bloody hell isn't he given a floating role aka Bullard for Hull? Because Zola is a bloody minded fool with an obsession about players coming inside onto their strongest foot, even though this makes the job of the opposition full backs so easy. Birmingham had a centre back playing left back today. Did we ONCE try to skin him on the outside? No we bloody did not. He didn't have to show Diamanti inside, Diamanti didn't even know there was an outside! Birmingham had Ferguson protecting the centre of their back four, so what did we do all afternoon, we cut inside, into the most congested and best protected area of the pitch. When we did open up Birmingham on their left flank, who had a shooting chance? Diamanti on his wrong foot. So what did he do? He checked and the chance was gone, albeit he then tried a curled chip from a standing position.

Of course the head in the sand merchants will say we were unlucky. Dyer hit the post and Franco had a shot saved but how Jerome missed his chance, I will never know. Yes Noble's second yellow was harsh but Diamanti could have seen a straight red for his rugby tackle at the end of the first half. And Noble was stupid to talk himself into the book in the first place. It was a foul, albeit a soft one, so why was he gobbing off? He wasn't even the player involved! It all went back to Parker losing his rag. Instead of moaning at the ref, Parker should have been organising the troops!

And tell me, why did we look a yard quicker AFTER Noble went off? Why did it take this to wake us up? Why did we only look fully committed as a team in the last 15 minutes, by which time General Franco was out on his feet?

We were poor again today. Poor in a different way than against Manchester United but poor nevertheless. The team lacks leadership on and off the pitch and, outside of Diamanti, is utterly and completely predictable in everything it does. As an opposition manager, you say press them in their own half and they will give away possession. Don't worry about being stretched because they have no pace up front and try to run with the ball rather than pass it anyway. Stay compact down the centre and there is no threat, they won't ever try to get to the byline to knock in a cross. Want something to sum us up? The pathetic failure to cross it from the left in the 85th minute of the match. Parker, Collison and Dyer passed it back to each other three times and you could have thrown a towel over the three of them as each stopped and came inside - and none of them tried to overlap because none of them wanted the responsibility of crossing off their left foot. If it is so bloody obvious what are failings are, why doesn't Zola change it? Had Diamanti been on the left, the ball could have come into the box and, who knows, Dyer might have come in from the right to smack it home.

It's not rocket engineering is it?

Ratings: Green 6 - Faubert 5, Tomkins 6 Gabbidon 6, Ilunga 5 - Diamanti 5, Parker 5, Kovac 5, Noble 4, Stanislas 5 - Franco 6 Subs: Dyer 6, Collison 5, Nouble (Not on long enough to rate).