Ok, so the 100% record only extends to two games, but let's face it, as Blues fans we can't be too fussy over which statistics we revel in, and the fact remains that Blues have won every single game they have played so far this season.
Steve Bruce also kept up his 100% record of surprising people with his team selection when he kept the same goalkeeper and defence as in Saturday's victory over Colchester (no surprise), brought in Nicklas Bendtner for the injured DJ Campbell (no surprise) and changed the majority of his midfield (surprise). Skipper Damien Johnson remained on the right wing, but Mehdi Nafti and debutant Fabrice Muamba came into the centre of the park with Sebastian Larsson occupying the left flank. Kenny Cunningham started for Sunderland, and as people contemplated what sort of reaction he'd get from the Blues fans, a few clapped as his name was read out, a few booed as his name was read out, and for the rest of the evening the Blues fans just ignored him, which is exactly as it should be. Time to move on, and all that.
To say Blues started poorly would be a bit like saying 'there's a bit of a row going on in the Middle East at the moment' in understatement terms. How Liam Lawrence never put Sunderland 1-0 up after 90 seconds, only Liam Lawrence will know. Well, I know too - it was because he headed wide when it was easier to score, but only he will know why he did that. The reason for such a terrible Blues start? Well, there were various reasons. Firstly, there were obviously some new faces in midfield, most of which had never played with one another. Certainly Nafti hadn't played with the two Arsenal kids and vice versa, Johnson hadn't played with Muamba, etc, etc.
Lawrence's chance came about from a Rory Delap long throw - a second reason why Blues struggled early on. Delap's long throws and generally any balls into the Blues penalty area caused absolute panic. Maik Taylor stubbornly refused to abandon that white line of his in a manner of which Daniella Westbrook would have been proud on a big night out with the girls. In front of him the Blues defence didn't know whether they were coming or going.
Taylor's command of his penalty area tonight was about as impressive as my command of the Bulgarian language, which, quite frankly, is not particularly impressive at all. Now, people may point to the fact that he may not have the confidence of those in front of him, which I will grant you in some situations. However, even if he had a back four in front of him comprising Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Mr Blobby, I still don't see what difference that would make to him (a pretty big guy who used to be in the army) in moving approximately a yard or two of his line to collect the ball that is crossing the face of his goal. The number of problems that were caused tonight by him refusing to budge from his line was, well, lots. I'm not asking him to come and pluck crosses out of the air 15 yards from his goal, but there's something wrong when the ball is flying across the face of his goal, in the six-yard box, all night long. He has to do better.
Conversely, did our defence look so shaky tonight because they have no confidence in Maik Taylor behind them? Possibly. Certainly Olivier Tebily had 'one of those nights' and I know that you know I need to say no more than that - you're sat there nodding now, as you know what I mean. Bruno N'Gotty alongside him looked ropey at times, but I know N'Gotty's a good defender, and I can't help thinking that his average contribution so far is down to his fear of what Tebily may do alongside him. I suspect you'll see a new N'Gotty when Rahdi Jaidi comes in alongside him in a couple of week's time. Finally, Matt Sadler and Stephen Kelly looked below-par too, but perhaps they were victim of this all-encompassing 'fear factor' that seemed to spread across the back five tonight. Where it started, I don't know, but it needs to be addressed because although Blues kept a clean sheet tonight, quite how they managed to is beyond me.
I think the final key component in Blues' poor start to this game (and I mean really, shockingly poor...) was the central midfield duo of Nafti and Muamba who, as I've said, had never played together before. If I was being harsh I'd say Muamba was dreadful tonight, but I'm feeling reasonable, so I'd say he was 'raw'. Early on though, he was seriously dreadful - he looked absolutely lost. His positional sense was woeful, and as a result the defence was exposed and Nafti was having to do a lot more work and covering of ground than he'd have liked. For the record, Nafti's overall display tonight showed just what balance he can bring to the Blues side - he played well, and people know where they stand with him. He's always an option for a short pass, and he'll always look up to play a short pass on - I think all teams need such a player, and he should be ours. He obviously breaks play down too. Whether Muamba is the man to play alongside him remains to be seen, and I suspect in home games and 'easier' games, Danns will come in. Still, Nafti = good.
Anyway, that's quite a lot of talk about the opening half an hour, and its 1.40am, so I'd better get on so I can go to bed. Blues did begin to get themselves into the game, mainly down to the fact that they now possess some players now who are able to impose a little bit of quality on the game, and Bendtner, Forssell and Larsson began to do this. With such figures involved at the other end of the pitch, no matter how bad Blues looked at the back, they still looked dangerous going forward. Don't forget you can throw the likes of Dunn, Jerome, Campbell, Danns, Gray and (possibly) McSheffrey into that mix too - you can see what Steve Bruce is trying to do, in a way.
Muamba got to grips with the game a little more, and showed some of his Vieira-esque attributes. He won a few tackles, and some of his passes were neat and tidy (he's still raw though). It was a Vieira-esque break from Muamba in an Arsenal-esque counter-attack that led to Blues' goal after 40 minutes. Muamba collected the ball around the halfway line as a Sunderland move broke down and strode forward into space. Johnson offered him an outlet on the right, and Muamba's ball looked to be overhit. However, Johnson reached the ball just in front of substitute Clive Clarke who made the most blatant foul on Johnson in the area leaving the referee with no option but to point to the spot. For 'Damien Johnson Winning Penalties' connoisseurs such as myself, it was practically identical in position, pace, etc, etc to Gary Speed's foul on Johnson to earn Blues a penalty at St James' Park during the 2003/2004 season, when David Dunn's rebound from the resulting penalty earned Blues a 1-0 victory over Newcastle - the last time a Blues side won 1-0 in the North East of England in the month of August. (Brian Halford and your amazingly contrived statistics, eat your heart out...) Anyway, on this occasion Mikael Forssell took penalty-taking duties, and despite Ben Alnwick's best efforts, found the bottom left hand corner expertly.
It's always good to laugh at the opposition, and Blues fans had the opportunity to do so at Daryl Murphy just before half-time. As Blues' defence continued to be poorer than poor, Lawrence cut inside and sliced a shot across goal that Murphy headed into the back of the net. The assistant referee's flag went up for offside immediately (though it looked close to me...), but Murphy didn't see this. The Blues fans had obviously been celebrating taking the lead minutes earlier, and thinking he'd equalised to silence them Murphy ran across the front of the 600 or so hardy souls with his finger to his lips. The Blues fans waved at him and laughed at him, but did he realise the goal had been disallowed? Not a chance... he just carried on. Idiot.
So, that was the first half, and, to be honest, that's covered the bulk of the main issues. Sunderland came out strongly in the second half and created a lot of pressure as Blues began to drop back and defend deep. There were a few deflected shots that Taylor saved comfortably on his line (God only knows what would have happened if he'd had to move from his line?) and gradually Sunderland began to run out of ideas. Dunn replaced Forssell and as Sunderland ran out of ideas, he offered Blues an outlet so that they actually grew back into the game. Fellow substitutes Stephen Clemence and Neil Danns also deserve credit for this, and after Danns cut inside with a couple of minutes remaining, Bendtner should have finished Sunderland off, but hit a weak shot that Alnwick saved. Still, Blues held on as the home side gave up, and that was that.
Again, I don't want to be too negative, but this was pretty bad really for much of the game - the second half seemed to last an eternity as Blues hung on. The defence (including Taylor) needs sorting one way or another, and soon. A team will stick 3 or 4 past us if we keep defending like this. Individually players are doing 'the right thing', but when it comes to collective organisation, we're sadly lacking - defensively, that is. In saying that, as I mentioned, Blues do now have players capable of producing some good football. Larsson, Forssell and Bendtner combined well in the first half, and Dunn, Johnson and Bendtner did well late on as Blues began to look a bit more comfortable at the end. The problem last season was that Blues didn't really have that to take the pressure off the shaky defence, but it's happening a bit now.
The performance? Plenty of room for improvement. The result? A win where not many other teams will win this season. The start to the season? Hey, you can't knock maximum points. Roll on Stoke...
