Birmingham City 1, Tottenham 1: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Feb 1 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
THE bubble-burst brigade will have to hold their fire for just a little while longer.
After the defeat at Chelsea and the fracturing of the 15-game unbeaten run, Blues’ next outing was always going to arouse interest.
Were Blues about to embark on a Hull City-style decline? Was their league position actually false, not fair? And so on.
Liam Ridgewell’s stoppage-time equaliser meant that the naysayers weren’t able to say nay.
Blues weren’t exactly sparkling or at their optimum against an admittedly good side brimming with quality.
And it appeared ominous after Jermain Defoe fired in Spurs’ goal in the 69th minute.
Back-to-back defeats would have brought a fair bit of haughty negativity down on Blues.
But they do like to confound and the inherent desire never to give in or give up was there again at the death.
There was an encouraging cameo performance as substitute by Michel on his home debut.
And the apparent lack of confidence, or uncertainty, in front of goal by Christian Benitez amplified the need for added firepower.
Craig Gardner was held back and didn’t get on, but the toil on the legs apparent suggested that Alex McLeish can’t reasonably expect the same starting XI to go on, and on and on.
He selected, for the 11th consecutive Premier League match, Blues’ ‘usual suspects’, and the physical and psychological demands on them after the humbling at Chelsea was also going to be great against a Spurs team who, on their day, can live with the best in the league.
In the first half, Blues spluttered on an unhelpful, bobbly pitch and had to be extremely guarded and watchful around their own penalty area.
Yet for all Spurs’ possession, Benitez wangled his way into an inviting position by turning Michael Dawson on the edge of the 18-yard line.
But instead of taking the ball on a little further or striking hard for the corners, he more or less passed the ball back to Heurelho Gomes.
From the outset of the second half Spurs again put the pressure on with David Bentley and Luka Modric proving problematic.
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