Birmingham City 2, Everton 2: Colin Tattum's big match verdict
Mar 15 2010 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail
DAVID Moyes revealed before the game that he felt this Everton squad was the best he had assembled in eight years.
They’ve had Champions League finishes, FA Cup finals, European competition (and flirted with relegation) during his time at Goodison Park.
But Blues are still just about keeping Moyes’ men at bay in the Premier League, comparatively early into the reign of Alex McLeish – and immediately after promotion from the Championship.
Everton appeared to be taking the game well beyond Blues when charging into a two-goal lead with a quarter gone.
But Blues did what Blues do and responded, showing their resourcefulness and opportunism to drag themselves out of a hole.
After Craig Gardner equalised with his first goal for the club – and it was an impressively executed one, too – Blues could have gone on and completed a quite remarkable comeback.
They didn’t and the match could have swung either way but the very fact that Blues showed they had it in them to react and live in such company was another feather in the cap.
Everton are the sort of club that Blues should be seeking to emulate under McLeish in the Carson Yeung era.
Due to shrewd management, organisation, a good work ethic and continually improving quality, they have gone from dab hands at punching above their weight to making significant progress, the sort that fires dreams of silverware and regular success.
Blues, who have not lost to Everton now in three outings this season, have had the same template put down at St Andrew’s by McLeish and should he be armed with a £15 million here, a £10 million there – as Moyes has in more recent times – so what is to stop them?
“When you consider they’ve been round and about the last few years, it’s a brilliant feat by Davie Moyes,” said McLeish.
“But they are still able to spend £15 million on one player. I can’t quite do that yet and if we can aspire to Everton, the Stokes, Fulhams who have done well the last couple of years, then that’s the kind of level we want to get to.
“To try and look beyond that is ridiculous, given the amount of finances we are putting into it at the moment.”
Everton, due to their long injury list, will feel that they are in a rather false position and should be further up the division.
Blues, on the evidence so far, should think that the eighth to mid-table spots are the norm for them and take the necessary steps to push further on and up in the immediate future.
