Caught in a Webb?

Once again Blues have failed to impress, but this time, they are fully within their rights to look at the performance of the referee.

Supposedly the ‘best referee in the country`, Howard Webb went on to fail to spot a clear cut, stone wall penalty from less than 10 yards away, yet he then went one better.

With Blues pushing forward desperately in a bid to apply pressure to the Wolves backline, Jaidi looked to play a simple ball to captain Lee Carsley which was intercepted by the referee magnificently. With many of the Blues team stranded upfield, a Wolves player picked up the ball and they then strode down to the other end and sealed the game.

Heartbreaking? Yes.

Unfair? Most definitely.

Did it cost us the game? Quite possibly.

After a bright and energetic start from the home team, Wolves started to make their mark and this resulted in a good move and a decent enough finish from striker Andy Keogh which put Wolves 1-0 up. While Blues then seemed to toil, Karl Henry, the heartbeat of this current Wolves side, had an absolutely phenomenal game where he must have covered every blade of grass at least twice. Carsley and Quashie had no answer to Henry, who went on to run the show for the remainder of the contest.

Without the likes of McFadden and Larsson, Blues seemed to be void of confidence and ability. The ability to create a chance or pick a pass seemed to disappear and Blues seemed to rely on the young debutant Robin Shroot to provide much of the attacking impetus that was sorely needed. In fairness to the young lad, he did impress on his debut, and it cannot have been easy making the step up from Non-League to Championship.

After half-time, Blues changed their shape to a 4-5-1 with Damien Johnson replacing the injured Marcus Bent. The major problem for Blues in the first period was that the distance between the strikers and midfield was way too much and Bent and Jerome were left isolated with no-one trying to link up the play. In the second period, Quashie, along with the wingers was given the job of making sure that Cameron Jerome was not left isolated as Blues chased the game.

After the second Wolves goal, the crowd suddenly came to life and they got behind the team as much as they got on the back of the referee Howard Webb.

Lee Carsley went close with a shot from about 25 yards and then Blues went on to have a few decent chances from corners where the ball was bouncing around the box before being cleared by someone in the old Gold and Black. Cameron Jerome could count himself terribly unlucky after a tremendous turn and shot on the edge of the area which thundered against the crossbar.

After that, it seemed to many as if the game was up. Fans started to head for the exits and the game petered out.
Shroot came close to sealing a dream debut with a goal but he lacked a clinical finish when put through one-on-one with Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey.

At the end of the day, Blues were simply not good enough. While it is true that the Webb incident in the second half which led to the second goal was very harsh on Blues, we never really seemed to look dangerous. The team lacked invention and ideas, but there is nothing new there.

We knew before today that Blues had problems creating and finishing chances, and this is why McLeish went out and sealed the signings of Bouazza and Sinclair. Now thoughts will turn to a vital home game against Cardiff and we will have to hope that the new signings can have the desired effect to freshen up a Blues team in desperate need of craft and invention.

By akvbcfc