Yesterday on this very website, I spoke about Brentford as a good footballing team. But last night, Blues made them look world class. They made Griffin Park seem like the Nou Camp and Ollie Watkins look like Lionel Messi.
If you wasn’t already aware – Blues are now in serious trouble. I won’t say ‘once again’ because we have never truly been out of it.
For what it’s worth, the performance in the opening 25 minutes was quite bright. Yet as soon as Brentford got their noses in front, the collapse was alarming.
On the back of their best run of the season, Blues have now lost three successive league games without scoring a goal.
Steve Coterill seems like a lost puppy on the sidelines devoid of any answers and the players are simply not good enough.
Defeat, we can accept. We’re Birmingham City – we will lose games. But defeat in this manner – caving in so easily and, quite frankly, not giving a sh*t about the shirt, is inexcusable.
Whether you like or loathe Cotterill, I can’t buy into this ‘the players do not want to play for him’ nonsense. How many managers can they refuse to play for? Gianfranco Zola, Harry Redknapp and now Cotterill. Three very different managers, same recurring theme – the players.
Even the usually reliable David Stockdale was at sixes and sevens making two calamitous errors.
When changes were made at half time with Blues 2-0 down, nobody would have disagreed with the personnel entering the fray. But instead of altering the system to allow Che Adams and Jota to infuence the game in their natural positions, Cotterill shoehorned them both into wide areas. As a result, both players spent the majority of the second half tracking back.
Here, we have a manager who doesn’t have a plan B, players who are incapable of getting the basics right and fans who are losing patience very quickly.
Blues are very much in danger. Barnsley is a must win. Conede the first goal at the atmosphere inside St. Andrews will turn toxic.
Vital Birmingham Man of the Match: Ollie Watkins
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