Birmingham City 0 v 0 Manchester United

St Andrews, Birmingham
16th August 2004

Manchester United dropped further behind Arsenal in the race for the Premiership crown after yet another disastrous and disappointing game - this time away at Birmingham.

Birmingham - a team boasting the incredible skills of Emile Heskey and Kenny Cunningham - battled bravely against a United team packed with talent. With Ronaldo, Smith, Van Nistelrooy, Saha and Kleberson all starting, it promised to be a very attacking game. Sir Alex even brought on Rooney and Scholes late on, but even with six very attacking players, United couldn't muster up a goal.

There were the odd few chances for United - Ruud should've scored from an excellent Kleberson cross, and Ronaldo hit the woodwork twice - but the team didn't have their usual penetration.

Perhaps it was because Sir Alex has been busy meddling with his starting eleven more than usual this season (Though "We'll start to see the benefit of that towards the business end of the season"), but more likely is the fact that we are losing the midfield battle.
Roy Keane is expected to do all the running around and tackling against up to four solid opposition players. This week he played in a midfield containing Ronaldo and Saha, with his central midfield partner being the lightweight Brazilian Jose Kleberson. We need more grit in midfield, so Phil Neville should be getting a game ahead of Kleberson. Or anyone that can tackle will do.

Back to the game though. United struggled to get hold of the game, get the ball on the ground, and dominate the rhythm and tempo. There were sloppy passes, Ronaldo was far from his exhilirating best (But did well in forcing several Birmingham players into fouling. Indeed, Birmingham were lucky to finish the game with a full complement of players).

After Roy Carroll had made his usual three-big-errors-a-game, time was running out. Some United players didn't show the urgency and desperation that I'd expect when they were trying to snatch a point from a mediocre opposition. Alan Smith was not one of those, however. He was still trying at the end, and nearly scored the winner with a 20 yard volley. It drifted just wide.

United live to rue more dropped points, and we play Arsenal next week. We have a team of Champions - I just wish we'd play like one!

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Melchiot, Cunningham, Upson, Gray, Johnson (Tebily 90), Dunn, Savage, Gronkjaer (Anderton 45), Heskey, Yorke (Clapham 90).
Subs Not Used: Bennett, Martin Taylor.
Booked: Savage.

Man Utd: Carroll, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Fortune, Smith, Kleberson (Rooney 59), Keane, Ronaldo (Scholes 77), Saha, van Nistelrooy.
Subs Not Used: Phil Neville, O'Shea, Ricardo.

Att: 29,221
Ref: M Halsey (Lancashire).