sunday papers birmingham away

Bruce draws hope at last The Observer Paul Wilson at St Andrew's Sunday April 2, 2006 After leaking 12 goals in three games, Birmingham finally stopped the bleeding to take an unlikely point from the champions, leaving co-owner David Sullivan feeling sheepish for questioning his players' commitment and Chelsea looking a pale shadow of the Liverpool team who hit seven here in the FA Cup. Before Sir Alex Ferguson gets too excited, though, he should check the video. Chelsea had at least seven clear chances, had a goal controversially disallowed in the second half and on another day would probably have won at a canter. It was simply one of those days when the ball would not go in and when it did, Jose Mourinho was adamant that an early offside flag had cost Asier Del Horno a winning goal. 'Let me say first that I thought the result was fair,' Mourinho said. 'Birmingham fought for 90 minutes and they fought hard. They deserved a point. No complaints about that. But what I also have to say is that we had a clear goal disallowed. The linesman put his flag up before the ball arrived in the box. I am sorry, but we were denied a good goal.' Good old Jose. This would have been the dullest of goalless stalemates but for the usual Chelsea controversy. Mourinho's players were on their best behaviour throughout the 90 minutes - no hint of diving or handling in a well-mannered game that passed without a single booking. In a spirit of glasnost, the Chelsea manager even turned up to the post-match press conference, only to be accused of moaning all the time. 'It's you who do that,' he replied. 'When we beat Newcastle we ended up talking about a red card in the final minute that made no difference to the result. Last week it was a handball in a win against Manchester City. You never want to speak about football. I hear other managers talking about our players diving when they have players of their own who do it. Everything is ridiculous to me.' Funny he should say that because ridiculous was exactly what Steve Bruce thought of the idea that Del Horno's goal should have counted. As Arjen Robben prepared to send in a free-kick from the right, Ricardo Carvalho took up an offside position at the far post. As the ball came over, he moved back onside and challenged for a header, failing to make contact and seeing the ball turned into the goal via Del Horno's outstretched leg. Mourinho's complaint seemed to be that the flag had gone up too early and the referee's assistant should have waited to see whether Carvalho played the ball. Because he ended up jumping for a header in front of goal, however, it was hard to see how he could not have been interfering with play. 'He became active as soon as he challenged for the ball,' Andy Garratt, the referee's assistant in question, said afterwards. Bruce said: 'We've got a grey area now where once we had a rule that everyone understood. But he can't say he's inactive and then challenge for the ball. That's a nonsense.' So Mourinho was wrong and he does moan a lot, but he provides good copy, too. 'We've been dropping a few points away from home, but all we have to do to be champions is to win our three remaining home games,' he predicted. Manchester United are at Stamford Bridge on 29 April. The actual game did not amount to much compared with the entertainment in the press conference. Birmingham started brightly, with Emile Heskey going through his repertoire of fluffed chances and Olivier Tebily coming closest to scoring with a 25-yard drive that Petr Cech was understandably not expecting. Chelsea hit back, with Robben and Damien Duff producing saves from Maik Taylor, although their game got going only after Hernan Crespo and Joe Cole came on in the second half and the visiting team switched to a bold 3-4-3 formation. Chelsea could afford to sacrifice a defender because Birmingham had all too clearly run out of steam up front, yet although Duff, too, had a goal disallowed, Didier Drogba twice went close and Crespo could have had a hat-trick in the closing minutes, the home team's luck held. 'We've been battered from pillar to post in the last 10 days. I was just looking for a response today and I got it,' a relieved Bruce said. 'Technically we didn't always do the right thing, but we matched them. If we can do the same with our game in hand against Bolton on Tuesday we've got a great chance of getting out of the bottom three.' MAN OF THE MATCH:: OLIVIER TEBILY A rare start in a hastily reorganised defence, but a surprisingly accomplished performance. Defensively sound whether dealing with Duff or Robben and brought the crowd to their feet with an early shot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Independent: Birmingham City 0 Chelsea 0: Birmingham win back fans' hearts Bruce sees dignity restored as his counterpart attacks decision to disallow Del Horno 'goal' By Steve Tongue at St Andrew's Just when it looked as though a Chelsea match might pass by without controversy, the smartly raised flag of a referee's assistant denied them an undeserved goal that would have put the destination of the Premiership title beyond dispute. There was not a yellow card throughout, not a dive worthy even of the shallow end, but there was still cause for Jose Mourinho to berate the officials. To the neutral - which in these days of Anyone But Chelsea means all except the London club's followers - the decision to give Ricardo Carvalho offside was perfectly correct. He may not have made contact with an attempted header from Arjen Robben's inswinging free-kick, which Asier del Horno turned in at the far post but, as the linesman later confirmed, Carvalho had deliberately come from an offside position and was attempting to interfere with play. "We scored a clear goal," Mourinho insisted before admitting less contentiously: "The result is fair. Birmingham fought hard for 90 minutes and deserved a point. In the first half we were too passive and gave them an easy job to do." It was certainly an unexpectedly limp beginning from the champions, which a dominant second half somehow failed to erase. In the final five minutes alone, they forced five chances, mostly blocked or deflected by the sort of determined defending that made a mockery of Birmingham's last home performance, the 7-0 defeat by Liverpool, and won back the hearts of their supporters. They will keep right on to the end of the road, whether or not it leads back to the Championship. "We owed the supporters a performance and by God we gave one," said Steve Bruce, a proud manager. "Without eight or nine of our squad, we were up against it, and now we've restored a little bit of pride." One or two of them might return on Tuesday night for a critical game in hand at home to Bolton, offering an opportunity to put one over the other relegation candidates, West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth, as well. Bruce had his tactics right, matching up with Chelsea's two wide men and pushing Nicky Butt up on Claude Makelele to cut down the supply lines. Stephen Clemence and Damien Johnson sat deep and the defence, with three changes, looked more solid than the one that had conceded 12 goals in the past three games. What was lacking was the cutting edge that the injured Chris Sutton might have provided. Oliver Tebily, the right-back producing what Bruce called "the game of his life", stole forward to force Petr Cech into his one save of the day, for after Emile Heskey had shot high into the crowd again, Cech could have been substituted by an outfield player. Mourinho was soon making changes, despite a flurry on either side of half-time in which Maik Taylor saved from Robben, Didier Drogba had two chances and Frank Lampard drove over the bar. Joe Cole and Hernan Crespo came on, the left-back Del Horno was removed, still miffed at his disallowed effort, and Chelsea settled for three men at the back. Without wing-backs, the formation still looked a little unbalanced, and soon Michael Essien was on for Eidur Gudjohnsen, with Lampard pushed further forward. Now the strain began to tell on the home side, whose many absentees included their leading goalscorer, Jiri Jarosik, the Chelsea loanee. A frantic final spell began with Crespo hitting Cole's pass straight into the goalkeeper's midriff. The striker then had a shot deflected for a corner, which a criminally unmarked Carvalho should have headed in, negating all the arguments over the previous incident. At the very least, the title cannot be decided next weekend, when Mourinho had predicted Chelsea would win it at home to West Ham. Perhaps that was what induced his grumpiness, along with press reports of a breakdown in relations with his chief scout, Frank Arnesen. But after Arsenal's fizz in midweek, it was all very flat fare. The locals, of course, did not mind that and were all smiles leaving the ground. A few might even have been tempted to head down the A41 and cheer on Liverpool at The Hawthorns. Is Mourinho devising an exit strategy at Chelsea? By Nick Townsend, Chief Sports Writer The minutes were ticking away inexorably towards the draw - one seized avariciously by Steve Bruce and stoically by Jose Mourinho - when Joe Cole treated us to a touch of the Michael Flatleys with a little gesture of rage. In a contest devoid of cautions, malice and "simulation", and which required virtually none of referee Dermot Gallagher's authority, the England midfielder's disputing of an innocuous decision was just about the only reminder of the Chelsea who have brought upon themselves such opprobrium recently. At the conclusion of a week in which Mourinho's relationship with his players has come under severe scrutiny, as have his dealings with the club's scouting director, Frank Arnesen, all amid continued uncertainty about the manager's own future at the club, Chelsea simply weren't themselves. At least, not in terms of their reputation as haranguers of referees. Yet, if they won over any critics here, it was at the cost of points. There was almost an air of contrition about the visitors in a subdued display which merited no more than they eventually secured. It was almost as if they feared making a strong challenge for the commotion it could create. We can only assume that was a response to the reported pre-match observation of their captain, John Terry, that Chelsea needed to win back their dignity. The booing of Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba, Chelsea's pair of pantomime dames, was predictable enough - the former did go down once rather theatrically, although it transpired that Nicky Butt's boot had caught him painfully just above his foot - but the crowd even grew bored with that gesture after a while. City's Premiership survival was paramount and, as it became apparent that at least a point was there for the taking, that was where they invested their emotional responses. Without the familiar edge to their game, Chelsea were as pale and insipid as their changed shirts here. Even Frank Lampard failed to inspire. How else could you explain why Mourinho's team, which has secured 104 more points than Steve Bruce's since he succeeded Claudio Ranieri, failed to capitalise, when matched against a side which has been operating like a pick-your-own goal shop? Mourinho, not for the first time this season, complained about the cancellation of a goal, this time by Asier del Horno. The Chelsea manager was probably wrong. Some will condemn him for grousing, although doesn't every manager do that, other than Stuart Pearce? Having raised the issue, he then dropped it, claiming: "Every single word I say in this country... the next day it is a nightmare." Could it be that Mourinho is preparing the way to depart England, publicly embittered by what he sees as unfair treatment by the media? For the moment, though, more auspiciously, he can contemplate the arrival of Michael Ballack from Bayern Munich, Andriy Shevchenko from Milan - certainly, Chelsea desperately need that cultured striker - and even perhaps Ashley Cole from Arsenal. Perhaps it was the juxtaposition with Arsenal's incisive forward play in their Champions' League defeat of Juventus, but the presence of Drogba at the point of an arrowhead, supported ineffectively by Damien Duff and Robben, appeared like a cosh in contrast to their London neighbours' employment of the deadly stiletto. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Telegraph: Chelsea wobbling as Birmingham stabilise By Roy Collins at St Andrew's Birmingham (0) 0 Chelsea (0) 0 Didier Drogba, the man we all assumed warmed up for games by performing a swallow dive from the top step of the team coach, miraculously managed to keep his feet throughout the 90 minutes. But Chelsea might feel they are ankle deep in quicksand after Manchester United's win at Bolton reduced their lead at the top of the table to seven points. Point taken: Birmingham manager Steve Bruce at St Andrew's Even on a day when the Londoners restricted their gamesmanship to a lone Arjen Robben dive in the opening 15 minutes, they did nothing to win themselves new admirers, because when it comes to artistry they are still more Tate Modern than Royal Academy. Chelsea's modus operandi, even against such lowly opposition, who had not beaten them since 1980, is to suck the life blood out of them before delivering a late knockout blow. It would have worked perfectly again but for two late misses by Hernan Crespo and an even later one by Ricardo Carvalho. With Drogba and his team-mates seemingly attempting to conduct a charm offensive on the pitch, we half expected manager Jose Mourinho to walk into the press conference heaping praise on Birmingham and handing out cigars. Half is about right. Having admitted that Birmingham deserved their point, he then raged that his team had been denied a clear goal before raking over old grievances from their previous two games against Newcastle and Manchester City. Mourinho believes referee Dermot Gallagher should have given a goal when Asier Del Horno headed in Robben's 57th-minute free-kick instead of disallowing it because Carvalho was offside. Despite Mourinho's claims that the latter was not interfering with play, he was actually contesting the header with Del Horno, which is about as interfering as you can get. Birmingham manager Steve Bruce's response to the Chelsea protests? "Nonsense. That was offside. In my day there wouldn't even have been an argument but we seem to have made the offside law more complicated and turned it into a grey area. It's hard enough for a linesman to tell whether it's offside without working out whether a player is interfering with play." Mourinho was at least right about Birmingham deserving their point, a remarkable one considering that they had shipped 12 goals and failed to score one in their previous three defeats. Their previous home game had seen them humiliated 0-7 by Liverpool in the FA Cup and Bruce's comment on this result was: "Absolutely crazy. After the Liverpool game we were looking for a response and for people to do their jobs. We restored a little bit of pride and who knows how vital that point could prove?" Birmingham might have had all three if they had a man capable of scoring. But even if England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson lost Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe from his World Cup squad, it is a fair assumption that he would not put in a call to Emile Heskey, who could have settled the game with three opportunities in the opening 22 minutes. After heading one glorious opportunity wide, his first touch on a cross from Mat Sadler, playing his first game for three years, took the ball five yards further from goal. The second touch we will draw a discreet veil over, though suffice to say fans sitting 40 rows up behind the goal all dived for cover. Mourinho admitted that Chelsea did not turn up until the second half, saying: "We gave Birmingham an easy job in the first 45 minutes, but we gave them a difficult job to do in the second half." Not as difficult as one would expect from a team who were cruising to a second successive title. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson suggested recently that Chelsea looked as if they had hit the wall. Frank Lampard certainly looks as though he is running on the Tower Bridge cobbles after his marathon season, which will be of concern to Eriksson. After next Sunday, the day Mourinho said the title would be officially sealed, he should have been able to put his feet up until the England plane takes off for Germany. But if Chelsea cannot play football more inspiring than this they could still be involved in tight race. As for Birmingham, whose players have been slagged off by their fans and co-owner David Sullivan, they suddenly look as though they have got a second wind in their fight against the drop. Sullivan accused the players of not being worth their 65533;50,000-a-week wages, but Bruce quipped: "After this, perhaps he will pay them double." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Sunday Times April 02, 2006 Birmingham 0 Chelsea 0: Stuttering Chelsea fail to fire Joe Lovejoy at St Andrews IT WAS All Fools Day, and you would surely have been taken for one had you forecast this result. Birmingham, anchored in the relegation places, had conceded 12 goals in their previous three matches, and were again hard hit by injuries, yet they raised their game in heroic fashion to shut out the best team in the country. If it was a marvellous result for Steve Bruce and his battling Blues, it was no less so for Manchester United, who have not given up hope of overhauling the defending champions and League leaders. Jose Mourinho insists it won't happen, but after this, who knows? Chelsea huffed and puffed, but never really looked like breaking down opponents whose assiduous defence left everybody, their manager included, wondering how they shipped seven against Liverpool less than two weeks ago. More of the same at home to Bolton on Tuesday, and the "Great Escape" theme will replace "Keep Right On" as the St Andrews anthem. The tone was set by Olivier Tebily who, on his return to the side, was a charging, sleeves-rolled inspiration at right-back. "That's the best display I've ever seen from him," said the grateful Bruce. Following the Frenchman's lead, Birmingham were resolution personified right through the team. Not for the first time, Mourinho felt he had been hard done by, claiming a "goal" by Asier Del Horno, disallowed because Ricardo Carvalho was offside, should have been given. It was a specious argument, Carvalho clearly interfering with play as he ran towards the ball, as if to head it. It was when he failed to make contact that the full-back slid it home behind him. In fairness, the Chelsea manager added: "The emphasis should be on the justice of the result. Birmingham fought hard for the 90 minutes, every player totally committed to getting the point, so they deserved one. We scored a good goal, of that I have no doubt, but we didn't deserve to win because we played for only 45 minutes." Chelsea were poor in the first half, rarely getting out of second gear and it was only after the interval, when they raised the tempo and went 3-3-4, that they managed to apply real pressure. Birmingham were without half their best team, the absentees including Mario Melchiot, David Dunn, Matthew Upson, Muzzy Izzet, Jiri Jarosik and Chris Sutton, but they set about their work with impressive spirit and determination and threatened twice in the first 13 minutes. Emile Heskey was profligate when he headed an inviting cross from Jermaine Pennant horribly wide, then Tebily brought a spectacular overhead save from Petr Cech with a rasping 25-yarder. The closest a strangely pedestrian Chelsea came in the first half was when Didier Drogba's quickly-taken free kick enabled Arjen Robben to test Maik Taylor close in. The league leaders needed to stir themselves, and they did. Drogba saw a decent shot saved before the offside incident, which came after 56 minutes, at a Robben free-kick. Carvalho, caught offside by the Birmingham defence pushing out, started to walk back towards his own goal, but then moved as if to head the ball. He was an obvious distraction for the defenders and, significantly, none of the Chelsea players complained to the referee when Del Horno "scored" and the goal was ruled out. The referee's assistant, who flagged, said afterwards: "Carvalho became active when he went to head the ball. Not one Chelsea player complained to me, and I don't think Mr Mourinho would have complained if it had been at the other end." With Chelsea pressing, it happened again when Damien Duff had the ball in the net. This time, though, there was no disputing the offside flag. Mourinho sent on Joe Cole and Hernan Crespo and went three at the back in search of victory, but a good late save by Taylor at Crespo's expense ensured justice was done. Bruce, of course was delighted. "Playing Chelsea without eight or nine of your best players, you're up against it, but we matched them and stuck to our task", he said. "I was looking for a response after the 7-0 defeat in our last home game, and I got it. We came out on the front foot and in the first half we had the better chances. In the second half we rode our luck a bit, but that was understandable. "Tactically, we put three players in the middle and tried to match their system, but we also needed guts and bottle to go that extra mile. "From what I've seen today, with eight games left I'm not going to give up without a fight. I hope today's performance is a turning point. "At best, this point could be vital in that mini-league we're in at the bottom. Now the question is, 'Can we produce another performance like that against Bolton on Tuesday?'" Mourinho continues to insist that there is no question of the title changing hands, but Chelsea's lead, at one stage 18 points over Manchester United, is beginning to look vulnerable and they need to reassert themselves at home to West Ham next Sunday. Match stats Star Man: Olivier Tebily (Birmingham) Player Ratings: Birmingham: Maik Taylor 7, Tebily 8, Cunningham 7, Martin Taylor 6, Sadler 6, Pennant 6, Johnson 6, Butt 6 (Kilkenny 88min, 5), Clemence 6, Campbell 5 (Forssell 57min, 6), Heskey 5 Chelsea: Cech 6, Paulo Ferreira 6, Carvalho 6, Terry 7, Del Horno 6 (Crespo 64min, 5), Makelele 6, Gudjohnsen 6 (Essien 68min, 5), Lampard 6, Robben 7, Drogba 5, Duff 6 (Cole 64min, 6) Referee: D Gallagher Attendance: 26,364 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------