Blues 2-3 Newcastle: Pride Restored

Simply put, that was St Andrews at it’s best and the team rose to the occasion magnificently.

After years and years of boring FA cup ties, or disappointing results meaning we didn’t progress past teams we should’ve beaten, it was incredible refreshing to get a good home tie against a top Premier League side in Newcastle. It was made even better by being at a point in time where most felt optimistic about our chances, and wanted to test ourselves at a higher level.

Simply put, that was St Andrews at it’s best. And the team rose to the occasion magnificently.

Blues secured the 5.45pm Saturday evening kick-off time live on BBC, and we all know St. Andrews under the lights for a big game is something special. Even at half past 2, I was struggling to get a drink in Digbeth, and it was just as lively around the ground in the fan parks. And, despite not personally being a huge fan of his music, I wanted to be in the ground to see Jaykae, as the club had announced he would be doing a performance before kick off. It was great to see one of our own get a special moment with the club. Yet even 45 minutes before kick-off, I still had to queue for 20 minutes to get into the ground. These are not complaints – it just goes to show the excitement for the match, and how Knighthead have rekindled our love for Birmingham City. It’s easy to forget that less than 2 years ago, the ground was half closed and the feelings of apathy were aplenty.

The club nailed their part in generating an atmosphere, the kick-off time allowed for plenty of pre-match drinking, the fireworks were grander than a regular league fixture, and it created a magnificent occasion.

Chris Davies named a strong starting 11 as you’d expect, with Bailey Peacock-Farrell assuming the role of cup goalkeeper. The lineup was as follows: Peacock-Farrell, Laird, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane, Iwata, Leonard, Wright, Dowell, Anderson and Stansfield. Newcastle made 9 changes from their mid-week League Cup semi final against Arsenal, but still fielded a Premier League quality side, featuring the likes of Nick Pope, Dan Burn, Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock, Callum Wilson and William Osula. Anthony Gordon and Joelinton were missing through injury and didn’t travel, world-class striker Alexander Isak took his place on the bench alongside a familiar face to Blues fans in John Ruddy.

The atmosphere was immense pre-match and all it needed was a fast Blues start to keep it going, and that’s exactly what we got. Blues took the kick-off and passed it back to Peacock-Farrell, who launched it forwards towards Laird, who won his aerial battle against the giant Dan Burn. Krafth couldn’t get the ball out of danger, and Dowell won us a corner. Kieran has impressed so far, particularly with his set piece deliveries, and he aimed the corner to the far side of the box. He picked out an unmarked Keshi Anderson, who nodded back across to Laird. Ethan struck with his left foot, and after a deflection, the ball found the back of the net. If we ever needed a test for the repairs Knighthead have made to the stadium, this was it. The roof came off the church, and we had the perfect start to the game, striking before Newcastle could settle.

What followed was probably the most enjoyable half of football I’ve seen at St. Andrews in a long, long time. Newcastle, being the Premier League team, looked to attack and press high, unlike most of our League One opponents this year. Blues went slightly more direct than usual, but didn’t rip up our identity and we played some fantastic football.

Newcastle’s quality showed though. Their superior pace and tempo of their play showed, and the combination of Osula and Livramento gave Cochrane a nightmare of a game. The two combined well frequently, and on the 12th minute, Osula was able to deliver a cross to Wilson, with Klarer just about getting ahead of him at the last second to cut out the danger.

And yet Blues responded. A few minutes later, we won a free kick in the middle of the pitch and Leonard delivered into the box. Klarer found himself free and headed back across to Anderson, who struck his volley sweetly, calling capped England international Nick Pope into action at his near post to prevent the Magpies from falling 2 goals behind.

20 minutes in and the game was even, but Newcastle’s aforementioned quality and tempo proved deadly. Callum Wilson turned defence into attack in an instant and bundled his way past Leonard and Klarer, before delivering a low cross to the far post. Osula met it and cut it back across goal to Joe Willock, who’s initial effort was parried by Peacock-Farrell before firing the follow up high over the bar, to the jeers of the Tilton. Peacock-Farrell made his save from inside the goal, and due to our League One status and being in the 4th Round of the FA Cup, Blues didn’t have goal-line technology nor VAR present. So the linesman took it upon himself to trust his x-ray vision through Cochrane, and gave a goal for the first effort. TV angles are inconclusive as to whether the ball crossed the line, I’m biased, but I really don’t think it did. Nevertheless, Willock got his goal and Newcastle were level.

5 minutes later, their quality showed again. Pope kicked long under pressure from Wright, but picked out Osula superbly and his first touch was top class, taking him away from Cochrane and bearing down on the Blues goal. His shot from outside the box was saved by BPF, but Osula was first to react and picked the ball up again. He laid it off to Sean Longstaff and he found Livramento, charging forwards on the overlap. The ball was cut back across the Blues 6 yard box again, none of Laird, Klarer nor BPF could get a clean enough connection to clear the danger, and Wilson bundled home from a yard out. Newcastle took the lead for the first time.

Newcastle were on a warpath, and they had the ball in the back of the net again shortly after. Dan Burn flicked on a long free-kick and found Willock, who took it past Peacock-Farrell, but was correctly deemed to be offside.

Blues responded instantly, and went close. Anderson took on Livramento and carved himself half a yard to dig out a superb cross to Stansfield, but his header was narrowly wide.

Coming up to 40 minutes we had another big chance created down the left. Anderson slipped a ball through 2 Newcastle players to find Iwata in the box, who turned and picked out Scott Wright in space on the penalty spot. His shot was weak, and straight at Nick Pope, and we remained behind.

The Blues pressure remained though as we had Newcastle pinned back and unable to get out. When we need a moment of quality in front of goal in a big game, we’ve come to rely on Stansfield, Anderson or Iwata. Stansfield missed his chance earlier, Anderson’s volley was well saved, but up stepped Tomoki Iwata. It was Anderson again down the left who was causing chaos. He cut back to Dowell, who played a first time ball to Leonard. He took a touch and aimed a cross to Ethan Laird at the far post. Matt Targett’s header away fell perfectly for Iwata to run onto, the crowd urged him to shoot, and he struck a sweet half-volley with venom. It flew into the top corner, Pope unable to move, and St. Andrews went into delirium once more. Every one of Iwata’s goals this season has been eye-catching, but that one might just take the cake. The eyes of the UK were watching, and the neutrals shared Iwata’s goal wide across social media.

We drew back level, and a scintillating first half came to a close.

Half time: Blues 2-2 Newcastle (Laird, Iwata)

The second half proved even more challenging. Newcastle replaced Brazilian international Bruno Guimaraes with £60m signing Sandro Tonali. He had an immediate impact on the game and showed his sheer quality on the ball to wrestle control of the game for the Magpies.

The game had gotten physical towards the end of the first half. Iwata was shoved off the ball by Guimaraes and cracked the BBC camera that he collided with. Stansfield battled with Lewis Miley and the latter ended up in the advertising hoards, sparking a melee just before half time.

This heightened physicality combined with Newcastle’s superior quality and fitness in the second half lead to a lot of cynical challenges and a stop-start second half. Blues had committed to a high press and Willock had seemingly left Klarer for dead, before he steamed in to shove Willock off the pitch. Ben Davies flew in from behind against Osula, and substitute Lyndon Dykes left one in late on Krafth. We were not about to be beaten timidly – something we have all enjoyed about this squad this year.

Unfortunately for Marc Leonard, he slid into Lewis Miley and the Newcastle midfielder’s studs scraped down his knee as a result, causing a deep cut. I don’t think there was any malice in it, it looked innocuous to me, but it did force Leonard off the pitch and he’s likely to be missing for a couple of weeks whilst it heals.

The nature of the second half lead to fewer high quality chances for either side. Newcastle dominated possession, and called upon Jacob Murphy and Fabian Schar just after half time. Leonard going off injured didn’t help our ball retention, and we had to resort to finding counter attacks. We were mostly unsuccessful, but there were a couple of opportunities from our right hand side where Laird found space and cut a good ball into the box, but nobody gambled on either chance and Newcastle cleared with ease.

On the 82nd minute, Newcastle got themselves back ahead. Patient build up play lead to Livramento playing in Longstaff in the box. His cut back was blocked by Davies but still bobbled through, and Willock was the quickest to react. His shot from inside the 6 yard box went through Peacock-Farrell’s legs, and gave the away side the lead.

The referee signalled for 12 minutes of added time, and just after, Newcastle had a golden chance to seal the match. Jacob Murphy was played in behind by a superb long ball and was one-on-one with Peacock-Farrell. The Blues keeper came out quickly, and forced Murphy wide. His shot beat the keeper and was on target, but Ben Davies came across to the rescue and prevented a 4th Newcastle goal.

We had one final half chance late on in added time. Alfie May got himself on the ball just outside the Newcastle box on the left hand side, and found himself half a yard of space to take a shot, but it was unfortunately weak and straight at Nick Pope. Had Alfie opted to play in Cochrane to his left, he might’ve found a cross towards Dykes or Willumsson, who were both lurking at the far post.

The full-time whistle went, and Blues were knocked out of the FA Cup. But we should hold our heads high. All season we’ve been wondering how this team might compete at higher levels after being so dominant in League One, and we saw glimpses of what might be to come in the future for us. We adapted our tactical style slightly, but still played good football particularly in the first half, and pressed Newcastle really well as a team. We did not look out of place, and we’ve received plenty of praise from Newcastle fans and neutrals watching on TV alike, for both our on pitch and off pitch performances.

The atmosphere was electric, we went ahead early, pulled ourselves back level after going behind, and didn’t shame ourselves at all despite the difference in class. Davies said post match that “football is about memories, it has no destination, it’s all about the memories you can create” and the boys in blue gave us a memory that all those attending won’t soon forget.

The effort put into the game was appreciated by the fans, who kept on singing and showing our appreciation right until both teams had left the field, and that speaks volumes despite falling to defeat.

Our challenge now will be to go again Tuesday. It’s always tricky to come off the back of a game with such excitement and such high intensity, to return to a run-of-the-mill league fixture against Cambridge United. But we must rest up and go again, this is one of our games in hand and will have a bigger impact on our season than the FA cup game we just played.  Cambridge are bottom of League One at present, but have recently picked up points against Lincoln, Wycombe and Bolton, even collecting all 3 against Mansfield. We will be welcoming Garry Monk and Michael Morrison back to St. Andrews and despite their league position, this could be a tough game given the circumstances. We’ll need to be at a good level to get past them, but the motivation of being able to go 7 points clear of 2nd should be more than enough.

Keep Right On.

Full time: Blues 2-3 Newcastle (Laird, Iwata)

Photo copyright of Birmingham City Football Club.

Ratings

Starting XI

Bailey Peacock-Farrell: 7

I'm a critic of Peacock-Farrell's, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried when I saw his name on the teamsheet. That said, he didn't do too badly. His kicking is inferior to Allsop's as we know, quite a few of his long balls were inaccurate or went out of play, but he played some good passes and didn't make a blunder when playing out. He was unfortunate to not be rewarded with a top save for Newcastle's first, I think he possibly could've been stronger for the 2nd and took charge of the situation, but I'm nitpicking a bit here. The 3rd went through his legs, but I'm not sure he could've done much about that shot from close range.

Ethan Laird: 9

I'm going to go high with a lot of these ratings given the opposition we played, but Laird fully deserves his 9/10. Got on the scoresheet again to get us off to the best start, and was part of a group of players that did not look out of place against a Prem side. He has all the physical attributes, pace, strength, a superb leap on him, and he used them all to great effect, causing Newcastle plenty of problems in the final third. His runs often drove Blues forwards, and his leap gave us a target with a long ball. It's great to see Ethan really come into form recently, and he stepped up magnificently.

Christoph Klarer: 9

Klarer was another that did not look out of place at all, which is really encouraging for the future. He used his physicality well, his reading of the game was superb and I thought he was excellent throughout. He took a yellow when drawn into a high Blues press, completely ignoring the ball and clearing out Joe Willock, but as he's done often this season he knows when to take a yellow. Loved his post-match interview too, he seemed genuinely disappointed to come away with defeat and that kind of mentality is what separates the good players from the very good players. I can easily see Klarer staying with us for years to come on our journey to the top division.

Ben Davies: 8

Davies was also very good, albeit I think slightly behind his partner in defence. His effort and commitment cannot be questioned, and his clearance to stop Newcastle from sealing the game on the 90th minute was superb. But his challenge on Osula was unnecessary, even for our physical approach it felt rash, and another referee (or god forbid VAR) could've landed him in serious trouble. Still a very strong outing against top opponents.

Alex Cochrane: 6

I've long felt that Cochrane is a superb player in possession, but his profile doesn't allow him to compete physically even at league one level. He's been beaten a few times at the far post in the league, and although not directly responsible for any of the goals, I didn't think he played well. He had an incredibly tough job against Osula and Livramento, but his passes were frequently wayward and I thought he struggled to cope both in and out of possession. I do however keep in mind that he's played a lot of minutes for us this season, including 3 sets of 90 minutes in one week, and was up against very good players. A tough showing, but I'm sure he'll be back at his best when we return to league action.

Tomoki Iwata: 9 - Man of the Match

Laird was incredibly close to getting my man of the match, but Tomoki edged him out slightly in my opinion. We know the qualities he brings, but he was truly superb all game, and his strike to draw us level is one of the best I've ever seen at St. Andrews. Iwata can absolutely count himself amongst those who showed they may well be able to compete in Royal Blue at any stage of our journey in the coming years.

Marc Leonard: 8

Leonard was fantastic again, showing us all that he's incredibly unlucky to be behind Paik and Iwata in the pecking order at Blues. His ball to Laird which lead to our equaliser was delivered with quality, and his general play allowed us to compete effectively. Our ball retention notably took a hit once he was forced off through injury, and he's likely to be out for a couple of weeks. He'll be missed, I hope he returns to fitness as soon as possible. He'll be a big player for us in years to come - I often forget he's just 23 years old.

Scott Wright: 7

Wright was pretty good, without setting the world alight. He played an important role in the team's performance, making runs, pressing with intensity and driving us forward in the first half through central areas of the pitch. He should've done better with the chance Iwata gave to him inside the box, and other than that I can't think of a big opportunity for Blues that he was involved in. Still a solid game, and for me he's showing slow improvement week on week after his return from injury.

Kieran Dowell: 8

I thought Dowell was excellent again. He was able to step up to the tempo required to be played in the final third to cause Newcastle problems, often picking out first time passes and keeping the ball moving. His set piece delivery was superb, and he did a solid job when Leonard came off when he had to drop deeper alongside Iwata for a 10-15 minute spell.

Keshi Anderson: 9

Despite his recent good form, I thought Keshi might struggle against higher level defenders, but he was another that stepped right up to the challenge. He gave Newcastle nightmares in the first half, tracked back well to help out Cochrane, set up Laird's opening goal and was unfortunate to not score himself with a sweetly struck volley in the first half.

Jay Stansfield: 9

Stanno came to us from a premier league side as a prospect, and he looked just like that. His work rate was as exceptional as ever, he made plenty of runs, drove us forwards, and didn't allow himself to get bullied despite his smaller frame. He arguably should've done better with the chance Keshi provided for him, but that was his only real big chance. He was withdrawn after picking up a yellow following the melee at the end of the first half, and alongside Leonard's withdrawal, there was a clear drop off when he left the field.

Subs

Willum Þór Willumsson: 6

It was great to see Thor return to the pitch following his injury, and he replaced Leonard, swapping places with Dowell and taking up the number 10 role. He did look like he was just returning from injury, but showed the occasional piece of quality we know he's capable of to help us play out when under pressure and attempt to launch counter attacks.

Krystian Bielik: 6

Bielik eventually filled in for Leonard alongside Iwata, and did okay in his time on the pitch. Nothing particularly to note, except he was nutmegged which lead to Murphy getting his one-on-one late on. Bielik may have to fill in midfield for now, with Paik, Leonard and Gardner-Hickman all missing through injury.

Alfie May: 6

Alfie came on for Stansfield and worked hard, but to me, wasn't one of the players I thought might not be able to go with us too much further along our journey. Granted it was a one off game and he only got 25 minutes - so there's more to come - but that was my initial impression after seeing him against higher level opposition. I love Alfie, and I really want to see him given a chance in the Championship next season. But should we get promoted to the Premier League while he's still here, I think he will be moved on, if not before that. Not only will he be older at that time, but he's not quite got the pace or physicality to compete at the highest level, and his decision making sometimes leaves a lot to be desired. He's best when he's given a chance in the box, there I think he's fantastic, but outside of that I think he struggles to reach the levels that others do in the squad. There's no shame in that - just an observation that I made. He still worked hard and pressed well alongside fellow substitute Dykes, and despite my thoughts on his longevity, I always enjoy watching him play and hope he can reach 20 goals before the season is over.

Lyndon Dykes: 6

Dykes came on to play more centrally alongside Alfie, pressed well and put himself about (notably to Krafth's expense), but didn't have much more of an impact and couldn't replicate the quality that he replaced when coming on.

Grant Hanley: N/A

Hanley coming on for Iwata enabled a switch to a 5 at the back shape in the closing stages, allowing Laird and Cochrane to get forward more freely. He did his job and didn't make a significant mistake.
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