The Blue noses had one spell of pressure for fifteen minutes after the half time whistle and we just collapsed in a fashion similar to that seen at White Hart Lane a fortnight ago.
Martinez pointed to this after the match. Despite our overall impressive play and creative attacking work, we collapse defensively far too eaasily and that is the main concern going into a busy Christmas period.
Should Bobby and his backroom staff manage to correct our defensive frailties, we could certainly earn a top half finish. If they can't, then it could be a long hard season.
Jordi Gomez scored a nice free-kick to give us some hope late in the game. He has built on some impressive performances over recent weeks, and could be pushing for a start. I doubt however that a trip to Stoke next week is the game in which to play such a flair player!
Charles N'Zogbia and Hugo Rodallega are our most dangerous players going forwars and we just have to pray they stay fit.
Chris Kirkland once again showed his frailty as he went off with a bad back in hte first half. Mike Pollitt has been a good servant ot hte club and was inspiriational in our maiden Premiership season, but he seems to be showing his age now, and despite a sharp save shortly after coming on, he let a few soft goals in today.
This was a game that we would have hoped for three points from, especially considering it was a home fixture. However I wouldn't put it past this inconsistent Latics side to go an achieve something from a difficult trip to Stoke next week.
Onwards and upwards hopefully, although I think we need to work on the steel in the backbone of our side, and a striker must be on the shopping list for January.
Star man: Charles N'Zogbia. Once more the little Frenchman was our best attacking threat. He offered little in the second half but that was more down to a porr team performance than anything personally.
Worst performer: Titus Bramble had a bad day at the office today which is very unusual for him. He was caught out of position for Benitez's goal and fouled Jerome for the third Birmingham goal. As I say, very uncharacteristic for Titus who is normally a rock at the heart of our defence.
Best moment: Charles N'Zogbia scoring the opening goal with a lovely curling shot from the right side of the area.
This is closely followed by Jordi Gomez grabbing his first goal for the club with a nice free kick late on.
It's a shame that neither counted for anything.
Tactics: We didn't do too much wrong today in terms of tactics and went out with our strongest line up. We did go wrong when we folded under pressure from Birmingham early in the second half.
Inparticular, Paul Scharner dropped deeper and deeper, offering less support to the strikers, as the game wore on. He finished the game as a centre half!
Opposition fans: A decent following from Birmingham and they made plenty of noise. It was just a shame that in fixture with little rivalry, they seemed so intent on absuive chants.
Here is the reaction of the two managers.
Roberto Martinez
I think we started the right way with our approach, we controlled the game, we created chance after chance, we scored a very good goal.
Then you felt that, probably, we should have taken a better lead into half-time. But there's a few things that didn't go our way, obviously the injury to Chris Kirkland and then the free-kick that Birmingham scored from is not a free-kick.
That, in a way, affected us a little bit and we had a mad 15-minute period where we really got punished and we didn't show any understanding (about) how to weather that disappointment.
The reaction we showed in the last 15-20 minutes, it was a little bit too little, too late. (It's) extremely disappointing because obviously the first one, as I say, is not a free-kick.
But even then we need to defend that better. I think the third one is a cheap way to concede another direct free-kick.
In that respect it's very, very hard to take. The way we performed in the first half, we should have had resilience or character to get through that period.
(It's) extremely disappointing because obviou "We showed that (inconsistency) within the game today. That's were the work has to be done and we need to address that situation.
When we are focused and we are in the game, we're capable of competing against anyone and that's a great strength to have.
But when we show the inconsistent side we're not at our best and we don't show enough character to get through games and sometimes you need to do that."sly the first one, as I say, is not a free-kick," Martinez added.
But even then we need to defend that better. I think the third one is a cheap way to concede another direct free-kick.
In that respect it's very, very hard to take. The way we performed in the first half, we should have had resilience or character to get through that period.
Alex McLeish
We showed fantastic character and the resilience again was evident for everybody to see. People are now talking about our spirit and you could see it today.
At the beginning of the season we got written-off a wee bit and people have seen us now and changed their mind about that, so that's brilliant.
But we know how fickle it can be in the Premier League. You can lose a couple of games and rocket down the table but, at the same time, win a couple and you're rocketing up there.
We're delighted to be in the latter category. Our target at the start of the season was to stay in the Premier League - we haven't done that yet.
We've got to keep looking to get as many points on the board as we can. I don't think we have to look any further than that.
We've got ourselves in a magnificent position in the first half of the season and the players fully deserve it but they know they can't afford to get into a comfort zone and think they've got leeway.
They've got to be relentless onto the next game against West Ham next week.
The table
| Latest match Saturday, 5th December 2009 |
Pld | Home | Away | Overall | Pts | GD | |||||||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | |||||||||
| 1 | Chelsea | 15 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 37 | 10 | 36 | +27 | ||||
| 2 | Manchester United | 15 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 34 | 13 | 34 | +21 | ||||
| 3 | Arsenal | 14 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 38 | 18 | 28 | +20 | ||||
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 33 | 19 | 26 | +14 | ||||
| 5 | Aston Villa | 15 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 25 | 14 | 26 | +11 | ||||
| 6 | Manchester City | 14 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 26 | 18 | 25 | +8 | ||||
| 7 | Liverpool | 15 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 31 | 20 | 24 | +11 | ||||
| 8 | Birmingham City | 15 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 16 | 21 | -1 | ||||
| 9 | Sunderland | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 20 | 20 | +1 | ||||
| 10 | Stoke City | 15 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 20 | -4 | ||||
| 11 | Fulham | 14 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 18 | 16 | 19 | +2 | ||||
| 12 | Blackburn Rovers | 15 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 16 | 28 | 18 | -12 | ||||
| 13 | Burnley | 15 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 27 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 19 | 33 | 17 | -14 | ||||
| 14 | Wigan Athletic | 15 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 17 | 34 | 17 | -17 | ||||
| 15 | Hull City | 16 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 34 | 16 | -17 | ||||
| 16 | Everton | 14 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 25 | 15 | -8 | ||||
| 17 | West Ham United | 15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 19 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 24 | 30 | 14 | -6 | ||||
| 18 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 15 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 28 | 13 | -14 | ||||
| 19 | Bolton Wanderers | 14 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 29 | 12 | -12 | ||||
| 20 | Portsmouth | 15 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 13 | 23 | 10 | -10 | ||||
Next game
Next up for the Latics is the tricky trip to Stoke in the live television lunch time kick off next Saturday. Who would bet against a heroic performance and three points?