Shout to the top

Observations on Blues - QPR and other things . . .

We all go on about how Blues should do this, that, the other, how they should play on so on. But one glance at the team sheet showed what kind of game it would be. QPR named their foreign imports, their more technical players, on the bench, and picked a very tall and physical looking side. It was heavy going at first but Blues began to keep the ball and played patiently. There was no panic.

The last time Blues came out early to warm-up before the second-half was at Spurs, if I remember correctly. Again, it was to try to halt a series of slow starts after the break. It nearly worked as Muzzy Izzet should have scored after 30 seconds from the first attack. Unfortunately, he later got sent-off!

The short, sharp passing and inter-changing for a 25-minute spell once play resumed in the second period was highly encouraging, hinting at promising things to come. We're more used to Blues playing in straight lines, pretty predictably to a rigid shape.This was better. There was whirling movement, angles created and visible assurance. Forget that QPR players seemed to have their feet nailed to the floor, such was their urgency.

So far, Alex McLeish still hasn't had the 'tactically naive' barb lobbed his way. Rightly so. He and his staff are quick to spot problems and quick to act. Quincy switched wings and it made a big difference to how the game panned out. Of course, it helps to have adaptable players and a wealth of options, relatively speaking at Championship level. You've still got to use them though. He again showed bravery to leave out James McFadden and Cameron Jerome.

Big Eck doesn't talk down to people or patronise them. He presents a fine imagine for the club before or after matches. Ask him about something he may have done and why, he will explain. He's not gone all Joe Kinnear on anyone yet, and his post-game assessments are reasonable and fair. It always used to make me chuckle in TF's press conferences when the line of questioning didn't go down the technical route. Most national journalists just wanted some juicy quotes, they couldn't be bothered with detail. Often a miffed TF would tell the assembled hacks: 'Well, you may not have noticed, but at half-time we had to make an adjustment and play Grainger more narrow and ask O'Connor to push onto their back four. I had to earn my corn there'. TF could get away with it, it was just him. Whereas I remember David Platt after a Forest-Blues game once beginning to explain a tactical decision only to suddenly stop and sneer: "What's the point, you lot wouldn't understand anyway." Charming.

Has Medhi Nafti's red card affected his natural game? Quite possibly. At Derby County he didn't so much withdraw from a 50-50 as go in with far less decisiveness than I've ever seen from him. There was another similar incident against QPR that was very unlike Nafti. Maybe he is thinking about that lunge on James Coppinger too much and trying too hard to keep his nose clean.

Blues went to the top of the league, on the back of their best start since 1908-09. Speaking to a vastly experienced former player, coach and manager the other day who keeps an eye on the local scene, he wasn't at all surprised. He said that Blues defence, with the addition of Lee Carsley to help protect them, was the best in the division and they could play far less on edge than in the Premier League because they always knew that at the other end Blues have players who can turn a game their way or score a goal. "People are going on about the football and the fact Birmingham haven't scored many," he said, "and they're all raving about Wolves. Well, Wolves rely on too few players, and they are a lot weaker [mentally] than Birmingham, who will be strong all the way throughout the season." Interesting.