Birmingham City Res 2 Liverpool Res 0 (Nov 22 2005)

[TLW]

Birmingham Res 2 LIVERPOOL RES 0

Report by Peter Schulz at Damson Park

Scorer(s) - Half Time - 0-1 Venue - Damson Park, Solihull Date - Tue 22 Nov 2005 Star Man - Godwin Antwi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A despondent Liverpool reserves side last night went down 2-0 against Birmingham City. Managers Hughie McAuley and Paco Herrera will have been hugely disappointed with both the result and the performance.

We had somehow managed to blag our way to the VIP area of Solihull Borough FC’s stadium, Damson Park, but had hardly taken our seats, before the reds were trailing through a goal by the giant of a man, Njazi Kuqi. He can’t be anyone’s little brother, surely?

Zak Whitbread made a hash of a completely harmless through-ball when he kicked a great big hole in the air and instead let the ball drift past him into the path of Kuqi, who coolly hammered it low past a helpless Willis with just 50 seconds on the clock.

After this cruel blow, the Birmingham side seemed willing to let Liverpool try and get into the game, which they did, without causing any damage though. The first half failed to kick into gear and it was only when more poor defending, this time by Danny O’Donnell, let in Barrowman for what looked a certain goal. Raven had got back in and cleared, however.

Minutes later, Lee Peltier was booked after his obligatory wild challenge, this time on Alsop.

Liverpool’s best chance of the half came on 38 minutes when an Antonio Barragan freekick near the byline on the right side was headed out to Jack Hobbs. He hit it poorly on the half-volley but it fell to Idrizaj who turned and shot. That was blocked and in the end, new signing, Paul Anderson (pictured), who looked very promising, fired in a low shot from the edge of the box. Doyle in the Birmingham goal managed to parry it away and eventually, the ball was cleared.

It was a really poor half by Liverpool and even though the management team tried to bring Idrizaj more into the game by switching him and Anderson, Birmingham looked well on top. At half time Liverpool brought off Peltier for Mannix and that was to prove the right decision as Mannix was one of the few players to come out of the game with any credit whatsoever.

He was aggressive, made some good passes, and delivered a string of decent set pieces. Oh and he could keep possession, something the reds had seemed frightfully afraid of doing in the opening half.

I spent half time in the Solihull Borough FC board room (don’t ask) having a quick chat with Steve Bruce over a nice cup of tea. He seemed to be in surprisingly good spirit, but then I suppose he’s not really used to going into half time a goal to the good.

The reds looked more positive and a good move saw Whitbread’s cross find Barragan at the far post, but in the end his header didn’t have enough power. Seconds later, a good counter attacking move involving Ramon Calliste and Barragan meant Paul Anderson got another shooting opportunity, but he only managed to find the side netting.

Further chances came to Mannix whose series of good freekicks threatened to put the reds back on level terms but the keeper was equal to them each time.

After an hour, the disappointing Besian Idrizaj was again substituted. On came Adam Hammill. The Austrian was poor yet again and looks to be struggling badly with coming to terms with the English game. Another theory, of course, is that he’s just quite plainly not up to it. His strike partner Calliste was not much better in this game though I’m sure we’ll see both of them praised in the press over the coming weeks.

10 minutes later, Miki Roque replaced Jack Hobbs, who was also not enjoying his best game. He looked strangely uncomfortable on the ball, but I’ll give him some leeway as he’s actually looked promising in most of his appearances. When you’re just 17 you’re allowed to have a bad game once in a while.

As the game drew to a close, Birmingham added a second through Barrowman. His half volley from 20 yards left Willis stranded as it dipped into the far corner. It was actually a very good goal I have to say.

Overall, we got exactly what we deserved out of a game, which was very uneventful. The experienced players in this reserve team seem to be going through the motions and some of them look like they need to be moved on if they’re to develop any further as players. Whitbread was shocking and Raven was nowhere near his best either.

The only players to make positive impressions, I felt were Anderson, Mannix and Antwi. I’ve chosen the latter as the star man as he was again very solid and very strong at the back. Anderson looked lively, and he is a very pacey winger who is not afraid to get stuck in. Certainly a promising full reserves debut by the youngster (he played earlier in the season but was only on trial).

Mannix, well, it’s hard to see how he can’t get a game at the moment with the array of talent not there ahead of him. The reserves desperately lacked a big presence in midfield to provide a creative spark. Darren Potter, though heavily criticised for his performances on the right for the first team, was badly missed in the centre.


Team: Willis; Raven, Antwi, O'Donnell, Whitbread; Barragan, Peltier (Mannix), Hobbs (Roque), Anderson; Idrizaj (Hammill), Calliste: