One more away draw to end 2010 (vs Birmingham)

By: Shaun | December 28th, 2010
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Our inability to win away from home continues. This undesirable trend that began 2 games into our season has seen us draw 7 out of the 8 away games we’ve played so far.

Gibson got a rare start with Park jetting off to play for his country. As I’ve mentioned before, Park does plenty of little things well and I believe United felt the void left by his absence as their play lacked the fluidity that was on display over the weekend. Obviously, I’m not saying that Park is the player who runs the team, but his ability to facilite a flow in play and his engine that never tires seemed to be the very things that United missed today.

Birmingham made things difficult for us as they’ve always done lining up with 5 in the middle and allowing us no room to work the ball forward with intent. The first 10 minutes were marked by midfield play on both sides and not much else. By the 16th minute mark, Rooney had a couple of shots on target, but none of them seriously troubled Foster. He looked more intent than anytime before to break his deadlock. The constant harping by fans and media alike on his long goal drought has obviously had some effect on his approach to the game.

In the 18th minute, Giggs played a cross from the right with his weaker foot that Foster barely tipped against the post. An almost magical goal even if it was entirely unintentional on the Welsh wizard’s part. Things got testy around the 25th minute between Anderson and Ferguson with some pushing and pleasantries being exchanged. It seemed a pretty innocuous challenge, but Ando took offense to it and was booked for the exchange.

Giggs demonstrated the byproduct of years of looking after himself by being as lively as he was on Saturday with his movement up till the final whistle. He skipped past a few players before unleashing a shot on target in the 30th minute that was well secured by Foster. That proved to be our final bite on goal in the first half as Birmingham settled into a rhythm with possession and dominated the final 15 minutes of the half.

10 minutes into the second half and it was more of the same from United. They could never get going which is largely down to the way Birmingham had been set up and a testament to the graft they display at home. They are not an easy team to break at St Andrews as evidenced by their draws against Liverpool and Tottenham as well as a 1-0 win against Chelsea a month ago. It is their dropped points against the other teams in the lower half of the table that has condemned them to the precarious position they currently find themselves in.

United got the breakthrough in the 57th minute when a piece of magic by Berba allowed Gibson to stride forward unchallenged. He returned the ball to Berba who played a great first touch that took the ball ahead of him and allowed the Bulgarian to hit it perfectly in stride beating Foster at the near post. The man is on fire and finds himself sitting pretty on top of the scorers table. Don’t think too many of us envisioned this scenario heading into the season. Our topscoring hitman nearly doubled his tally 3 minutes after his goal when a nifty piece of footwork allowed him to evade a challenge and immediately bring it back onto his shooting foot to get off an attempt that went off the left post. Berba is definitely making a case to never be left out of the lineup again.

As expected, Birmingham brought on more offensive power in an attempt to salvage something from the game and we were faced with a big/small front partnership in Zigic and Phillips for the final 10 minutes of the game. Their persistence paid off in the 89th minute when a cross from the right was guided into space by Zigic (and his arm although probably unintentional). Bowyer found himself in acres of space unmarked and slid the ball home past a bewildered VDS.

The final result didn’t really seem like complete injustice as we looked a little out of sorts with our players misplaying passes and looking far less sharp than they did over the weekend. Whether or not we can blame the fatigue of having to play a game after only 2 days rest remains to be seen. It does feel like we were unfairly denied 3 points because of the controvery surrounding their goal. However, we ‘re still at the top of the table, at least for another 24 hours, and we’re still undefeated. What is worrying however, is our inability to close the deal away from home.

Hopefully, a new year brings an uptick in form and a turn of fortunes with our away wins.

Some Related Man United Posts:Draw # 7 (vs Villa)A win on Boxing Day (vs Sunderland)The Berba Show pt 2 (feat Blackburn)Still undefeated (vs Arsenal)Perfect ending to a tumultuous week (vs Stoke)
Category: Berbatov, English Premier League, Manchester United, Match Reports Tags: Anderson, Berbatov, Dimitar Berbatov, English Premier League, Manchester United, Match Reports, Sir Alex Ferguson
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