Given – Produced an excellent reaction save to a flicked header just prior to the second goal. The Irishman couldn’t be faulted on a bad day elsewhere for the defence. 7
Zabaleta – A decent performance even if the Argentine didn’t manage to supply any of the quality crosses of which he’s capable. 7
Another draw that felt like a defeat, where ‘great game for the neutral’ was a description that Mark Hughes could have done without. After falling two goals behind, then storming back to take the lead, before conceding a late equaliser – all against supposedly weaker opposition – this game deserved another old cliche: ‘Typical City’.
The return of Burnley to the top flight has seen a wave of nostalgia attach itself to one of the Football League’s founder clubs. It’s therefore fitting to be playing them on an increasingly rare Saturday 3pm kick-off.
Whilst middle aged fans may remember the last top flight matches between the two sides in the mid-seventies, more recent fixtures in the Championship and League Cup have seen City banging in the goals. Twenty three strikes in the last six matches have featured two hat-tricks from Shaun Goater and one from Paulo Wanchope.
Following yesterday’s excellent comments from Kolo Toure, is was a surprise to hear Mark Bowen today making contradictory noises about the draw at Birmingham being a point gained.
Kolo Toure spoke today about our four successive draws, stating it’s not good enough. With the talent available we should be doing better, and ‘top four’ teams wouldn’t be happy with our recent results.
Given – A brilliant double save in the first half was arguably even better than the penalty stop. His performance was a real birthday present to the manager. 9
Zabaleta – A steadier game from Pablo, with some good clearing headers. Going forward their was little attacking threat. We were crying out for a repeat of the cross for Santa Cruz he provided against Scunthorpe, but it never arrived. 6
Mark Hughes’ side returned from St. Andrews with a draw thanks to the performance of Shay Given who left Birmingham’s James McFadden beating the ground in frustration following a second half penalty save.
Remarkably, City have moved up to fourth place despite a fourth consecutive league draw. This says more for the faltering results of those around them rather than any brilliance by the Blues. Once again, City looked a long way from being the collective sum of their individual parts.
