Math Report 050924 at Birmingham City: Another 2 points lost

2-2 and another 2 points lost. Our clean sheet streak has ended along the goalless streak, and the most worrying thing is that defense seems to have a leak. Hope this is just a one off thing.

On the plus side, Luis Garcia repays his debt to Rafa's faith by scoring a wonderful goal from substitutions. Cisse also scored one confident penalty equalizer. But for the coming 2 games, defense seems to be the key.

We now seems to be very confident as a team and controlling the rhythm. The key is for someone to starting scoring.

Player Rating:
Reina: 5.5 Should have yell for the 1st goal conceded and should have parry the ball away for the 2nd goal. Hope it is a one off game.
Josemi: 6.5 A steady game.
Carragher: 7 Should have scored the equalizer but Kilkenny parried it away with a well deserved red card.
Hyypia: 6.5 Solid performance.
Warnock: 5.5 Last game he was MoM but this game he scored an own goal... Should be more consistent.
Sinama-Pongolle: 6 A steady game without much impact.
Gerrard: 7 Hit the post in 1H and provided 2 assists in 2H (although Carra's goal was parried away). Geared up before the big games.
Alonso: 6 Not much impact as he should have.
Hamann: 6 Not as effective as before. Is he getting old or just not enough match fitness?
Zenden: No impact. Still need to adapt to the team.
Crouch: 6.5 Should have done better in scoring a late header. Maybe the teammates need to adapt in crossing the ball as he is so tall.

Substitutions:
Luis Garcia: 7.5 Made a great impact. He is capable in producing a few good games in a row, so it is a good start.
Cisse: 7 Scored a very confident penalty. His coolness may even surpress that of Murphy's.
Riise: Not enough time to make an impact.

Rafa: 7 Nice call to call on Luis Garcia and Cisse, but he need to make sure the leak in defense is filled before the 2 big games coming. He probably had rested Sissoko for the games as well.

Birmingham City: 6.5 Not really deserved to have 1 point... but we gifted them.

Man of the Match: Luis Garcia. Shows what he can do.