Birmingham 4 Tottenham 1
Mikael Forssell repaid the faith shown in him by Birmingham boss Alex McLeish as his hat-trick ensured Tottenham suffered a massive Carling Cup hangover with a 4-1 defeat.
The Finnish international, dogged by injuries for the past three years, was restored to the Blues' starting line-up as McLeish looked for his side to become more ruthless in front of goal.
And Forsell demonstrated the clinical finishing which had brought him 19 goals during the 2003-04 campaign, with Sebastian Larsson adding the other goal. All Spurs could manage was an injury-time consolation from Jermaine Jenas.
It enabled Blues to complete their first league double over Spurs for 32 years and gave them a massive lift in their bid to avoid relegation.
McLeish's side ended their eight-game run without a win which stretched back to Boxing Day, with Forsell and James McFadden causing all sorts of problems for a makeshift Spurs defence missing the injured Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate.
Forssell had lasted only three minutes against Arsenal last weekend as McLeish was forced to reorganise following the sending-off of Martin Taylor.
But on this occasion he was able to show the form which persuaded ex-City boss Steve Bruce to pay £3million to Chelsea for his services before being struck down by knee problems.
Tottenham came crashing down to earth with a bang after their Wembley triumph over Chelsea and never threatened to fire on all cylinders.
Birmingham fans paraded a banner in support of Martin Taylor in response to his tackle on Arsenal striker Eduardo who suffered a broken leg last weekend.
Spurs full-back Pascal Chimbonda moved to centre-back alongside Kaboul in the absence of King and Woodgate.
Birmingham, with a strong wind in their favour, went ahead after seven minutes through Forssell's fifth goal of the campaign after Tom Huddlestone had conceded the first corner of the game.
Gary McSheffrey's centre picked out Liam Ridgewell, whose header looked to be going wide. But McFadden reacted quickly and turned the ball back across goal to Forssell, who made no mistake with a close-range header.
It was a welcome boost for the Finnish international, who had to be taken off after only three minutes of the Arsenal clash in a tactical move after Taylor's sending-off.
Spurs retaliated and midfielder Jamie O'Hara was only a yard wide with a rasping left-footed drive which had Maik Taylor hurrying across his goal.
But Spurs defender Alan Hutton was relieved when he glanced a header just wide of his own goal from an inswinging free-kick by McSheffrey.
A mix-up between Muamba and Radhi Jaidi allowed Berbatov a run at goal and his 20-yard shot thumped against the post with Maik Taylor well beaten.
Ridgewell came to City's rescue with a vital clearance from inside his own six-yard box after a low cross-shot from Steed Malbranque had evaded Taylor.
Spurs were now enjoying more of the possession and the dangerous O'Hara again tested Taylor with a low shot which swerved at the last minute after cutting inside.
Johnson became the first player to be yellow-carded in first half injury-time for a foul on Hutton.
Ramos made a double half-time substitution, bringing on leading scorer Robbie Keane and midfielder Jermaine Jenas in place of Malbranque and Tainio.
Blues started the second half on the offensive and Robinson had his palms stung by a fierce rising drive from McFadden.
Then a left-wing centre from McSheffrey picked out the unmarked Forssell, whose downward volley was turned over the bar by Robinson as the ball bounced up.
Then after 55 minutes a superb free-kick from Larsson doubled Birmingham's lead. Blues full-back David Murphy created the opportunity with a run towards the Spurs box before being brought down by Zokora.
Up stepped Larsson and the Swedish international curled his free-kick over the defensive wall and past the despairing dive of Robinson.
The cheering had hardly died down before Forssell struck for the second time in the game four minutes later to put Birmingham 3-0 ahead.
Larsson's fizzing centre was deflected towards his own goal by Chimbonda and it needed Robinson at full stretch to fingertip the ball away. But Forssell was quick to react in firing the loose ball into the corner of the net from a narrow angle.
Taylor tipped over a glancing header from Keane and then palmed over a fierce drive from Huddlestone.
Forssell was denied a hat-trick when his shot was blocked by Chimbonda after good play by Larsson.
But with nine minutes remaining, Forssell completed his treble with a cool finish after McFadden had set up the opportunity.
Jenas scored a consolation goal in injury-time for woeful Spurs.
McLeish hails Forssell
Alex McLeish hailed the ruthless finishing of Birmingham striker Mikael Forssell as his hat-trick stunned Tottenham and earned the club their first win since Boxing Day.
The 26-year-old has been plagued by injury problems since scoring 19 goals for Blues during the 2003-2004 campaign.
But he rewarded McLeish for bringing him back into the side to leave Spurs with a massive hangover after their Carling Cup victory.
McLeish said: 'I'm really pleased for Mikael. I've had him in and out of the team since I came here but the lack of goals in previous weeks meant I had to push his experience back into the team.
'He was merciless in front of goal. He could have had four or five goals but his link-up play was also good. He had a terrific game.
'He's had a lot of injury problems and when they are of that magnitude it is going to have some effect.
'It is a case of whether he can play 40 games a season but, when he is as hot as that, we have to wrap him in cotton wool.'
McLeish praised the overall performance of his side as they gave their hopes of avoiding relegation a massive lift.
He said: 'We have deserved more from previous games at St Andrews and this time we got our reward.
'It was worth the wait. It was a fantastic show. The players' work rate in every game cannot be faulted but this time we also added the finishing touch.
'People might make headlines about the fact Tottenham were suffering a hangover from winning the cup but I have played in cup finals and it can go either way.
'Sometimes the following week you feel invincible and sometimes you can get beaten but I just told the players to ignore these theories and play to the standard of previous games.
'They not only did that, but they also gained me another 10% on top which was brilliant.'
Spurs boss Juande Ramos refused to blame allowing his players to celebrate the cup win for their lacklustre performance at St Andrews.
He said: 'When a team achieves a big victory like we did last week, then they deserve to have a big party to celebrate.
'They had sufficient time after that to have made a full recovery and I am not using that as an excuse for today's result.
'Of course, I am not happy with the performance. No manager could be happy with losing 4-1.
'The game started off with us conceding an early goal which made it difficult for us. The principle problem was our players did not show sufficient attention to the intricacies of the game. That was the problem.
'We had to get a response to that goal but it did not work out for us. It was a very different match to the one against Chelsea and the players were showing less than full concentration.
'The team must not relax and I hope they can show what they are made of later this week in the UEFA Cup against PSV Eindhoven.'
Midfielder Sebastian Larsson scored Birmingham's other goal and Jermaine Jenas got a late consolation for the visitors.
The Finnish international, dogged by injuries for the past three years, was restored to the Blues' starting line-up as McLeish looked for his side to become more ruthless in front of goal.
And Forsell demonstrated the clinical finishing which had brought him 19 goals during the 2003-04 campaign, with Sebastian Larsson adding the other goal. All Spurs could manage was an injury-time consolation from Jermaine Jenas.
It enabled Blues to complete their first league double over Spurs for 32 years and gave them a massive lift in their bid to avoid relegation.
McLeish's side ended their eight-game run without a win which stretched back to Boxing Day, with Forsell and James McFadden causing all sorts of problems for a makeshift Spurs defence missing the injured Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate.
Forssell had lasted only three minutes against Arsenal last weekend as McLeish was forced to reorganise following the sending-off of Martin Taylor.
But on this occasion he was able to show the form which persuaded ex-City boss Steve Bruce to pay £3million to Chelsea for his services before being struck down by knee problems.
Tottenham came crashing down to earth with a bang after their Wembley triumph over Chelsea and never threatened to fire on all cylinders.
Birmingham fans paraded a banner in support of Martin Taylor in response to his tackle on Arsenal striker Eduardo who suffered a broken leg last weekend.
Spurs full-back Pascal Chimbonda moved to centre-back alongside Kaboul in the absence of King and Woodgate.
Birmingham, with a strong wind in their favour, went ahead after seven minutes through Forssell's fifth goal of the campaign after Tom Huddlestone had conceded the first corner of the game.
Gary McSheffrey's centre picked out Liam Ridgewell, whose header looked to be going wide. But McFadden reacted quickly and turned the ball back across goal to Forssell, who made no mistake with a close-range header.
It was a welcome boost for the Finnish international, who had to be taken off after only three minutes of the Arsenal clash in a tactical move after Taylor's sending-off.
Spurs retaliated and midfielder Jamie O'Hara was only a yard wide with a rasping left-footed drive which had Maik Taylor hurrying across his goal.
But Spurs defender Alan Hutton was relieved when he glanced a header just wide of his own goal from an inswinging free-kick by McSheffrey.
A mix-up between Muamba and Radhi Jaidi allowed Berbatov a run at goal and his 20-yard shot thumped against the post with Maik Taylor well beaten.
Ridgewell came to City's rescue with a vital clearance from inside his own six-yard box after a low cross-shot from Steed Malbranque had evaded Taylor.
Spurs were now enjoying more of the possession and the dangerous O'Hara again tested Taylor with a low shot which swerved at the last minute after cutting inside.
Johnson became the first player to be yellow-carded in first half injury-time for a foul on Hutton.
Ramos made a double half-time substitution, bringing on leading scorer Robbie Keane and midfielder Jermaine Jenas in place of Malbranque and Tainio.
Blues started the second half on the offensive and Robinson had his palms stung by a fierce rising drive from McFadden.
Then a left-wing centre from McSheffrey picked out the unmarked Forssell, whose downward volley was turned over the bar by Robinson as the ball bounced up.
Then after 55 minutes a superb free-kick from Larsson doubled Birmingham's lead. Blues full-back David Murphy created the opportunity with a run towards the Spurs box before being brought down by Zokora.
Up stepped Larsson and the Swedish international curled his free-kick over the defensive wall and past the despairing dive of Robinson.
The cheering had hardly died down before Forssell struck for the second time in the game four minutes later to put Birmingham 3-0 ahead.
Larsson's fizzing centre was deflected towards his own goal by Chimbonda and it needed Robinson at full stretch to fingertip the ball away. But Forssell was quick to react in firing the loose ball into the corner of the net from a narrow angle.
Taylor tipped over a glancing header from Keane and then palmed over a fierce drive from Huddlestone.
Forssell was denied a hat-trick when his shot was blocked by Chimbonda after good play by Larsson.
But with nine minutes remaining, Forssell completed his treble with a cool finish after McFadden had set up the opportunity.
Jenas scored a consolation goal in injury-time for woeful Spurs.
McLeish hails Forssell
Alex McLeish hailed the ruthless finishing of Birmingham striker Mikael Forssell as his hat-trick stunned Tottenham and earned the club their first win since Boxing Day.
The 26-year-old has been plagued by injury problems since scoring 19 goals for Blues during the 2003-2004 campaign.
But he rewarded McLeish for bringing him back into the side to leave Spurs with a massive hangover after their Carling Cup victory.
McLeish said: 'I'm really pleased for Mikael. I've had him in and out of the team since I came here but the lack of goals in previous weeks meant I had to push his experience back into the team.
'He was merciless in front of goal. He could have had four or five goals but his link-up play was also good. He had a terrific game.
'He's had a lot of injury problems and when they are of that magnitude it is going to have some effect.
'It is a case of whether he can play 40 games a season but, when he is as hot as that, we have to wrap him in cotton wool.'
McLeish praised the overall performance of his side as they gave their hopes of avoiding relegation a massive lift.
He said: 'We have deserved more from previous games at St Andrews and this time we got our reward.
'It was worth the wait. It was a fantastic show. The players' work rate in every game cannot be faulted but this time we also added the finishing touch.
'People might make headlines about the fact Tottenham were suffering a hangover from winning the cup but I have played in cup finals and it can go either way.
'Sometimes the following week you feel invincible and sometimes you can get beaten but I just told the players to ignore these theories and play to the standard of previous games.
'They not only did that, but they also gained me another 10% on top which was brilliant.'
Spurs boss Juande Ramos refused to blame allowing his players to celebrate the cup win for their lacklustre performance at St Andrews.
He said: 'When a team achieves a big victory like we did last week, then they deserve to have a big party to celebrate.
'They had sufficient time after that to have made a full recovery and I am not using that as an excuse for today's result.
'Of course, I am not happy with the performance. No manager could be happy with losing 4-1.
'The game started off with us conceding an early goal which made it difficult for us. The principle problem was our players did not show sufficient attention to the intricacies of the game. That was the problem.
'We had to get a response to that goal but it did not work out for us. It was a very different match to the one against Chelsea and the players were showing less than full concentration.
'The team must not relax and I hope they can show what they are made of later this week in the UEFA Cup against PSV Eindhoven.'
Midfielder Sebastian Larsson scored Birmingham's other goal and Jermaine Jenas got a late consolation for the visitors.
posted by dgarden at 1:01 pm
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