Crystal Palace 0 – 4 Birmingham City: Not Such a Good Friday As a Second Home Defeat Brings Palace a Case of Easter Blues!

Losing 0 – 4 at home was not the way Palace hoped to kick off the busy period of football that marks the start of the Easter celebrations. After the humiliation on the South Coast a fortnight ago this was not the response Eagles fans were looking for from the team when they arrived at Selhurst hoping to forget Brighton. In fact for those supporters who were spared actually going to the Ammex this result against Birmingham City was a rerun of the whole awful horror show.

Danny Gabbidon came in for Peter Ramage at centre back, and Dean Moxey came in for Jonathan Parr at left back as Ian Holloway made changes in defence. Kevin Phillips replaced the suspended Wilfried Zaha and played up front with Glenn Murray as new signing Aruna Dindane was not match fit. The changes at the back was a response to the harsh and very unfair criticism given the season as a whole, levelled against the defence in the wake of the Brighton defeat. Indeed only Delaney and Richards kept their places.

The changes did not have the desired effect. The back four looked disjointed. Palace had success early on getting behind Birmingham with Williams linking up well with Bolasie but Birmingham soon spotted the danger. By doubling up on Palace’s Welsh international Jonny Williams they stemmed Palace’s attacking threat as Murray and Phillips found themselves isolated up front. Palace could not exploit the extra space created by Williams allowing Birmingham’s own wide men to get into the game. Excellent Birmingham youngster Nathan Redmond and ex Manchester United player Ravel Morrison exposed Richards and Moxey in the fullback positions at will.

A combination of Redmond’s trickery and skill and Nikola Zigic’s agricultural attacking play led to Birmingham taking the lead on twenty four minutes against the run of play. Despite a suspicion of hand ball in the build up, Redmond’s neat run across the box was not closed down allowing him to shoot neatly past Speroni. Palace needed a response instead they faded out of the match. The new centre back partnership of Delaney and Gabbidon struggled with Birmingham’s aerial threat. Zigic was possibly lucky to avoid censure for some industrial challenges including kicking Delaney in the head. It was Zigic’s presence from a corner that led to a Delaney own goal putting Birmingham 2 – 0 up at the break.

At half time Holloway tried to respond. Stephen Dobbie who had missed the Brighton game because they are his parent club replaced Jazz Richards. For fifteen minutes Palace carried more threat. Dobbie protected the backline as Holloway went to three at the back. Mile Jedinak and KG Dikgacoi looked tired from international endeavours which begged the question as to why Moritz or Dobbie were not considered for a starting place. This would have utilised the full depth of the squad as the midfield would have looked fresher in the face of a Birmingham onslaught. Peter Ramage was a miss.

For a while after the break Palace showed the slick build up play with pace that had symbolised their attacking play all season at home. Dobbie tested Butland and Phillips screwed a shot wide. Had they scored at this point or the situation been different it may have been a different game. That at least offers hope of some kind of a recovery for the rest of the run in, but Palace was not on their game and got punished. Birmingham thoroughly deserved the victory. Palace clearly missed the Manchester United bound Wilfried Zaha but the excellent Welsh international Jonny Williams looks like becoming a more than capable replacement.

The third goal was the sucker punch and drained any remaining life out of the Eagles. Ravel Morrison neatly finished off a cross from Mitch Hancox just after the hour. Five minutes later Shane Ferguson put the gloss on the score line with a fantastic free kick to make it 0 – 4. The result crowned Birmingham’s best away performance of the season and conversely was Palace’s worst performance of the season. Off the back of the Brighton defeat Palace have now conceded seven goals in two matches at the worst moment for their promotion hopes.

It has been an excellent season and any true Palace fan would have taken this position at the outset of the campaign.The fact remains there needs to be a response from the team to the way they have folded in the last two games. To me there seems to be an imbalance in the team between defence and attack. The defensive and fitness qualities present earlier in the campaign seemed to have disappeared. They need to be rediscovered. The return from injury of Owen Garvan and Joel Ward could prove timely if prospects of automatic promotion disappear and we will need to rediscover some form for the Playoffs.

How Palace respond to the difficulties of the last fortnight in the next week may well decide the fate of this campaign. Two quick matches at Blackpool on Easter Monday and against Barnsley next Saturday must be met head on with a strong response that will define the character of the current Crystal Palace side. While perspective and holding your nerves at this stage of the season is key it is results that remain the most important factor. For this reason with the possible exception of Hillsbrough in 2010 the game against Blackpool is the most important of the new owners’ tenure moving forward. It is without doubt the most important of Ian Holloway’s time in charge.