The pre-match pressure was too much for Arsenal
The anxiety etched on Arsène Wenger's face in a pre-match interview was symptomatic of the nerves his players showed on the pitch. It was as if all the talk about waiting six years for a trophy, allied to their billing as favourites, was too much for Wenger's team. Arsenal had a spell in the second half when they were well on top and only Ben Foster's brilliance denied them the lead but generally they played in fits and starts. It was alarming to see Birmingham pinning them back and pressing for the goal that would have given them a 2-0 lead in the first half. Cesc Fábregas and Theo Walcott were missing but their absence was no excuse for this disappointing display that highlighted their mental frailties.
Cameron Jerome was right about Arsenal's defence
"If Arsenal have a weak point, it's the back four and the goalkeeper," Cameron Jerome said in the lead-up to the match. It felt like a dangerous comment to make and one that would give Arsenal additional motivation but instead the Birmingham striker proved to be spot-on. Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny endured a nightmare afternoon at the centre of the Arsenal backline and Wojciech Szczesny will also want to erase the game from his memory. Djourou was guilty of a schoolboy error on the first goal, when he was caught ball-watching, while Koscielny and Szczesny got in a terrible mix-up to give Birmingham their winner. It summed up their afternoon.
Arsenal failed to heed set-piece warning
All the warning signs were there beforehand for Arsenal. From the sight of a 6ft 8in striker leading the line to the statistics that highlighted just how dangerous Birmingham are on set pieces (six of their eight Premier League goals against Wenger's team have come from that source), Wenger's players had no excuses for not being alive to the threat Alex McLeish's side pose on dead balls. Yet from Sebastian Larsson's corner, Roger Johnson won the first header and Zigic the next to give Birmingham the lead. Djourou was marking Zigic but he started to follow the ball when it was arrowed towards Johnson, leaving the Serbian, who is often accused of not making the most of his height, to nod in.
Alex McLeish is a top manager
How else can we view Alex McLeish? In his last three seasons the Birmingham manager has won promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt, delivered the club's highest top-flight league position in more than 50 years and now won the club their first major piece of silverware since 1963. His is a remarkable record, especially given the resources at his disposal. He got his tactics spot-on for this occasion, setting Birmingham up in a 4-5-1 formation that stifled Arsenal but also encouraged his own players, especially Lee Bowyer, to break and support Zigic. It was a plan that worked to perfection. Birmingham are in Europe and no one deserves the plaudits that will follow more than McLeish.
Small clubs get a raw deal at Wembley
The 2010 League Cup final was only four minutes old when Nemanja Vidic hauled down Gabriel Abgonlahor in the penalty area and somehow escaped a red card. It was a poor decision, although at least Aston Villa had the consolation of a penalty kick. There was not a single crumb of comfort for Birmingham here, however, after Bowyer, played on by Gaël Clichy, burst on to Zigic's pass and was brought down by Szczesny as he attempted to round him. It should have been a spot kick and a straight red card. Instead, the assistant referee, Ron Ganfield, wrongly raised his flag for offside and Birmingham were denied playing against a 10-man Arsenal side for 88 minutes.
Source: Stuart James, The Guardian on 27 Feb 11
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