Craig: Players should take responsibility for results
GIANFRANCO Zola takes his Birmingham City team to Molineux tomorrow night in extremely similar circumstances to those surrounding Gary Rowett’s first game in charge of Blues.
Just as they did in November 2014, Birmingham go to Wolverhampton off the back of a demoralising home defeat – and if last weekend’s 4-1 scoreline wasn’t as emphatic as the eight-goal battering Rowett inherited, that was probably mostly due to the opposition.
As good as Queen’s Park Rangers were made to look on Saturday, they were nothing like as rampant as the 2013/2014 champions-elect Bournemouth.
However, the main priority Rowett’s first game is the same weekend – a clean sheet.
Zola’s Blues have become a soft touch defensively and have managed just two in 14 games under the Italian manager. Sheffield Wednesday, Preston and QPR could have scored several times more than they actually did as they exposed familiar failings.
Blues remain highly vulnerable at setpieces – a shortcoming which, to be fair, has spanned the regimes – but at the moment they also seem to perpetually have too much space to cover and too many runners to cope with.
The shifting between three at the back and a back four has given the impression of a lack of clarity, particularly when Paul Robinson and Ryan CRAIG Gardner says it is up to Birmingham City’s players to protect Gianfranco Zola from further criticism.
The midfielder, who spent more than two hours signing autographs and meeting fans at the Blues Store this week, insisted the players must take responsibility for the run of just one win in 14 games.
He is adamant Zola’s squad in this remains fully supportive of the manager in the aftermath of Saturday’s 4-1 home defeat to QPR. “It’s tough but we need to stay strong, stay together, stick with the gaffer,” Gardner admitted. “You have got to look at it. There were six players out (on Saturday). We were digging deep. I know we can’t have excuses but you are talking a strong six players that are out. When the gaffer has got a fully-fit squad to choose from, it will definitely be different.
“We are behind the gaffer. He is a top man. It’s the players that go out there, the players that perform.
“The gaffer can’t keep taking all of the flak. It is up to us to put it right. It’s not just one man; it’s a team of 20. When we put it right it will be good.”
Gardner also rejected the suggestion that Blues’ struggles are down in any way to the tactical changes. Blues have moved between a back three and a back four in their last two matches, both of which were defeats.
However, the 30-year-old says the goals they are conceding are due to basic errors rather than formations.
“You look at the goals we are conceding and it’s not down to the system. But if you look at the games we are controlling – it is down to the system,” he said. The Birmingham Post newspaper is published by BPM Media (Midlands): Floor 6, Fort Dunlop, Birmingham B24 9FF, a subsidiary company of Trinity Mirror PLC: One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AP. Printed at The Fort, Wood Lane, Erdington, Birmingham B24 9PW. Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper.