Arsenal are perhaps still licking their wounds after losing the League Cup final to Manchester City last month, but it’s not an altogether new experience for the club.
It was their third such loss at that stage of the competition in 15 years, having succumbed to City back in 2018, but their 2011 experience was perhaps more frustrating.
In front of nearly 89,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Arsene Wenger’s side were defeated by a Birmingham City side that will go down in history.
Alex McLeish reveals how he beat Arsenal in the 2011 League Cup final
The triumphant manager that day was Alex McLeish, who oversaw his side cancel out a Robin van Persie goal with an effort from Nikola Zigic and a last-gasp winner courtesy of Obafemi Martins.
“Arsenal had changed the game a little at that time,” McLeish tells FourFourTwo now, “with their full-backs playing like wingers and their wingers moving inside to support the strikers.
Happy Obafemi Martins Day! 🎉We wish the former striker many happy returns on his birthday. 💙🏆 pic.twitter.com/k1fvh2bxYEOctober 28, 2020
“It was a whirlwind, fantastic football. But we had a whole week to prepare. The main thing was the discipline of the players in terms of their opponents.”
The Scotsman instructed his full-backs, Stephen Carr and Liam Ridgewell, to follow the Gunners’ wingers inside, while telling his wide men to track their full-backs when they jump up to become wingers – it worked a treat.
“I was proud of that plan,” McLeish said. “For it to work in a final against such a high-level team as Arsenal. One of my best achievements.”
It was a historic tale, and should have been a perfect campaign for the Blues, but that same season, they were relegated from the Premier League, and are still yet to return 15 years on.
“It was tragic,” the former Birmingham boss admits. “This may seem a little bit strange, but after we won the League Cup final, there was no celebration.
“We should have really had the players on an open-top bus through Birmingham. That would have given the team a boost right when we needed it in the league.”
The Midlands outfit were hit by injury, with Zigic, one of the scorers at Wembley, a huge miss during that critical end-of-season run.
“After the final, one or two struggled to get back to form as well,” McLeish continued. “That’s where the bus parade might have helped.
“We had a shot at staying up on the final day, then we heard Wolves had got the goal they needed and that was it. That day was one of the worst of my career.”
They say football is a game of ups and downs; Birmingham experienced the entire spectrum that season.
