Project Manager : A tiger or a scapegoat

Hi friends,
I am going to discusss common day issues of a project manager. Many times, a PM faces catch 22 situations where he cannot go forward to his team nor can he go back to his sponsors . Although he knows what is the problem and who is causing it, he is effectively trapped.
I am working as PM in a IT company and was faced with a similar issue recently. The project was an IT outsourcing project and the initial plan was made to do the project onsite in Singapore due to the criticality of the environment. Client was also told the same as he was quite worried on the methodology of project implementation. But at the last moment, company decided to do it fully offshore through conference calls to save travel costs. It was a shocker for me as well as for the client. I contested my company on the risks which may arise due to this approach but the company was rigid. So I told the client on the change of plans. This increased client's worries more and client also contested the new approach.
Now I being the face of my company , had no choice but to forward my companies decisions but in the hindsight, I knew that I am inviting trouble for me during project implementation. Full Implementation of project on conf calls is a difficult task and can leave lots of gap in understanding.
So client did not agree to this approach . He asked me privately of my opinion and whether I was the one making this decision. I had gained some trust with the client so he wanted to make sure whether I am ok with this approach. This caught me in a serious conflict of interest.
I preferred to remain neutral and let seniors in my company decide the approach and convince the client.I had to implement the project so did not want to engage in any confrontation in the start of the project.In the end ,the project was done half onsite and half offshore . It was completed on time and top qulaity fashion. But the project sponsor complained against PM i.e. me for trying to influence the client for onsite implementation. I tried to explain that it was their original plan which originally set client;s expectation but according to them , it was my responsibility to ensure that company's decisions are implemented.
So in the end, client sent me a appreciation mail for excellent job I did as PM and the project sponsor internally sent an escalation to my reporting manager :) .

I dont know what I could have done differently rather than being neutral at that point of time. May be some of you can suggest some smart way of dealing with such situations .

Cheers,
Montoo