| Reflections 07:53 - Aug 9 with 1099 views | _clive_baker_ |
In the middle we were a bit of a Jack Taylor of all trades, and dare I say Matusiwa of none last night.
Slight exaggeration on the latter, Azor had a rough night though. Out of possession I thought he did ok, covered the ground and had his fair share of interceptions, but left a lot to be desired with the ball. Ponderous, sloppy, didn’t look especially comfortable taking possession in tight areas. I’m sure it’ll come for him but he needs to improve on that performance.
Really felt like a disjointed team performance from what was a bit of a ramshackle side between both boxes, Clarke has a lot of ability on the ball when he’s facing goal but when he’s facing his own he needs to look after the ball better. He’s as weak as a kitten, I’m not sure it was the game for him particularly against the intensity of that Brum side. Still strikes me as one of those flat track bullies, he’s a bit more Preston at home than games like last night where we need a bit more discipline and guile.
Defensively we looked solid though for the most part and ensured Palmer didn’t have a whole load to do, O’Shea is a hell of a defender and Leif played well I thought. Young looks a cut above technically and as you would expect completely unflustered, I’d like to see him make that spot his own.
A solid enough point to start the season, if we can take 4 points off sides like that we’ll do well. Not a vintage display but a result that works.
As for the Brum fans, absolute scum. Some little chump spat on my mates shoulder post match, and soon shat his pants when called out on it. Knuckle dragging c***s. |  | | |  |
| Reflections on 08:08 - Aug 9 with 984 views | seblue78 |
Slightly concerned by last night. We got away with that. Shows we’ve lots to do to get up to the level needed. You’d never have known we were in the prem and them in L1. They bossed it I thought despite not creating much. They weren’t even that great compared to what we were facing last season, but they certainly wanted it more. V different feel to us v Sunderland in our first game back in the champ, where they looked better than us but we had that winning mentality/momentum. May be a blessing in disguise as it will have emphasised to KM even more what is needed. All this uncertainty over Omari, HH, Akpom etc must be tricky. Still a lot of work to do. Keep the faith. A point away at brum not to be sniffed at I suppose. |  | | |
| Reflections on 08:41 - Aug 9 with 836 views | Smoresy |
Only one I didn't see was Leif, at least from an attacking perspective, whose touch consistently let him down I thought in forward positions and so didn't offer much support there. Their RB is probably the fastest player in the league mind so was always up against it. | | | |
| Reflections on 08:44 - Aug 9 with 809 views | TractorJack |
Very true about Clarke with his back to goal. It was similar with the Szmod and Ogbene at times. It's such a massive drop off when Omari isn't in the team and was desperately needed to cycle possession and just keep the momentum away from them. |  | | |
| Reflections on 08:53 - Aug 9 with 763 views | revdrb |
I think the gk and defence that finished the game are really solid. Hope Young can play many minutes
Hirst is growing into an excellent CF imo
Sam and Mass would have controlled the game more. I think Jens would have made a difference last night
Felt relieved when Broadhead and Chaplin came on because I felt we could rely on them.
I actually felt AAH made a really good impact
Agree with your comments re JC
Overall, difficult game, good character, difficult squad circumstances in build up to game. Team still fighting for manager and each other.
Felt happy with the result but very much need those squad additions | | | |
| Reflections on 08:59 - Aug 9 with 716 views | Swansea_Blue |
I was quite surprised at how unlike a team we looked. We didn’t have many new players in that starting 11, so that was a bit of a surprise. The lack of intensity and being so far off thebpace was the most worrying thing. We didn’t well last time by running harder and for longer. No sign of that last night. |  |
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| Reflections on 09:02 - Aug 9 with 694 views | Churchman |
I have been to St Andrews only once - late 70s/early 80s? It was nicknamed the graveyard at the time and I thought then that the supporters were the pits of the earth. We swore never to go back and never did - it was just unpleasant in every way. A lot worse than Millwall at the old Den.
As for spitting, that’s beyond awful. Worse than being thumped. The bit of filth that did that deserved to be called out.
I like Hawthorns, Villa Park and Molyneux (ok Wolverhampton is a dump you’d invite the Germans to bomb for old times sake) and Birmingham centre has improved. But somehow, Birmingham City will always be a sht pit of a club followed by knuckle dragging dregs. |  | | |
| Reflections on 09:05 - Aug 9 with 651 views | wrightsrightglove |
It’s going to take a bit of time, but all of the core ingredients are there for McKenna to work with. I’m confident Matusiwa will come good and well look far better with Jens beside him. Ogbebe looked like he was lacking fitness, hopefully he can get up to speed quickly. It’s going to take a while for players to develop those relationships with each other, there were too many slightly over / under hit passes and things weren’t quite clicking.
Clarke is the biggest worry for me from yesterday, he’s had a year under McKenna and a full pre-season but still doesn’t seem to impact the game in our setup and is incredibly lightweight against physical teams | | | |
| Reflections on 09:09 - Aug 9 with 610 views | NthQldITFC |
| Reflections on 08:59 - Aug 9 by Swansea_Blue |
I was quite surprised at how unlike a team we looked. We didn’t have many new players in that starting 11, so that was a bit of a surprise. The lack of intensity and being so far off thebpace was the most worrying thing. We didn’t well last time by running harder and for longer. No sign of that last night. |
It's the loss of Morsy's leadership from the middle that is, at the moment, the biggest factor. We'll put a few wins together and everything will start purring again soon. |  |
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| Reflections on 09:37 - Aug 9 with 539 views | BloomBlue |
We didnt have the understanding we had last time in the championship. But that had come from the fact the team had played together for an entire season.
Those times when Chaplin with his back goal facing left would, without looking, go the opposite direction and play the ball to the right to no one. With most Town fans thinking wtf, only for Burns to appear from nowhere and bang a dangerous ball into the box. Chaplin, knew without look Burns would get there, that telepathy was built over time.
We then completely changed the team/squad last season, and the players take time to build up that understanding. Anybody who thinks you can put a load of players together for a few weeks in preseason and expecting them to have full understanding on the first game doesn't understand football.
We've had to change players again, and I wasnt surprised once we brought on the subs who have been here a couple of seasons the team suddenly had a better understanding.
Liverpool never brought a single player last season and they walked the Prem. Even though all the experts said they never would if they didnt strengthen. It just proves, understanding is invariably superior to individual ability.
People also need to remember the saying, football is 5% skill 95% confidence. I'll admit I didnt think confidence would be hit as hard, but I felt a lot of the players were still stuck in the constant defeats from the PL. My mate said after the last game last season, that defeat which was a dead rubber between 2 teams would be extra bad for Town. Ie all we had to play for was pride and a home win and the players couldn't even achieve that.
Jack Clarke looked like a player who could only remember that terrible pass he did for that Man City goal and wanted to be 120% certain he wasn't going to do it again, which gave Brum enough time to tackle him. Szmodics, from his last season at Blackburn hits the target with that chance he had in the 1st half. Not saying its a goal as the GK could save, but the Blackburn version of Szmodics, 100% hits the target, he half snatches at the change, confidence again is an issue.
Strangely that game and the fact we came back and got a draw I think will do more for confidence than anything |  | | |
| Reflections on 10:28 - Aug 9 with 473 views | Mullet |
Sorry about that. I’ve only been spat at twice at football, it’s one of the few things to make me lose my head. Glad you lot handled it better.
I thought Matisuwa played a couple of clever passes throughout last night but they didn’t always go on the same wavelength as those he wanted to find. One or two cushioned headers under pressure cut through the onrushing blues.
For me the biggest issue was how bad Taylor was in the middle. He seems such a nice bloke and not crap, but he has no role or clue what his role is to me. Defensive awareness is non existent at times.
Jens will be massive on the training ground. A class player, physical presence and back with his old mate I can see us being totally different with those two in. |  |
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| Reflections on 11:22 - Aug 9 with 369 views | SomethingBlue |
We got away with one there, didn't we. I wouldn't have got on the bus if offered that result – the best thing to be said is that a very difficult game is safely out of the way and we've another week to sort ourselves out. I would be shocked if we were that disjointed or threadbare again this season but there is clearly a hell of a lot to do and nobody can pretend the transfer window has gone remotely to plan so far.
Thought Matusiwa struggled with having someone up his backside whenever the ball came near him but showed enough to suggest he can adapt and be very good for us. Had next to no help from Taylor, who was almost as hologram-like as Jack Clarke. We were milky all round and that is a concern.
The right flank really worries me, I don't see a solution out there that I like at the moment.
Also wondering how long we can sustain a keeper like Palmer who just isn't comfortable enough playing out.
Birmingham – intense, probably tried to play more than I'd expected, decent in the middle but didn't really offer a lot. Expected a little more threat and I don't know if they'll sustain a promotion bid with that group, let's see.
No harm to show that, even if a bit fortunately, we can stay in a game where we've been dogsh7t and nick a point at the end. That part sets a decent tone for a group that's changed a lot. Big few weeks now though for Ashton and those striking the deals – we have to do a lot better than we have in the past three months. [Post edited 9 Aug 11:23]
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| Reflections on 14:24 - Aug 9 with 164 views | reusersfreekicks |
| Reflections on 11:22 - Aug 9 by SomethingBlue |
We got away with one there, didn't we. I wouldn't have got on the bus if offered that result – the best thing to be said is that a very difficult game is safely out of the way and we've another week to sort ourselves out. I would be shocked if we were that disjointed or threadbare again this season but there is clearly a hell of a lot to do and nobody can pretend the transfer window has gone remotely to plan so far.
Thought Matusiwa struggled with having someone up his backside whenever the ball came near him but showed enough to suggest he can adapt and be very good for us. Had next to no help from Taylor, who was almost as hologram-like as Jack Clarke. We were milky all round and that is a concern.
The right flank really worries me, I don't see a solution out there that I like at the moment.
Also wondering how long we can sustain a keeper like Palmer who just isn't comfortable enough playing out.
Birmingham – intense, probably tried to play more than I'd expected, decent in the middle but didn't really offer a lot. Expected a little more threat and I don't know if they'll sustain a promotion bid with that group, let's see.
No harm to show that, even if a bit fortunately, we can stay in a game where we've been dogsh7t and nick a point at the end. That part sets a decent tone for a group that's changed a lot. Big few weeks now though for Ashton and those striking the deals – we have to do a lot better than we have in the past three months. [Post edited 9 Aug 11:23]
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Like others my main concerns are Johnson, Taylor and Clarke. Thought the latter was getting better towards the end of last season but he was poor yesterday. Whether it's cos of how we set up or how he plays or both I don't know. The 3 behind Hurst were all really poor. Chaplin did more in his cameo at the end.
Frimmers said somewhere about us buying the best of the championship and chucking them together and it does feel like that. Our identity seems to have gone.. I am not that optimistic today though I do think the new midfielder will be fine when he has adapted to the championship [Post edited 9 Aug 14:26]
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