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Reply | Birmingham City
at 09:23 24 Jul 2020
Petition to retire the number 37 in honour of Ulrich Le Pen. |
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Reply | INTERVIEW WITH LEE O'NEILL
at 12:09 22 Feb 2019
Really good this. Positivity around the club and looks like the right decisions being made from the outside have been happening since Hurst left. |
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Reply | I have a confession to make....
at 18:48 20 Dec 2017
It's not quite how it works though, is it? Yes, having money to spend helps, but ultimately it still comes down to the way you coach, the personnel you build and having the environment ready for you.
City have been building for Pep for years - Bringing in Soriano, Txiki and revamping the Academy to a level where they've basically sucked up some of the best talent in the Manchester area.. but also the millions have been used for grassroots & the women's team (which is more than some of the other big teams)
To say Pep's success has either a) ruined the EPL this season (which a colleague of mine said earlier this week) or b) is driven by the money he's spent (100m on full backs LOL!!!!11!1!1) is dumb. City, hell even United, Chelsea, Liverpool & Spurs - have all spent big to try and break into the top 2. But for the last few winners (bar L*icester) the winning team has been built on the style of football - like we were in 14/15 - not names.
Me? I'm just enjoying the level of football and use of space these guys have been playing so far this year. Bits has even begun to overflow into the England team (yes, yes - they're still dull) |
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Reply | I quite enjoyed Saturday
at 12:38 9 Jan 2017
Enjoyed the day out, but was less than happy with our football - first 15-20 of the second half was bad football all round.. We were "played off the pitch", but there was a lot of long balls from them too.
Anyone spot the away lad on the terrace who nearly slipped on the flag, realised he was being foolish and disappeared into the crowd when the stewards shuffled over to him? |
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Thread | Had the weekend. Ready to talk about Saturday..
at 12:34 9 Jan 2017
Was genuinely excited when I saw the teamsheet on Saturday at 2pm when it came out - Turns out, from the get go, you could tell there was something up.
Let's start with the formation..
While 4-4-2 works, against this team, it was obviously clear we had no central midfielder who could stamp their authority on the game. Further to this, the game by-passed them anyway... Anyone else notice how the ball was constantly played up to their big man up top, Rhead? (literally his name, pronounced Reid)
Having Bru/Dozzell is progressive, but does nothing to stamp any level of authority on the game. Both are simply OK, but can be pushed off the ball easily, and not strong in the air. You can add Grant Ward to that list too.
I don't even want to talk about Jonas, but I do want to talk about Berra. He was Actually Bad.
Yes, they scored with their first shot on goal, on target etc. - I have no idea why Webster was the man to mark Rhead, the guy is a mountain. Maybe Emmanuel was supposed to double up on him, hence the angry exchange - But Berra simply does not have the legs to compete with Theo Robinson; easy 1-0 (and I wasn't even surprised when Gerken didn't save it - who, incidentally, had a standard terrible performance in terms of distribution)
Tom Lawrence's first goal was majestic, his second was a thumping effort - but we rarely concerned their goalkeeper (who's kicks almost always found a Imp head - because, again, we didn't want to contest in the air) - Speaking of aerial duels, anyone else notice that Pitman was almost always in two minds between challenging for the first ball or chasing the second? Not seen that before at all..
Sears ran and ran and ran, but didn't get the service - nor did Pitman - and this is partly due to the game completely bypassing Ward and Dozzell in the first period. Did the game call for Douglas? Maybe - if just for a bit of direction on the pitch, but of course MM would have been crucified. Was shocked to see no subs even warm up, but I guess it's fuel for the "false dawn" brigade.
The last 10 minutes.. Hm. There was an obvious swtich, as Ward tucked into a 3 with Dozzell and Bru, with Jonas and Josh pushing on a lot more - Pitman and Sears went wide, and Lawrence was down the middle - and it worked. We had intent, pushed on a bit and very nearly nicked an undeserved win. Sears on the wings is our best option, though many may say he's wasted there, he's one of the only true ball carriers we have.
Kudos to the Lincoln fans - great turnout, was fun to see them enjoying their big day out. The standout moment in the game for me was Emmanuel haring back to make a last ditch challenge on a Lincoln break. What a challenge that was.
Would like to see Chambers return alongside Webster soon, Berra either needs a break or to buck his ideas up. Really poor again - as someone mentioned on Twitter, he's been AWOL since his handball against Norwich.
Though Mick might walk, but I still think end of the seasons will be his moment. All things must end, and we're definitely not doing good. Hoping for some good deals this window - our scouts got Lawrence and Fraser, so I'm hopefully we can grab a couple of decent players. A proper CM, a couple of full-backs and a striker for me. |
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