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Good news: mirror image of first away game last season


Olé

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Exactly a year ago (well, the second game of the season) I wrote about our 2-1 win up at Burton in a way that I would refer back to throughout the season. The reason I did so was because the result and the performance bore no resemblance and it was a vital clue to what lay ahead.
 
I am struck by the parallels today. And I hope they are good ones. We lost, but in a match we were so much more impressive than this time last year, and in which we dominated so much it is inconceivable Birmingham, in their current complexion, could finish above us. This time the omens are all good ones.
 
For 45 minutes it was a total mismatch. We should have been out of sight. The difference in the quality of the football, the passing, the pace, the movement, the self belief, was stark. Birmingham offered absolutely nothing and were fragile at the back. It was not a case of if, but by how much.
 
The first goal showcased everything we would do so well in the first half. Quick passing and movement to cut through the opposition, led by Diedhiou with a combination of quick touch offs to teammates and then aggressive direct running when the space presented. His 1st minute shot crashed off the bar, he followed up in a chaotic box before Reid finished it off.
 
The half would continue this utterly one sided onslaught for 45 minutes. Instinctive touches and overlapping runs from our wingers carved Birmingham up at will. The quick thinking of Pack and Reid and Diedhiou's bundling front running, at times gave us an overload of players in forward positions. It was like playing at a lower league team.
 
We would hit the woodwork once or twice more and Diedhiou, after good work, would lift two shots high and wide, one when clear on goal. We could and should have added to our lead. Birmingham's defence was in disarray, they could not get close to our movement and their outlet was largely shanked balls from their full backs down the wing. 
 
But incredibly, the two teams went in level at half time. Birmingham were getting little joy punting their forwards down the channel, but  although Hegeler had cleared up several balls into the box, on this occasion Pisano (who was stretched all game today) bundled over their man. We consistently had the beating of their forwards in the air, but from our clearance to the edge of the box, our attack minded team weren't quickest to get behind the ball and they knocked a low shot past Frankie.
 
The game was decided at half time. We must have gone off feeling like we were pushing against an open door and only needed to keep doing what we were doing for our superiority to tell. When we came out, it almost felt like we became even more attacking and quick moving with the ball, redoubling an attacking approach like we were owed more from a one sided match and wanted our reward. 
 
For such a great performance it was a fatal bit of naivety or over confidence. We should have expected Harry to adjust and he did. We were so convinced of our visible superiority we just did not readjust to value the position we were in. We went hell for leather for our perceived advantage and instead sacrificed what we had to a team who were as poor as Barnsley were last week. It had all the manner of a cup upset.
 
Harry replaced a hopeless centre back and a hopeless full back. But he also asked the back line as a whole to step up further and close the space between the defence and midfield, that pivotal "hole" in front of the defence we had been running amok in. He also got them to completely shut down Diedhiou and stop the ball being played into him. Almost immediately instead of pushing home out advantage, the match started to turn.
 
We were playing with the same pace and instinct out of midfield but Birmingham were stepping up into our quick touches and lay offs and to make matters worse, in our confidence from the first half, we started playing reckless square balls. Three times we would knock the ball inside in midfield, piling players forward and believing we were about to launch a break, only for Birmingham to spring the trap and steal the ball and race in on goal. The third time it happened I distinctly remember we must have had five players across the front further forward in the Birmingham half.
 
It was cavalier stuff and it deserved to be and was punished. But not before we nearly got the second that might have given us the incentive to actually defend. Another quick passing combination from the left tore through their defence, we actually picked our way looking for the shot before releasing Reid inside the last man. He only had the keeper to beat but his low shot drifted beyond the far post. He is human after all.
 
Johnson still sensed only blood. In his mind it was a match we should have won easily by that point and it must have consumed him. He threw on two new wingers - including Eliason - and had the players pile forward even more. It was fatal. There is no question that Birmingham were a really poor side but we didn't appear to respect the fact they were starting to outwit us in midfield and had grown into the game going forward, with Cotterill now installed on the right, showing real width where previously they were just punting balls down the channel.
 
And so it was Maghoma, their only real threat all game (and more so when Che Evans went off with a hamstring injury) was presented yet another opportunity to break forward from midfield against our attack minded team. We don't have a no nonsense defender, so we stood off and stood off, so he drilled it into the bottom corner. Delirium for Birmingham who would have known this was daylight robbery. The stylish, high tempo, relentless team were now losing to the limited, regressive team playing largely on the break.
 
It was all a bit of a shock and we didn't have an answer. O'Dowda tried to work this way and that to create openings but now the home team had something to defend, they did do. It didn't help of course that we were still picking our way around the box looking for the optimal moment to shoot rather than exhibiting the shoot on sight policy of Birmingham. Several times we'd cause chaos along the edge of the box but without ever producing a serious shot.
 
Before the end Eliason - who played variously wide right and through the middle, and looked fast if a little lightweight - would cut inside and curl a tame shot beyond the far post, while Reid, who doesn't ever seen to tire, crashed a shot off the crossbar from a tight angle. There would also be a red card for upending O'Dowda in a carbon copy of Fulham away last season (he went flying but no one appealed) which if I'm honest looked harsh - in fact truth to tell I did think throughout that the ref gave literally everything our way, I'm not sure what the opposite of a homer is, but if it was the other way round I'd have been annoyed.
 
So there it is. We lost today to a poor side. That could be the cue for alarm bells but I'm always about the performance as much as the result and actually this was a perfect inverse of our first league away game last season. Where at Burton we played badly, looked bereft of ideas going forward, yet came from behind to win 2-1 here we looked sharp, classy, instinctive going forward, but didn't capitalise and surrendered our advantage to lose 2-1.
 
That surely has to be a better sign, regardless of the result? In the end analysis our biggest problem was the lack of a Wilbraham. Diedhiou went from all action to non-existent - mainly due to Harry's adjustments but also because he is still incredibly raw and got found out. What we then needed was a new anchor up front, a target who could hold the ball and let us capitalise on the field position our attacking was creating. Instead we got more wingers, and unsurprisingly it removed outlets for us to actually aim for and left gaps through the middle for them to exploit.
 
But if I had to take a performance between losing today and winning at Burton last season I would take today everytime. Nine times out of ten we win today's game. I'm sure the stats will bear that out. In the end we lost it by not making our first half dominance count and then over committing in the second half against a renewed Birmingham team, in the misguided belief it was just an open door and we only needed to keep pushing...
 
Fielding 8 Some classy saves when it started going against us
Pisano 6 Thought he struggled at times today against more direct players
Bryan 7 Still exhibiting the pace and confidence of last Saturday
Wright 6 Solid but didn't get into people like I thought he might
Hegeler 7 Surprised by how many first balls he won
Pack 6 Started most things but became casual with touches in the second half
Smith 7 Involved in everything as well and pushed up well when we were chasing the game
Brownhill 6 Some good stuff but didn't think he affected the game as much as he has done
Paterson 7 Great in the first half but ran out of steam
Reid 8 Involved in everything, if only he had finished in the second half
Diedhiou 6 A marmite performance. Caused all kinds of problems in the first half, phenomenal in the air, confident on the ball... and then a total passenger in the second half
 
O'Dowda 7 Strong and direct (more than last season) but didn't have much to aim for or at
Eliason 6 Didn't get to do much and not much went through him. Think he'll need some time to adjust.
 
 
 
 
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Great write up Rob.

This can of course be seen as hindsight now but I did worry at the time at 1-1 about the balance of our subs, especially away from home where we do have a poor points return.

Surely one of the 2 wingers, plus O'Neil to help keep it tight would have made more sense?

Sometimes away from home I feel that we need to try and keep what we have, rather than going Gung Ho, as we do need to be a side that doesn't solely rely on our home form..

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Great write up, and saw it exactly as you did, including the sentiment about this being a hopeful sign for the coming season.

You've pinpointed the difference between Diedhiou's two halves and I felt this was crucial. The problem is that at the moment his is the only position we don't have cover for. Had Đurić been fit and on the bench then I think taking him off for the last 25 minutes would have been the obvious move.

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Great post and mirrors much of my thoughts. Game of two halves is an understatement. Really good outlook to compare it to Burton last year, too. We were 2x the team today than that day.

If Reid smashes in on 70 mins, rather than screw the ball wide, then it's a totally different outcome. 

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Great write up, would agree with 99% of it apart from the ref. I thought he was inconsistent - in the first half I thought he was suspiciously biased towards us and continued to be around 10 minutes into the second half when he decided to stop the flow of the game almost entirely. It was a case of one thing wasn't a foul if they did it and it was if we did (and vice versa). Sometimes you could get away with murder and others a tap on the shoulder warranted a free kick which IMO is worse than being biased. I think the red card decision was fair at the time although looking at the highlights it does seem a little harsh. Overall I think he should have let the game flow a lot more in the second half and was too inconsistent

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1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

Great write up Rob.

This can of course be seen as hindsight now but I did worry at the time at 1-1 about the balance of our subs, especially away from home where we do have a poor points return.

Surely one of the 2 wingers, plus O'Neil to help keep it tight would have made more sense?

Sometimes away from home I feel that we need to try and keep what we have, rather than going Gung Ho, as we do need to be a side that doesn't solely rely on our home form..

Agree.

This is why when people go on about win percentages it bugs the hell out of me.  Rather have a 40% win bonus over 10 games with 4 draws, therefore 16 points, than a 50% win bonus with no draws, therefore 15 points.

City (Johnson) doesn't take what he's got, enough.

Wasn't there, so can't comment on performances but swapping the two wide men, especially one who's not played in the hurly burly of championship football, was brave.

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Great write up and promising signs then. I remember your Burton write up well and the warning signs were there; I remember feeling a bit in denial about what you were writing about our hollow performance.

'Surely he can't be right, he's just being negative'

Ultimately though you were right and we ended up struggling despite our good early and late season form.

Didn't go today but I feel we're a more complete and savvy side now. We've got greater depth, our players have more experience and we've strengthened well. Think we'll be ok this season.

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Nice one Rob. 

I was in agreement with your 'performance' assessments last season too. So it's definitely encouraging that there are parallels to start this season. 

However, would the biggest early concern be not the parallels but the similarities? How many times, even during our awful form last season, did we surrender leads? I know it's only one game today, but I'm concerned that the naivety to shut down opponents once we're ahead is still there. 

Performance parallels are encouraging. 

Symptomatic similarities still concern me. 

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I wasn't there but have seen some question whether LJ should've played it safe and gone for the point. Forget that, go for the win imo. This early in the season we should be creating the culture that when we are on top keep it that way. Of course it's only my opinion and I'd be happier had we got the point but by the looks of it we could've and probably should've won this game. I'm glad he didn't change the way we were playing. I hope we play like we did against Barnsley, plymouth and by the sounds of it Birmingham most of the season. We'll be in for a good one if so. Still learning about the squad a bit so it'll all come together soon. Good sign we can play that way away from home

 

 

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Olè, you are one of the few people who post on this forum I actually take seriously when it comes to describing how things are going on the pitch, and last season you had some massive concerns about us early on in the season (even when we were actually doing well in the first month or two).

To read todays synopsis after getting beat gives me a lot of hope. I always thought we would be better than last year as LJ would know the payers better and we haven't had such a huge influx of players to try and bed in ad last year.

The future is looking bright, I just hope we can build and get more consistent as the season goes on.

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9 hours ago, petehinton said:

good outlook to compare it to Burton last year, too. We were 2x the team today than that day.

5 hours ago, RED4LIFE said:

I always thought we would be better than last year as LJ would know the payers better and we haven't had such a huge influx of players to try and bed in

There really are massive differences to this time last season which even I'm surprised by.

In terms of football the problems that appeared early on last season was that we tried to (or could only) play through the middle because we had players like Tomlin and Freeman and few out and out wingers, this was easy to defend against and those who were expected to make us tick - the likes of Pack - had to turn back on themselves and without options ran out of confidence and ideas very quickly. And then came the aimless hoofs upfield.

I haven't seen one long ball yet this season. Along with the high press (which was expected from Johnson last season but never happened) there is an instinctive pass and move in the team this year which means we've played the ball out from Pack and Reid the moment we get it, not giving the opposition time to set. We're not holding the ball in midfield and looking upfield for options. One players touches it, the other runs, it's all drills. 

I assume this is the product of a) relentless practice on pattern of play in pre-season, b) a very strong fitness ethic (this is very evident - Reid looks like he is on drugs) and c) more width and pace in the team. I have also been wondering now how significant Tammy's arrival last season and Kodjia's departure was. From memory Tammy arrived on the eve of the season and hadn't practiced with us in pre-season, and JK left soon after.

Did it shift our whole pattern last season away from the one we had been preparing for? The mantra became get the ball to Tammy (and without any effective width to do so) so we were trying to work the ball simply to feed the goal poacher in the box (and not especially in the air either) which is a predictable game to defend against, compared to overloading the space in front of the opposition defence (4 up pressing) and overlapping with pace.

For example at the moment I would not say we're looking at Diedhiou for goals, he is the foil, the battering ram, the workhorse to create space and uncertainty for others. In some respects what JK would have done for us if he hadn't been sold, but to me Diedhiou is far less selfish, far more team oriented in terms of touches/lay offs, and stronger and better in the air. Conversely he is very raw as a finisher, not a 20 goal striker, and needs coaching.

It will be interesting to see how Johnson plays it once other strikers are fit. At the moment Reid is a revelation, he has the energy for the press and plays his best football in and around the box, it's like he has needed the forward role to feel able to play that game. But what if we try to accommodate a second striker? What we know about Johnson is that it often goes wrong once the tinkering starts. I couldn't say with any certainty what Plan B is.

So I am NOT getting carried away. Birmingham were arguably worse than Barnsley - they were at home for a start and abysmal for 45 - and we are still not converting possession and shots into sufficient reward: when Reid is your most natural finisher, you probably lack someone who can put their foot through the ball as soon as a sight of goal presents. As people know, I'm not sold on LJ, but the football so far is now at least good to watch.

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Although with a bit more composure we should have got something from the game, we were not as threatening in the second half. Harry made effective half time changes and they were better side. So once more, despite the more attractive play, ultimately we were disappointing and came away with nothing. And fwiw I don't think Hegeler is commanding or dominant enough to play CB.

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9 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Agree.

This is why when people go on about win percentages it bugs the hell out of me.  Rather have a 40% win bonus over 10 games with 4 draws, therefore 16 points, than a 50% win bonus with no draws, therefore 15 points.

City (Johnson) doesn't take what he's got, enough.

Wasn't there, so can't comment on performances but swapping the two wide men, especially one who's not played in the hurly burly of championship football, was brave.

'Respect the point' seems to fit. I just don't think we have the players to tighten things up. A powerhouse in midfield would help but I don't think that's LJ's way. More Wenger than Mourinho.

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8 hours ago, Harry said:

Nice one Rob. 

I was in agreement with your 'performance' assessments last season too. So it's definitely encouraging that there are parallels to start this season. 

However, would the biggest early concern be not the parallels but the similarities? How many times, even during our awful form last season, did we surrender leads? I know it's only one game today, but I'm concerned that the naivety to shut down opponents once we're ahead is still there. 

Performance parallels are encouraging. 

Symptomatic similarities still concern me. 

The question for me is whether the symptomatic bit is tactical or mental. Maybe both?

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Thanks, @Olé - as ever, a tremendous read, and being your thinking on our early season performances last time round turned out to be prophetic, I'm cheered by the contrasting thoughts here.

I listened but didn't watch, and haven't seen highlights, but did think LJ saying post-match he wished he'd had Đurić to hand to throw on at the end me was interesting - gives me the feeling we may have the pieces to counter the issues today (i.e. no replacement for Famara, inability to go direct), just are being stymied by injury.

Roll on Brentford.  Sure they'll be keen to get something after two defeats in a row, but hope we can bounce back ourselves.

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Very interesting analysis. Thanks @Olé. Wasn't there yesterday and thanks for helping to put flesh on the bones of a match followed on text and the limited highlights available thus far. A high energy high pressing game as played in the first half against Barnsley and, it seems, again in the first half yesterday, is an exciting watch. Fair play to LJ for attempting it and for, apparently, recruiting a squad that can deliver. I can't help feeling though that across a Championship season a more sober plan B is required, if only to hold on to what an energetic first half might deliver. The story of last season was one of disappointing and predictable collapses. For those not at the match yesterday's result had a certain inevitability about it...

It would be good to add "seeing the game out" to the tactical armoury...

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I'm confident if we were able to bring on Milan and Eliasson, we'd have won that.

Eliasson put in a few decent balls which Milan would have loved.

promising signs though so far this year. I think we are finally seeing what a 'Johnson team' looks like. The trouble was last year was we seemed to have a plan b, c, d but. I actual solid plan a.

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In fairness to LJ once Che Adams went off I thought their goal threat had gone. He brings on the wide men and whilst I personally would have left Brownhill on he was so close to this debate about tactics not being an issue. I know it's what ifs but the margins between tactical genius and clown are so fine. Reid scores the sitter and we win.

 

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Agree with most of that apart from Pisano who I thought was our best defender on the day. He dealt with their biggest threat (Maghoma) very well, the goal came from Elliason not keeping up with him as he cut inside rather than Pisano. A solid 7+ from me.

Also I don't think the referee got a lot wrong.

It's only one game but we have to make sure we don't become a hard luck story. We were simply excellent in the first half, time and time again we opened them up with neat, quick, slick football. We must ensure we do not lose games like that too often as all Birmingham had was a long ball and a set piece threat.

I'm optimistic that we can be consistent enough to finish just above the bottom 6 or so but we must not lose too many games from winning positions.

COYR.

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As ever @Olé a very well written post and I find myself agreeing with the vast majority of points you make.

We did play well (certainly for 45 minutes at least) and I agree it was certainly a better performance than a year ago at Burton. Some of the football played around the edge of their box was exceptional and reminded me of the first half at Derby last season.

However the cynic/pessimist in me has to point out that on a day we played well against a team that I thought was utter crap we managed to take no points. We all know there will be days this season when we play poorly and we also know we will come across teams at this level that on the day are just too good for us. If we can't even take a point on a day we've played well against poor opposition then as much as I absolutely agree with seeing the game as much more than just looking at the scoreline (certainly at this early stage) I can't help but seeing cause for concern.

Similar to that Derby game I mentioned (although nowhere near as stark obviously) the game changed second half when their manager changed things and played an extra man in midfield. I actually do slightly disagree with your comment about no long balls as second half with less time on the ball I do feel we did start to go a bit long to Diedhiou.

Pretty much as ever with City I thought we showed a soft underbelly as the opposition don't seem to have to ever put as much pressure on our goal as we do on theirs to score and there is a clear and obvious lack of goals in the team. That leads me to think that unfortunately there could maybe be a few more hard luck stories this season. 

I thought we also really did lack a Wilbs on the bench to bring on either to replace Diedhiou who I thought faded or to come on and give him a hand up top. 

A slight aside, and I'm not by any means suggesting it would have definitely worked, but a goal down against ten men surely it was worth giving Hinds a run for ten minutes? I expect he'll be high on confidence after Tuesday and surely in that situation there is nothing to lose? With two wingers on the pitch and again only playing against ten men maybe even throwing Baker on upfront late on?

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13 hours ago, Olé said:
Exactly a year ago (well, the second game of the season) I wrote about our 2-1 win up at Burton in a way that I would refer back to throughout the season. The reason I did so was because the result and the performance bore no resemblance and it was a vital clue to what lay ahead.
 
I am struck by the parallels today. And I hope they are good ones. We lost, but in a match we were so much more impressive than this time last year, and in which we dominated so much it is inconceivable Birmingham, in their current complexion, could finish above us. This time the omens are all good ones.
 
For 45 minutes it was a total mismatch. We should have been out of sight. The difference in the quality of the football, the passing, the pace, the movement, the self belief, was stark. Birmingham offered absolutely nothing and were fragile at the back. It was not a case of if, but by how much.
 
The first goal showcased everything we would do so well in the first half. Quick passing and movement to cut through the opposition, led by Diedhiou with a combination of quick touch offs to teammates and then aggressive direct running when the space presented. His 1st minute shot crashed off the bar, he followed up in a chaotic box before Reid finished it off.
 
The half would continue this utterly one sided onslaught for 45 minutes. Instinctive touches and overlapping runs from our wingers carved Birmingham up at will. The quick thinking of Pack and Reid and Diedhiou's bundling front running, at times gave us an overload of players in forward positions. It was like playing at a lower league team.
 
We would hit the woodwork once or twice more and Diedhiou, after good work, would lift two shots high and wide, one when clear on goal. We could and should have added to our lead. Birmingham's defence was in disarray, they could not get close to our movement and their outlet was largely shanked balls from their full backs down the wing. 
 
But incredibly, the two teams went in level at half time. Birmingham were getting little joy punting their forwards down the channel, but  although Hegeler had cleared up several balls into the box, on this occasion Pisano (who was stretched all game today) bundled over their man. We consistently had the beating of their forwards in the air, but from our clearance to the edge of the box, our attack minded team weren't quickest to get behind the ball and they knocked a low shot past Frankie.
 
The game was decided at half time. We must have gone off feeling like we were pushing against an open door and only needed to keep doing what we were doing for our superiority to tell. When we came out, it almost felt like we became even more attacking and quick moving with the ball, redoubling an attacking approach like we were owed more from a one sided match and wanted our reward. 
 
For such a great performance it was a fatal bit of naivety or over confidence. We should have expected Harry to adjust and he did. We were so convinced of our visible superiority we just did not readjust to value the position we were in. We went hell for leather for our perceived advantage and instead sacrificed what we had to a team who were as poor as Barnsley were last week. It had all the manner of a cup upset.
 
Harry replaced a hopeless centre back and a hopeless full back. But he also asked the back line as a whole to step up further and close the space between the defence and midfield, that pivotal "hole" in front of the defence we had been running amok in. He also got them to completely shut down Diedhiou and stop the ball being played into him. Almost immediately instead of pushing home out advantage, the match started to turn.
 
We were playing with the same pace and instinct out of midfield but Birmingham were stepping up into our quick touches and lay offs and to make matters worse, in our confidence from the first half, we started playing reckless square balls. Three times we would knock the ball inside in midfield, piling players forward and believing we were about to launch a break, only for Birmingham to spring the trap and steal the ball and race in on goal. The third time it happened I distinctly remember we must have had five players across the front further forward in the Birmingham half.
 
It was cavalier stuff and it deserved to be and was punished. But not before we nearly got the second that might have given us the incentive to actually defend. Another quick passing combination from the left tore through their defence, we actually picked our way looking for the shot before releasing Reid inside the last man. He only had the keeper to beat but his low shot drifted beyond the far post. He is human after all.
 
Johnson still sensed only blood. In his mind it was a match we should have won easily by that point and it must have consumed him. He threw on two new wingers - including Eliason - and had the players pile forward even more. It was fatal. There is no question that Birmingham were a really poor side but we didn't appear to respect the fact they were starting to outwit us in midfield and had grown into the game going forward, with Cotterill now installed on the right, showing real width where previously they were just punting balls down the channel.
 
And so it was Maghoma, their only real threat all game (and more so when Che Evans went off with a hamstring injury) was presented yet another opportunity to break forward from midfield against our attack minded team. We don't have a no nonsense defender, so we stood off and stood off, so he drilled it into the bottom corner. Delirium for Birmingham who would have known this was daylight robbery. The stylish, high tempo, relentless team were now losing to the limited, regressive team playing largely on the break.
 
It was all a bit of a shock and we didn't have an answer. O'Dowda tried to work this way and that to create openings but now the home team had something to defend, they did do. It didn't help of course that we were still picking our way around the box looking for the optimal moment to shoot rather than exhibiting the shoot on sight policy of Birmingham. Several times we'd cause chaos along the edge of the box but without ever producing a serious shot.
 
Before the end Eliason - who played variously wide right and through the middle, and looked fast if a little lightweight - would cut inside and curl a tame shot beyond the far post, while Reid, who doesn't ever seen to tire, crashed a shot off the crossbar from a tight angle. There would also be a red card for upending O'Dowda in a carbon copy of Fulham away last season (he went flying but no one appealed) which if I'm honest looked harsh - in fact truth to tell I did think throughout that the ref gave literally everything our way, I'm not sure what the opposite of a homer is, but if it was the other way round I'd have been annoyed.
 
So there it is. We lost today to a poor side. That could be the cue for alarm bells but I'm always about the performance as much as the result and actually this was a perfect inverse of our first league away game last season. Where at Burton we played badly, looked bereft of ideas going forward, yet came from behind to win 2-1 here we looked sharp, classy, instinctive going forward, but didn't capitalise and surrendered our advantage to lose 2-1.
 
That surely has to be a better sign, regardless of the result? In the end analysis our biggest problem was the lack of a Wilbraham. Diedhiou went from all action to non-existent - mainly due to Harry's adjustments but also because he is still incredibly raw and got found out. What we then needed was a new anchor up front, a target who could hold the ball and let us capitalise on the field position our attacking was creating. Instead we got more wingers, and unsurprisingly it removed outlets for us to actually aim for and left gaps through the middle for them to exploit.
 
But if I had to take a performance between losing today and winning at Burton last season I would take today everytime. Nine times out of ten we win today's game. I'm sure the stats will bear that out. In the end we lost it by not making our first half dominance count and then over committing in the second half against a renewed Birmingham team, in the misguided belief it was just an open door and we only needed to keep pushing...
 
Fielding 8 Some classy saves when it started going against us
Pisano 6 Thought he struggled at times today against more direct players
Bryan 7 Still exhibiting the pace and confidence of last Saturday
Wright 6 Solid but didn't get into people like I thought he might
Hegeler 7 Surprised by how many first balls he won
Pack 6 Started most things but became casual with touches in the second half
Smith 7 Involved in everything as well and pushed up well when we were chasing the game
Brownhill 6 Some good stuff but didn't think he affected the game as much as he has done
Paterson 7 Great in the first half but ran out of steam
Reid 8 Involved in everything, if only he had finished in the second half
Diedhiou 6 A marmite performance. Caused all kinds of problems in the first half, phenomenal in the air, confident on the ball... and then a total passenger in the second half
 
O'Dowda 7 Strong and direct (more than last season) but didn't have much to aim for or at
Eliason 6 Didn't get to do much and not much went through him. Think he'll need some time to adjust.
 
 
 
 

I agree with your assessment wholeheartedly, this performance had last season written all over it and even LJ has acknowledged that.

Some of our build up play was great, but several times we over egged the pudding, our shooting, crossing, free kicks and corners were for the most part poor all game and that is an area that desperately needs to improve, as does our decision making especially in midfield.

This may sound harsh but I would bring Baker in to replace Hegeler but put Pack on notice that another under par performance on Tuesday and Hegeler will replace him at half time, Eliasson for Patterson and tell Brownhill to cut out the tricks and play it safe

I will amend some of your ratings though.

Fielding 6 - His kicking is a disaster waiting to happen.

Pisano 8 - had a solid game.

Bryan 7 - Agree with your assessment.

Wright 6 - Was ok.

Hegeler 6 - his best stuff was in midfield, not a centre back, thankfully Baker can remedy that.

Pack 5 - Frustrating involved in lots of good things but reverted back to last seasons casual sloppiness, being caught out to far upfield leaving the midfield exposed.

Smith 8 - My MOM best midfielder on the field today.

Brownhill 5 - I though the game passed him by, I can see a great player in there but needs to cut out the clever flicks in tight games.

Patterson 5 - ok going forward but a liability defensively.

Reid 7 - Always a threat especially in the first half but should have scored a hatrick.

Diedhiou 6 - His work rate and willingness is great but was too greedy in build up's and needs more composure in front of goal.

O'Dowda 5 - Not championship ready.

Eliasson 5 - need to see more of him but certainly willing.

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52 minutes ago, bearded_red said:

However the cynic/pessimist in me has to point out that on a day we played well against a team that I thought was utter crap we managed to take no points.

As a theme or summary this did also occur to me! 

You are absolutely right, Birmingham were comically embarrassing in the first half, and it was daylight robbery that we've not taken anything from the game. So there was some early season indifference in my view, if it was later in the season and we understood more what points meant to the table, I may have been more frustrated.

But the quality and manner of our football (or at least our Plan A) was so much better than what I commented so frequently on last season that I thought it I deserved to be the feature. Also, in a way, with the one sided pre-season, I'm not sure outcomes like yesterday aren't useful little jolts. Imagine the delusion if we'd won big again.

Regarding Hinds, I think everyone wondered why he didn't come on, because what we lacked in those last 10, as evidenced by O'Dowda repeatedly cutting in from the wing and leading a merry dance weaving along the edge of the box, was anyone whose first instinct was to leather it on goal. There wasn't an out and out finisher there.

I guess the answer to that is who would you have taken off? The obvious choice was Diedhiou but I assume that Johnson felt that he could still be a something out of nothing man, particularly with balls coming in from Eliasson. I think that underestimated how lost Diedhiou had become - that should be our biggest post-mortem IMO. 

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1 hour ago, Red Exile said:

Very interesting analysis. Thanks @Olé. Wasn't there yesterday and thanks for helping to put flesh on the bones of a match followed on text and the limited highlights available thus far. A high energy high pressing game as played in the first half against Barnsley and, it seems, again in the first half yesterday, is an exciting watch. Fair play to LJ for attempting it and for, apparently, recruiting a squad that can deliver. I can't help feeling though that across a Championship season a more sober plan B is required, if only to hold on to what an energetic first half might deliver. The story of last season was one of disappointing and predictable collapses. For those not at the match yesterday's result had a certain inevitability about it...

It would be good to add "seeing the game out" to the tactical armoury...

Which will be one area where we will miss Wilbs IMO.

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