Problem Tonight Midfield

[Silvio Dante]

First off, that was a bad day at the office all round. There aren’t many who can come out with credit, and we seemed to be overrun by Birmingham most of the game.

What Lee needs to solve is why.

Inherently, what I saw was us being outnumbered and outmanned in midfield. There were two main aspects to that from our perspective - first, Palmer didn’t ever make it a five in midfield which left us overrun. Second, bizarrely, Josh seemed to be the ball carrier from defence more often than normal which left us less combative than normal in the second phase. Add in O’Dowda and Weimann being poor/ineffective together with until 65 minutes an anonymous Pack and we pretty much had no centre. But we lost it in the CM area primarily.

Lessons?

Although I like and rate Palmer, as is now purely in shape and work rate, Pato is the better bet

Josh has to be amongst the true centre of the park constantly.

And finally...don’t overreact. Please Lee. Minor changes, not major surgery next tine out

 

[RedorDead BCFC]

7 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

First off, that was a bad day at the office all round. There aren’t many who can come out with credit, and we seemed to be overrun by Birmingham most of the game.

What Lee needs to solve is why.

Inherently, what I saw was us being outnumbered and outmanned in midfield. There were two main aspects to that from our perspective - first, Palmer didn’t ever make it a five in midfield which left us overrun. Second, bizarrely, Josh seemed to be the ball carrier from defence more often than normal which left us less combative than normal in the second phase. Add in O’Dowda and Weimann being poor/ineffective together with until 65 minutes an anonymous Pack and we pretty much had no centre. But we lost it in the CM area primarily.

Lessons?

Although I like and rate Palmer, as is now purely in shape and work rate, Pato is the better bet

Josh has to be amongst the true centre of the park constantly.

And finally...don’t overreact. Please Lee. Minor changes, not major surgery next tine out

 

Spot on. I thought when Patterson came on we got a bit of spark in our play. 

[BCFC Jimmer]

7 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

 Lee. Minor changes, not major surgery next tine out

 

I think the changes at half time were probably the right call. We were a little unfortunate to concede early second half (was never a free kick).

[Hampshire Red]

How did anyone think seriously KP was better than Pato who has started just about every game on our winning streak. KP may be a good impact sub at home but let's see how he develops.

Many reasons for a bad day at the office not just midfield. Some credit to opponents as always with a loss.

Full backs getting balls into the area has been a strong point this season but about the only statistic other than goals that is meaningful is how hard the opposition goalie has to work. Tonight was poor for us and I don't like the prospect of PNE and Leeds but this season we have broken 'previous' at places like Loftus, Griffin and St Andrews so a good time for a Lancashire 'bounce'

[Alessandro]

Pato has really stepped since KP arrived and is currently more effective.

Unfortunately when Pack is poor, the team is poor. He had a better second half and we improved. 

[winsaw]

Think it showed how week we are in the middle of Pack and Brownhill don't have 8 out of 10 games, as we got no one else to bring on,

Brownhill had his worst game of the season tonight left us over run and unable to create anything resulting in far to many long balls to miss the middle out, a bad night at the office 

[Lew-T]

When is Korey Smith available?

[bexhill reds]

Watching the BCFC TV feed, I think it was Korey doing the co-commentary. He noticed that Brum's front 2 were essentially playing as midfielders when we had the ball, that allowed them to quickly close down any width we created and stifle the play from midfield. 

We seemed to have marginally more success in the 2nd half when both Webster and Kalas were bringing the ball forward themselves, giving more numbers in the middle.

Palmer is probably more suited to playing just behind the striker, he's too much of a liability playing deep.

[And Its Smith]

2 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

When is Korey Smith available?

Will probably not play again this season.  At best he will play last 2-3 games 

[shelts]

Not good enough. Predictable. No leaders tonight . We looked ordinary and if honest against the money and the big boys where punching above our weight while trying to do it on a budget . Takes guts . In it for the long haul . 

[Fordy62]

3 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

When is Korey Smith available?

Next season. 

[Lew-T]

3 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

Next season. 

 

4 minutes ago, RedDave said:

Will probably not play again this season.  At best he will play last 2-3 games 

Fantastic.

[REDOXO]

We lacked energy and a little bit of confidence. 

Also we just don’t score many so conceding two is always likely to mean we get beaten. 

Palmer is supposed to give us a little extra in the final area. However Taylor is the man that actually does!

[simon uk]

Taylor really isnt the answer in midfield or attack, unless the question is who buzzes around and tries to wind people up.

It seems to me that paterson has to play, and weimann is a non scoring striker playing on the wing, while we have a winger in Eliasson who has scored 2 of our goals of the season in the last month, and specialises in wicked balls delivered into the box.

[Super]

I have given up with Weimann. Runs around a lot but produces nothing. Patto was excellent when brought on.

[Sturny]

We were sometimes so slow and predictable, we become so readable with our passes especially for the first 45

[Dullmoan Tone]

Why no midfielder on the bench surely you don’t need a rb, cb and lb or are we really that short of options.

As Korey is unavailable we should be shouting for a fit Walsh.

[Super]

1 minute ago, Dullmoan Tone said:

Why no midfielder on the bench surely you don’t need a rb, cb and lb or are we really that short of options.

As Korey is unavailable we should be shouting for a fit Walsh.

Where is Morrell?

[cityexile]

Birmingham just played a bog standard 442. They executed it really well, Their forwards were still chasing our back line very late on, we huffed and puffed in the last 30, but it was pretty easy for them really to just get men behind the ball and clear the crosses we put in.

We do have a habit at home of just starting so slowly. Today was worse than even that. It was far to easy for them to sit back, wait for us to lose the ball, then break with pace. Other than the Fammy chance, we created virtually nothing in the first half. Birmingham just looked much more 'up for it'.

Maybe two big games on the bounce had drained them a bit, maybe our resukts during the run were flattering how we play a bit, but conceed two poor goals and we were always going to struggle.

[Silvio Dante]

2 minutes ago, Dullmoan Tone said:

Why no midfielder on the bench surely you don’t need a rb, cb and lb or are we really that short of options.

As Korey is unavailable we should be shouting for a fit Walsh.

I think that’s a fair shout. Our unused outfield subs were Hunt, Wright & Kelly.  On the basis of BW being able to cover CB and RB/ Kelly being able to cover LB and CB, you only needed Kelly and one of Wright/Hunt. May have given space for Watkins, Eisa, Semenyo, Morrell etc and a more rounded set of options. 

Probably wouldn’t have changed the ultimate subs made but yes, the bench seemed unbalanced.

[BCFC11]

LJ was the problem tonight not any of the players, none of them actually played that bad, our problem was LJ setting us up like we were the away side at Home again, it’s been the exact same for the last 3 at AG and in all those 3 we’ve been 0-1 at HT, could see after the first 10/15 mins that we’d struggle playing like it but waits until HT to change it and try to rescue it. We are the home side and when we are attacking teams we are a very good side to watch, so until LJ changes it and goes at teams from the first whistle then I can safely say we won’t be in the play offs come the end of the season.

[Davefevs]

Let’s not get into a debate about Pato v Palmer, there are too many variables...and whilst he lost possession in very bad areas, there are (some not all) mitigating circumstances, and of the very small number (three) of bright spots, he was at most (two) of them.  Pato did well when he came on but in a different system....fair play to him...he looks sharp too.  The problem tonight imho was not Palmer instead of Paterson it was a multitude of other factors.

Brum play two up top, if ever there was a need to screen in front them to protect the CBs it was tonight.  I’m not blaming Pack but he didn’t pay in “his cage” tonight.  Brownhill either came too deep or played up alongside Diedhiou.  He wasn’t ever in a position to drive forward with the ball, to break the lines.

Both full-backs and widemen starting positions were too high.

I’m gonna go back to a game earlier this season when I saw the same issue in the first half.  The opppsition made us go wide, shuffled across and denied us the space.  In that game Brownhill played too far forward.

Who was that against?  Birmingham City....the art of playing 442.  The pic above is from the away game.  They make it so hard to get the ball into Diedhiou just the opposite to how we allowed them to get easy ball into Adams and Jutkiewicz.  On that occasion Pack was too deep, tonight it was Palmer coming deep but as he turned inside everyone bar the CBs were past the line of the ball.

Well played Gary Monk.

It wasn’t just that though, they won more / every 50:50....although I think that was a bit of a sign of fatigue (mental and physical), that little half yard here and there, the slight mis-control, symptomatic not being ‘at it”, not through not wanting it, just not being able to.

There are too many other little bits and pieces to moan about.  It was a poor performance full stop.  Very few players coming out in credit.

It ain’t the end of the world.  It’s disappointing.

Hopefully Lee got a good view from the Director’s box.

He never was perfect, but he hasn’t become a bad manager over 9 days either.  It wasn’t about the players picked, it was about the way we played, the way Birmingham played (bloody well - possibly the best away performance at AG this season) to stop us playing.  It’s the Championship, QPR just beat Leeds!

[WolfOfWestStreet]

We have no fit replacements for our Two CMs and we have no replacements for our Two centre forwards. 

Is Mo Eisa injured or just useless, same question for that Hakeem whatshisface 

Again we need to start asking questions about our recruitment or lack there of.

Pack/Brownhill/Fam will burn out, get injured then we really are ******. 

[TonyTonyTony]

Great post Davefevs. We looked tired to me - 2nd best in all areas. No movement. Slow passing. Just lumping diagonal balls into Fam. Palmer needs to be better at the basics and learn the right time to do the flash stuff.

Not a time to over react or panic - cool analysis needed and rest up before Preston. 

[Davefevs]

9 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

I think that’s a fair shout. Our unused outfield subs were Hunt, Wright & Kelly.  On the basis of BW being able to cover CB and RB/ Kelly being able to cover LB and CB, you only needed Kelly and one of Wright/Hunt. May have given space for Watkins, Eisa, Semenyo, Morrell etc and a more rounded set of options. 

Probably wouldn’t have changed the ultimate subs made but yes, the bench seemed unbalanced.

Saved me answering.  No need for 3 defenders on the bench.  If you start with the back 4 tonight, you only need Wright on the bench....If Pisano gets injured, straight swap for Wright.  If the CBs get injured, straight swap for Wright.  If Dasilva gets injured, Pisano goes LB, Wright goes RB.  You then free-up a sub slot for Morrell or Walsh / Smith when fit.

[TonyTonyTony]

4 minutes ago, WolfOfWestStreet said:

Again we need to start asking questions about our recruitment or lack there of

We recruited Palmer and he was crap tonight. Recruiting someone is no guarantee of success. 

[Dman_Red]

The frustrating thing about tonight was that, to me, it mirrored the game at St Andrews, where we stuggled to break down a well organised side.

Pack dropping deep to make a 3 at the back, then firing the 40 yard pass out wide if nothing was on, only for the ball (if it stayed in play) to be sent back to Webster/Kalas when Da Silva/Pisano got the ball.

We seemed to lack ideas and this ‘switch of play’ (if you can call it that, as it looked very pedestrian) didn’t achieve anything. Whilst not particularly pleasing on the eye, we were much more creative in the last 30 mins playing directly.

Unfortunately, this time Birmingham’s front two were a lot sharper than the last game. Which was evident in their build up play and chances created and obviously the score line.

[Chappers]

We have had an amazing run, often winning without playing well. Saturday we came up against an excellent Norwich side, tonight we lost at home to an in-form team that had done its homework. Its the Championship, a very competitive League.