Birmingham City at home match day thread

[Ivorguy]

1 hour ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

As a big Pearson fan, I don't want to believe there's a serious rift between manager and owner! 

Pearson might accuse me of being an ostrich though !!!

I also am a Pearson fan, but feel problems may go further than SL and NP relations

[Roger Red Hat]

41 minutes ago, italian dave said:

I’m not anti-NP, I’ll support anyone who’s a manager of City, but I do find it tedious how he is always quick to criticise players but never takes any responsibility himself,

He said more than once, "I'm the manager and its down to me".

[Loosey Boy]

After that today…..how many more points do we need to be safe?

Deflating day all round….

[David Brent]

Nothing to add other than that the Birmingham fans were a disappointment. Heard nothing other than “I can’t read, I can’t write” in the first 2 minutes. Up there with the worst to visit Ashton Gate this season 

[old_eastender]

16 minutes ago, Roger Red Hat said:

He said more than once, "I'm the manager and its down to me".

I would have liked him to acknowledge he got it wrong expecting Sam Bell to play RB, simply because he did!

 

 

[Roger Red Hat]

Just now, old_eastender said:

I would have liked him to acknowledge he got it wrong expecting Sam Bell to play RB, simply because he did!

 

 

I'm sure you would. But then again you would have liked him to acknowledge he was wrong to play Chris Martin, on several occasions, even though it would have been wrong to acknowledge that!

[Midred]

1 hour ago, RedEyez said:

He picks them . He literally doesn’t have a Games console controller on the edge of the pitch controlling their every move and action.

The midfield in the first half were well of it .

At least if it was subbuteo they'd get a clip round the ear every few minutes! 

[Waconda]

37 minutes ago, Roger Red Hat said:

I'm sure you would. But then again you would have liked him to acknowledge he was wrong to play Chris Martin, on several occasions, even though it would have been wrong to acknowledge that!

He played an 18 year old centre forward at RWB FFS !!!! and promptly blames absolutely everyone else for no making up for his ridiculous selection.

Really needs to start taking some responsibility.

Far too much of "They" said or implied and nowhere near enough of "We".

Edited March 5, 2022 by VT05763

[Roger Red Hat]

Just now, VT05763 said:

He played an 18 year old centre forward at RWB FFS !!!! and promptly blames absolutely everyone else for no making up for his ridiculous selection.

Really needs to start taking some responsibility.

Far too much of "They" said or implied and no where near enough of "We".

What do you understand about the comment "I'm the manager and its down to me"?

[Waconda]

2 hours ago, italian dave said:

He picks them. We looked far more effective with a midfield of Scott, Benarous, Massengo and Weimann last time out at the Gate than we did with todays more ‘experienced’ lot. 

I have said it before and today was proved right, you can't have a Championship midfield with James and Williams in it.

No where near dynamic and energetic enough. Embarrassing at times today. 

Edited March 5, 2022 by VT05763

[Northern Red]

Up The City!

[Wrongagain]

Williams and James are experiment that’s failed - last number 8 that was so bad was LJ.

We see the season out and go again, hopefully next season we can sow the seeds of a recovery rather than building a rest home for past it pals of NP

[WECANDO]

4 hours ago, Super said:

Pearson doing him no favours.

Nobody helping Bell in midfield or upfront. Why doesn't Semenyo come Bells way. Bell has no options other than to pass backwards.

[SouthS22]

2 hours ago, The Coach said:

What would you like him to say? 

How about this - Sorry to all the fans today, I got the tactics totally wrong and I set the team up badly for the game.  I made a pretty average team in Birmingham City look like they were in a higher division than us and I was out-thought by Lee Bowyer who made me look tactically inept.   Playing Sam Bell at right back was an unbelievably poor decision on my part and I apologise for any negative effects the game has had on his confidence.  In light of the continued terrible defending which I haven’t been able to address in over a year at the club, I’m seriously considering whether my best years in management are a long way behind me.  I take full responsibility for the substandard performance of the team over the season and I pledge to all I can to make use of the talent I have in the squad to improve our league position over the last 10 games.  If I can’t do that I will do the decent thing and step aside for a more competent replacement.  

[The Constant Rabbit]

 

[pillred]

1 hour ago, SouthS22 said:

How about this - Sorry to all the fans today, I got the tactics totally wrong and I set the team up badly for the game.  I made a pretty average team in Birmingham City look like they were in a higher division than us and I was out-thought by Lee Bowyer who made me look tactically inept.   Playing Sam Bell at right back was an unbelievably poor decision on my part and I apologise for any negative effects the game has had on his confidence.  In light of the continued terrible defending which I haven’t been able to address in over a year at the club, I’m seriously considering whether my best years in management are a long way behind me.  I take full responsibility for the substandard performance of the team over the season and I pledge to all I can to make use of the talent I have in the squad to improve our league position over the last 10 games.  If I can’t do that I will do the decent thing and step aside for a more competent replacement.  

You made a lot of relevant points which I'm afraid significant amounts of the posters on here refuse to accept, we all want NP to succeed and he has been given a lot of latitude owing to the mess he inherited, but, and it's a big but, since he has taken over we have discovered 3 or 4 so say multi million players bound for much higher things yet we still today managed to make at times a team that were below us in the table look like well if not Barcelona at least one of the better sides in our division which according to their record they are not, It's a brave poster who puts his head above the parapet on here and criticises NP and for that I commend you. 

[RedLionLad]

6 hours ago, The Constant Rabbit said:

 

Let’s hope those City fans thank the guy who recorded this incident and posted the evidence all over social media.

I can see banning orders coming for those seen (and identified) throwing punches.

[Waconda]

7 hours ago, SouthS22 said:

How about this - Sorry to all the fans today, I got the tactics totally wrong and I set the team up badly for the game.  I made a pretty average team in Birmingham City look like they were in a higher division than us and I was out-thought by Lee Bowyer who made me look tactically inept.   Playing Sam Bell at right back was an unbelievably poor decision on my part and I apologise for any negative effects the game has had on his confidence.  In light of the continued terrible defending which I haven’t been able to address in over a year at the club, I’m seriously considering whether my best years in management are a long way behind me.  I take full responsibility for the substandard performance of the team over the season and I pledge to all I can to make use of the talent I have in the squad to improve our league position over the last 10 games.  If I can’t do that I will do the decent thing and step aside for a more competent replacement.  

Perfect.

[Waconda]

6 hours ago, The Constant Rabbit said:

 

 

5 minutes ago, RedLionLad said:

Let’s hope those City fans thank the guy who recorded this incident and posted the evidence all over social media.

I can see banning orders coming for those seen (and identified) throwing punches.

Yep, hope the cowards get banned.

[cityloyal473]

Just like last season I cannot wait to see the back of this one. Disappointing and we are falling off with another whimper. 

[Tinmans Love Child]

9 hours ago, The Constant Rabbit said:

 

Embarrassing on all levels

[adamski]

11 hours ago, WECANDO said:

Nobody helping Bell in midfield or upfront. Why doesn't Semenyo come Bells way. Bell has no options other than to pass backwards.

Bless him, he was constantly out of position, couldn’t beat an egg, tackle, select a pass or cross consistently yesterday. I don’t think Semenyo’s positional play would have made any difference

[22A]

Broken records time; Some weeks ago I posted that the majority of goals conceded this season, including both yesterday. came from the opponents came down their left, City's right and putting over a cross.

If it's obvious to us, can the coaching staff not realise this when analysing the games afterwards?

[pongo88]

14 hours ago, The Coach said:

What would you like him to say? 

When Brian Clough was manager of Forrest, the first half performance in one match was awful, so the players were expecting a tirade from him at half time. When he eventually walked into the dressing room he just said “Sorry, my fault, I picked the wrong team” and walked out. That would have been a good statement from Pearson yesterday 

[AshtonGreat]

12 hours ago, dave36 said:

Williams and James are experiment that’s failed - last number 8 that was so bad was LJ.

We see the season out and go again, hopefully next season we can sow the seeds of a recovery rather than building a rest home for past it pals of NP

This is why I don't have much faith in any 'plan'. These two were being hailed as saviours only a few months ago

[redsquirrel]

bentley,dasilva,kalas,klose,pring atkinson and scott were 100 % committed yesterday, the rest were either getting chilled in the wind or not really up for it. 

sad that about 30 mins in the first half we seemed happy to just tap it around the back instead of screaming to try and get a goal back.

a little bit of time for williams too, bit harsh saying he didnt try and noticed he covered kalas well when he got pulled forward

[Sir Geoff]

2 minutes ago, redsquirrel said:

bentley,dasilva,kalas,klose,pring atkinson and scott were 100 % committed yesterday, the rest were either getting chilled in the wind or not really up for it. 

sad that about 30 mins in the first half we seemed happy to just tap it around the back instead of screaming to try and get a goal back.

a little bit of time for williams too, bit harsh saying he didnt try and noticed he covered kalas well when he got pulled forward

All about opinions but thought Kalas was poor yesterday, particularly first half. He was on Bell's side and gave the lad absolutely no help or encouragement.Williams the same. In fact all Williams did was was rollick Bell. After one such rollicking Weimann took it upon himself to walk 30 yards over to Bell to give him a handshake and a few words of encouragement. Poor from two experience d pros imo.

[italian dave]

15 hours ago, The Coach said:

What would you like him to say? 

How about “We’re pretty much safe and the objective today was to get our young stars of the future off premier league shopping lists”? 

[adamski]

8 minutes ago, Sir Geoff said:

All about opinions but thought Kalas was poor yesterday, particularly first half. He was on Bell's side and gave the lad absolutely no help or encouragement.Williams the same. In fact all Williams did was was rollick Bell. After one such rollicking Weimann took it upon himself to walk 30 yards over to Bell to give him a handshake and a few words of encouragement. Poor from two experience d pros imo.

Actually, I thought Fatty James was supposed to be covering right too, given the massive space him and Bell gave to Birmingham in the build up to the first goal! Could have grazed 10 cows in it!

let’s be honest, once Pring came on it all changed

[firstdivision]

15 hours ago, KegCity said:

No it’s not, it’s the exact same as the previous hundred years. Nothing. 

These are the facts: we've spent 13 of the last 15 seasons in the Championship - or second tier. In one of those seasons out of the Championship, we won two trophies. Since we were relegated from the top league in 1911, we bounced between the second and third tiers on a regular basis (apart from 32-55. See below). Only between 1965 and 1980 did we enjoy a higher level of consistent league status than now. That was our best period since before the First World War. This is our second best.

Between 1932 and 1955, we were in the third tier.