LondonBristolian

On a train back to London. I thought we looked very decent today, much better than Brentford, which was the last away game I attended. We were scrappy but we were not by any means outclassed.

Norwich had more of the game for sure but, off side effort aside, I never really felt they would score. There were a few moments where we looked quite dangerous. My big frustration was O'Dowda in the second half. If he could improve his decision making then there would be a Hell of a player there...

Quite like Norwich's stadium. And it is great to see that their legendary mercurial striker Regency Security has a stand named after him...

Norwich have to be the favourites but we have had tough games on paper at Reading and Wolves and emerged with four points. I would be very happy with a point and bloody ecstatic with a win. I had a poor night's sleep and am feeling a bit under the weather so I hope it is an entertaining enough game to stop me falling asleep in my seat! I'm going for a 2-2 draw...

3 minutes ago, Aizoon said:

Careful if you hear the score alert on your mobile. We don't want the kid to be called "Get in there my babber" for the rest of his/her life...

Here's to hoping the  kid ends up being called "Yessss! 4-0 City!"...

2 minutes ago, Luxo Jr. said:

In fairness, it's tricky to be anything other than weaker than teams who are stronger than us.

True. I'd question whether we should see Birmingham as a team who are stronger than us though. 

That said, we will lose games this season. But we've got to bloody learn from it when we do.

8 minutes ago, RichardEdd said:

Cotterill on

 

Took me a moment to remember that was for them and not us!

2 minutes ago, EstoniaTallinnRed said:

We have one at the bottom of the garden.

My grandparents had one of those. As a child, I used to think weird fungus-type things grew by it until I realised that was where they deposited their used tea bags...

20 minutes ago, iamalagerdrinker said:

Oh  

Bit patronising IMO.  Anyone who wants to drink will do so before and it suggests the only problems will come from away fans when, to be honest, Birmingham have a similar sized minority of trouble makers historically as we do. All this does is just stops anyone who fancies a quick social pint at the ground from doing so. 

I don't tend to drink at games 'cos, to be honest, my bladder struggles to manage 45 minutes without me needing a wee in any case but, if home fans can then so should away fans...

10 minutes ago, The Bard said:

He didn't last 90 minutes in a stroll against Plymouth on Tuesday. No brainer not to start him. 

Other thing is Hegeler has started twice, player well twice, scored once and we have not conceded with him on the pitch. Baker will get his chance soon enough but the message this season has to be that anyone who performs well gets to keep hold of the shirt...

1 minute ago, CotswoldRed said:

I predict a deafening silence. 

I fear this may be what happens. But surely this is the point where even those most passionately convinced LJ could turn it around will realise it isn't going to happen?

I've wanted LJ to leave since January but, up until now, have had confidence in him and the board's integrity and good intentions.

However I feel pretty confident in saying that:

1. If LJ doesn't resign tomorrow, it gives the lie to the idea that he's someone who cares about the future of our club.

2. If SL doesn't sack LJ tomorrow, those who think he is personal feelings ahead of the club will be entirely vindicated.

Let's hope for a departure by mutual consent. 

3 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

Can I just say we have our first double of the season.

Am I right in thinking it is our first away league win in just under 6 months too?

Maybe the real root of our problems is that we just don't like the winter...

20 minutes ago, Rob k said:

Lots of disappointed people in this thread now then!!

I'm utterly delighted - we had to win today to have a good chance of staying up and I'm thrilled we have done it.

But scraping our second league win in three months away to the second from bottom team in the league certainly hasn't changed my view that we need to change manager to move forward. Massively massively pleased and relieved we won though!

Everyone making the journey to Wigan today has my respect and admiration. I hope it is not a wasted trip.

1 minute ago, Rednwhiterob said:

Just asking if those clamouring for Tomlin will recognise this when slaughtering LJ later. No logic, no agenda. Just a question.

It's not even a slightly relevant question though. The board have invested significantly this season, backed LJ heavily in January and the manager has continually failed to shape the players brought in into a wining side. Whether he picks Tomlin or doesn't pick Tomlin is irrelevant. His job is to win games. He clearly does not have the ability to do it.

Out of interest here is a question - no logic, no agenda - from me. It is March and we are in the bottom three.

1) Do you accept we are in a relegation battle?

2) If you do, and you do not feel LJ is responsible for that, what is your analysis of where the blame does lie?

And we are in the bottom three...

Just now, steviestevieneville said:

Yes, but my point is that when we're in these winning positions the manager can't go on the pitch and hold their hands. It's very easy to blame the manager when there is a lack of game management . Player need to take responsibility for themselves . 

The manager gets the credit when a team wins and the blame when the team loses. Sometimes the former is overly-generous and the latter overly-harsh. However now that this has happened four times with different players on the pitch you have to start to think that there is a flaw in the gameplan.

3 minutes ago, IAmNick said:

Nah, I disagree. For one game in isolation maybe but a season is obviously much more than that - and supporting a club you pay more attention than just to individual results, the pattern is just as important. We've been guilty of this all season, and if the goals had been the reverse (them 3-0 up, then us drawing) then it would be far more encouraging. How do you think the players will feel after this, and going in to the next game as a result - if we're 2-0 up next game?

Of course it makes a difference what order they were scored in. I'm looking for a sign of improvement of us maybe being more tactically aware and the games being managed better, not just the number at the end.

This is my concern. At the moment I think our biggest problem is we're panicking when we're ahead because we expect something to go wrong. Without that panic, I think we would be at least 9 points higher in the table and out of a relegation struggle. I worry about the knock-on effect of this game.

1 minute ago, steviestevieneville said:

So Taylor misses a sitter from 3 yards LJ's fault ? we would of been out of sight . Joe hits the post . All this gets forgotten by the likes of you don't it. Some absolute ******* belters on here.

We were 3 - 0 up. We then panicked, conceded 3 goals and drew a game we were comfortably ahead in.

Not unlike Reading where we were 2 up. We then panicked, conceded 3 goals and lost a game we were comfortably ahead in.

Not unlike Cardiff where we were the better team and went ahead twice. We then panicked, conceded 2 late goals (so 3 in total ) and lost a game we were comfortably ahead in.

Not unlike Wednesday back near the start of the season when were 2 - 0 up and then panicked, conceded 3 late goals and lost a game we were comfortably ahead on.

Do you honestly not see why people are upset about it?

2 minutes ago, stevep38 said:

There 3rd goal wasnt a penalty . A dive apparently. 

It definitely was a penalty,. Regardless of whether it should have been, it was given and that's that. We can't blame officials for the team's failings...

4 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Amazing how certain posters say nothing at 0-3 but can't wait to stick the knife in at 3-3.

Probably because some of us have reached a point where we didn't feel confident at 3-0. I learned from Reading and Cardiff to keep quiet until after the match.

Just now, steviestevieneville said:

Shut up you ***** , how is this Johnsons fault

This is the third time in just over a month that we've been 2 or more goals up and then conceded 3. That should not be happening time and time again.

11 minutes ago, EstoniaTallinnRed said:

The players don't want to play for him, I have said this for weeks now. They want him out and the only way they know how to do this is to lose.  I don't agree that players should do this, but I am sure this is what is happening.

I don't think that is the case at all. The quality wasn't there today and nor was the strategy but the players could not have tried harder in the last ten minutes.

I'd question whether the belief is there but the desire certainly is.

3 minutes ago, MattRSp95 said:

I'm being pretty optimistic here but I don't see us getting 50 points with the games we have left 

I think we've got the players to do it but we need the plan.

2 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

We would be better with JP , Wilbs , Scott Murray or Adam Baker or in fact ANYONE right now

Stockhauasen?