Birmingham City at home match thread

[And Its Smith]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The nuance re today is that he didn’t have Andi Weimann.  And Weimann is such an important player to Nige he may have resisted the change because of fitting him in…rightly or wrongly.

For a manager who’s openly said he much prefers a back 4, to pick a back 3 continuously this season must’ve had good reason to not do it.

It was quite a gamble to change for such a crucial game wasn’t it?  Leaving himself very open.

Let’s hope he can use it regularly, would help recruitment going forward.  But let’s also not get carried away as other teams will start to try to counter it too.

I can’t see that Weimann is the reason to not play todays formation before now.  He is good enough to play where Sykes did today.  Weimann has been off form for a while so I do think part of todays performance was him not being on the pitch.  
 

Yes it was a gamble but it will be interesting to see how the team does in this formation.  I am quite amazed it’s taken so long to see it really.  

[Davefevs]

3 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Don't tell anyone but our last 8 league games are:

D D W L L D D W

2 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

I think we have to talk about how much more structured our attacks looked without Weimann running around like a headless chicken. Get last season out of your head. We have been forcing him into this team and today showed how much more fluid we can be with everyone staying in structure. He wasn’t out there making runs into other players spaces. Sykes scored 2 tap ins just being back post today not running to edge of box or across goal. 
 

I know I am always negative but really think that was a big difference today. We have been crying out to play 4 at the back for ages now. It suits our personnel much better imo. If we get relegated playing this way then I can live with it. The championship is too even to not have a go in each game. There are 3-4 teams miles better than the rest then everyone else is pretty equal. I hope we can keep this style up

I get what you’re saying and why re Weimann, but I think he does so much else for the benefit of the team.  Let’s not jump on one game golden tickets.

[Mr Popodopolous]

I've long thought we have personnel for a 4-3-3 but Naismith being best in a back 3 seemingly combined with switching mid season when we've been back 3 pretty much throughout and are on the edge of a relegation scrap albeit not with displays like today we're not!

[1960maaan]

4 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

The nuance re today is that he didn’t have Andi Weimann.  And Weimann is such an important player to Nige he may have resisted the change because of fitting him in…rightly or wrongly.

For a manager who’s openly said he much prefers a back 4, to pick a back 3 continuously this season must’ve had good reason to not do it.

It was quite a gamble to change for such a crucial game wasn’t it?  Leaving himself very open.

Let’s hope he can use it regularly, would help recruitment going forward.  But let’s also not get carried away as other teams will start to try to counter it too.

I think it's a massive bonus having Naismith and so the option of quickly changing between a back 3 or 4, without changing personnel .

I was surprised he did it from the off today , bold move. Paid off. I wasn't sure we would get the WB/FBs involved enough, but Sykes helped out well and the movement of all the front players helped .  
 

 

[ExiledAjax]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

 

Lovely. As I knew, chugging along at just shy of 1.2ppg, a little down from the seasonal high of 1.5ppg after game 12 (Cov at home) but in very little danger of relegation. 

A stable foundation which will allow us to sort the contracts out in the summer and finally stabilise the finances for a push forward over the next couple of seasons.

[Davefevs]

26 minutes ago, And Its Smith said:

I can’t see that Weimann is the reason to not play todays formation before now.  He is good enough to play where Sykes did today.  Weimann has been off form for a while so I do think part of todays performance was him not being on the pitch.  
 

Yes it was a gamble but it will be interesting to see how the team does in this formation.  I am quite amazed it’s taken so long to see it really.  

Yes, he could do couldn’t he.  Maybe it helps with Semenyo being able to play left side…Wells and Conway like to play so close together, that maybe that’s another reason.

End of the day, I dunno.

It worked well today.

[cidercity1987]

34 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Just to add - early xG reports suggest that was our most dangerous attacking performance of the season (in the league, I expect Coventry in the league cup may have been higher). xG of about 2.8 without a penalty is very very good. 

Yes we allowed 2.6 but that's bolstered by 0.8 from the penalty. 

So a stonking attacking display but with vulnerability at the back still. 

4-2 a fully justified score.

Great game. Greatly enjoyed it.

Three of the goals were open net tap ins and the other was a one on one. Surely we wouldn't have to do much else in the game to get an XG of 2.8?

[ExiledAjax]

Just now, cidercity1987 said:

Three of the goals were open net tap ins and the other was a one on one. Surely we wouldn't have to do much else in the game to get an XG of 2.8?

Yeh. We had some very good chances close to goal. Our average xG per shot was 0.28 whic is huge. But, well just look at the one Birmingham missed to see that those "easy" chances are not always as easy as they look.

I guess the main point is that creating those very good chances is the hard part. Today I saw a lot of cut backs/crosses from the edge of box, and a lot of direct forward passes in midfield that pierced a defensive line. I've not seen either much this season and that's the danger we're creating.

xG of 2.8, compared to an average from the other 26 games of just 1.2. Only one other game has seen us register more than 2.0. It was a real step forward.

[pillred]

7 hours ago, old_eastender said:

Too easy for Brum to break forward in numbers when we lose the ball near their box.

My take on Brum is they were bloody dangerous going forward but today we just that bit more dangereouser :laugh:.

[pillred]

5 hours ago, ExiledAjax said:

Don't tell anyone but our last 8 league games are:

D D W L L D D W

Still only 2 wins in 8 but yes not exactly terrible.

[Garland-sweden]

Well done City!

[Mr Popodopolous]

It's a bit of a random one but Hi Ho Silver Lining?? Always associated that with Wolves! Didn't we play the Liquidator before the West Brom game too- whether or not they're reasonable songs in their own right it seems a very odd selection at our home ground pre game or in the build-up to kick-off.

Sure I remember One Step Beyond in a recent home game too.

Again nothing to do with merit or otherwise of the song and I suppose to mark death of Jeff Beck or the other guy fair enough but moving forward should it be more City specific?

[JoeAman08]

11 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I get what you’re saying and why re Weimann, but I think he does so much else for the benefit of the team.  Let’s not jump on one game golden tickets.

Not jumping to a one game conclusion but feel he does try too much sometimes. The simplicity of Sykes today got him 2 goals. 2 goals I am not sure Weimann scores because he is making a darting run front post possibly the same Wells us making. You could easily slot him in where Sykes played today and could be an upgrade but I feel he oft acts without thinking. 

[Red-Robbo]

You can only play whoever is in front of you, and not wanting to take anything away from a good all-round City performance, but my God, Birmingham's defence was bad!  Off-pace, turned more times than a table leg, and totally disorganised.  As a team, they possessed some threat in attack and we were lucky on occasion that our mistakes - and some mistakes at this level are inevitable - were not punished.  How did that number 2 not score?!

We did the right thing in taking the game to them and punishing that feeble defence though, and I was glad that we continued to press even when it looked a comfortable scoreline. You need to skittle in the goals when you get an opportunity like that, not play it safe. 

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, JoeAman08 said:

Not jumping to a one game conclusion but feel he does try too much sometimes. The simplicity of Sykes today got him 2 goals. 2 goals I am not sure Weimann scores because he is making a darting run front post possibly the same Wells us making. You could easily slot him in where Sykes played today and could be an upgrade but I feel he oft acts without thinking. 

No, I know Joe…just saying that some of Weimann’s weaknesses are in fact his strengths too, just sometimes they don’t come off, sometimes they do.

It will be interesting to see how the next half a dozen games pan out, and how we set up, with the likes Cov Weimann back available (soon I hope).

[Davefevs]

48 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

You can only play whoever is in front of you, and not wanting to take anything away from a good all-round City performance, but my God, Birmingham's defence was bad!  Off-pace, turned more times than a table leg, and totally disorganised.  As a team, they possessed some threat in attack and we were lucky on occasion that our mistakes - and some mistakes at this level are inevitable - were not punished.  How did that number 2 not score?!

We did the right thing in taking the game to them and punishing that feeble defence though, and I was glad that we continued to press even when it looked a comfortable scoreline. You need to skittle in the goals when you get an opportunity like that, not play it safe. 

I wanted to post something similar RR.  Before yesterday Brum’s defence was pretty miserly for a bottom-half team, and they had Long making his debut (and first appearance of the season), who had a ‘mare.  They conceded 3  in their previous league game too.

Firstly we played well, and that made them look poor, defensively at least.

I looked back at their team and the usual suspects against us:

- Hogan who has usually been a thorn in our side barely got a kick. I don’t recall any of his clever movement causing us issues, no runs in behind beating the offside trap

- Colin is usually the epitome of a steady RB, 6/7 out of 10 every game.  He got murdered by Pring and Semenyo

- Bielik normally physically imposes himself on our (sometimes) powder puff midfield, but Scott ran him ragged, especially first half

- Chong caused us problems with the ball but he didn’t seem interested in doing the hard work without the ball and that was why we were constantly able to create 1v1s / overloads

So without trying to diminish City’s performance or think that’s it, we’ve turned the corner, I’m keen to see how we do against a team that are 1) better 2) play with a bit of defensive heart, etc.

[Red-Robbo]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

I wanted to post something similar RR.  Before yesterday Brum’s defence was pretty miserly for a bottom-half team, and they had Long making his debut (and first appearance of the season), who had a ‘mare.  They conceded 3  in their previous league game too.

Firstly we played well, and that made them look poor, defensively at least.

I looked back at their team and the usual suspects against us:

- Hogan who has usually been a thorn in our side barely got a kick. I don’t recall any of his clever movement causing us issues, no runs in behind beating the offside trap

- Colin is usually the epitome of a steady RB, 6/7 out of 10 every game.  He got murdered by Pring and Semenyo

- Bielik normally physically imposes himself on our (sometimes) powder puff midfield, but Scott ran him ragged, especially first half

- Chong caused us problems with the ball but he didn’t seem interested in doing the hard work without the ball and that was why we were constantly able to create 1v1s / overloads

So without trying to diminish City’s performance or think that’s it, we’ve turned the corner, I’m keen to see how we do against a team that are 1) better 2) play with a bit of defensive heart, etc.

 

I thought Chong had more than a haircut in common with Massengo.  Decent speed and won a lot of free kicks, not to mention the penalty, but didn't really threaten. 

[Vidal]

35 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I wanted to post something similar RR.  Before yesterday Brum’s defence was pretty miserly for a bottom-half team, and they had Long making his debut (and first appearance of the season), who had a ‘mare.  They conceded 3  in their previous league game too.

Firstly we played well, and that made them look poor, defensively at least.

I looked back at their team and the usual suspects against us:

- Hogan who has usually been a thorn in our side barely got a kick. I don’t recall any of his clever movement causing us issues, no runs in behind beating the offside trap

- Colin is usually the epitome of a steady RB, 6/7 out of 10 every game.  He got murdered by Pring and Semenyo

- Bielik normally physically imposes himself on our (sometimes) powder puff midfield, but Scott ran him ragged, especially first half

- Chong caused us problems with the ball but he didn’t seem interested in doing the hard work without the ball and that was why we were constantly able to create 1v1s / overloads

So without trying to diminish City’s performance or think that’s it, we’ve turned the corner, I’m keen to see how we do against a team that are 1) better 2) play with a bit of defensive heart, etc.

Birmingham we’re really poor defensively, they made it easy for us.

[Major Isewater]

13 hours ago, pillred said:

My take on Brum is they were bloody dangerous going forward but today we just that bit more dangereouser :laugh:.

I would say more cliniquer. 

[Davefevs]

10 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

I would say more cliniquer. 

Gary?

[pillred]

17 hours ago, One Team said:

Pearson’s best game to date for me. Each goal came from joyous passages of passing football, it was superb. Everyone played well but Sykes, Semenyo, Scott and Pring stand outs for me. 

It's been quite a while since I came out of the ground with a smile on my face, yesterday I was positively beaming.

[RUSSEL85]

1 hour ago, Vidal said:

Birmingham we’re really poor defensively, they made it easy for us.

They certainly missed Harlee Dean.