Brum (a) Match Thread - Sponsored by Euro Cake

[sandman]

It's not rubbish. We lost the game because we had the same problems as last season. We conceded a sloppy goal, we had chances and we weren't clinical enough in front of goal, does any of that sound familiar? It should do because it was the entirety of last season. Drawing against Wigan on the first day of last season was considered "a positive" but in that game we displayed all of the characteristics that gave us problems for the rest of the season.

I know I'm being harsh but we're going to have to start being a bit harsh because there is too much "oh never mind" surrounding the club.

[Ian Royal]

in sandman's universe:

Steve Clarke: "I don't care that their first goal was lucky. I don't care that we were the better team. I don't care that the ball crossed the line and if the officials had made the right call we wouldn't have lost. I don't care that you had 5 starting debutantes and several of you had very little pre-season experience playing with each other. I don't care it's only the first game of the season. I don't care that we had a makeshift midfield with no wingers or width. You lost. That performance was irredeemably bad. You're shit. I don't care how you play. Just win."

[LoyalRoyal22]

It's not rubbish. We lost the game because we had the same problems as last season. We conceded a sloppy goal, we had chances and we weren't clinical enough in front of goal, does any of that sound familiar? It should do because it was the entirety of last season. Drawing against Wigan on the first day of last season was considered "a positive" but in that game we displayed all of the characteristics that gave us problems for the rest of the season.

I know I'm being harsh but we're going to have to start being a bit harsh because there is too much "oh never mind" surrounding the club.

So your just going to discount all the positives ?

[SCIAG]

Never thought I'd say it, but we shouldn't have taken off Blackman.

[Lower West]

Why did Clarke play Tshibola?

Because he fills the void left by Chalobah. Didn't look out of place yesterday. .

[Lower West]

We conceded a sloppy goal,

That's football. High % of goals actually come from luck rather than good play.

[CountryRoyal]

Never thought I'd say it, but we shouldn't have taken off Blackman.

I found it strange, was our most prominent attacking threat.

Then HRK came on and at that point you basically knew weren't going to score.

[Man Friday]

Blackman got injured.

[CountryRoyal]

Blackman got injured.

Oh I thought he was limping because he has so much swag...

[Vision]

Why did Clarke play Tshibola? Why did he drop Ferdinand? For me the two biggest mistakes today. Hector will be good and he would be better as a defensive midfielder given he makes so many mistakes.At least there its less likely he will give a goal away. Oh and what an end! Cant think why I was looking forward to the start of the season

Tshibola was good. Ferdinand was dropped for Mcshane, who was also good.

I don't follow the logic that Hector would make a good defensive midfielder, because he makes a lot of mistakes.

Because Hectors better than Tshibola. No argument with Mcshane playing but Hectors has to get these mistakes out of his game and better to learn that in midfield than in defence

I like this idea. Let's play Sa as a defensive midfielder until he gets that "missing penalties" thing out of his game. Hell let's play Al-Habsi there until he gets rid of that whole "palming the ball into his own net" thing.

[Forbury Lion]

Losing should never be seen as a positive no matter how well you've played.

I don't think anyone is taking positives from the result, but there are positives and negatives to be taken from every game. It's also a motivational thing.

[Platypuss]

You're a cake.

[John Smith]

You lose a game there is nothing to be happy about no matter how well you have played.

Rubbish.

As well as the oft-mentioned Plymouth 2-1, I was also at Molineux for the first game of the 1994-95 season.
We managed to lose 1-0 but due to the performance we just knew we were going to have a good season and that Division 2 was nothing to be scared of.

Sandman is absolutely right, sport is about winning, are you lot honestly happy about losing to a team like Birmingham City?!

So so disappointed with Clarke for not picking a taker and even more so with Sa who is looking like a typical prima-donna that we all feared. A truly dreadful penalty and even worse follow up by a player so low on confidence he's got to go.

Striking options aren't good enough, simple as that.

[PeterReadingborn59]

Promising start, more matches needed to see SC's team.
The Birmingham keeper seem to be spilling the ball almost everytime, shame RFC seems to have no goal poacher, Alfie (Fran Kirby?), to tuck one or two of those away, especially to slot a penalty or rebound away. No one in the academy with the benefit of youth, speed and hunger?

Early days and the transfer market remains open so the squad could be strengthened and a player or two might disappear - I'd expect the much the same team for Colchester, possibly Ferdinand getting a run out in place of either Hector or McShane, and then roll onto Sunday and Leeds to start the home season.

Interesting to see how West Ham felt comfortable playing a 16 year old, showing if a player is good enough.

[sandman]

Birmingham have turned into a good team under Rowett.

I'm just disappointed that we are making the same mistakes over and over again.

[Stranded]

All this disappointed in not picking a taker, I'm pretty sure you'll find that Nick Blackman is our penalty taker but was no longer on the pitch. You could argue there should be a nominated reserve but there is no guarantee they would be on the pitch either in the last minute.

That's why we saw the argument, to my mind at least.

[genome]

You lose a game there is nothing to be happy about no matter how well you have played.

Rubbish.

As well as the oft-mentioned Plymouth 2-1, I was also at Molineux for the first game of the 1994-95 season.
We managed to lose 1-0 but due to the performance we just knew we were going to have a good season and that Division 2 was nothing to be scared of.

Sandman is absolutely right, sport is about winning, are you lot honestly happy about losing to a team like Birmingham City?!

So so disappointed with Clarke for not picking a taker and even more so with Sa who is looking like a typical prima-donna that we all feared. A truly dreadful penalty and even worse follow up by a player so low on confidence he's got to go.

Striking options aren't good enough, simple as that.

This is the league, where it's a marathon and not a sprint.

If you lose your opening game but there are a number of encouraging signs, it's not a bad thing. Don't be so short-sighted.

[PeterReadingborn59]

Adie Williams rightly said that if the team had lost 2-1 without the penalty the talk would have been relatively content with performances providing a potential platform for players to improve on. But with the penalty it felt like a result being thrown, and confidence shaker for Sa and Cox as both should have scored. I suspect SC was quite annoyed in the dressing room as SC is clearly a professional who dislikes lossing, but too much of a professional to berate his own players in public.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Hopefully this will be like Fulham away last season. When we played really well and lost, but then went on to win the rest of our games.

[genome]

I was thinking the same, but with Rotherham away.