MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Hendo » 18 Mar 2021 08:46

Yes, it was poor last night and yes it would be incredibly frustrating for us to miss out on the play-offs but;

a) it isn't over yet, there are still 27 points to play for, which is loads. Yes, it is probably going to be a lot closer than we'd like but that's football, it doesn't always go your way and it would be boring if it did.

b) I'd much rather be in a position where a result last night is surprising and comes out of nowhere rather than previous seasons where most of us would've been expecting a loss anyway - that is when it is really bad.

c) Reading have always played better against the better clubs, we've never really been one to smash our way past teams on bad runs. Been supporting the team for 20+ years and its always been the same, so the remaining fixtures don't worry me too much.

I'm still confident we'll finish in the top 6, but if we don't we don't. It won't be the end of the world and it'll certainly be a vast improvement on the last few seasons and I think puts us in a strong position to kick on next season with hopefully a couple of new faces.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Stranded » 18 Mar 2021 09:00

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Since the great start to the season 11 wins, 12 defeats. Brum have done the double, lost to Wycombe and didn’t beat ten man Wednesday. All were in dire dire form when we played them. We will do very well to make the play offs based upon a long stretch of results spanning most of the season.


Yeah the season has been hit and miss since the start you could say but in context, our record of W11 D6 L12 would put us 10th and 6pts off the play-offs with 9 to play, a position we would have all taken at the start - the run was a bonus and we always knew we would regress from that.

Further, start a form table after Bournemouth away, and we are 7th just 2 pts shy of Cardiff.

We have actually been pretty consistent throughout if you split the league to date into 12 game thirds:

1st third: 22pts
2nd: 21pts
3rd: 18pts

So at our worst, we still took half the points available to us. Do that in the last 10 and we should make the top 6.



Good response Stranded.


Cheers, I just think it is often too easy for people to look at things in isolation - yes W11 D6 L12 since the amazing start doesn't look great but without the context of what others were doing it means very little - as mentioned it is still above average for the division.

In many ways the start has been a bit of millstone - if 2 or 3 of those earliy wins had been swapped with later defeats then whilst we would still be naturally disappointed with last nights game we wouldn't perhaps be quite as woe is me about it as in the context of the season we would probably see ourselves stronger placed than we most do today.

I was actually surprised how consistant we have been in picking up points - it felt like we had picked up much more early on that we had later so for our worst 3rd of the season to only be a win and a draw off the best is pretty surprising - it shows that whilst the team are inconsitent in patches (i.e losing 4 in a row or 4 out of 5) they still have the ability to pick up points consistently against all levels of opponents - so we should remain confident that they can still pick up enough points.

Also had a quick look at the 2021 table as we have lost 5 this year now and was again also surprised we are only as low as 8th - of the teams chasing us down - only Cardiff have done better over that spell, taking 26pts to our 24.

Boro are a point behind us and Bournemouth are down in 12th - though just 3 points worst.

It does show Saturday will be a test though, as QPR would be 5th if the season had started on 1st January.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Stranded » 18 Mar 2021 09:03

Hendo Yes, it was poor last night and yes it would be incredibly frustrating for us to miss out on the play-offs but;

a) it isn't over yet, there are still 27 points to play for, which is loads. Yes, it is probably going to be a lot closer than we'd like but that's football, it doesn't always go your way and it would be boring if it did.

b) I'd much rather be in a position where a result last night is surprising and comes out of nowhere rather than previous seasons where most of us would've been expecting a loss anyway - that is when it is really bad.

c) Reading have always played better against the better clubs, we've never really been one to smash our way past teams on bad runs. Been supporting the team for 20+ years and its always been the same, so the remaining fixtures don't worry me too much.

I'm still confident we'll finish in the top 6, but if we don't we don't. It won't be the end of the world and it'll certainly be a vast improvement on the last few seasons and I think puts us in a strong position to kick on next season with hopefully a couple of new faces.


Hard to disagree with this - I don't want us to miss out - I like being in the play-offs but the key is if we do miss out that we use a good season as a base to build next year - sell assets and re-invest wisely so that we can come back stronger - we need to make sure that we don't do a Forest (or indeed an us of the last few seasons) and collapse as a result of missing out if we do - and currently, I don't think we will.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Hendo » 18 Mar 2021 09:06

Stranded
Hendo Yes, it was poor last night and yes it would be incredibly frustrating for us to miss out on the play-offs but;

a) it isn't over yet, there are still 27 points to play for, which is loads. Yes, it is probably going to be a lot closer than we'd like but that's football, it doesn't always go your way and it would be boring if it did.

b) I'd much rather be in a position where a result last night is surprising and comes out of nowhere rather than previous seasons where most of us would've been expecting a loss anyway - that is when it is really bad.

c) Reading have always played better against the better clubs, we've never really been one to smash our way past teams on bad runs. Been supporting the team for 20+ years and its always been the same, so the remaining fixtures don't worry me too much.

I'm still confident we'll finish in the top 6, but if we don't we don't. It won't be the end of the world and it'll certainly be a vast improvement on the last few seasons and I think puts us in a strong position to kick on next season with hopefully a couple of new faces.


Hard to disagree with this - I don't want us to miss out - I like being in the play-offs but the key is if we do miss out that we use a good season as a base to build next year - sell assets and re-invest wisely so that we can come back stronger - we need to make sure that we don't do a Forest (or indeed an us of the last few seasons) and collapse as a result of missing out if we do - and currently, I don't think we will.


Agree with that as well.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Millsy » 18 Mar 2021 09:06

Millsy If Meite starts Brum can play like Brazil for all I care, they ain't gonna get sh*t from the game.


Don't mention this comment.

I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it.


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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by leon » 18 Mar 2021 09:12

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Since the great start to the season 11 wins, 12 defeats. Brum have done the double, lost to Wycombe and didn’t beat ten man Wednesday. All were in dire dire form when we played them. We will do very well to make the play offs based upon a long stretch of results spanning most of the season.


Careful Zip. Ian will call you a bed wetter.

It's a bit much using Wednesday as an example when we got done on 4 penalty decisions by the ref.

Didn't hear you moaning about it a few games ago when it was 8 wins 11 defeats.

We lose one game after a good run and it's always the end of the world.


I’ve been fairly balanced all season. As you well know.

I gave the new man a chance. Unlike you, who shat yourself in quite epic style.

I’ve gone so far as saying the midfield is the best we’ve had for years.

Then he starts playing Rinomhota in the wrong position, his subs are either baffling or far too late to be effective (or both) we play in front of teams not around or through them. At a pedestrian pace.

We seem utterly reliant on Joao putting away one of the two chances we make and when his form falls off a cliff we have nowhere to go.

I’ve been praising and critical at times this season so don’t tell me what I have or haven’t said. I’d stick to eating humble pie about your behaviour in the summer.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Norfolk Royal » 18 Mar 2021 09:19

Greatwesternline Last night lots of people cooed at our bench pre match. Ejaria, Puscas, Rino, Baldock, Aluko, with those players on the bench, we were getting back to full strength.

But what that bench actually meant was we were still playing 4 at the back, with a CD in DM, plus Semedo and Laurent, two more DMs.

SO just like against Wycombe, we started with 7 defensive outfield players, and lo and behold, we didnt create much whatsoever, aside from some better than usual Olise free kicks.

Its a far too negetive way to set up a team against a team struggling for form.

In the early part of the season we played with 4 attacking players, Olise, Ejaria, Joao and Meite, with Rino and Laurent as DM.

Then we signed Semedo and he has played almost non stop, as someone or other has always be injured. At first if an attacking player was injured Aluko would start, but over time, no matter who is injured, they are replaced with a DM.

Surely, with 6 players on defensive duty, if Ejaria is injured, Aluko should come in, not adding McIntyre or Semedo to the mix.

After the Wycombe debacle Pauno went with 2 up top, and it has worked. But 2 up top with only Olise to create things for them does not work. Why is he so defensively minded against relegation fodder.


Yes, agree with that. What makes it more frustrating with the over abundance of defensive players fielded is what actually happened in the first five minutes.

The Sky commentators were discussing the inclusion of the tall chap up front, can't spell his name, and how this meant that Birmingham would be slinging in crosses to him from wide positions. Yep, pretty obvious.

So one assumes the same discussions were had in our dressing room before the game, maybe even before that, and some plan would be formulated to combat that, the most obvious being to prevent Birmingham slinging in crosses from out wide.

So what actually did happen? In the first five minutes two long crosses come in from out wide where the player who crossed the ball was not put under any pressure from the seven defensive players we fielded, one of them leading to a goal and instantly giving the opposition a huge confidence boost enabling them to manage the game thereafter to large extent.

That's poor really.

Also, on the second goal, Dean was being marked by Semedo when he scored. Surely one of the three centre backs we had on the pitch has to mark him or at the very least attack the ball. Look at the pics from last night. Holmes, for instance, is three or four yards off Dean towards the goal line. I know it's slim margins and not everything goes to plan but this is basic stuff is it not?

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by windermereROYAL » 18 Mar 2021 09:26

Yiadom was on the post when the corner came in, if he stayed there it`s an easy headed clearance. I can never understand why they come out before the danger is cleared.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Millsy » 18 Mar 2021 09:47

windermereROYAL Yiadom was on the post when the corner came in, if he stayed there it`s an easy headed clearance. I can never understand why they come out before the danger is cleared.


Yeah for the second goal Yiadom was on the line but then seemed to just move out the way, probably because he saw or heard Rafael coming for it, not sure what happened there.


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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by John Smith » 18 Mar 2021 10:10

Saw this result coming. Will just have to go to Barnsley and get something, which is possible. A performance like Blackburn (a) required

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Hound » 18 Mar 2021 10:15

Likewise didnt have a great feeling before this game. Agree also on the formation - lets get back to 4 at the back, Rino/Laurent + 3 attacking mids (Ejaria, Olise, Meite). Holmes/Moore/McIntyre all playing was a waste, especially with defensive players Laurent and Semedo in front

Became a game of just get it to Olise and hope he does something.

Anyway it was a rancid performance, poor selection, poor subs, poor attitude. Just all round shit. got nothing more to say on it, just hope they sort themselves out for Saturday. And please no more lame efforts like last night/Wycombe/Brum at home this season.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Millsy » 18 Mar 2021 10:24

Embarrassingly I missed the starting lineup and didn't work it out during the game as I was too busy wondering wtf was going on with Brum being better than us. I honestly didn't even notice Rino was playing till like the 2nd half.

Did Pauno actually NOT use the Laurent-Rino pairing in front of the defence this game?

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by URZZZZ » 18 Mar 2021 11:02

Worse than Wycombe that was for me - slow, pedestrian football around the back, not getting anywhere with it, before an aimless hoof and pretty much repeat

Key partnerships around the pitch didn’t work - the CB’s, particularly Moore were bullied throughout and Joao and Meite had little cohesion together. We didn’t seem to adapt to the conditions of the pitch too well either, too many loose touches and loose passes

Then there’s the subs which were atrocious. Game was crying out for a change in formation and Rinomhota at half time or at the very least minute 60 ish but he waited until we conceded to bring him on? At which point he probably wasn’t needed. Again, just like in the reserve fixture against Birmingham, he made a sub two minutes after each other and wasted a sub window. What’s the point in us having five subs if they’re not going to be used? I’d count Aluko as rather unlucky who’s had two lively cameos in his last two appearances and albeit with a general lack of end product, tries to beat his man on the outside occasionally (when he plays on the left) whereas Ejaria was never going to contribute much where there was no space between the lines. Awful in game management from Paunovic tonight

6 - Laurent, Yiadom
5 - Rafael, Holmes, Richards, McIntyre, Semedo, Olise, Meite, Rinomhota, Puscas, Ejaria
4- Joao, Moore

Still, you have to appreciate the position were in and we still have a very strong chance of hitting the top 6. There were a lot of similar calls of “we’ve blown it” etc after Wycombe and we responded with 3 wins from 3 so no need to go overboard yet


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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by URZZZZ » 18 Mar 2021 11:14

Zip
Norfolk Royal Agree with most comments. Bottom line is that Birmingham wanted that more which is the big disappointment. It must be obvious by now to anyone who watches championship football that you have to match opponents for desire and grit. If you don’t then no matter how many players of skill you have, you will get stuffed more often than not. I’d leave Yiadom out of that criticism. Lots saying McIntyre and Holmes played well tonight. They weren’t awful but to me McIntyre’s position is superfluous. We’re playing three centre backs and one, McIntyre, seems to have no designated role except wandering around where he likes putting the odd foot in. Moore wandering down the left wing, what’s that about? Ditto Semedo, no obviously defined role, Laurent lost without Rino, also doesn’t seem to know what his role is. Very disappointing.


Agree with a lot of that Norrers. We looked pretty clueless. The lack of movement was very disappointing. Not a lot of conviction in our play. I don’t know what our stats are when Semedo starts but I don’t think they are very good. Not just down to him of course but we don’t seem balanced when he plays.


If he could control/pass the ball he’d be one hell of a player but then probably wouldn’t be playing for us because his work off the ball is solid

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Delboy » 18 Mar 2021 11:59

Need swift back he has played 9 games this season 6 wins 3 draws

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Snowflake Royal » 18 Mar 2021 12:46

Millsy Embarrassingly I missed the starting lineup and didn't work it out during the game as I was too busy wondering wtf was going on with Brum being better than us. I honestly didn't even notice Rino was playing till like the 2nd half.

Did Pauno actually NOT use the Laurent-Rino pairing in front of the defence this game?

Rino came on in the second half as a sub.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by Millsy » 18 Mar 2021 12:52

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Millsy Embarrassingly I missed the starting lineup and didn't work it out during the game as I was too busy wondering wtf was going on with Brum being better than us. I honestly didn't even notice Rino was playing till like the 2nd half.

Did Pauno actually NOT use the Laurent-Rino pairing in front of the defence this game?

Rino came on in the second half as a sub.


Thx Ian, yeah that threw me.

Makes me feel better that this was a bit of a makeshift side. Especially with no Morro either.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by 3points » 18 Mar 2021 13:16

Hendo Yes, it was poor last night and yes it would be incredibly frustrating for us to miss out on the play-offs but;

a) it isn't over yet, there are still 27 points to play for, which is loads. Yes, it is probably going to be a lot closer than we'd like but that's football, it doesn't always go your way and it would be boring if it did.

b) I'd much rather be in a position where a result last night is surprising and comes out of nowhere rather than previous seasons where most of us would've been expecting a loss anyway - that is when it is really bad.

c) Reading have always played better against the better clubs, we've never really been one to smash our way past teams on bad runs. Been supporting the team for 20+ years and its always been the same, so the remaining fixtures don't worry me too much.

I'm still confident we'll finish in the top 6, but if we don't we don't. It won't be the end of the world and it'll certainly be a vast improvement on the last few seasons and I think puts us in a strong position to kick on next season with hopefully a couple of new faces.

our style seems to suit teams who come out and try to play and actually win against us, rather than be ultra-defensive and try to win via a smash and run type approach. SO there is some hope of play-offs and it will be good to get some momentum going in the last few games

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by RoyalBlue » 18 Mar 2021 13:20

Millsy
windermereROYAL Yiadom was on the post when the corner came in, if he stayed there it`s an easy headed clearance. I can never understand why they come out before the danger is cleared.


Yeah for the second goal Yiadom was on the line but then seemed to just move out the way, probably because he saw or heard Rafael coming for it, not sure what happened there.


Watching the incident back, Yiadom had gone walkabout off the post and line and more towards the centre of goal and he did that before the header came in and Rafael tried to save it. Yiadom then tried to get back as Rafael dived but only got there as Rafael was falling and the ball was hitting the net.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Birmingham City (a)

by CountryRoyal » 18 Mar 2021 13:38

Hendo b) I'd much rather be in a position where a result last night is surprising and comes out of nowhere rather than previous seasons where most of us would've been expecting a loss anyway - that is when it is really bad.


I think part of the frustration is that it wasn't a complete surprise. We've had a lot of really really dire performances and results, against some pretty crap opposition. When they take the lead I think a lot of us thought, and justifiably, we won't win. Even when we equalised and we pissed about looking completely unthreatening in the middle of the park we didn't expect we'd actually get the winner. Their second goal wasn't met with surprise but a massive case of 'yep, that's reading'.

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