Back From the Game Birmingham

[Hoop Blah]

Have to agree with the general theme of the thread so far. Mills had what was possibly his best game so far and did well against a lively looking Burke (reminding us of what an in form winger can do when allowed to attack a bit more freely). I still thought Mills got a lot of crosses wrong but defensively he did well, especially a very good covering tackle at one point and very nearly capped the performance with a cracking goal.

Federici didn't really put a foot wrong either and pulled a couple of decent saves.

The defended soundly but again failed to offer too much going forward. We just look so short of confidence, quality or ideas in the final third. Is that just down to setting up so defensively or do we need a signing or two to give us some spark? I'd favour a bit of both. Bring in an attacking player and also give them a bit more freedom to attack (see how well we defend with a few more going forward).

A great win though, if a little undeserved, but will take that against a pretty good side.

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Looked like it was heading for a 0-0 stalemate until the goal with the crowd getting more and more frustrated after the McAnuff one on one miss with the keeper.

Federici had a superb game.

Three points when it should have been one, move on.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Just deservedly edged the win overall. Mills was MotM so all credit to him. Hunt changed the attacking dynamic with his buzzing about everywhere (he, like Kebe,is an ideal sub - come on for the last 20 minutes of games and irritate the crap out of tired defenders).

Have to say it the same old story though, really struggle to create anything and leave our strikers with barely a touch all game as there is just no service.

Personally I'd drop Kebe and put McAnuff down the right (he always seems to have his best performances over that side). On the left we could try Mills out and put Harte back in into full back to cure our other issue of generally appalling set pieces.

Alternatively let's have Obita back on the bench and give him a chance as a sub as I thought he was that very rare thing in pre-season - a winger with reasonably consistent end product.

Overall it shows though we need a creative midfielder (Howard?) and a striker who can work on his own and create something from nothing. At least then we'd have a plan B.

[Mr Angry]

Both teams played some excellent build up football, but in the final 3rd were terrible, and frankly that looked a nailed on 0-0 til the goal.

Best player on the pitch by a country mile was the Brum #7 - Chris Burke?? Superb performance.

[muddyfeet]

Both teams played some excellent build up football, but in the final 3rd were terrible, and frankly that looked a nailed on 0-0 til the goal.

Best player on the pitch by a country mile was the Brum #7 - Chris Burke?? Superb performance.

had to lol at his hissy fit in the first half

[NR_Royal]

We really need to loan a creative midfielder.

[Svlad Cjelli]

We really need to loan a creative midfielder.

We have. He's at Millwall.

[Royal Rother]

love how 'Thou Voice' has disappeared recently since its seemed that feds has been one of our best players.
Great effort today and pleased that something went right for Hunty.

You could have stopped right there.

[Z175]

I thought it was a poor game, with an improved second half.

I don't rate Birmingham on that display. Some tidy passing first half, but no real intent. They just bore their way with clean sheets, as they have done for years.

Mills had his best game in a Reading shirt, but still lost the ball a lot and his crossing was abysmal. Great game defensively though and full of pace so well done him. The above is just the icing on the cake and why I wouldn't give him 10/10 or MOTM.

Leigertwood had a good game, Karacan still a bit quieter. Church and Kebe were woeful. Shame as I love them. Can't help but feel that dropping Church has snuffed out whatever game he was starting to develop, and spells out of the team don't seem to have helped Karacan or Kebe. I'm not so sure Kebe isn't interested, he may just need time to get up to speed from his injury.

Federici was confident, showing why many consider him the best in this league and makes a big LOL at any number of threads on here.

Gorkss and Pearce were superb, as was Alf who worked his socks off with no support.

McAnuff was intriguing. Terribly for 60 odd mins but is so much better without Kebe on the field. Drove through only to mess up, but finished the game terrifically and got the ball in for the goal.

All in all I hope this was us turning a corner. We played well v Southampton and Derby but lack of points on the board seems to have knocked us. We have no confidence of scoring in the 1st half. However, I saw enough in the last 10 mins to see drastic change is not required. If we can get our wingers on their game we'll beat most teams.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Both teams played some excellent build up football, but in the final 3rd were terrible, and frankly that looked a nailed on 0-0 til the goal.

Best player on the pitch by a country mile was the Brum #7 - Chris Burke?? Superb performance.

had to lol at his hissy fit in the first half

And he was really getting the red mist towards the end - mouthy, petulant little sod.

[Wycombe Royal]

The defended soundly but again failed to offer too much going forward. We just look so short of confidence, quality or ideas in the final third. Is that just down to setting up so defensively or do we need a signing or two to give us some spark? I'd favour a bit of both. Bring in an attacking player and also give them a bit more freedom to attack (see how well we defend with a few more going forward).

I'll say it again. Yet again we got into very good wide positions but the quality of balls into the box was absolutely shocking from HRK, McAnuff and Kebe. Even the one we scored from was not that great, it was neat little finish that got us the goal.

The general play is not much different from the second half of last season, but last season our final ball was much much better from the wingers (yes the same wingers we have this season).

[loyalroyal4life]

Awful game, glad it is over, even more so with 3 points. We did not deserve the win but guess it makes up for Palace, Soton is some respect!

Good to go into break with 3 points and just 1 defeat in 9

[melonhead]

Highlight of the match for me was definitely brendy dancing to the new drum beat.

agreed

[melonhead]

Pearce:6....Alex is growing since he has been partnered with Gorkss however still gives me nerves when heading.
Gorkss:9....Another outstanding performance from Gorkss today,Commanding the defence well and had C.Wood/King in his back pocket all game.

no way in the world theres a difference of 3 between these two, pearce is superb in the air- one that hit the post aside- that can happen to anyone

Mills:9....This young lad has come a long way in 7 games, Continiously been slated by fans around me at the Mad Stand however a very controlled performance for a player of a young age.

agreed- superb, hopefully the consistency will come, but hes shown he has what it takes on more than one game this season.

Karacan:7...Didn't have much to do however what he did he did very well, not forgetting he is only young and lots of potential.

thought he was superb- worked his little ass off, never stopped, broke up play superbly, and pushing forward at the end was pinging the passes off out wide with real pace and accuracy, just as good as ledge imo

[melonhead]

Having slated Mills in recent weeks he really stepped up today and looked solid

Le Fondre - 4 His first touch goes further than Church's shots on goal

numerous times his first touch was excellent, and held the ball well under huge pressure from multiple brum players before laying it off.
hes not going to be perfect though. a 4 is ridiculous.
imo

[ZacNaloen]

thought he was superb- worked his little ass off, never stopped, broke up play superbly, and pushing forward at the end was pinging the passes off out wide with real pace and accuracy, just as good as ledge imo

I know our midfielders are under orders to pass it out the wingers, but how often do you see our strikers asking for a pass between their centre backs?

Just add this to our game and we'll be ridiculously good.

[If you still hate Futcher]

We started really brightly and it looked like McD told them to have a go from the start as Brum would be a bit leggy from their game on Thursday.

Really pleased for Mills that finally people are beginning to see that he's not actually that bad but I thought he was better at Palace where he had Zaha in his pocket. There were a couple of times at least yesterday where he allowed his man to get the wrong side of him but he recovered well. Still would give him MOTM though - dealt with everything and was very positive when he could be.

Pearce continues to improve and I was shocked when he lost a header yesterday. Being in the North Stand I didn't have a great view of the one that hit our post but it looked like Feds should have called for it

Neither of the front 2 really got going but they weren't getting any protection from Halsey and were being pulled and pushed all over the place by the Brum centre backs - McD was getting really irate with this, noticeably at one in the 2nd half when Church was almost molested by one of their players.

All in all not a game for the Sky generation with both defences on top.

Wasn't it King who threw the hissy fit - lucky Sian Massey wasn't running the or he'd probably gone over and lumped her one.

[If you still hate Futcher]

thought he was superb- worked his little ass off, never stopped, broke up play superbly, and pushing forward at the end was pinging the passes off out wide with real pace and accuracy, just as good as ledge imo

I know our midfielders are under orders to pass it out the wingers, but how often do you see our strikers asking for a pass between their centre backs?

Just add this to our game and we'll be ridiculously good.

Actually yesterday there were a few occasions where they made the run and called for the pass which never came or if it did it wasn't accurate enough so it either ran out of play or their marker could get a toe in

[ZacNaloen]

That's what I meant, they are asking for the passes and they aren't coming. Should have been clearer.

[melonhead]

thought he was superb- worked his little ass off, never stopped, broke up play superbly, and pushing forward at the end was pinging the passes off out wide with real pace and accuracy, just as good as ledge imo

I know our midfielders are under orders to pass it out the wingers, but how often do you see our strikers asking for a pass between their centre backs?

Just add this to our game and we'll be ridiculously good.

lefondre waved his arms at karacan for that pass late in the game yesterday, karacan provided a perfect one, but le fondre had swithched off in a huff

the pass to the wing is usually the safer option(if our wingers could cross that is)
agreed , we could do it more often/better though