Birmingham (H) match thread sponsored by Vegemite

[Cureton's Volley]

Lovely stuff. Hector & Ake havent missed a tackle. Just need a bit of class to craft a finish

[Lacoste]

Clearly doesn't r8 Norwood either. Missed out on Sat and not in the 11 today despite being fresh.

No big loss.

[Royalcop]

So far we've had 62% possession and 11 shots, 5 of which were on target, sounds pretty uneventful from what I can glean from the BBC text.

[Royalwaster]

Lots of shots .... no goals.

[higher]

Arf time

[Ian Royal]

I can't see Pearce going anywhere. We'll struggle to find anyone as good as him that won't cost a lot of money. And he's got exactly the sort of attitude we need to turn it around and start building towards the top again.

[Pepe the Horseman]

I can't see Pearce going anywhere. We'll struggle to find anyone as good as him that won't cost a lot of money. And he's got exactly the sort of attitude we need to turn it around and start building towards the top again.

What if he doesn't want to sign a new contract?

[Ian Royal]

I can't see Pearce going anywhere. We'll struggle to find anyone as good as him that won't cost a lot of money. And he's got exactly the sort of attitude we need to turn it around and start building towards the top again.

What if he doesn't want to sign a new contract?

I don't think he'll get a much better deal elsewhere and whilst he's not stupid and will be looking to get a good deal, he'll sign because of that and he loves it here.

[Ian Royal]

Can someone please tell Adie to shut up about Cooper and Knight. Cooper has only missed out due to Knight in one game. They both played against Watford. Cooper hasn't put a foot wrong? He's conceded 10 goals in 2 of his 16 appearances.

I want him to get chances and think Knight was a pointless signing who shouldn't have kept Cooper out even once, but come on Adie, you haven't got a clue. And you can't even name a youth striker FFS.

Hector to Arsenal for £8m? Are you on crack Adie?

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Clearly doesn't r8 Norwood either. Missed out on Sat and not in the 11 today despite being fresh.

No big loss.

Norwood's a strange one. Clearly behind Chalobah/Williams/Ake and, probably, Jem - in some sort of CM role - two of which are loanees. Not to give him a run today, or even make the bench [EDIT - just noticed he is a seat warmer], does seem to indicate that SC doesn't rate him at all.

Perhaps he is just a much less chavvy version of Guthrie after all.....

[Ian Royal]

Seems clear Clarke prefers midfielders in a similar vein to McDermott, just a bit more box to box.

Norwood is a playmaker who can do good defensive work. That's obviously not what Clarke wants. He wants energetic runners and tacklers. Which is a massive shame and spells big time trouble for Kuhl.

[Lacoste]

Clearly doesn't r8 Norwood either. Missed out on Sat and not in the 11 today despite being fresh.

No big loss.

Norwood's a strange one. Clearly behind Chalobah/Williams/Ake and, probably, Jem - in some sort of CM role - two of which are loanees. Not to give him a run today, or even make the bench, does seem to indicate that SC doesn't rate him at all.

Perhaps he is just a much less chavvy version of Guthrie after all.....

He is most definitely on the bench.....but yeah.

[Royalwaster]

Has Blackman touched the ball yet .... not registered a shot yet according to bbc ...

[Ian Royal]

Dominating possession. Lots of shots on target (comparatively). Still no goals. Sigh.

[Royalcop]

That's obviously not what Clarke wants. He wants energetic runners and tacklers.

Similar to Mourinho then who shipped out Mata for that reason - though comparing Norwood and Mata is stretching it a bit.

[Royalwaster]

That's obviously not what Clarke wants. He wants energetic runners and tacklers.

Similar to Mourinho then who shipped out Mata for that reason - though comparing Norwood and Mata is stretching it a bit.

Norwood was signed in middle of injury crisis ... since then, there's a lot more competition and Norwood has been pretty poor. Could also be that he misses a decent outlet in front of him ... his passing was pretty decent when we still had Murray.

[Lacoste]

Blackman Gooooooaaaaaaaallllllll

[higher]

Double subs:
stacey on for Mackie and appiah on for gmccleary

[higher]

Blackman Gooooooaaaaaaaallllllll

Smack botty.

[higher]

Attendance: 14,604