The Birmingham City Blues At Home

[Peter Thompson]

Very pleasing performance.

MotM was Spearing for me although as said, Alonso, CYL, Ream & Pratley all had good games too.

Easy to see what DF is trying to do when it's going well. 7 or 8 consecutive passes before Mears crossed to Alonso for the first. The keep ball session at the end that involved about 20+ passes was beautiful to watch.

Only blemish for me today was Zat Knight's seeming loss of form. He was poor on the goal and this playing from the back doesn't suit him as his distribution is so bad. Something Ream excelled at today imo

We need to get shut of Knight now asap in this window, he's a calamity / mistake waiting to happen - he looks like he's generally just not interested.

With Holden due back to bolster the midfield, I'd settle for a experienced vocal centre half to organise / lead the back 4 and a striker (poacher type) who can actually score goals in this transfer window, and if we have enough cash (doubtful) then another keeper.

Alonso is very good with the ball going forward, I actually think he'd be better suited as a left sided midfielder, but with a run of games and some confidence he may be ok at LB ?

[BL3]

In terms of consistency from the manager, I mean stop changing things around just for the sake of it and try and get some confidence by playing a settled side, wins breed confidence - he should play this side again at Leeds, I'm not saying they will get a result at Leeds, but players should be rewarded for good performances by keeping their places....

Fred Eyre on GMR made a similar point. Pick a balanced team and play players in their best positions and funnily enough we look better.

It's not like it's the first time he's ever picked a side like that. You criticised him only a week or so ago for leaving Petrov out. So should Petrov have played today?

You're missing the point.

[Harry Genshaw]

Very pleasing performance.

MotM was Spearing for me although as said, Alonso, CYL, Ream & Pratley all had good games too.

Easy to see what DF is trying to do when it's going well. 7 or 8 consecutive passes before Mears crossed to Alonso for the first. The keep ball session at the end that involved about 20+ passes was beautiful to watch.

Only blemish for me today was Zat Knight's seeming loss of form. He was poor on the goal and this playing from the back doesn't suit him as his distribution is so bad. Something Ream excelled at today imo

We need to get shut of Knight now asap in this window, he's a calamity / mistake waiting to happen - he looks like he's generally just not interested.

With Holden due back to bolster the midfield, I'd settle for a experienced vocal centre half to organise / lead the back 4 and a striker (poacher type) who can actually score goals in this transfer window, and if we have enough cash (doubtful) then another keeper.

Alonso is very good with the ball going forward, I actually think he'd be better suited as a left sided midfielder, but with a run of games and some confidence he may be ok at LB ?

Agreed. A leader in the middle of the back 4 and a keeper that instils confidence would make a huge difference. Boggy is a good shot stopper but too many high balls are not being dealt with by him or by our 6'7 centre half

[Athers]

It was much better - we always look better with one up and one behind as today. Don't know how Pratley earned his start but he gave it everything he had to be fair to him, and did well.

Birmingham were dreadful, as Clark has admitted - they let Spearing and Andrews control the tempo. BBC stats say it was 14-3 in shots (7-3 on) and we were comfortable except one ball into the box...........

Pleased with the first goal especially, we had the ball for what felt like over a minute, patiently moved up the field and resulted in one full back crossing for the other to head in near post, stuff of dreams!

We didn't create 100 great chances but did enough to be comfortable. Eagles isn't quite right compared to earlier in the season which is a concern.

As an aside I find it quite amusing when we're in front to listen to the applause for misplaced passes and such, which if the scoreline were 0-0 or 0-1 would be groans for the exact same piece of play.

[SmokinFrazier]

Our best defence is probably Ricketts, Wheater, Ream and Warnock, though Wheater is out for a while and Warnock isn't ours yet. However, that's my ideal defence. Knight and Mills are nowhere near as Wheater, and his relationship with Ream was good plus it provides a good balance, like a lesser Rio/Vidic or Cahill/Terry.

[William the White]

That feels much, much better...

The formation works... 4-2-3-1... with Kevin Davies giving it a good one, and Pratley(!) his main back up. There is a vg case for Pratley winning MotM - this was his best performance so far imho...

Alonso also was exceptional... Ream did well after the first 20 or so... Andrews rotated the ball, Spearing was energetic, ran, passed, worked exceptionally hard... Today, quite apart from his exdeptional goal, marked the return of CYL to first choice for the manager. Joyful performance.

But the formation was the main difference between this and Sheff W... Keep it at home, away, whatever the opposition. And keep this team, man for man, for the next game...

COYW!!!

[Leyther_Matt]

What a contrast to Wednesday, even if the first 15-20 minutes felt like déja vu.

Very soft goal to concede, Knight allowed his man to get in front of him and beat him in the air, just as he did on Wednesday. First priority in January has to be to sign up a dominating centre back who might help to stem the flow of losing goals in the air.

The first goal came out of nothing really, and I bet you'd have got pretty long odds on it coming from an Alonso header from a left-footed Mears cross! That visibly lifted the crowd and the players and the second was an absolute peach from Chungy. Granted, I could probably look pretty quick in a foot race with Paul Robinson, but Chungy absolute dusted him and then did superbly to beat one defender and then round Butland, even if at the time I feared he'd given himself too narrow an angle to score from.

Don't think Birmingham can have any complaints about the penalty. Regardless of it being from 'close range', you simply can't have your arms raised in the area and expect to get away with it.

As for individual performances, I thought Ream was much improved which gave us a sounder base to work from where we didn't look petrified that we'd concede a goal every time we were on the back foot. Alonso still has some work to do positionally but he really played his role very well, as did Mears in providing options if the midfield wanted to drop the ball a bit deeper and also overlapping their wide players when the opportunity presented itself.

Spearing ran his nads off and Andrews did his job well which certainly added to the stronger backbone and gave a bit more licence for Chungy, Eagles and Pratley to support Davies where possible and leave him a lot less isolated than he has been when playing on his own in the past.

When I've seen him for the ressies, Pratley has also looked at his most comfortable when playing in an advanced position, and I thought he was excellent today. For any of his knockers, I would suggest just watching his movement when we're on the attack and how much space he creates and how many defenders he takes out of the game. A bloke near me in North Lower was going mad at Pratley for running short at every corner kick until, just before about the seventh one, I told him to keep an eye on the Birmingham players that he dragged with him. The first one left a bit more space in the box but, more importantly, Birmingham's number 15 followed him EVERY time, neglecting his position on the near post which would have been a huge opportunity for us had the delivery been right from the corner.

Birmingham were pretty poor, but I can't say that there has been any side so far that has really stood out as a quality team so far. In fact, when we played Birmingham away they looked absolutely dreadful and we were by far the better side, yet we lost 2-1 that night.

One swallow doesn't make a summer, but today gives a glimpse of what can be built upon and at 4.55pm on Wednesday I certainly didn't think we'd have been seeing olé football at the same time the following Saturday!

[a1]

pratley is the anti-zat

should be shite, kinda good.

[Gail Platz]

MUCH better performance, FINALLY showed a bit of fight and looked like we gave a shit. That was the difference, they looked like they cared.

Bit confused why everyone is rating Davies as outstanding he did OK but there were a lot better players out there. Tim Ream shut a few people up today and I'm glad he did, he was outstanding and my man of the match. He had that lump of shit Zigic in his back pocket and he proved that after Zigic shoulder charged him and got sent off. Great work considering he's a foot shorter than him!

Alonso did well attacking wise but in defence he's so poor. Maybe there's a left midfielder in there somewhere but he isn't a full back.

[Beefheart]

MUCH better performance, FINALLY showed a bit of fight and looked like we gave a shit. That was the difference, they looked like they cared.

Bit confused why everyone is rating Davies as outstanding he did OK but there were a lot better players out there. Tim Ream shut a few people up today and I'm glad he did, he was outstanding and my man of the match. He had that lump of shit Zigic in his back pocket and he proved that after Zigic shoulder charged him and got sent off. Great work considering he's a foot shorter than him!

Alonso did well attacking wise but in defence he's so poor. Maybe there's a left midfielder in there somewhere but he isn't a full back.

I've been a big fan of Ream, but didn't see us early on in the season when he seemed to be getting slated, so was glad to see him play well.

[boltonboris]

Much improved. Well done to all.

Thought Alonso was getting dicked on first half by Burke was it? But he was very comfortable in the second half. Ream played well. Looked assured, but they had zero pace to get behind him. Knight kept getting caught under the ball. 4 or 5 times it happened.. And his headers flew 20 yards behind him. Bonkers. After the goal the defenders sussed out Zigic. Let him flick it on. There'll be nobody there.

Midfield, best area. They dominated. Andrews was excellent in his positioning and reading. Spearing his usual busy self, but with added quality today. Pratley, everywhere. He looked hungry and I'm made for him! Great goal by Lee and some nice moments. Eagles was man marked for the opening 15 minutes, but once he found space he started to hurt them. Davies was ok. Some nice early flicks, but his MOTM award was a bit baffling.

Downside: Our fans. Again. Booing from the opening minute. They were booing short throws FFS. We'd be a better team if we played in an empty stadium.

[boltonboris]

Oh, and Mears was excellent. Not for the first time.

[Bruce Rioja]

I've been a big fan of Ream, but didn't see us early on in the season when he seemed to be getting slated, so was glad to see him play well.

I'm an absolute critic of Ream (though would never resort to the churlishness of getting on his case at the match, such as others) and was absolutely delighted by how well he played today. The way that he harried their No. 7 out of our area and out of touch in the first half was one of the most intelligent and brilliantly executed pieces of defending that I've seen at our place in a long, long while. Still seen a lot of poor and precious little good from this lad, but today gave me a glimmer of hope. Considerably superior to Knight, who was fecking embarrassing.

[William the White]

Much improved. Well done to all.

Thought Alonso was getting dicked on first half by Burke was it? But he was very comfortable in the second half. Ream played well. Looked assured, but they had zero pace to get behind him. Knight kept getting caught under the ball. 4 or 5 times it happened.. And his headers flew 20 yards behind him. Bonkers. After the goal the defenders sussed out Zigic. Let him flick it on. There'll be nobody there.

Midfield, best area. They dominated. Andrews was excellent in his positioning and reading. Spearing his usual busy self, but with added quality today. Pratley, everywhere. He looked hungry and I'm made for him! Great goal by Lee and some nice moments. Eagles was man marked for the opening 15 minutes, but once he found space he started to hurt them. Davies was ok. Some nice early flicks, but his MOTM award was a bit baffling.

Downside: Our fans. Again. Booing from the opening minute. They were booing short throws FFS. We'd be a better team if we played in an empty stadium.

I too was dismayed by the early booing (which didn't really come until they took the lead and we had a rocky 10-15 mins). Just as bad were the ironic cheers for Bogs catching the ball after, presumably, blaming him for their goal - he half went to try and get the cross, then took a back step... It looked messy but i don't think he was at fault. sight of a replay might resolve the issue...

It stopped completely, i thought, from our equaliser... Though the crowd was so thin it hardly had the Reebok rocking...

But don't boo during the game, FFS! Stupid and counter-productive.

[bobo the clown]

I couldn't go today ... well, truth is I had what I considered to be better options. I'd got to the point of "well, that lot put no fckg effort in, so why should I ?"

It was a bit of a make-or-break match for me in that if we'd lost then I think our season was over & I'd have despaired of us ever turning it round.

So it's really heartening to hear & read that we played well. Hardly the big turnaround, but it'd be nice to add Leeds to the pile as well. A bit of consistency and a bit of confidence & who knows, but ffs don't let it be a one match wonder.

Maybe I should stay away more often.

If we'd won the last 2 ... & we should have ... we'd now be in the play-off spots. Imagine that !!

[Salford Trotter]

I thought Pratley was motm for me, he worked his socks off and by far his best game in a Bolton shirt. The same can be said for Ream and Spearing too. The problem is going to be performing like this week in week out. Same 11 to start on Tuesday for me

[Leyther_Matt]

The way that he harried their No. 7 out of our area and out of touch in the first half was one of the most intelligent and brilliantly executed pieces of defending that I've seen at our place in a long, long while.

The best since Gudni Bergsson shepherded an in-his-pomp Michael Owen out for a goal kick after giving the young Taff a 10 yard head start, I'd say.

Also worth mentioning that, in the same passage of play, Alonso was alert and went inside to cover Ream's position just in case Burke somehow managed to get a pass away. Basic stuff, I know, but it's the little things that cure the big problems.

[BWFC_Insane]

Much improved. Well done to all.

Thought Alonso was getting dicked on first half by Burke was it? But he was very comfortable in the second half. Ream played well. Looked assured, but they had zero pace to get behind him. Knight kept getting caught under the ball. 4 or 5 times it happened.. And his headers flew 20 yards behind him. Bonkers. After the goal the defenders sussed out Zigic. Let him flick it on. There'll be nobody there.

Midfield, best area. They dominated. Andrews was excellent in his positioning and reading. Spearing his usual busy self, but with added quality today. Pratley, everywhere. He looked hungry and I'm made for him! Great goal by Lee and some nice moments. Eagles was man marked for the opening 15 minutes, but once he found space he started to hurt them. Davies was ok. Some nice early flicks, but his MOTM award was a bit baffling.

Downside: Our fans. Again. Booing from the opening minute. They were booing short throws FFS. We'd be a better team if we played in an empty stadium.

I too was dismayed by the early booing (which didn't really come until they took the lead and we had a rocky 10-15 mins). Just as bad were the ironic cheers for Bogs catching the ball after, presumably, blaming him for their goal - he half went to try and get the cross, then took a back step... It looked messy but i don't think he was at fault. sight of a replay might resolve the issue...

It stopped completely, i thought, from our equaliser... Though the crowd was so thin it hardly had the Reebok rocking...

But don't boo during the game, FFS! Stupid and counter-productive.

Even booing during the game when it's really bad is understandable. But at no point today were we 'really bad'. In fact even at our worst we played better than Brum.

Too many fans going to get on players backs. Bloke in front of me booed Pratleys name, first touch, second touch etc. even in the second half he screamed for Dougie to remove him from the pitch.

It's just ridiculous. They aren't even taking into account whats happening on the pitch.

[bobo the clown]

Lee Clarke wasn't impreesed with his players !!

"I'm absolutely furious with that performance and I'll be working hard to address it. I'll play 11 teenagers if I have to. I know there is a fine crop of youngsters here who are ready to play and if the senior guys aren't up for it then they won't play. They can help the club kick on and I'd prefer to keep all those young lads than to keep hold of players who don't want to be part of the club."

[89bwfc89]

Oh, and Mears was excellent. Not for the first time.

Couldn't agree more, with both your posts.