I probably would of taken a four points from our next two games so today was a start. I thought we were excellent in the first half let down by some woeful finishing and some pretty good defending by Brum. Second half we fell away and their goal almost direct from a throw-in was a poor on to give away. King Ken becomes our saviour and rescues a point as we go four games unbeaten. We still have a lot of imbalance in the squad - that is plain to see. JP started very well and got stuck in. but faded badly like the rest second half. Oh and Bayo? 5 million. I could of scored that - it was a bad miss but thankfully didn't totally cost us. I knew tonight with the Deeney factor was going to make it a tough affair. They will def see it as a point gained as they have amassed a good haul themselves and don't look like a relegation side right now. Burnley drew and Norwich just about held on for their first win. If Blackburn lose tomorrow then the point will look a tiny bit better - but we still need a bodies in positions we are lacking and our bench looks wafer-thin. Asprilla looked alright and he is sharp - I can see him getting a few goals this season. Onto Preston - who don't score many but don't concede either. Nil Nil it is then. Overall an alright performance but we will continue to look unbalanced until we know for certain who is here and who isn't end of the month. We have won two at home and drawn two away - marks of a promotion side perhaps. We really need to win at Preston now though - but I cannot see much change to that lineup bar Kamara coming back in. Bachmann again with some fine saves, especially since we looked pretty uneasy after they scored. Edwards has work to do - but eight points from four games is not bad - and we are one point better off now than under Ivic.
Not entirely sure about that. I thought we were disjointed and not that effective, but still the better team. We had the better chances but hardly any sustained pressure aside from when Manaj came on. (Thought Manaj done well). Manaj got a toe on the shot from Sema. Pedro was absolutely hopeless. Newcastle have amended their bid from 17.5m to 7.5m. Deeney was rubbish. We keep the ball for 60 seconds with 0 intent every time we have possession. Then it's a punt of a pass into the channel or at centre forwards chest. Repeat repeat. The wet conditions admittedly didn't help us as it was difficult close control. Brum co commentator was annoying, having a pop at "Embarrasin" Asprilla for acting injured (he's 18 making his full debut in a tough environment) but saying Bacuna was entitled to take a breather and clever to stay down minutes later. What's the point of giving Davis 4 minutes? Pedro should have been off with 20 minutes left.
Maybe didn't get what we should have done whereas in the last 2 games we got more than we ought to have done.. Particularly first half but when we scored game seemed to drift out a bit into the draw. Hopefully Davis will be fit to start Saturday. And Sarr if he really is injured.
Two 1-0 wins at home and two 1-1 draws away isn't too bad going. A bit disappointing today though. Both our 2 goals conceded have come from balls in behind dozy Cathcart, a flaw I keep pointing out. A replacement on the left side of defence is still needed. Sierralta seemed a tad more lethargic today than in our previous game as well somehow. Are there many people out there who actually like 3 at the back?! Even if we changed half our team to have the players for it, it seems pointless a lot of the time. It didn't work today in a game where Brum were sitting deep and we were expected to be on the front foot. It would be helped if we had better CBs on the ball, but even still 3 CBs against Brum when ideally we want a win just seems overkill. Asprilla started the game lively and did well for our goal, but struggled to get involved when Brum condensed the pitch in the first half. Ideally I still think he should be a cameo/rotation option for now, with us signing a more proven goalscorer to start in attacking midfield. Good prospect though. I though Bayo actually did quite well aside from missing that good headed chance. He got in to some good positions and linked up play well at times, but as with Asprilla also struggled a bit in tight spaces with getting crowded out from Brum having so many bodies around the edge of the box. With our current attacking options he seems someone to throw on in a second half if we're on the front foot and chasing the game. Newcastle won't be paying £30mil for JP if they based it on today. One of those games of his where he shows some lovely skill and dribbling, but lacks with the end product. More composure could still come with time I guess. Great hit from Sema for the goal and he looked one of our most dangerous players again. Only bug-bear is that he needs to cross the ball earlier at times when he gets the chance. Gaspar not being able to dribble passed his opponent from a standing start isn't ideal for a RWB, but at least he seems to know his limitations. His running off the ball is clearly much better than it is with the ball, and he did very well for the goal and almost scored one himself. Defensively he's solid and he's good at keeping possession. A good player but one who seems most suited to RB than RWB.
Pedro brilliantly over-elaborates. Fun to watch but very little end-product. Sema is a decent player who sadly doesn't have enough pace. Sierralta is good in the air but doesn't look good or even reliable when the ball is on the ground. Man for man Watford were the better players in most, but not all the positions; but one would be hard-pushed to say they deserved better than a draw. If Edwards is any good then surely this squad will play a lot better as times move on.
Our best performance and our worst result. I thought players put in a shift and some our our passing was excellent, much happier with this performance than the previous performances. Bachmann- didn't have much to do today when he, he did well enough Back 3- okay for most of the match, should have done a bit better in the situation in which we conceded. Gaspar - a top professional. You can see his experience, I don't remember him making many mistakes if any. The problem is he's no wing back. Way way too slow for that role. Sema - despite being far worse in the second half than in the first one, still my motm. Ran his socks off, and was our most dangerous player. Very decent defensively for most parts of the game. Choudhary - I love him. Tackling and intercepting machine. Some of his long ball passing was horrible in the first half, but he does a lot of dirty work and makes us lot more solid defensively. Kayembe - I think he's okay at this level. My only criticism is the 2 solo runs he tried, one in each half, that ultimatively lead to a goal and a dangerous counter respectively. Otherwise very decent again. Defensively solid, okay passing. Would prefer an upgrade on him, but he's okay for this level. Miles better than Gosling. Asprilla - Good debut. You can see he's inexperienced, but he's also very talented. Was involved in our goal, I'd love to see more from him. Pedro - He did have 4 or 5 terrible passes in the 2nd half, that tainted his performance today. He was very good in spells. And I just love watching him play, such natural talent. Bayo - started quite brightly with some clever flick ons but disappeared after 15th-20th minute. Was completely useless after that. I'm still not sure if he'll contribute much this season, but I'm sure he wasn't worth 5 million. Subs: Manaj - I think he'll basically be another Perica. Looks half decent and quite physical, maybe he'll even snatch a goal or 2, but in reality pretty useless. Seems better than some sh*t strikers we had recently, but I'm not sure if he's really good enough even at this level. Gosling - Another horrific sub appearance. I can't see what he offers. Davies and Hungbo came on too late to say anything of note. Overall, decent performance and a dissapointing result. We either need to get some players that fit this formation or switch to back four.
https://twitter.com/dalemoon90/status/1559624755782848519?t=MggMtLK7xK-waT46olJlWA&s=33 Wasn't even close, was it?
I like our approach this season of rather than constantly changing head coach, we use a different formation for each game of the season. So far 3-5-2, 4-3-3 and 3-4-1-2. What's up next Rob?
I had the misfortune of watching that through ifollow and what was the Birmingham commentary team. I think my IQ might have gone down about 15 points listening to their co commentator go on. Not the brightest spark and spent most of the game questioning every throw in or corner the ref gave to us. Thank goodness I won't have to listen to that again for at least the rest of the season.
Disappointingly late subs again. Seems were always stuck with managers who don't pull the trigger early. 3 minutes seemed pretty pointless for Davis. Not enough time to affect the game or get into it. Not enough time to get the legs a run out. Pretty pointless.
Good point - we battered them, just couldn’t make any further chances after having it cleared off the line twice in the first half.
A point away against one of the inform teams at the start of the season isnt a bad result and we deserved something from that game. On another day we could have been 2 or 3 - 1 up at half time. I thought Brum looked organised, worked hard and despite having some young players didnt look overly phased. Glad im not the only one who thought that. He's trying to do too much all the time and the more frustrated he gets the more he feels the need to take extra touches or beat a player he doesnt have too etc. Just keep it simple sometimes and release the ball quicker - and stop getting in other players way such as the ball in the second half that was played through for Bayo who was perfectly placed to have a strike but ended up getting tackled by Pedro.
It was hard to tell from the replays they showed if he did get the final touch or not. He definitely celebrated like he had
A few making the same comments - I can only assume so. I think I saw someone comment that he didn't play a single minute in any of Villa's pre-season friendlies, so that might have something to do with it.
Manaj looks more of a footballer than Bayo, however Bayo looks like causing chaos in the box which should lead to some goals for him.
Bayo was valued at £845,00 (€1m) in early 2022. He had a good agent and a naive club willing to buy him
The game was there for the taking. Although a point is still not a bad result considering we remain unbeaten. Was not too confident with Bayo starting but fortunately I think that will be a rarity. Should have buried both his chances. Couldn't hold the ball up and doesn't inspire me with any confidence whatsoever. Walks off at snails pace when substituted off despite us being one nil down. I'm presuming Davies will be our main frontman once Rob decides he's up to speed. Hamza is a great addition to the squad based on his two performances so far. Breaks up play and has the athleticism to match. Slightly ponderous with the ball at times but overall very pleased to have him onboard. Bacuna was excellent for Birmingham and there left back also played well. But overall I thought they were quite a poor side. Deeney looks a shadow of his former self as a player but still a club legend and glad he didn't score against us! I'm not convinced with playing 3 centre backs and we don't really have the wingbacks at the moment to take advantage of this type of formation. Asprilla provides us with something different and did link up with Pedro on a few occasions quite nicely. However, he was bullied off the ball quite a few times and decision making could be improved as of course he's still just a kid. I look forward to seeing a lot more from him this season. Sema did well and is probably one of our most consistent performers in the championship. He's a player you want around as he has a good attitude, never gives up and is a threat. Saying that he isn't really a wingback but more a winger but often can do the job as required. It seems Rob is still trying different things and we won't really know what to fully expect until a few games after the transfer window closes. Overall I'm happy with our start and hopefully we can build on this with a bit more clarity as to the direction Rob wants us to play. As promised by Rob he wants to give youth a chance. Hungbo looked very lively when he came on and would like to see him given a chance this season. A point is a decent result, should have bagged all 3 but we rode our luck in the previous 2 games so I will take the point. Come on you golden boys!!!
Looks like Hause is coming in, which I am fairly happy with, you'd think he'll get in the team over Cathcart. I don't think Edwards is as wedded to 3atB as we thought given that he played 4atB against Burnley, but given Kamara was suspended we didn't have any proper LB options (Sema has never played there before for us I don't think, and I'm not sure if he's played there at all)
Didn’t get to watch it and haven’t read through all the above comments yet, but it sounds like we were better tonight (as you may expect against poorer opposition) and were good value for the point. I’m happy with 8 pts from 4 games, especially as the squad is still in transition. Anything this month is a bonus really. The judgements should be made when Edwards has his final squad. Very interesting to see us play 3-4-3 (or 3-4-2-1?) without Sarr available. I’d assumed we were just playing a front 3 to crowbar him in, but perhaps this suggests Edwards likes the shape, or sees it as being best for JP? Looking forward to reading people’s views on the performance, particularly of how Asprilla, Gaspar and Bayo fared.
I wonder if 3 at the back needs someone in the 3 just to step up every now and then into a midfield 3. Kabasele or Gaspar maybe..or play Choudrey at centre half.
That isn’t how 3 at the back has ever worked. You don’t play a reduced back line of 3 and then put one forward into midfield as well.
