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Match day thread: Birmingham

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  • I finally stand corrected on Freeman. It would have been embarrassing to have him in there tonight doing things like controlling the ball and passing it along the ground. The scenes!

  • That was a hugely demoralising performance. We really did have the look of a team who were trying not to lose and frankly only an outstanding display by Allsop prevented that.

    It's really not like us, or GA to be so timid. I could perhaps understand looking to keep it tight in the 1st half and then bring on the subs in the 2nd half to change the game, but at no point did we up the tempo, or try and change the flow of the game, which to be honest a poor Birmingham controlled. I just don't understand what we were looking to do in that game, other than keep a clean sheet?

    We now need a huge response on Saturday. I'm quite prepared to see us relegated and for the most part I've actually been impressed with how we've acquitted ourselves, but I do want see us us putting up a real fight and having a go not playing as passively as we did tonight.

  • @aloysius said:
    It was good the referee decided to level it up with the sending off after we decided to go down to ten men on 70 minutes. Why replace the best attacker we have, who showed no sign of slowing down, with Bayo, who shows no sign of being able to leave first gear? Why bother signing forwards of the calibre of McCleary, Horgan and Wheeler if we're just going to leave Bloomfield on for 89 minutes? Why play for a draw against a team that will likely be relegated along with us, judging by tonight.

    This, exactly this

  • @Malone said:

    @aloysius said:
    It was good the referee decided to level it up with the sending off after we decided to go down to ten men on 70 minutes. Why replace the best attacker we have, who showed no sign of slowing down, with Bayo, who shows no sign of being able to leave first gear? Why bother signing forwards of the calibre of McCleary, Horgan and Wheeler if we're just going to leave Bloomfield on for 89 minutes? Why play for a draw against a team that will likely be relegated along with us, judging by tonight.

    Do you still all think that Richard Dobson was just following Gareth's instructions to a tee when he made us play attractive football against Birmingham and delivered us three points?

    Do you think we got our 2 promotions under Gareth in spite of what Dobbo was advising then?
    Or that Dobbo has had no say in every other game bar those 2 wins?

    I think Dobbo is a consummate assistant manager who defers to his boss when his boss is around. I hope when Gareth moves on that he chooses to step up to manager with us rather than going with Gareth wherever he goes next.

  • @Shev said:
    I finally stand corrected on Freeman. It would have been embarrassing to have him in there tonight doing things like controlling the ball and passing it along the ground. The scenes!

    Freeman had more shots than Wycombe Wanderers tonight.

  • With the midfield selected, it was no suprise we had zero creativity.
    Cant even be bothered to listen to Ainsworths aftermatch thoughts, after his tactics today.

  • @Wycombe85 said:

    >

    We now need a huge response on Saturday. I'm quite prepared to see us relegated and for the most part I've actually been impressed with how we've acquitted ourselves, but I do want see us us putting up a real fight and having a go not playing as passively as we did tonight.

    I thought tonight would be the response, after a 7-2 annihilation!

  • In league 2

  • It would have been a big call to go gung ho on the back of the massive defeat last time out and another one in succession could have done massive harm, have to hope this plan was get a clean sheet at all costs then open up a bit more next time, but when it becomes clear they are no better than us and they go down a man surely you have to try something else. GA is fiercely loyal and that spirit has been a positive in the long run but he's not quick to change things and it's frustrating in the extreme when we don't go all out for what might be rare possible points.

  • Can't believe we didn't go for it there - not losing seemed to be the aim.

    There won't be many better chances to collect three points.

  • I can only presume McCleary and Horgan, Mehmeti even couldn't be risked but why would they be named in the squad if they couldn't put in a cameo? Game was crying out for creativity and ball carriers and they were all left picking up splinters.
    Really disheartened tonight as it was well within our capabilities to win that. As said above I'd rather us had a real go and lost. A draw does very little for us in our position.

  • I think it would have been extremely hard to play controlled passing football against opponents who had absolutely no intention to do so themselves. But it’s possible that, if we’d tried to, they would have had more than one red card. I’m not sure where The Admiral was tonight. Probably all at sea like the rest of the outfield players. Brilliant performance by Rocky though, graciously and wittily acknowledged by @eric_plant.

  • I love Bayo. We should have a statue of him. But he will always slow the game down usually by ‘fouling’ or he just ensures we go one dimension. So in a game that was already slow bringing him on made us glacial. It was crying out for speed and width (something burning figured out just before going down to ten) McCleary and Horgan wasted.
    We can go down. Just not waving the white flag so meekly like tonight.

    On a side note I cannot recall 2 better saves from Rocky.

  • Rocky's saves were so good, I would change my poll answer for POTS if I could.

  • @drcongo said:

    @Shev said:
    I finally stand corrected on Freeman. It would have been embarrassing to have him in there tonight doing things like controlling the ball and passing it along the ground. The scenes!

    Freeman had more shots than Wycombe Wanderers tonight.

    On a team down to ten men for most of the game, no less!

  • First time I've genuinely believed we're going down tonight, feel pretty sad about it

  • @Shev said:

    @drcongo said:

    @Shev said:
    I finally stand corrected on Freeman. It would have been embarrassing to have him in there tonight doing things like controlling the ball and passing it along the ground. The scenes!

    Freeman had more shots than Wycombe Wanderers tonight.

    On a team down to ten men for most of the game, no less!

    So he should two divisions down!

  • The hope of staying up is pretty much extinguished now, let's just try and get a few points now and not totally embaress our selves

  • I can only conclude that the prematch team talk was along the lines of “Listen lads, we’ve left it too late to pick up enough points now, and we’re definitely going to get relegated. But look on the bright side, you’re all going to get a pay cut and some fabulous away trips to exotic locations like Oxford and Milton Keynes. Now go out there and play like nothing depends on it!”

  • @drcongo. That is pure comedy. ?

  • I think we will be well adrift by the end of Feb.
    Plus points tonight Obita looked comfortable, and at least we not not freezing our nuts off watching that tactically inept garbage tonight.

  • if Oxford keep winning the way they have recently, they could well go up as we slip down.

  • Two points lost there and lucky the fans were not in to be honest. I dread to think what the final whistle would have brought from the faithful. Not necessarily Mehmeti who may have struggled in the low quality midfield mud melee out there but surely a bit of strength and width with McLeary and/or Horgan (or even an earlier Wheeler) would have been welcome. If we are saving Uche by taking him off I'm not sure what for. Bayo is the bully to bring on when we are two up. It was bad and not the end of days...but almost...Thompson used to get a ball at his feet and twist and turn but lately seems to be just hoofing it up in the air. It was no makeshift defence tonight either. Massively disappointing but not the end of days...yet. And yes a rare smile on the night was raised by a gracious @eric_plant praising the MOTM!

  • Sadly not a fitting epitaph for Sandie.

  • @ValleyWanderer said:
    if Oxford keep winning the way they have recently, they could well go up as we slip down.

    As long as they stop Peterborough going up then fine.

  • It was hardly gracious, what choice did I have?

    It was up there with the Gordon Banks save against Brazil.

    Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and take the stick that's coming your way

  • @TheOldMan said:

    Not great up front today. Bayo looks like his time has come - even coming off the bench ??

    I remember early in the season thinking how much better we looked with him on the pitch, in the times when we didn't have a recognised target man and couldn't hold the ball up for shit.

    But in the last few appearances he's offered very little other than bustle, and the reverse flick on to nowhere.

    I expect he'll get one last season with us in L1 next time round though. given the "general" factor, and he can probably still scare defenders at that level.

    Also though, it may help playing actual wingers who could feed him some crosses, rather than hoofing it to him and expecting the attack to start from him.

  • Very very strange tonight. I can only assume the covid outbreak has ravaged the squad badly as we do not look anything like ourselves at the moment, and some of the selection decisions are odd. If so, the timing of the outbreak after the Preston game, probably our best attacking performance this season, is especially galling.

    I believe we'll be relegated this season. When we are, for me the story of the season will be the points we've dropped in home games where the opposition have been absolutely there for the taking. Rotherham, QPR, Millwall and Huddersfield could easily have generated an extra 10 points for us before tonight, and we can now add Birmingham to that list. The most frustrating thing is clearly feeling that we're strong enough for the fight, but consistenly failing to land a meaningful blow.

  • edited February 2021

    Let's not lie to ourselves. It's the sort of "tactically inept garbage" that we're fairly used to seeing from time to time. It was a low end performance of the sort that Gareth's tactical style can and does produce - I offer Barnsley from this season as the most recent clear example. The difference is that you can stomach it much more comfortably, even walk away from the ground with a sense of almost appreciation, when you're towards the top of the table and you've just negated a rival.

    This season so far has been a rather interesting experience psychologically for me. The first seven games, not counting Rotherham, was a novel time when, in the first half of that run, I felt that it was men against supermen. I was resigned to failure but somewhat enjoyed what seemed to be the incredible standard of play of our opponents - I can't wait to see us play Blackburn again to figure out how they aren't top of the table by twenty points - and was interested to see whether there was any way in which we might match up. Towards the end of that run, I was excited at the sense that we were indeed adjusting and showing an ability to match the required standard. After that, there were many games - won, drawn and lost - where it seemed we were as good in almost every respect as our opponents and occasionally, whisper it, a bit better. Hope remained. Lately, notwithstanding the Preston cup game, a sense of inevitable failure has begun to set in. I have become less excited to watch the games as they approached. Sadly, tonight fitted into that sense as well as any game that was not lost could.

    I recognise the possibility that the state of mind may change again and hope that it does - it's not much fun to watch at the moment and I'd be grateful for any artificial lift to the spirits in the current times.

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