BFTM - Brum Away 8 Aug 2015

[Man Friday]

Feck, feck, feck. So p1ssed off. Were they arguing over who should take the pen? It certainly looked like it. Was shot over line? Looked like it.

[bloody Volvo driver]

Not that it makes any difference, but Bluenose Tandy (Small Heath Alliance - Brum website) thinks otherwise

"Sat in F paddock today and how the linesman in front of us didn't give Reading that goal is beyond me. You could see the grass between the ball and the line from our seats."

Put it down to one of those days

[LWJ]

3 hit the bar

1 goal not given

1 saved penalty

1 massively deflected free kick

1 lapse in concentration from out pretty sturdy defence.

Another day and we would have walked away with the points comfortably.

Sa looked good as well. Especially if he still isn't fully match fit.

Positive signs all round. Don't let the result fool you.

[The Reverend]

[Pandoras Box]

Yep we lost, but great entertainment and great atmosphere. Haven't had that excitement for ages (not inc Wembley SF).
Got to make these observations though
As (if) the team becomes more of a unit, I think Gunter will be found out with his aimless crossing.
2) why has Hector started doing the arm wraps around their strikers a la Pearce. It'll only lead to penalties.
3) McShane was solid and class. I don't think he played one hoofed clearance, but totally commanded the area.
It's gonna be a good season.

[Wycombe Royal]

The linesman at that end and the ref should receive a suspension for missing that. They have to be accountable for mistakes that change results......

[Ian Royal]

That definitely looks in, but close enough that in real time from pitchside and not in line you can't fault the lino much for missing it.

[Wycombe Royal]

That definitely looks in, but close enough that in real time from pitchside and not in line you can't fault the lino much for missing it.

Yes you can.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Well what can you say, absolutely gutted! I wouldn't say we dominated the game but we certainly had the better of it. In the first half I thought we didnt look particularly good, we didnt create much but I'd say we were marginally better than them. Obviously their goal early in the second made things more difficult but I thought we were far better after that and were really unlucky not win the game, let alone draw it.

Orlando Sa looked decent, his first real involvement was some nice control before turning and taking it past a Brum defender before being fouled for a free kick which Norwood clipped the top of the bar with. Very few chances for either side in the first period but there was nothing anyone could have done about their first goal, just really unlucky that the deflection took it past Bond, who otherwise had it convered. Bond was actually pretty much untroubled throughout although he did make a couple of good catches. Apart from their two goals Brum only had one other decent chance that was near the end which got dragged wide.

So early in the second half they doubled their lead when (I think) Hector gave the ball away out wide on the left and the resulting cross into our box ended with a headed goal. Not long after though we started to apply some pressure and eventually Williams whipped the ball in for Blackman to glance a header into the top corner.

We hit the top the of the crossbar for a second time when McShane got his head on the end of a free kick from deep but it was just a bit too high. Williams looked lively at this point and created a couple of openings for himself but fired just wide and then the keeper saved it if I remember rightly. Didnt think much of Blackman until he scored and after that he improved, think it was also him that had an effort that went just wide. HRK also forced the keeper into a save when he came on.

Before HRKs effort though was another moment of bad luck as the ball broke for Tshibola who's shot struck the underside of the bar and bounced out again, couldnt tell whether it was over the line or not though I just assumed it wasn't? Then right at the end just when we thought the chances had came and gone, a ball forward from defence found Samuel on the left (our right) and he controlled it before putting back across goal around the edge of the box, and I cant remember who touched it in between but it fell for Cox who was clearly fouled and we had a penalty. Yes, they were argueing over who should take it but I wasn't surprised. Cox won it and probably should have taken it but obviously he did the nice thing and gave it to Orlando for a debut goal. People will say it was a poor penalty as he rolled it fairly softly, but if the keeper had gone the wrong way no one would have said anything but the fact he saved it made it look tame. Even worse was the follow up by Cox who somehow dragged the rebound wide with the goal gaping. Don't know how he missed it but I guess he must have just tried to tap it across into the far corner but misjudged it in the heat of the moment.

It's hard to take but we have to learn from it and I really hope this has a positive rather than negative effect on the players. Also hope the penalty miss doesn't damage Orlando's confidence too much, he did well today. Don't think he really had a chance on goal apart from the pen but he showed some nice control and link up play, and looks a miles better player than Pog.

I wouldn't really say anyone had a bad game today but Hector made a couple of mistakes, as did Obita. As I said all last season Pearce was a liability and had to go, McShane is a far better player and he showed that today. Defence will be much surer with him in there as predicted. The other debutant Quinn also put himself about. The team overall has been improved but often we still lack that real cutting edge and bit of flair that can get you a goal. We keep possession quite well but often spend too much time passing sideways, its like we dont quite know what to do with it. This has been a problem for a while and after the first half I was thinking there is still that lack of creativity problem but the good news is after the second half we created more than enough to win the game and were very unluckly to come away with nothing.

So as Nigel Adkins might say "there are positives to take", but after today in this case it is actually true
Lets forget this now and move on quickly, long season ahead and a lot of matches to play in a league that is always wide open so lets get a couple of wins on the board and you never know...

[Ian Royal]

That definitely looks in, but close enough that in real time from pitchside and not in line you can't fault the lino much for missing it.

Yes you can.

I don't blame people for getting a difficult call wrong.

[Eaststandman]

If only there was a way that technology could be employed to ensure that goal, no-goal decisions could be made failsafe!

[Ian Royal]

If only there was a way that technology could be employed to ensure that goal, no-goal decisions could be made failsafe!

Well quite.

[Wycombe Royal]

That definitely looks in, but close enough that in real time from pitchside and not in line you can't fault the lino much for missing it.

Yes you can.

I don't blame people for getting a difficult call wrong.

It is their job to be out there and therefore make these decisions, they are not forced to do it. So I have no problem blaming them or criticising them when they get it wrong.

Also how can we expect them to improve if they aren't held accountable when they make mistakes? If there is no penalty for them then there is no motivation for them to improve.

[blueroyals]

Clayton Donaldson... what a complete c*nt.

If he was on your team you'd love him, but you'd hate playing against that type of player.

He's the player Pavel Pogrebnyak wishes he was.

[Drew_3]

Can anyone tell me how Tshibola played?

I was really pleased to see him in the starting line up as I thought he looked quite good against Espanyol.

[blueroyals]

Can anyone tell me how Tshibola played?

I was really pleased to see him in the starting line up as I thought he looked quite good against Espanyol.

Quality. Much better than Akpan - who I doubt will play much this season.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Yep we lost, but great entertainment and great atmosphere. Haven't had that excitement for ages (not inc Wembley SF).
Got to make these observations though
As (if) the team becomes more of a unit, I think Gunter will be found out with his aimless crossing.
2) why has Hector started doing the arm wraps around their strikers a la Pearce. It'll only lead to penalties.
3) McShane was solid and class. I don't think he played one hoofed clearance, but totally commanded the area.
It's gonna be a good season.

Didn't Gunter set up our goal with one of those crosses?

[Tandy]

Not that it makes any difference, but Bluenose Tandy (Small Heath Alliance - Brum website) thinks otherwise

"Sat in F paddock today and how the linesman in front of us didn't give Reading that goal is beyond me. You could see the grass between the ball and the line from our seats."

Put it down to one of those days

Bluenose here in peace. Saw you'd quoted me so had to join in.

First of all it was over the line as the photo confirms. How the lino never gave that I'll never know.

Enjoyed the game when it eventually got going, bit niggly at times but thats to be expected with new teammates trying to work each other out. Thought you'd have brought more fans but made some good noise most of the game.
Didn't think it was a penalty at the time but the highlights may suggest otherwise. the arguing between your players was definitely your downfall. You could just tell he was going to miss even though our keeper had a rather dodgy game up to that point.

Best of luck for the rest of the season, you have a decent squad. Good going forward, overran us down the middle at times but looked very suspect at the back and shaky down the flanks when we were pressing. Hopefully I can make the return trip to your place as its a ground I've not been to yet.

P.S... Biscuitmen

[RoyallyFcuked]

Yeah Tshibola did well, he looked good actually come to think of it, I'd say he can be our new Chalobah type player. Thought Samuel did well in the few moments he got too. I wasnt sure whether Norwood would or should start the game but he did alright as well.

I can admit that I'm normally one to critisise if I think the team performance was crap or someone in particular had a bad game but honestly we were really unlucky today and other than the few mistakes that have been mentioned, no one stood out as having a bad game. We should have won the game 100% but that's football sometimes.

[RoyallyFcuked]

Forgot to mention how much time wasting the Brum players were doing?! Especially their keeper and what about his incident with Cox? No way Cox should have been booked for that, the ref got a lot right today but also made quite a few wrong calls. Sadly most teams timewaste as much as they can now, but its very frustrating when its being used against you.

Brum home fans were pretty quiet but thought our fans made some good noise at times but as we were behind for most of the game it would have been so much better if we had equalized and/or gone on to win, but of course that is often the case.