Birmingham Match Thread

[Southbank Old Boy]

Sorry, can't trawl through 13 pages, but no mention on the last two of Fed's great save from Phillips which kept us in the game.

And, as for their goal, I was screaming (at the TV) for Hunt to play the simple ball to Henry. Instead he turned it to the inside where Cisse was overwhelmed. Hardly his fault.

Do you mean the pretty standard save he chose to make with his wrong hand in the top corner? It wasn't that good a save, but it did keep us in the game and Fed had a pretty solid game. Good to see him commanding his six yard box, if not the rest of his area, and taking a few godd crosses under pressure

Surely it was Harper who played it to Cisse and then made himself available for a return pass. Cisse dithered and didn't take any of the options available to him and then was muscled out by Carsley (never a foul whoever said it was by the way). Cisse's error, although it was compounded by some poor defending by both Armstrong and Doobs so he's not the only one at fault, but has to take the lions share of the blame

[Ian Royal]

Sorry, can't trawl through 13 pages, but no mention on the last two of Fed's great save from Phillips which kept us in the game.

And, as for their goal, I was screaming (at the TV) for Hunt to play the simple ball to Henry. Instead he turned it to the inside where Cisse was overwhelmed. Hardly his fault.

Do you mean the pretty standard save he chose to make with his wrong hand in the top corner? It wasn't that good a save, but it did keep us in the game and Fed had a pretty solid game. Good to see him commanding his six yard box, if not the rest of his area, and taking a few godd crosses under pressure

Surely it was Harper who played it to Cisse and then made himself available for a return pass. Cisse dithered and didn't take any of the options available to him and then was muscled out by Carsley (never a foul whoever said it was by the way). Cisse's error, although it was compounded by some poor defending by both Armstrong and Doobs so he's not the only one at fault, but has to take the lions share of the blame

Difficult to reach a high shot with the arm underneath you. Used exactly the correct arm to make the save knocking the ball over teh bar. Looks good for the cameras, but that has nothing to do with why he did it that way.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Sorry, can't trawl through 13 pages, but no mention on the last two of Fed's great save from Phillips which kept us in the game.

And, as for their goal, I was screaming (at the TV) for Hunt to play the simple ball to Henry. Instead he turned it to the inside where Cisse was overwhelmed. Hardly his fault.

Do you mean the pretty standard save he chose to make with his wrong hand in the top corner? It wasn't that good a save, but it did keep us in the game and Fed had a pretty solid game. Good to see him commanding his six yard box, if not the rest of his area, and taking a few godd crosses under pressure

Surely it was Harper who played it to Cisse and then made himself available for a return pass. Cisse dithered and didn't take any of the options available to him and then was muscled out by Carsley (never a foul whoever said it was by the way). Cisse's error, although it was compounded by some poor defending by both Armstrong and Doobs so he's not the only one at fault, but has to take the lions share of the blame

Difficult to reach a high shot with the arm underneath you. Used exactly the correct arm to make the save knocking the ball over teh bar. Looks good for the cameras, but that has nothing to do with why he did it that way.

It's a turn of phrase more than anything Ian, although he could easily have used his left hand for that save all the same though

Fed is right footed, but I'd guess from that save he favours his left hand

[eleventh earl of mar]

Anyone else find it amazing that a lot of people on here who think they know better than others cannot even correctly name a player from their own team who plays a pass?

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Amazing? Nah.

Amusing? You betcha!

[Royal With Cheese]

[i certainly think he doesnt deserve too much criticism, and didnt think he played badly at all
him and cisse together provide everything a midfield needs

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy with Harps playing if we win every week. I'm just non plussed as he didn't seem to get many touches during the entire game. He did run around a lot but didn't seem to come into contact with anything.

[1960]

Anyone else find it amazing that a lot of people on here who think they know better than others cannot even correctly name a player from their own team who plays a pass?

If you are meaning me, my anaylsis was that Hunt choosing not to pass to Henry, when he was clear and unmarked, was the reason for the mess. He passed inside where there was congestion and it ended up with Cisse under pressure. It was only incidental that Harper passed it to him, because by then it was already a problem caused by Hunt's unwillingness to take the simple option.

[Woodcote Royal]

Cisse got caught in possession despite several opportunities to off load with a simple pass. End of.

I know that some still can't wait to slag off Hunt or Harper but there was only one player to blame for the initial error that led to Phillip's brilliantly taken goal.......................and Cisse deserves credit for admitting his mistake in an otherwise excellent display.

[eleventh earl of mar]

Anyone else find it amazing that a lot of people on here who think they know better than others cannot even correctly name a player from their own team who plays a pass?

If you are meaning me, my anaylsis was that Hunt choosing not to pass to Henry, when he was clear and unmarked, was the reason for the mess. He passed inside where there was congestion and it ended up with Cisse under pressure. It was only incidental that Harper passed it to him, because by then it was already a problem caused by Hunt's unwillingness to take the simple option.

"If the cap fits". Are you sure you do not want to go back one pass further and blame the person who passed to Hunt, bearing in mind that Hunt should not have been there as he was playing on the left?
Just accept that it was Cisse's mistake.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Spotted (I think) pre-match on TV amidst the away support: willz_royal

Not, I'm told.

Good guess though.

[Southbank Old Boy]

[i certainly think he doesnt deserve too much criticism, and didnt think he played badly at all
him and cisse together provide everything a midfield needs

Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy with Harps playing if we win every week. I'm just non plussed as he didn't seem to get many touches during the entire game. He did run around a lot but didn't seem to come into contact with anything.

That's the thing with playing his role in the middle of the park, you can go for long periods not touching the ball but still covering you man, giving options and making space and backing up your teammate. It doesn't mean your having a bad game, in some instances it probably means you having a very good game

Harper gets a tough time if he goes and gets the ball of the back four and plays the simple ball to a teammate and runs the game, your now giving him a bit of a hard time for not doing it. The fact that we missed out the middle two quite a bit yesterday meant that neither of them got on the ball that much, both played quite well though

The stats that Victor Meldew posted up kind of backs up the opinion that Harper didn't get on the ball much, but as I said, that doesn't mean he hasnt played well

[Royalee]

Cisse got caught in possession despite several opportunities to off load with a simple pass. End of.

I know that some still can't wait to slag off Hunt or Harper but there was only one player to blame for the initial error that led to Phillip's brilliantly taken goal.......................and Cisse deserves credit for admitting his mistake in an otherwise excellent display.

Yes, but he also scored a well-taken goal which made up for it, thus cancelling out that mistake. Harper on the other hand gave the ball away more times than he actually retained it during yesterday's game.

[1960]

Cisse got caught in possession despite several opportunities to off load with a simple pass. End of.

End of is like shouting - it doesn't mean you have won the argument.

[Ian Royal]

Cisse got caught in possession despite several opportunities to off load with a simple pass. End of.

End of is like shouting - it doesn't mean you have won the argument.

No it doesn't, but in this case he is absolutely spot on.

[muppet_]

Shane Long is rubbish

That is all.

[Alan Partridge]

Shane Long is rubbish

That is all.

Are we still talking football here?

[Thaumagurist*]

Cisse got caught in possession despite several opportunities to off load with a simple pass. End of.

That maybe so and it was my initial thought, but after seeing the replay, I now and still think he was fouled by Carsley. Carsley made no attempt to play the ball and just barged Cisse off the ball.

[Sarah Star]

I thought it was a foul too, but Cisse should still have passed before then. He must have known they were coming.

[RoyalBlue]

Sorry, can't trawl through 13 pages, but no mention on the last two of Fed's great save from Phillips which kept us in the game.

And, as for their goal, I was screaming (at the TV) for Hunt to play the simple ball to Henry. Instead he turned it to the inside where Cisse was overwhelmed. Hardly his fault.

Do you mean the pretty standard save he chose to make with his wrong hand in the top corner?

A comment like that suggests to me that you are not a keeper. If you are, I suspect you aren't very good, sorry. What makes you say it was the wrong hand? I think you'll find most keepers and goalkeeping coaches would say that it was the best hand to use in the circumstances.

[Royal Rother]

Fed is right footed, but I'd guess from that save he favours his left hand

Don't most right handed 'keepers favour their left hand side? I did, my son does, Marcus does (imo).