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Matchday Thread Birmingham v PNE 01/04/24 - KO:3PM - Championship

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Matchday Thread Birmingham v PNE 01/04/24 - KO:3PM - Championship

Seen Birmingham play a few times this season.
They're poor and generally struggle to retain the ball, create few chances, and face lots of shots at their goal. In both games against PNE, they've looked the better side.
We are so predictable, Brum 100% prepared to play against a 3-5-2/5-3-2. With the personnel available/ unavailable, change the shape rather than playing half of your 10 outfield players out of position.

We had to go hard at them early, their fans quickly turn if we get an early goal.

Buchanan at LB is excellent, avoid allowing him to be the spare man at the back when they're in possession. Miyoshi is their playmaker, close him down with two men quickly.

Storey invariably sees a lot more of the ball than Hughes, Millar has two men on him every time he gets the ball. How the management team didn't recognise the similarities is astonishing. Match them up and the atmosphere at 0-0 with 15 mins to go is very different. Lack of intelligence and attention to detail once again.

Woodburn, despite multiple substitute appearances this season and last, is deemed less worthy than Mawene of a start. Yet still makes an appearance as a substitute. Strange.
 
Thewhites. said:
Seen Birmingham play a few times this season.
They're poor and generally struggle to retain the ball, create few chances, and face lots of shots at their goal. In both games against PNE, they've looked the better side.
We are so predictable, Brum 100% prepared to play against a 3-5-2/5-3-2. With the personnel available/ unavailable, change the shape rather than playing half of your 10 outfield players out of position.

We had to go hard at them early, their fans quickly turn if we get an early goal.

Buchanan at LB is excellent, avoid allowing him to be the spare man at the back when they're in possession. Miyoshi is their playmaker, close him down with two men quickly.

Storey invariably sees a lot more of the ball than Hughes, Millar has two men on him every time he gets the ball. How the management team didn't recognise the similarities is astonishing. Match them up and the atmosphere at 0-0 with 15 mins to go is very different. Lack of intelligence and attention to detail once again.

Woodburn, despite multiple substitute appearances this season and last, is deemed less worthy than Mawene of a start. Yet still makes an appearance as a substitute. Strange.
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Who were the 5 you considered to be playing out of position?

Storey didn't play today (he was on the bench).
 
We're a better team than last season.
We've got a better squad than last season.
If a fit Browne and a fit Potts had played today, we would have won.
Vital that we hold on to our better players- particularly Millar and Riis, and move on some of the deadwood- Cunningham (sorry), Woodburn, Evans and Bauer and replace with Championship ready- players- last summer's recruitment of Whatmough, Keane and Holmes has proved very effective.
Sadly however, of the young, home-grown squad members, only Best looks anywhere near ready for the Championship, so we need four or five fresh faces already with first team experience this summer, to continue our progress.
I'm hopeful for next season, not this one.
 
Schemer said:
Who were the 5 you considered to be playing out of position?

Storey didn't play today (he was on the bench).
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Mawene, Holmes, Whatmough (plays instead of, not in tandem with, Lindsay), Millar when he was eventually brought on, Keane and Mads occupy the same space in the 10 position. Woodburn being on the pitch in a professional football match is also by definition out of position.

My point re: Storey wasn't about today or him per se, it was a general example of how poorly our management team seems to identify strengths and exploit weaknesses in the opposition, despite the statical evidence (which they either ignore or are incapable of interpreting).
 
Thewhites. said:
Mawene, Holmes, Whatmough (plays instead of, not in tandem with, Lindsay), Millar when he was eventually brought on, Keane and Mads occupy the same space in the 10 position. Woodburn being on the pitch in a professional football match is also by definition out of position.

My point re: Storey wasn't about today or him per se, it was a general example of how poorly our management team seems to identify strengths and exploit weaknesses in the opposition, despite the statical evidence (which they either ignore or are incapable of interpreting).
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I don’t think our management team ever look to exploit the weaknesses of the opposition.

Rather, it’s about just being as hard to score against as possible (doesn’t work often), and then seeing what happens at the other end. This amateur mindset evidently works better now (playing a #10 behind two strikers), than it did when we played a box midfield and a striker on his own up front.
 
OB1 said:


Rightly pointed out below, whoever finishes 6th is going to get absolutely tonked over two legs against either Leicester, Leeds or Ipswich. Not a good season to take the final playoff spot
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It'd be great if you were proved wrong, especially if it's us.
 
rem said:
Despite missing key players we should still have won that match in the first half. Brady and Mads both made crucially bad decisions when in great positions in their penalty area and Mawene completely miskicked from a great ball from the right
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They had 4 shots on target to our one. Freddie had way more to do than their goalkeeper so the best we could, not should, have got is a draw. We were utter, utter tripe.
 
Preston Lad said:
Pretty much same as me👍🏻

To think a top 6 place is up for grabs but the lack of urgency from us today was astounding.

Everything was so slow and lethargic.

We sort of kept them at arms length but offered absolutely nothing going forward.
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They seemed to be under the impression that Birmingham would be as bad as Rotherham. They are poor but not 20 points after 40 games bad and still have talented players who've had good seasons at this level before.

What summed it up for me is I'm afraid Mads having a real off day. He played like it was a pre season friendly and seemed shocked they were actually closing him down rather than standing 5 yards off and letting him run with the ball. He lost possession yet again midway through the second half needlessly and Lowe took him off two minutes later and I really can't blame him on this occasion.
 
rem said:
Despite missing key players we should still have won that match in the first half. Brady and Mads both made crucially bad decisions when in great positions in their penalty area and Mawene completely miskicked from a great ball from the right
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I don't blame Brady actually. It was a fantastic run down the left but it was a narrow angle and Ruddy came out so in that situation squaring it wasn't a bad idea.

I'm afraid both strikers were just not expecting it and half asleep which summed up their general performance. Keane struggled to hold it up and Riis was sadly completely ineffectual.
 
LostinSpace said:
It'd be great if you were proved wrong, especially if it's us.
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Just can’t see it. Even with how unpredictable the playoffs can be, the top 3 are so far away from the rest of the league that it would be a miracle for any of the 4/5 teams fighting for 6th to beat them twice
 
OB1 said:
Just can’t see it. Even with how unpredictable the playoffs can be, the top 3 are so far away from the rest of the league that it would be a miracle for any of the 4/5 teams fighting for 6th to beat them twice
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I know it’s unlikely, but it would be funny (fantastic if it was us).
 
OB1 said:
Just can’t see it. Even with how unpredictable the playoffs can be, the top 3 are so far away from the rest of the league that it would be a miracle for any of the 4/5 teams fighting for 6th to beat them twice
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I think Coventry could give plenty of trouble to Leeds/Ipswich with the quality they have in final third. Remember Leeds blowing up to Derby one year under Bielsa when it was basically a Basketball match from start to finish.

Might watch some quick highlights of that again to cheer myself up after that abomination of a performance.
 
SoccerHQ said:
I think Coventry could give plenty of trouble to Leeds/Ipswich with the quality they have in final third. Remember Leeds blowing up to Derby one year under Bielsa when it was basically a Basketball match from start to finish.

Might watch some quick highlights of that again to cheer myself up after that abomination of a performance.
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Coventry taking points from Leeds and Ipswich will only make our slim play off chance even slimmer.
 
Doyler said:
I don’t think our management team ever look to exploit the weaknesses of the opposition.

Rather, it’s about just being as hard to score against as possible (doesn’t work often), and then seeing what happens at the other end. This amateur mindset evidently works better now (playing a #10 behind two strikers), than it did when we played a box midfield and a striker on his own up front.
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We did against Ipswich and Southampton - high press.
 
Although our bench was shockingly weak yesterday I think the substitutions were awful.
It should have been Osmajic & Millar for Keane & Mawene at 50 minutes then nothing else unless someone was struggling with injury.
Mads & Riis were having poor games but there’s still more chance of them making some sort of impact than Woodburn or Stewart.
Everything about that 2nd half on and off the pitch was a shocker.
 
Yoowell said:
Although our bench was shockingly weak yesterday I think the substitutions were awful.
It should have been Osmajic & Millar for Keane & Mawene at 50 minutes then nothing else unless someone was struggling with injury.
Mads & Riis were having poor games but there’s still more chance of them making some sort of impact than Woodburn or Stewart.
Everything about that 2nd half on and off the pitch was a shocker.
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In the last chance saloon, you need the kitchen sink, not the towel.
 
I was so angry yesterday but having slept on it it makes you wonder how the hell we are where we are with the depth we have in our squad.

Midfield, yesterday, is what caused us the problems, losing players like Browne, whiteman and then, dare I say it, Ledson too was a step too far. Couple that with Mads having a dip in his form its little wonder that the team completely malfunctioned yesterday. We played a completely untried Youth team player who the game completely passed by, too and his replacement was woodburn!

I thought brady had a good game but, like others when it counted, decision making was awful.

Im not one of the Lowe haters but i feel he isnt exempt from at least some criticism either. His complete obsession with the wing back system needs to be thought through with the squad we have. It was never going to work yesterday and that became obvious within the first few minutes of the game.

Still twists and turns to go in this season and with a fair wind blowing, returning players, who knows what can happen.

Keeping within FFP just how can PNE build better squad depth?
 
raefil said:
I was so angry yesterday but having slept on it it makes you wonder how the hell we are where we are with the depth we have in our squad.

Midfield, yesterday, is what caused us the problems, losing players like Browne, whiteman and then, dare I say it, Ledson too was a step too far. Couple that with Mads having a dip in his form its little wonder that the team completely malfunctioned yesterday. We played a completely untried Youth team player who the game completely passed by, too and his replacement was woodburn!

I thought brady had a good game but, like others when it counted, decision making was awful.

Im not one of the Lowe haters but i feel he isnt exempt from at least some criticism either. His complete obsession with the wing back system needs to be thought through with the squad we have. It was never going to work yesterday and that became obvious within the first few minutes of the game.

Still twists and turns to go in this season and with a fair wind blowing, returning players, who knows what can happen.

Keeping within FFP just how can PNE build better squad depth?
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Good post.

For some reason, I didn’t find myself angry at yesterday’s performance, because I somehow expected it to happen. After supporting North End for over 60 years, you somehow know what the script is going to be. I would have been far more surprised if we’d put in a great performance and won, and I guess that is the apathy that has grown in me over the years. The way the results went yesterday, it was a massive opportunity wasted. Obviously, we’re still in the same position before a ball was kicked, but it’s a game fewer in which to turn things around. A win yesterday, would have seen us 2 points above Coventry, and 2 points behind Norwich with a game in hand, and still to play them. A top 6 spot would have been in our own hands. I’m reluctant to criticise the Manager about yesterday, as prior to that performance, we had won 3 away games on the trot without conceding a goal, and I guess without that unfortunate slip, we wouldn’t have conceded yesterday either. As is often the case with PNE, they chose the wrong game in which to massively underachieve.
 
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