[mulliganstired]

As they say, nailed on penalty, ref was ‘spot on’..........!

It was a penalty, and any defender who challenges like that on the edge of the box can't complain, you can't just clear out man and ball like that.

[Hull Baggie]

Dreadful first half, we took too long to get the ball forward, players struggled to pass to a team mate, dreadful marking at corners. Midfield selection was all wrong with Morrison, Brunt and Livermore all doing the same job (badly). Morrison was the worst of the 3 though but that may have been down to an injury. We looked very lopsided with only Edwards able to provide some width from midfield. Thought Brunt's dead balls were really good all night though.


Townsend had a very mixed game for me as he was often isolated with Mahoney and couldn't seem to stop the crosses coming in to the box, Holgate on the other side was worse for me though as he seems to have stopped making the forward runs he used to do when he first came and like Townsend he doesn't stop many crosses getting in to the box.

2nd half was head and shoulders above the first and we actually started to look like a side in the top 4

Fortunately the sub was enforced as we needed someone to hold the ball up and bring Gayle and Rodriguez in and HRK did that well.Gayle took his goal well which he needed to after missing that header in the first half and having a very indifferent game generally.

What last night showed me was Shan has got us playing a style that the players are more comfortable with but the mistakes are still there and we definitely miss Gibbs and Phillips.

[WBAinDEVON]

when will we put in a decent all round performance for 90 minutes. misfired all season. we should be in top two with this squad of footballers

[boinging_along]

The thing with Holgate is, like in yesterday's game, he has to trust that JM or HRK will cover if he wants to get down on the overlap and we're caught out.  Neither of them do the work that Phillips does in tracking.

[Adamstv]

Dreadful first half, we took too long to get the ball forward, players struggled to pass to a team mate, dreadful marking at corners. Midfield selection was all wrong with Morrison, Brunt and Livermore all doing the same job (badly). Morrison was the worst of the 3 though but that may have been down to an injury. We looked very lopsided with only Edwards able to provide some width from midfield. Thought Brunt's dead balls were really good all night though.


Townsend had a very mixed game for me as he was often isolated with Mahoney and couldn't seem to stop the crosses coming in to the box, Holgate on the other side was worse for me though as he seems to have stopped making the forward runs he used to do when he first came and like Townsend he doesn't stop many crosses getting in to the box.

2nd half was head and shoulders above the first and we actually started to look like a side in the top 4

Fortunately the sub was enforced as we needed someone to hold the ball up and bring Gayle and Rodriguez in and HRK did that well.Gayle took his goal well which he needed to after missing that header in the first half and having a very indifferent game generally.

What last night showed me was Shan has got us playing a style that the players are more comfortable with but the mistakes are still there and we definitely miss Gibbs and Phillips.

Hull Baggie you have summed up my thoughts to a tee. I mentioned about Holgate to the guys in front of me that he seems to have stopped trying o get beyond his man. The first time he did that was in the second half 1st minute from a ball from Robson-Kanu and he went past his man and got fouled. Result Brunt free kick Gayle goal. He looked a lot better second half for some reason.

Still not sure about Townsend, his positioning leaves a lot to be desired however perhaps we have been spoilt with Gibbs. Good support to win the penalty though.

I think we still lack pace in midfield a player that get beyond the forwards. Ours are too slow to get up and down however have to applaud the Livermore goal, a cracker.

In fairness neither goalkeeper had a lot to do, Johnstone was far busier against Swansea yet we kept a clean sheet. Weird.

[Adder]

Before I comment my whole match review, why did hegazi feel the need to go off the pitch rather than go down on the pitch. Felt him missing from the free kick didn’t help when they scored.

Agreed, think there would have been more focus on this if we hadn't come back and won. Hope someone has had a word.

[bradleysrocket]

Agreed, think there would have been more focus on this if we hadn't come back and won. Hope someone has had a word.

If he had have gone down on the pitch he would still have been missing for the corner, not sure it’s that much of an issue.

[Adder]

If he had have gone down on the pitch he would still have been missing for the corner, not sure it’s that much of an issue.

He seemed to gesture that he couldn't go on, then walked off - you usually see a distress signal to the bench to get someone warmed up while they hobble on for a minute or two. Something odd about it anyway. For what it's worth they picked up on it on Sky and Dawson seemed to be looking in the direction of the bench when the goal went in as if to say why are we a CB short.

[tuamigos]

Before I comment my whole match review, why did hegazi feel the need to go off the pitch rather than go down on the pitch. Felt him missing from the free kick didn’t help when they scored.

Same outcome, if he'd gone down on the pitch and received treatment he would have had to leave the pitch after treatment and so would have been missing for the corner anyway.
Doesn't excuse the fact the defence as a hole should have done better

[Adder]

Same outcome, if he'd gone down on the pitch and received treatment he would have had to leave the pitch after treatment and so would have been missing for the corner anyway.
Doesn't excuse the fact the defence as a hole should have done better

But they are allowed back on quickly when it's after receiving treatment. Free kick in that position he'd have been back on. As you say our set piece defending was not great last night - Birmingham certainly a big team with some decent deliveries going in.

[BalisPen]

Anyone else notice that when hegazi went off again later Johnstone went down too so that the game had to stop?

Great game management by us imo, as learnt from the mistake of having him off the pitch for their corner which got them a goal.

[boinging_along]

Anyone spot the absolute blatant dive for a pen by the brum player.  Nowhere near any contact at all.  Wonder if he'll be getting a lengthy ban for it?

[Atomic]

For the record:


Official attendance:     24,789
Albion:                       22,220
Birmingham:              2,569


Blues sold out of their allocation but we're some way short of Leeds and Norwich's followings. Knowing Blues they probably got arrested before they got to the ground.  Had they sold the same as Leeds and Norwich we would've been around 50 - 60 people short of 25,000.

To be fair to Blues they were probably given less tickets than Leeds and Norwich for extra stewarding but I doubt they were given any less tickets than Villa were and Villa brought more than Blues did.

[TheJacko2000]

Anyone spot the absolute blatant dive for a pen by the brum player.  Nowhere near any contact at all.  Wonder if he'll be getting a lengthy ban for it?

Not unless he won a penalty and they scored it, and it means they got a point from the game... So no.

[Droitwich Baggie]

The penalty given was inside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He9XWzXNRew
Tackle outside but the foul inside.

[mulliganstired]

Anyone spot the absolute blatant dive for a pen by the brum player.  Nowhere near any contact at all.  Wonder if he'll be getting a lengthy ban for it?

I think he might have been looking for Brunt (I think it was) to stick out a leg, but he was about a yard away, so he did look a complete tw@t

[The Black Pearl]

The penalty given was inside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He9XWzXNRew
Tackle outside but the foul inside.

Swhat I said.

[Pureade1]

Waited a couple of days to post but here goes -

First half i think we were a bit shocked by blues intensity if im honest dont really remember us having much going forward and it was sad watch morrison who despite injuries had always still looked good enough but looked put of his depth.

Second half whilst there were still errors and we can debate the penalty forever and a day we had one thing that i havent seen for a while which was the resilience to bounce back from being behind twice to go on and win the game.

Also a word has to be said as im often critical of the atmosphere at the Hawthorns being a bit to quiet etc the atmosphere friday was fantastic and reminded me why i love that place so much.

[LiamTheBaggie]

Seen the highlights again this morning - clear foul on Mason Holgate in the box for Blues second goal. Staggering that the officials missed it really

[Atomic]

Seen the highlights again this morning - clear foul on Mason Holgate in the box for Blues second goal. Staggering that the officials missed it really

Yep. I was listening to WM after the match with Blues fans and Richard Wilford moaning on about how Blues got a rough deal, about how they'd seen replays of the penalty and it was outside the area blah, blah, blah.

Reality is we deserved the win the penalty WAS a penalty and we should've had a free kick for their second goal.

We benefited from the hand of Rod vs Villa and Dwight Gayle's dive against Forest but there was nothing dodgy about this result.

[KN22]

Yep. I was listening to WM after the match with Blues fans and Richard Wilford moaning on about how Blues got a rough deal, about how they'd seen replays of the penalty and it was outside the area blah, blah, blah.

Reality is we deserved the win the penalty WAS a penalty and we should've had a free kick for their second goal.

We benefited from the hand of Rod vs Villa and Dwight Gayle's dive against Forest but there was nothing dodgy about this result.

Totally agree