So it’s well done Stevie G, in getting that very much needed win. You only had to look at how the manager celebrated the first goal to see that he wanted it just as much as us fans.
And rightly so, as it means we don’t immediately have a downer about us and can now concentrate on getting behind the team.
First the good.
Gerrard’s substitutions worked well, mostly. Bailey coming on for Ings introduced a bit of flair as well as just a bit more involvement and energy.
I wondered what the manager was thinking when he introduced Ashley Young in place of Buendia, but it proved to be a pretty inspired choice, as the old fella played a major part in starting the play for that Ollie Watkins goal.
And what a cracker it was, with him driving at the Brighton defence and then unleashing one with his right foot that left the goalie no chance.
El Ghazi came on for Ramsey and again that seemed to inject a bit more urgency with the Egyptian getting involved in the box almost straight away.
I think it’s safe to say that the substitutions changed the game. How much of a change does that make from what we’ve seen in this season up to now?
And what about the second goal that was scored by Tyrone Mings, who I’m happy to say had a very good game, I thought?
Talk about a striker’s finish, he hit it with so much panache I was actually laughing. It was truly a thing of beauty from a central defender.
The interesting thing here is I find myself asking what Dean Smith would have done different?
And I think the answer is “not a lot”.
And from that I deduce that the “new manager bounce” was very much in play today.
It also backs up my thoughts that things had just become seriously stale under Smith and further confirms my thoughts that he had to go.
It’s not about what was, though and it’s all about what’s now, but I do think it worthy of mention, because I wonder how much of our recent form was down to pure lack of belief?
Certainly the effort was massively improved today and even if a lot of things didn’t work the team can’t be knocked in that area.
And yes, I’m as euphoric as all of you at that much needed three points, that at least eases the pressure in the immediate term.
But we have to be realistic about the whole performance and I think we have major problems.
Let’s go through the starting team, one by one;
Martinez; Can’t be faulted and did excellent work in rushing out to save what was a clear shot.
Cash; I thought he had a very good game against a wily Cucurella. He got forward on occasions and contributed with some good crosses.
Targett; He had a pretty torrid time, but that’s no big surprise as Lamptey has a lot about him and is good enough to give any left back problems. I often think he gets hung out to dry because of a lack of cover, but I’d agree he’s not in top form. Misses a more potent left sided attacker to combine with, imo.
Konsa; What can you say? If a defender’s performance is defined by how much you notice him, he was just fine. As per usual. I think he’s a great defender, enough said.
Mings; Heh, I love to slate him. But I’m also happy to say he did well, if he did. He was great in his defensive heading, only made one or two howlers in his distribution, which didn’t cost us and scored a cracker. A superb performance.
McGinn; Wow. I thought he was superb and my man of the match. Supreme workrate, his usual stick your butt out to beat the other player and loads of great balls into the box. He was everything I expect from him today and looked a £50 million+ player again.
Nakamba; He’s a strange one, as I know he’s Marmite amongst the fans. I like him. He made one excellent tackle and then got booked for trying to make another one straight after. Okay, it was a foul but he was overstretched, that’s all. How he can be criticised for trying his best, I don’t understand. I thought he did okay today.
Ramsey; I’m sorry, I know I really ought to, because it’s almost compulsory to praise everything our kids do, but I just don’t see it with him. He is nowhere near being the sort of midfielder we need just yet. Give him minutes, by all means, as I can see little bits about him.
We need to look for better in the short term. Unfortunately I don’t think we have much better available.
Buendia; Quite simply, he’s hopeless isn’t he? Nothing works for him and I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence or he just isn’t up to it. I suspect it’s the former and I think Gerrard thinks the same. There was an injury at one stage and the manager seemed to be telling McGinn to get Buendia more involved and to link up more. The Argentinian seemed to be playing in pretty much a free role and had plenty of the ball, so there was no excuse. He seemed to throw a bit of a tantrum when he sat in his seat, which was encouraging, as at least it shows he cares. I think Gerrard will give him games to see if he can start producing the goods: with a view to outing him if he doesn’t.
Ings; Here’s another one that I think might rub some fan’s backs up. I get it. He’s a brilliant goalscorer who has it all about him.
Yet let’s be honest here. He’s looked absolute garbage since he arrived. He was frankly invisible again and it just isn’t working. It’s quite shocking to think that the only plus about him is that he’s better backup than Davis.
Watkins; Okay, he got the much needed first goal. But he was another one who was frankly rubbish for the 80 odd minutes beforehand. He has the touch of a rapist and is so out of form, he’d be dropped if we had a realistic alternative. Hopefully that goal, which was a cracker, will help him mentally.
I predicted a draw and it seemed favourite, as Brighton are very organised, but have no real threat.
If you take the Claret and blue glasses off, you’ll realise that we offered very little either. I think we made their goalie make one decent save, but I think that was late on after we’d scored and had a massive burst of energy/desire.
I’m no tactician, but I think there was one thing I noticed about the game.
I might be wrong and I’d need to watch again to confirm it, but it seemed to me that we don’t get enough players backing up behind the strikers, which makes it all to easy for the opposition’s defenders.
We often go long to bypass the midfield and I think it’s that that causes a massive gap. The strikers get overwhelmed by too many defenders around them and that’s what makes them look so poor.
It all changed when we scored and Brighton sat back, allowing us to have at them, which was definitely noticable.
Whatever, I keep coming back to the fact that our midfield just isn’t good enough.
I would expect Gerrard will have seen this and will hopefully have somone in mind to help us out.
Bissouma looks just the sort of player we need, in my opinion and I’d bet we could persuade him to come too.
To be honest, that story doesn’t surprise me. I’ve never felt that Luiz looks totally happy here. In my opinion, I believe he saw us as a stepping stone. He will be a miss but he’s not irreplaceable. Gives away too many silly fouls for me and I feel more confident when Nakamba is playing although Luiz mid to long range passing is better.
Not overly surprised but might be just his agent making waves.
I’d take £35m all day long.
JWP anyone?
Agreed Adam, he’s not irreplaceable.
I’d take £35 mill for Luiz, but suspect we’d do better keeping him if we can, as I think he can be top.
There’s no way we’d get Ward prowse now imo. That ship has sailed and we should have made a realistic offer in the first place.
Fair point Badger.
Is Luiz another player having his head turned after being selected for his country? These IB’s are bad in more ways than one.
It seems once a player becomes an International they immediately want to play in the Champions League or Europe at least. Will we lose Martinez as well?
If we want to attract (and keep) top players then It just shows how vital it is to be playing regularly in Europe.
Football has changed to the point where – and certainly when you add in FFP and the potential impact of an Independent Regulator – any team outside the regular top 4 in the EPL face a massive, almost insurmountable challenge to overtake any one of those teams.
Sad really.
Don’t understand all the fuss over Ward-Prowse.
OK, he’s good at set-pieces, at least against Villa, but I’ve never noticed anything special about the rest of his game.
Maybe I just haven’t been looking…
Tbh, I’m the same.
But then, I don’t regularly follow other clubs at all. It just depends on the odd games I watch.
Others bits of ‘information’ I’ve read in the ‘so accurate’ media is
Smith is allegedly interested in taking Davis to Norwich – that might be a good move for him.
Quite a bit of reaction from fans on Twitter over the Traore rumour – selling him doesn’t appear to be very popular with the fans.
And Gerrard has been quoted as saying ‘Sanson is going to be a big player for us’ – interesting.
Gerrard has said it’s important he connects with the fans. I realise there’s no room for sentiment in football but if two of Villa’s popular players are allowed to leave in January and Sanson is retained it won’t make that ambition any easier.
Davis to Norwich: I know he’s good at holding the ball up front, but quite honestly a striker who simply can’t find the back of the net and doesn’t seem to give many ‘assists’ either, wouldn’t be missed IMO.
Traore: I’ve seen that rumour (a few days ago on “B’Ham Live”) but I suspect that the Management are simply making the point to Traore that he’s got to stay fit and and actually perform what they know he is capable of doing. Personally, while I find him a bit frustrating at times (usually when he’s supposed to be helping the defence), he also shows flashes of real brilliance – in fact I think he might be one of the most skillful players in the squad.
(Feel free to disagree !!)
Nope – I agree.
On his day he’s a class act but, as you say, he can be inconsistent and frustrating at times.
Davis is young, but I don’t see him massively improving. I think I’ve said it before, but he reminds me of Carlton Cole.
As for Traore, I agree, he’s very skillful. And I’d rather keep him over AEG.
But even so, he can be another massive lightweight.
I’d love to keep all these skilful types in the side, as when they’re firing, they’re great to watch. But in a modern game where it’s all about pressing and physically trying to outperform the oppostion, I just don’t think we’re good enough overall to be able to carry them.
Davis reminds me more of Heskey – a triumph of hope over expectation (not in his prime, but in his Villa days).
MON used to bring him on as a last, deperate roll of the dice with 10 minutes to go when we were losing – a bit like DS with Davis!
Ardent, that’s very harsh on Heskey; Davis has done nothing in the game. Heskey’s signing cost us a CL spot – another January disaster – but not because he was a bad player. His arrival upset the rhythm of that team, similar to Cascarino’s ill-fated entrance that cost us the league title in 1990. Keegan made the same mistake with Asprilia in ’96.
Anyway, I recall Houllier getting the best out of Heskey, and his best was pretty good. I can see why the Heskey comparison was made, but Davis has a lot of work to do before he can be compared to him, even at his worst. I’d be staggered if Smith signs him, not because he’s a bad player, but he’s obviously one of those players whose career is going to be plagued with injury, unfortunately for him.
To be fair, I did say “not in his prime”… Heskey was great at Leicester and pretty-good at Liverpool, but it was just the way that MON used to bring him at the end of games that used to really signal that we weren’t going to score!!
Badger, are we saying that a skillful player, whose physical condition should be that of an elite athlete, can’t be coached to ‘press’? How is the team to play entertaining football if the skillful types are shipped out for more ‘physical’ players? I don’t see any overly-physical players in any of the top teams in any of the top leagues in the world, to be honest. Get these skillful ones in the gym to build up the upper-body, like Gabby and Jack did (which you mentioned recently), and coach them to do the right things on the pitch when they haven’t got the ball. Then, when they do get it, sit back and enjoy…
It’s a tricky one, I admit.
I remember Gabby bulking up and it destroyed his burst of pace.
And I personally think it’s this strength training, where they get thighs like Jack, that causes the injuries.
Much better to be naturally bigger and stronger, imo.
And yes, skilful players can be coached to press, but to do both well, you have to be right at the top end of the scale.
And then look at our midfielders 🙁
Some good debate going on here, I like it 🙂
I don’t remember Agbonlahor losing pace just because of bulking-up, pretty sure he only slowed down later – age.
Interesting that you think Grealish’s thigh-muscle develpment led to injuries; I’ve never really worked-out what his injuries last season were all about, so maybe you’ve got a point there.
Many people noticed Gabb’y loss of pace. It wasn’t a gradual thing, he came back after the summer and was noticeably slower.
I used Grealish as an example, but I was talking generally.
Monster muscles on the original puny joints etc doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.
He discovered laughing-gas, perhaps…
I’ve always advocated that the way football’s gone we have lost that skilful footballer. It’s a lot to ask a player whose foot skill to dribble and run , not saying they can’t, but saying its hard to do. How would the likes of Stanley Mathews, Billy Goffin get on in today’s times, skilful players but dribble was their thing. It is now athletic players they want with quick minds , you can see how it’s gone with the likes of ( him I’m not saying his name ) who now sits on the bench at Man City because it’s not his game they play, he slows games up .But he to me opens and draws players out of position and its entertainment. When I played football I was the fastest winger playing, the problem with me was I was there before the ball but never had that ball skill.
From the Birmingham Mail so 50% chance it is nonsense.
Gerrard has banned certain products from the canteen at BMH – including puddings and ketchup.
Suggest he joins a walking tour of Aston one Sunday and finds that Aston’s small entry in the culinary map of the world includes the site of the original HP Sauce and Birds Custard factories, then when there is a dip in form he can bring back these local heroes.
Tomorrow’s game in my opinion will be lots harder than the Brighton game but I am confident we can win it, but it will annoy me if we lose in all honesty because it’s getting boring sitting in 15th even when we win…
Blimey, you’ve just reminded me I need to write something.
Talksport suggesting Chuky is going to reject a new contract.
Following the weeks old rumour or do they know more?
That’s not good news and I’d be gutted if we can’t hold onto him.
The rumours of players wanting out is starting to concern me now.
https://talksport.com/football/990673/
We’ve got a lot of good players in the U23’s (and below) who’ve been talked-up massively over the last 12 months or more.
The trouble is that they’re not likely to get regular 1st team games anytine soon; the odd appearance in a cup match maybe, or 15 minutes off the bench in the league is likely to be it – unless we get a serious spate of injuries in the first-team squad.
Once upon a time clubs had competetive reserve teams (remember the old Cental League?) who played week-in-week-out, but today once they get to that in-between stage where they’re really too good/old for the U23’s but not quite ready to displace a 1st team regular, I’m not surprised that they want to go somewhere to play every week.
Even playing for England Youth teams they get their heads turned.
He’ll go to a ‘big’ club just because they like to control the best young talent and then be loaned out. How many players did Chelsea loan out recently?
Just hate the way football is going.
He’s probably read that story on “B’ham Live” about Bailey apparently spending £8k on a pair of Nike boots, and decided he’d like a piece of that action. Holding out for a big pay-rise!
That’s obscene. Bailey, and Nike, should be ashamed.
Amen, BFR.
It’s disgusting that Nike charge that much and equally so that people pay it.
I saw the story, but said nothing because it just feels like you’re a miserable old bastard if you squeal about it.
That 8k could have done some real good.
And I’m disgusted that if the club can’t teach these arseholes to not buy that stupidly over-priced crap, that they can’t stop them talking about it. 🙁
Talk about being out of touch 🙁
Spot on. I’d rather be a miserable old bastard, Badger. I have been since I was about 10, so I’m quite comfortable with it. Rather that than have shit for brains and more money than sense.