Just back, calming down with red wine, my thoughts..

Birmingham are a poor side and were there for the taking. In fact the evidence of that is that despite an error strewn, careless performance by most of the players, I think we still were the better side, particularly in the second half. The stats certainly seem to back that up.
There were a number of clear scapegoats from the away support, Whittaker and Naismith being the most harangued. However few if any of the side could escape criticism. The most obvious issue was not tactical, nor indeed team selection, but individual errors, sloppy careless mistakes, poor decision making. This was a feature last week, but was magnified today. Whittaker, Tettey, Brady, Bennett, Naismith were particular candidates but most were also culpable. Klose doesn't look commanding, Howson was almost anonymous. I thought Ja Murphy was one of the few who came out with any credit, and looked most threatening. He certainly had beating of both fullbacks and put in some useful balls.
Injuries haven't helped, and Jerome's absence has added to the problem. He was sort missed.
One final point. The cult status of Lafferty is becoming embarrassing. Based on the almost hero worship and clamour from certain sections of the away support makes him sound like a cross between Ronaldo and Suarez. He is not, as was further proved by his ineffective introduction today. The less he plays the better he is I think.
The international break will hopefully help to ease the injury list. Olsson, Jerome, Dorrans, Pritchard will strengthen us. And Oliviera and others(?) will also be needed. But most important, individual errors and careless, sloppy mistakes have to be eradicated if we are to fulfil potential. OTBC

Posted By: neverblue, Aug 27, 21:38:18

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