The Brummies

[ivoralljack]

i was reading an article about "fun" recently. It was about how much fun the players were having stroking the ball about and how much fun the fans were having watching them doing it. Thing is, FUN is all well and good so long as you're winning. Well the fun stopped today because we lost and it sounded like a pretty crap performance as well. That was no fun. We needed the players to roll up their collective sleeves and get stuck in to do some dirty work but they weren't interested in doing that it seems.

When things are going for you anybody can pass the ball around and look good but the vinegar test comes when the other team decide they aren't going to let you do that. That's when you have to battle and scrap to earn the right to play. We didn't earn that right today and Russell Martin had better drum into his squad the need to fight as well as play. Neither one on its own will bring success. Both are required and this lesson must be learned.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

What’s the point of having a squad when you don’t utilize it. We swapped in Lati and Manning, but in the engine room failed to start Fulton. We sub’d on Walsh who frankly made a shadow of an appearance when you have Fulton on the bench.

martin clearly has his favorites and persists with them at the expense of common sense.

 

[KVetch]

Tough loss after 2 good matches.

 

[CroJack]

The emotional and physical toll of the Cardiff and WBA victories showed up big time - not enough energy and desire.

This was expected. And when you expect it you have to do something to prevent it. Martin had Cullen, Fulton, Whittaker, Obafemi, Cooper, Cabango and even the forgotten man Dhanda, all waiting to get some (or more) minutes on the pitch. No need to use players who are emotionally and physically exhausted.

 

[ivoralljack]

Russell Martin claims we were tired. TIRED??!! Have we played more games than the rest of our rivals then? This is just an excuse and a damned poor one at that. We've just had an international break and we are expected to believe that these professional footballers, who should be spending their every working minute being/getting fit, are tired!! Not on, Russell. We are trying to be supportive, so stop taking the piss.

In plain and simple terms the feedback I'm getting is that Brum wanted it more than us; that we were happy enough just to knock the ball around without ever going for their jugular. Because that took effort that we weren't prepared to put in. Some stats:

POSSESSION: 28-72 SHOTS: 17-7 OT: 6-1 CORNERS: 6-12 FOULS: 16-8 GOALS: 2-1

With just 28% of the ball Brum managed well over TWICE as many shots as us and SIX times as many on target. Surely this is proof positive of possession for possession's sake and to Hell with the main objective of scoring and winning the game.

Most of us understand, and accept, what Russell Martin is trying to do with the squad but it is high time that his team started to produce more END PRODUCT from all this possession. By all means persevere with our passing football but for pity's sake let's start translating this into a lot more action in the opponents penalty area. PAP are doing well, although for different reasons both were anonymous yesterday, but stop mis-using Cullen. By major consensus within the club, people who see him every day, he is our most natural striker. But he needs more minutes to show this and not brief cameos at the end of games when he has barely time to warm up. And when he does get minutes, recognise his strengths. He's not a target man; he doesn't operate well from out wide; he's a penalty box predator and he needs the ball in the box as often as possible. And that's where most goals are scored from. We've got the specialist, so start using him before he loses whatever confidence he has left.

 

[ivoralljack]

In another thread I suggested that whereas Blackburn used to have SAS we had PAP (Piroe and Paterson). Well I went for dinner this evening at LadyGG's where she served delicious lamb shanks with all the trimmings. During our conversation she suggested that we add Whittaker to that, which would give us PWP. That lady sure has a nice sense of humour.