Birmingham City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[sfx412]

My problem is the manager, there is enough fight and ability to put us in a mid table position but GH fucks the tactics and formmation up, this is not difficult, put your best players in thier best positions

You serious?

Let me know how playing the best players in the best positions is a problem

Its not but normally I'd expect Friedel to be keeper not striker, Clarke is our only viable left back, Walker  plays as a right back Collins, Dunne cb's, Petrov, Coker, Bannan, Albrighton midfield, Gabby, Carew, Fonz, up front, the ref normally ref's.

Gabby was playing on the wing and Downing in the centre, both were ineffective, did you see the game?

Indeed I did but I, like most I'd assume, understood the tactics

[Somniloquism]

Its not but normally I'd expect Friedel to be keeper not striker, Clarke is our only viable left back, Walker  plays as a right back Collins, Dunne cb's, Petrov, Coker, Bannan, Albrighton midfield, Gabby, Carew, Fonz, up front, the ref normally ref's.

You want us to play with 12 players?

hawkeyes point is that he played Downing (who you don't mention) in the hole and Gabby as Left wing for most of the match. MON also used to play Gabby as a winger but at least that was on his stronger right side of you want him to cross the ball.

[Lizz]

At least Houillier's substitutions have more impact than MON's did. Think Ridgewell is looking increasingly like Neil from Inbetweeners.

[sfx412]

I can't agree that Carew and Reo-Coker were anything but dire but then that maybe just me as I have a natural antipathy towards the former and have never rated the latter, so perhaps that is it. I do readily admit to not having the time of day for either nowadays

I can't think of any thing that NRC did wrong, can't even remember giving the ball away.

Neither did I he was certainly more useful than Petrov and Downing but like with O'Neill it appears Houllier has problems with him, probably associated with his not signing a new contract.

[garyshawsknee]

That's three away games since the debacle at Man City and three better performances. If we're going to play that formation I think unless he plays Gab up front there's no point in having him on the pitch. Clearly not a winger and looked lost for large periods. Some real positives though and I hope this mean we're slowly getting there.

 It just seems so odd to have Gab on the left,especially as their defence isnt the quickest and you'd prefer to have Gab on the shoulder of their last defender so we could stretched the game with his pace,which then happened a little when the Fonz came on.

[sfx412]

Its not but normally I'd expect Friedel to be keeper not striker, Clarke is our only viable left back, Walker  plays as a right back Collins, Dunne cb's, Petrov, Coker, Bannan, Albrighton midfield, Gabby, Carew, Fonz, up front, the ref normally ref's.

You want us to play with 12 players?

hawkeyes point is that he played Downing (who you don't mention) in the hole and Gabby as Left wing for most of the match. MON also used to play Gabby as a winger but at least that was on his stronger right side of you want him to cross the ball.

Pardon ?

Perhaps more than I thought don't understand basic tactical needs.

[hawkeye]

My problem is the manager, there is enough fight and ability to put us in a mid table position but GH fucks the tactics and formmation up, this is not difficult, put your best players in thier best positions

You serious?

Let me know how playing the best players in the best positions is a problem

Its not but normally I'd expect Friedel to be keeper not striker, Clarke is our only viable left back, Walker  plays as a right back Collins, Dunne cb's, Petrov, Coker, Bannan, Albrighton midfield, Gabby, Carew, Fonz, up front, the ref normally ref's.

Gabby was playing on the wing and Downing in the centre, both were ineffective, did you see the game?

Indeed I did but I, like most I'd assume, understood the tactics

congratulations I didnt

[Clark W Griswold]

Had we had Heskey playing today, we'd have won that.

When you're not scoring goals through your strikers, having someone to hold the ball up for you and bring other players in up front for you is important. To be fair to Carew, even when he was doing it for us, holding the ball up was never his strong point.

I do think that's the last we've seen of him for us, though.

We would certainly have gone closer. Carew just doesn't look arsed, Heskey puts in far more effort and is better at holding the ball up.
Most people seem unhappy with the Gabby on the left thing, but what he gives you there is battle and he makes it harder for teams to get at you down that side. A decent ploy away from home in a game where a point is acceptable. It was the same at Chelsea. It doesn't hurt at times to adapt your players to a particular situation, even if it stifles their flair a bit.

[citizenDJ]

That's three away games since the debacle at Man City and three better performances. If we're going to play that formation I think unless he plays Gab up front there's no point in having him on the pitch. Clearly not a winger and looked lost for large periods. Some real positives though and I hope this mean we're slowly getting there.

 It just seems so odd to have Gab on the left,especially as their defence isnt the quickest and you'd prefer to have Gab on the shoulder of their last defender so we could stretched the game with his pace,which then happened a little when the Fonz came on.

I do agree with that, but the alternative would have been to have Downing out there, which would have left Clark pretty seriously isolated at left back against Bentley. There were a lot of times where Agbonlahor came sprinting back to offer support to Clark, which Downing, I don't believe, would have done so effectively. So, on balance, I think Houllier played that one right today.

[TonyD]

Playing Gabby on the wing is plain wrong.   Cannot believe people are trying justify it.

[richard moore]

I can't agree that Carew and Reo-Coker were anything but dire but then that maybe just me as I have a natural antipathy towards the former and have never rated the latter, so perhaps that is it. I do readily admit to not having the time of day for either nowadays

I can't think of any thing that NRC did wrong, can't even remember giving the ball away.

I can't think of anything he did at all, that's my problem. Oh yes, one covering tackle in the first half which was good, granted, so apologies

If we are going to persist with two wide players, we need much better quality in the middle than Petrov and Reo-Coker

[hawkeye]

Playing Gabby on the wing is plain wrong.   Cannot believe people are trying justify it.

As is playing Downing in the centre, with you all the way

[avfc_1874]

Fustrating we should have been 2 or 3 up at half-time, but we didn't take our chances. A striker is a MUST.

Think we would have nicked it in the last 10 if we just got the ball down instead of the hoofball tactics.

[luke25]

Just got back in the car, don't really know what to make of it as these games just seem to fly by, we were definately worth a point though, Gabby aint no left winger, that seems clear to everybody except Hotlips and Carew may aswell just piss off, if he can't get motivated for a derby then he needs his head looking at, 22,000 for a local derby? What a shit club they are

[TimTheVillain]

I've defended Petrov numerous times, but I am now resigned to admitting that he's past it.

Makoun can't start soon enough for me.

Today, Gabby tried but wasn't getting any luck - Downing wussed out too many times and made may wrong decisions but he's still a threat, NRC ? - an enigma to me as he does one good thing, then fucks up with another, Friedel , last season as number 1, Carew - jeez, he's on the same bus as Petrov.

1 point, out of the bottom 3, a point at the sty - not that bad a day - had better !