Birmingham City v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[KevinGage]

Bruce's whole approach pre game was to go dial a cliche.  "It's a derby/ probably won't be great to watch/ not about style/ make sure you don't lose" yada yada yada.

Well yes, with him in charge, it was highly unlikely it would be great to watch.

And in isolation, all those points ring true for a derby. But do Tottingham stop playing football just because they are playing Arsenal?  Different stratosphere to us  because of the way we have been mismanaged (long before Bruce) admittedly.

So how about an example closer to home -which for us, is now the grim meathook reality of championship football. Barnsley v Leeds last season, shortly before we signed Hourihane. Big game for them. Dig they try and kill the game as a spectacle? No.  A Hourihane inspired- Barnsley won 3-2. And looked like a competent football team doing so.  You don't just jettison all the good habits and style of play you have worked at for a while (if you have actually worked at it) because you are facing a team with an address geographically close to yours.  It's a crock of shit. 

A 0-0 away from home in an awkward early afternoon kick off shouldn't be enough to see the bedsheets come out. But if you set out telling everyone it won't be great to watch, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

[QuintonVilla]

Look at Sheff Utd this season. They went to Sheff Wednesday and won 4-2 and played them off the park. We didn't have 4 shots on Sunday.
They also went to Leeds last week and won 2-1. They went to both with a positive approach and played their normal game and didn't care that it was a derby. Compare and contrast those two games to our performances at Wolves and Small Heath.

[Ads]

It cannot be dismissed as an irrelevance. We went there with O'Neill, one of the best sides in the country with an even wider gulf in class of players, excellent away form, but invariably it was a grind.

There's context to this fixture. It wouldn't have so much needle about it otherwise.

[cdbearsfan]

Look at Sheff Utd this season. They went to Sheff Wednesday and won 4-2 and played them off the park. We didn't have 4 shots on Sunday.
They also went to Leeds last week and won 2-1. They went to both with a positive approach and played their normal game and didn't care that it was a derby. Compare and contrast those two games to our performances at Wolves and Small Heath.

We had thirteen shots.

[dcdavecollett]

Anybody know if Small Heath have been fined £200k for violent crowd trouble at their stadium yet...?