DJ Barry Hammond

I though King got them playing quite well in the second half against Charlton too. You know, had the prat not wasted that wonderful opportunity to get a goal back at a pivotal time in the game - who knows how the last 30 would have panned out.

Given all the well documented PSR stuff about our club, I’m amazed you don’t understand our situation isn’t about a lack of investable cash - it’s down to lack of headroom in our rolling forward PSR limits following significant overspends in previous years. naturally the two relegations have had a significant impact on this, with not only reducing the upper limit - but also in terms of income. The other important point to note is this problem will be the case for whoever owns us - they can’t just pump cash into the playing side.

You can most definitely organise a striker by playing to your chosen man’s strengths. Unfortunately, our pair of strikers lack and notable strengths.

I’d argue that mistake had nothing to do with Ricardo’s speed or reaction time. The whole sequence of play; the two side ways passes that resulted in him receiving the ball and being left with no forward or sideways option and then his indecisive touch, which provided the opportunity for Osman to nip in and come clear with the ball, gave a clear indication of a side suffering from negative mental tension. More commonly referred to as “lack of confidence” it’s quite clear to see a number of our players are more concerned about not making a mistake; to the point they become over conservative with the ball; especially early on in games where you will play with a little more conscious thought. The same issue can also prompt bad “in the moment” decision making; like the two inexplicable red cards we’ve seen in the last two games. It should also be noted that - Ricardo competed with Osman a lot better in the second half. Yes, the fact we were defending deeper probably helped that, but he did manage to adjust and get on top of his match-up as the game wore on - so let’s not be too keen to write him off yet.

Could have been an Andy King recommendation - given he played with him at Rangers. Anyway - we needed to add a midfielder to the squad to see us through. It’s a short term deal that suits all parties - let’s see if works out before passing judgement, no? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Right… and you have 3 days to coach the whole structure of at least one of these to the squad. This is not Football Manager - real life coaching requires proper preparation. By all means express an opinion but you should also realise that all you’re doing here is showing how bad your footballing opinions are. Other important points: • Skipp at LEFT BACK? • You’d get absolutely killed in central midfield with both of those setups.

What do you do with Fawatu? You really want him playing as a wingback (and that would have be on the left flank). Do we have enough fit and mobile centre halves to play 3 at the back? And - if you’re not great at defending in a 4, going to 3, which is a much more complex system defensively, is probably not a good idea.

I think this is a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The two obvious changes were going to be Daka and Fawatu for Ayew and one other (Richards or Mukasa). But equally, you don’t want to upset the shape, discipline focus and rhythm that’s got you to the 65th minute without conceding so far (and you probably want a bit of time to assess what Birmingham’s changes on the 63rd minute have done). And of course you keep Fawatu on as long as you can just in case he conjures up something unbelievable again - and you are probably not that enthused at having to put Ayew on. So you know, as the manager defending in that situation, you are probably wanting to get just a touch beyond on the 70th minute before making your changes if you can - to try and provide that mental boost for the final 20 minutes.

The timing of the red today too - just as we’ve got back into the game and started building some momentum. I also thought his halftime switch was brave and it seemed to be frustrating Birmingham quite a bit before the goal.

Seriously? Mean for that to happen he’d have to be sacked. And you’d then immediately sign him up after that?

Why would you want either of those? They’re close to the sack for a reason!

I imagine he’ll play some part in the next two - given Aribo can’t.

Was that because I pointed out the no goal in 13 in the pre-match thread?

Give Ricardo his due, he was much better second half. But the sending off was so stupid - we were just building a head of steam; just had a half chance for a corner too. The other frustrating thing is that Birmingham didn’t really create that much in the second half despite the man advantage.

Yes, that would be really helpful in our position.

Bugger. First goal in 13 matches I believe.

That’s a bold change at halftime… but i don’t hate it. I seem to remember Pearson doing something similar against Newcastle many, many years ago!

It’s very rare for centre halves to be substituted off. Lascelles is an experienced enough pro to be able to get himself through 90. It’s the stuff during the week that will be eased and managed for him.

Not sure an in the pocket passer is the thing that’s needed when you’re down to 10. There will need to be a midfielder switch at some point though.

If you take the positives from that half; • We responded well to an awful start. • We looked to be running harder / competing more when 11 vs 11 • The 10 left on the pitch have stood up and ensured we saw the half out at 1-1 Still - it’s going to be a long second 45 minutes.

It’s because he has an uncanny resemblance to Soumare. I think he’s done alright - plus, given the size of Birmingham’s players, you probably want him over Winks to assist at set pieces.

Bit unfair, he was always on the stretch and didn’t have time to get his head up - and the initial break up of Birmingham’s play was definitely a positive action.

5 years ago you’d be correct. Not now though, those ‘challengers’ are always red.

I wonder if Aluko comes on at halftime?

Lascelles is a really good signing for this level.