Birmingham City 3-4 Saints - Match Thread

[S-Clarke]

We made fucking hard work of that, should have been a really comfortable 3 or 4 niller, we were very good today and created stacks and stacks of chances.

Defensively though, notably down the left side, abysmal. Manning had a role in each of the goals they scored. I'd personally have him on the bench now and try and shift him for a fee in the summer, he's cost us in games too much.

Not entirely sure moving THB to right back helped the stability either, we have a ready made RB in Bree - just play him there. No need to break up Bednarek and THB.

I thought Stephens had an ok game weirdly, but I think the change around has unsettled us a little bit.

Good to see Downes back, I thought Brooks had a great game - really in his groove now. A Armstrong back to his best. And Aribo taking on the Fraser mantel.

This result has the potential to be a critical one, could look back on this in May and how important it was.

Edited 2 March, 2024 by S-Clarke

[obelisk]

With our defence we just have to make sure we score at least 4 in every game. Easy peasy.

[hasper57saint]

Two observations. 1. Drop Manning

                                 2.Stop conceding easy goals. When a team is fighting to score then it’s possible they will. 
                                    Giving away three more today sticks in the craw.

[Harry_SFC]

Great win in the end but the defence is a shambles. Mainly Manning and altering THB position to fit Stephens in.

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

So, if we'd beaten the mighty Bristol City, Hull and Millwall, we'd now be top of the league... 😉

And if me aunty had a pair of bollocks she'd be me uncle 🙂

[die Mannyschaft]

I don't believe it. At least Saints kept attacking.  Is this the first game without 2 different halves? Great away support again.

[S-Clarke]

13 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Zouma fucking scored for West Ham. I'm cancelling my monthly donation to cancer research. Need to keep the disease around for cunts like that. 

Someone get this fucker banned. Sicko.

[obelisk]

Stephens growing into the Beckenbauer role.

[saint francis]

1 minute ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

I tell you what is a fucking embarrassment...shipping goal after goal after goal against mediocre opposition. Unforgiveable.

Three goals conceded in a game where Brum have only 22% possession is certainly a worry.  

Making it hard for ourselves.  

[SNSUN]

Delighted with that. Stuck a sneaky tenner on when we were up 3-2 that Brum would draw or win the game and nearly had the £100 odd profit but that win is priceless for morale, a learning experience and more importantly keeping ourselves in the promotion hunt.

With Downes back and KWP not far away we are mostly back to full strength again so we really need to start winning games regularly again and we could surprise the top 2.

[Farmer Saint]

7 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

we won’t that in spite of RM not because of him. 

 

No because brining on Aribo can't be seen as a positive substitution from an RM pov. 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

2 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

https://freestreams-live1se.nu/ifollow-15/

 

Thank you, sir. Up there with one of the most exciting games.

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, obelisk said:

Stephens growing into the Beckenbauer role.

Not sure what that's all about to be honest. Feels very shoe-horny.

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

14 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Zouma fucking scored for West Ham. I'm cancelling my monthly donation to cancer research. Need to keep the disease around for cunts like that. 

WTF? Fuck off

[Farmer Saint]

5 minutes ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

I tell you what is a fucking embarrassment...shipping goal after goal after goal against mediocre opposition. Unforgiveable.

Issue is we have some shit defenders who are prone to mistakes. That's the issue. We knew that about Bednarek, hence why we all laughed when he went to Villa. We all know Manning is quite poor defensively, but not sure playing Meghoma would be an upgrade. 

[hypochondriac]

We're still weak as piss at the back for some reason which doesn't bode well dot the playoffs. We really need to learn to cope when teams press us. 

[Oldandtired]

4 minutes ago, hasper57saint said:

Two observations. 1. Drop Manning

                                 2.Stop conceding easy goals. When a team is fighting to score then it’s possible they will. 
                                    Giving away three more today sticks in the craw.

The two are inextricably linked.

[Saint Gifford]

GD, us and Ipswich could come into play before we get to the last couple of games.

Defence, Attackers ???

[saintant]

Leicester and Leeds starting to crumble like a cream cracker left out in the sun 🙂

[SaintTex]

not to be the turd in the punchbowl, but we need to sort ourselves out defensively.

• Stop messing around with our back four.
• Bree needs to start
• THB back at CB
• i get why Stephens is playing today with KWP out, but he is not the answer.

last 6 league matches

• 3 goals allowed
• 3 goals allowed
• 0 goals allowed
• 2 goals allowed
• 2 goals allowed
• 3 goals allowed

it's a bit of a miracle we got 9 points from that! ^

 

Edited 2 March, 2024 by SaintTex

[HKsaint]

Drop Manning and restore THB and Jenny partnership please. Don’t try to be clever as you are already clever.

[Saint-Reece]

21 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Zouma fucking scored for West Ham. I'm cancelling my monthly donation to cancer research. Need to keep the disease around for cunts like that. 

You are one weird prick. 

[saintant]

Need to win our two home games now and go into the break feeling better about ourselves.

[Saint86]

5 minutes ago, Golac's Cunning Stunts said:

I tell you what is a fucking embarrassment...shipping goal after goal after goal against mediocre opposition. Unforgiveable.

Agree. But to be honest his entire post was pretty embarrassing from where i'm sitting. He could've celebrated the win, but instead he decided to act like a condescending bell end to other supporters. To each their own i guess.

As to your point - The amount of goals we're conceding (let alone as a side chasing automatic promotion vs relegation threatened sides) is totally unacceptable and a huge cause for concern - and it comes entirely from the manager's tactics, selection, and set up... Need to get through this week with max points and then get into the break, and then seriously get our defensive shape and efficient ball retention sorted.

[hasper57saint]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

Leicester and Leeds starting to crumble like a cream cracker left out in the sun 🙂

I live in hope, Been saying for a while now, they have to take a tumble sometime and it looks like now.

[The Cat]

That was a LOT of fun. 

Great scenes at the end with the team applauding us and then pushing Smallbone to the front to do the 3 cheers thing while we sang his name.

You could tell how much it meant to all of them. Martin particularly animated when celebrating with Will. Lovely stuff. 

[whelk]

So annoying we couldn’t have at least done Millwall at home. Still hope at least with that win

[Yorkshire Saint]

1 hour ago, Bad Wolf said:

Zouma fucking scored for West Ham. I'm cancelling my monthly donation to cancer research. Need to keep the disease around for cunts like that. 

Absolutely disgusting comment especially after the coverage of Smallbone this week.

Hopefully the Mods do something about you.

Edited 2 March, 2024 by Yorkshire Saint

[whelk]

Just now, The Cat said:

That was a LOT of fun. 

Great scenes at the end with the team applauding us and then pushing Smallbone to the front to do the 3 cheers thing while we sang his name.

You could tell how much it meant to all of them. Martin particularly animated when celebrating with Will. Lovely stuff. 

Much better fans than us moany bastards on here

[Saint-Reece]

Actually thought that was such a well deserved win and would’ve been absolutely gutting if we hadn’t got the 3 points. Created so many good chances and played some brilliant stuff going forwards. Smallbone had a great game in his more natural role now that Flynn is back and he isn’t being asked to play as a defensive midfielder. 
 

was actually quite disappointed by the subs as felt it broke the moment we had in that second half, but Big Joe did the job. 
 

Manning needs to be binned, Bree to come back into the side and I’m hoping KWP isn’t out long - can we have a back 4 of Bree, THB, Bednarek, Meghoma? 

[Saint86]

5 minutes ago, saintant said:

Leicester and Leeds starting to crumble like a cream cracker left out in the sun 🙂

Sad fact is a lot of people predicted the form of Leicester, yet we failed to capitalise on it. We should be more like 2 points of top after today's win, not 5 points of second. Just need to get through this week with max points if we can. Then see where we stand. If we're still 5 points off when we come back from the international break then we're very likely to be in the playoffs with at least one side at least our equal.

[Vancouver Saint]

Thank goodness for that. Aribo the saviour. Could be a huge momentum-turner. I was so close to a 'that's it we're in the Championship for at least another season post'...

So what did we learn (again)?

1. The mandate to play everything out of the back is suicidal obstinacy by RM. It makes us 100% predictable and every opposition manager knows to high press as we'll invariably concede more dangerous possession in our area than we will exploit goal-scoring opportunity breakaways. To not mix it up with the quick long-ball breakaway occasionally (as they did to score their second) is idiocy. 

2. Manning and Smallbone are not up to it. Bazunu is still a question mark for me...not that the goals were his fault today but he is just not the commanding presence I think you need in goal.

3. Brooks is class, as is Flynn Downes.

Jack Stephens played well to be fair.

Anyway, let's hope this is the beginning of another long undefeated run...

[stknowle]

We got away with that and I FUCKING LOVE IT.  But we cannot keep throwing goals in like that including today against 10 men. I don’t like calling out individuals but fucks sake Manning is a non-defender. I genuinely cannot recall him making a tackle all season, there’s always acres of space for the opposing winger to waltz into. Martin’s baffling inability to see this could be the difference between going up and staying where we are. 

[whelk]

Hopefully Leicester fans booed today and pissed off the manager

Edited 2 March, 2024 by whelk

[Saint NL]

This league is mental.

We are one of the best teams and can't defend for shit. Look at the relegation places, 16th-22nd separated by 2 points.

Just enjoy the ride, it's a million miles away from the dull predictable premier league.

[suewhistle]

1 hour ago, suewhistle said:

Firstly, thanks to Convict Colony for the stream link. Bastard, another wasted afternoon! 😉

I take that bit back, but the need for extra blood pressure tablets was true!

[Zorba]

Happy with that. We were lucky. Wasn’t a sending off. We were poor defensively but Downes only just back and KWP out, was to be expected. Too much Russball at the back but RM is obviously a sadistic tw*t that likes to see us all suffer before delivering the points. It may be suicidal at times but it makes for edge of your seat viewing. We’ll get demolished in the Prem playing this style of football no matter who we sign but I’d give Russ a year at it tho if we get promoted. Shame about Ipswich but generally a good day!

UTFS!!

[beatlesaint]

19 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Stephens growing into the Beckenbauer role.

You ever see Beckenbauer play ?

[obelisk]

1 minute ago, beatlesaint said:

You ever see Beckenbauer play ?

Yes indeed. Plenty of times, young man. Admittedly Stephens does have some work to do yet though. 😁

[Winnersaint]

15 minutes ago, whelk said:

Much better fans than us moany bastards on here

That's why they're there and we're tapping away at a keyboard 😂

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I thought Stephens had an ok game weirdly, but I think the change around has unsettled us a little bit.

 

Stephens had a very good game. I cant recall a time he gave the ball away or misplaced a pass. He drove forward quite a few times to make the extra man in midfield. Not sure he has unsettled us. The first goal had nothing to do with him. It was just a mistake by Bednarek.

[sfc4prem]

Like I've said before, enjoying the ride. We have players that can do some fun stuff at this level.

That was stressful at times but I certainly had a feeling at half time we would score more than them.

Okay, the manner of the goals conceded was a bit daft and unnecessary. We certainly need to work on that.

But what a win! Bet those that travelled fucking loved it. Big Joe in front of the away end in the 9th minute. Lovely scenes.

[Dman]

22 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

We're still weak as piss at the back for some reason which doesn't bode well dot the playoffs. We really need to learn to cope when teams press us. 

That reason being shifting our best CB to RB, to try and squeeze Stephen’s into some weird hybrid CB come CM. We weren’t weak as piss at the back when we played basic and best players in their best position. 
 

we were similarly weak as piss at the back when RM decided to go all Pep at the start of the season with his inverted full backs. 
 

basically, someone tell RM we do not have the players that City have, so stop trying to replicate. 

[Midfield_General]

Could barely even celebrate the winner because I thought we'd still find a way to fuck it up despite being a man up and a goal up in the fifth minute of injury time. 

Swear to god, supporting this team will finish me off one day. Absolute torture. 

[Galway saint]

27 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

Sub scored the winner. RM was responsible for subs last I checked

Last i checked RM picks the team so it’s not enough to say if one of the team scores he’s a tactical genius. i’d have had aribo on from the beginning.

THB at RB was stupid as he’s our best CB and manning at LB with the tactics we play is clearly not working. 

the attempts to cover for downes absence didn’t work.

we are now conceding more than two goals a game over the last 6 games or so.

im fairly neutral on RM as all managers have dodgy spells but i increasingly think that it’s the quality of the players rather than the team that has kept us just about in the race 

 

[Lighthouse]

That was just a little bit more interesting than the F1.

[gammon cheeks]

W

21 minutes ago, Saint-Reece said:

Actually thought that was such a well deserved win and would’ve been absolutely gutting if we hadn’t got the 3 points. Created so many good chances and played some brilliant stuff going forwards. Smallbone had a great game in his more natural role now that Flynn is back and he isn’t being asked to play as a defensive midfielder. 
 

was actually quite disappointed by the subs as felt it broke the moment we had in that second half, but Big Joe did the job. 
 

Manning needs to be binned, Bree to come back into the side and I’m hoping KWP isn’t out long - can we have a back 4 of Bree, THB, Bednarek, Meghoma? 

Manning seems the scapegoat ehh

[S-Clarke]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

Stephens had a very good game. I cant recall a time he gave the ball away or misplaced a pass. He drove forward quite a few times to make the extra man in midfield. Not sure he has unsettled us. The first goal had nothing to do with him. It was just a mistake by Bednarek.

He didn't unsettle us as an individual performance - as I agree, he was good today, but it's the moving around of THB etc to accommodate him - I think it's unsteadied us a little.

Edited 2 March, 2024 by S-Clarke

[FarehamSaintJames]

41 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

We had a lot of great chances and deserve the win. But Martin really needs to sort the defence out. Find a mix that works, drop Manning for a start. 

KWP, THB, Bednarek, Bree

[Saint NL]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

That was just a little bit more interesting than the F1.

Hardly a high bar is it? 😂