BFTG - Brum

[Sanguine]

Hein's positioning perhaps a bit off for their goal but nowhere near actual howlers that Southwood has made. His distribution is shocking but his saves are game changing. I know we all like Southwood, he's our boy and yes his distribution and saves are good. And we also are a bit bemused that we got what looks like not a major upgrade (if any). But the fact is he is solid enough.
If/when he does lose us points from major cockups obviously we'll go back to Southwood. Until then accept it and move on. The success or failure of this season has nothing to do with the keeper choice.

Ideally we'll get a solid experienced keeper for next season anyway.

Yep. Southwood might be "ours" and "here next season" but he sadly isn't quite good enough. New first choice keeper is needed for next season. Until then Hein will have to do.

He'll probably look for another PL gig, but if we stay up might be worth a note that Alex McCarthy is out of contract at Southampton this summer. Ben Hamer (now 34, which is silly) too.

[Stranded]

Thought Brum were a 2 man side. Taylor and Hernandez were best players on the pitch in my eyes. Constant thorn in our side. Take them out of the team and Brum were fairly crap plus they were lucky to keep 11 on the pitch.

I thought Readings shape was much more suited to how we are playing tbh. We were set up like a team fighting for points at the bottom of the table. More logical positioning and more methodical on the build up, a few reminisces of VPs training - Drinkwater and Holmes playing some very horrid passes to keep possession rather than hoofing clear. I dont think anyone had a terrible game but i think a few player faded quite badly before they got 1 back and then we woke up.
I had flashbacks of Derby...2 0 up and coasting then suddenly completely fall apart. So glad we held firm and woke up.
Was alarmed that Ince said that the 17 players is all he has got. That back 4 is the only defenders available now and he cant train properly.

I took that as meaning this week only. Due to low numbers, he can't work on the drills he wants to get into the players, knows he just has to help them recover and focus on Blackpool - next week we have a full week so he can push plans on them a lot more.

[Hound]

I’d hope by the game after Blackpool, no midweek game next week - we’d have at least 2 of Ejaria, Dann, Azeez, Halilovic or Laurent back

[Pepe the Horseman]

Obviously our last three results have been very important, but we've also got a good few monkeys off our back in the last week or so.
Clean sheet
Away win
Home win
Midweek win
First win under new manager
Held onto lead x2
Should all be good confidence boosters, and helps take that little bit of pressure off.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

In fairness to say Ince only really had 1 full day to prepare the players for this game, we did really well last night. I guess it shows how big momentum really is for players in a game situation.

There were certainly aspects of our play which was good for sure. Definitely some improvements to be made. Hein made some good saves but was suspect for the goal, maybe better footwork and/or positioning would have meant a comfortable save, albeit it was a bit of an awkward one, it shouldn't have resulted in a goal really.

McIntyre was really solid throughout, unlucky for the own goal really. Rino was really good in midfield, that's as good as I've seen from him this season, Drinkwater was good as well I thought. Yiadom had a pretty solid game, particularly impressed with both full backs seen as that's where Birmingham's biggest threat came from, Hernandez, Taylor and Bela were really their biggest issues but we dealt with them relatively well throughout. Joao and Swift did the business going forward and I thought Ince and Hoilett did their defensive duties well, showing that discipline will make a big difference to the team I think. Whilst neither were that impressive going forward other than on the odd occasion, they were still willing and made us a threat on the counter attack that they always had to take into account as well.

I don't think there was a poor performance really and collectively we looked a lot better than what we have been for the previous 2 months under Pauno. We do look as if we might be quite difficult to break down now. My man of the match goes to Rinomhota though.

[NathStPaul]

I’d hope by the game after Blackpool, no midweek game next week - we’d have at least 2 of Ejaria, Dann, Azeez, Halilovic or Laurent back

Can't say I really want Ejaria back tbh, not sure he will be what Paul Ince will want in his team. Has a lot of talent but I don't think he puts enough of a shift in. Can see him being sulky on the bench too. Definitely one to sell in the summer imo.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I’d hope by the game after Blackpool, no midweek game next week - we’d have at least 2 of Ejaria, Dann, Azeez, Halilovic or Laurent back

Can't say I really want Ejaria back tbh, not sure he will be what Paul Ince will want in his team. Has a lot of talent but I don't think he puts enough of a shit in. Can see him being sulky on the bench too. Definitely one to sell in the summer imo.

That's true, I can't see him being as disciplined as what both Ince and Hoilett were on the defensive side of things last night, but I still think his quality on the ball can be asset for us. I just don't think he'd fit into something that we tried to do last night unless he was in Swift's position. Even if we didn't have Ince or Hoilett, I'd still probably prefer TDB in that role.

[Kitsondinho]

In fairness to say Ince only really had 1 full day to prepare the players for this game, we did really well last night. I guess it shows how big momentum really is for players in a game situation.

There were certainly aspects of our play which was good for sure. Definitely some improvements to be made. Hein made some good saves but was suspect for the goal, maybe better footwork and/or positioning would have meant a comfortable save, albeit it was a bit of an awkward one, it shouldn't have resulted in a goal really.

McIntyre was really solid throughout, unlucky for the own goal really. Rino was really good in midfield, that's as good as I've seen from him this season, Drinkwater was good as well I thought. Yiadom had a pretty solid game, particularly impressed with both full backs seen as that's where Birmingham's biggest threat came from, Hernandez, Taylor and Bela were really their biggest issues but we dealt with them relatively well throughout. Joao and Swift did the business going forward and I thought Ince and Hoilett did their defensive duties well, showing that discipline will make a big difference to the team I think. Whilst neither were that impressive going forward other than on the odd occasion, they were still willing and made us a threat on the counter attack that they always had to take into account as well.

I don't think there was a poor performance really and collectively we looked a lot better than what we have been for the previous 2 months under Pauno. We do look as if we might be quite difficult to break down now. My man of the match goes to Rinomhota though.

Indeed. He steps forward as the ball is played, seems to realise his mistake and then can’t get back. I’ve also noticed he stands just behind his line for corners or free kicks near the box and then steps forward as the ball comes in. Not sure I’ve ever seen another keeper do that?! Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention…

[NathStPaul]

I’d hope by the game after Blackpool, no midweek game next week - we’d have at least 2 of Ejaria, Dann, Azeez, Halilovic or Laurent back

Can't say I really want Ejaria back tbh, not sure he will be what Paul Ince will want in his team. Has a lot of talent but I don't think he puts enough of a shit in. Can see him being sulky on the bench too. Definitely one to sell in the summer imo.

That's true, I can't see him being as disciplined as what both Ince and Hoilett were on the defensive side of things last night, but I still think his quality on the ball can be asset for us. I just don't think he'd fit into something that we tried to do last night unless he was in Swift's position. Even if we didn't have Ince or Hoilett, I'd still probably prefer TDB in that role.

With Swift going there is every chance he will be in that role next season, bit of a downgrade though. Will be interesting to hear what the full story is with Ejaria, the whole "injury" situation with him is really odd.

[Ascotexgunner]

I’d hope by the game after Blackpool, no midweek game next week - we’d have at least 2 of Ejaria, Dann, Azeez, Halilovic or Laurent back

Can't say I really want Ejaria back tbh, not sure he will be what Paul Ince will want in his team. Has a lot of talent but I don't think he puts enough of a shift in. Can see him being sulky on the bench too. Definitely one to sell in the summer imo.

We need to start thinking about moving forward and having more pace...which we have missed. Hoilett, Meite and Ince give us that pace. Sadly Ejaria is slow and although good around the box he doesn't offer enough.

[Stranded]

In fairness to say Ince only really had 1 full day to prepare the players for this game, we did really well last night. I guess it shows how big momentum really is for players in a game situation.

There were certainly aspects of our play which was good for sure. Definitely some improvements to be made. Hein made some good saves but was suspect for the goal, maybe better footwork and/or positioning would have meant a comfortable save, albeit it was a bit of an awkward one, it shouldn't have resulted in a goal really.

McIntyre was really solid throughout, unlucky for the own goal really. Rino was really good in midfield, that's as good as I've seen from him this season, Drinkwater was good as well I thought. Yiadom had a pretty solid game, particularly impressed with both full backs seen as that's where Birmingham's biggest threat came from, Hernandez, Taylor and Bela were really their biggest issues but we dealt with them relatively well throughout. Joao and Swift did the business going forward and I thought Ince and Hoilett did their defensive duties well, showing that discipline will make a big difference to the team I think. Whilst neither were that impressive going forward other than on the odd occasion, they were still willing and made us a threat on the counter attack that they always had to take into account as well.

I don't think there was a poor performance really and collectively we looked a lot better than what we have been for the previous 2 months under Pauno. We do look as if we might be quite difficult to break down now. My man of the match goes to Rinomhota though.

Indeed. He steps forward as the ball is played, seems to realise his mistake and then can’t get back. I’ve also noticed he stands just behind his line for corners or free kicks near the box and then steps forward as the ball comes in. Not sure I’ve ever seen another keeper do that?! Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention…

The latter is quite common I think, gives the keeper a better overview and chance to get a better run/spring at a ball that could be theirs.

For the goal, the cross was overhit and it looks like he planned to come for it on what the Brum player planned the cross to be, as soon as Hein shifted weight forward, it became clear to him it was going to sail over him so tried to correct but couldn't get enough of a hand on it to push it wide, so it hit the post. Rank bad luck that the ball went off the post onto McIntyre as it did. He's had luck with his errors to date, last night was the first time without.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

In fairness to say Ince only really had 1 full day to prepare the players for this game, we did really well last night. I guess it shows how big momentum really is for players in a game situation.

There were certainly aspects of our play which was good for sure. Definitely some improvements to be made. Hein made some good saves but was suspect for the goal, maybe better footwork and/or positioning would have meant a comfortable save, albeit it was a bit of an awkward one, it shouldn't have resulted in a goal really.

McIntyre was really solid throughout, unlucky for the own goal really. Rino was really good in midfield, that's as good as I've seen from him this season, Drinkwater was good as well I thought. Yiadom had a pretty solid game, particularly impressed with both full backs seen as that's where Birmingham's biggest threat came from, Hernandez, Taylor and Bela were really their biggest issues but we dealt with them relatively well throughout. Joao and Swift did the business going forward and I thought Ince and Hoilett did their defensive duties well, showing that discipline will make a big difference to the team I think. Whilst neither were that impressive going forward other than on the odd occasion, they were still willing and made us a threat on the counter attack that they always had to take into account as well.

I don't think there was a poor performance really and collectively we looked a lot better than what we have been for the previous 2 months under Pauno. We do look as if we might be quite difficult to break down now. My man of the match goes to Rinomhota though.

Indeed. He steps forward as the ball is played, seems to realise his mistake and then can’t get back. I’ve also noticed he stands just behind his line for corners or free kicks near the box and then steps forward as the ball comes in. Not sure I’ve ever seen another keeper do that?! Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention…

I don't think it's a bad strategy because he's always coming onto the ball when a cross comes in, so if he comes to catch/punch, it's only going in 1 direction, forward and away from the goal. It also means he doesn't have to backpedal either with his feet meaning the ball is only ever going one way, backwards. I wouldn't say it's bad positioning from him there, it was just his footwork I was a bit disappointed with for the goal. I'm not against his positive goalkeeping though, but I'm still unconvinced with him coming for crosses. He was found wanting against Peterborough twice, the goal yesterday and there was even one last night where they put in a poor, deep cross and he just dived and missed it completely before we eventually cleared. He hasn't filled me with confidence overall, but he's done ok at the same time.

[The Green Programme]

Great win.

Steelier in defence; more fight, more effort to stop crosses (although there were still too many that got into the box) and much, much better at defending crosses in open play and from corners.

So many very, very good defensive performances.

Including from Ince and Joao.

A big concern defensively is that of our central midfielders and our central defenders, only Rhino has any kind of pace and he is not that quick.

This lack of pace in the middle of the team is a real problem; it is that which leads to space in midfield when teams break on us and also to our defence dropping deeper to counter against the space behind and it allows opposing strikers the chance to come short find space and bring in the wide players or turn and shoot.

This happened so often last night.

I hope Incey will sort it.

[Kitsondinho]

In fairness to say Ince only really had 1 full day to prepare the players for this game, we did really well last night. I guess it shows how big momentum really is for players in a game situation.

There were certainly aspects of our play which was good for sure. Definitely some improvements to be made. Hein made some good saves but was suspect for the goal, maybe better footwork and/or positioning would have meant a comfortable save, albeit it was a bit of an awkward one, it shouldn't have resulted in a goal really.

McIntyre was really solid throughout, unlucky for the own goal really. Rino was really good in midfield, that's as good as I've seen from him this season, Drinkwater was good as well I thought. Yiadom had a pretty solid game, particularly impressed with both full backs seen as that's where Birmingham's biggest threat came from, Hernandez, Taylor and Bela were really their biggest issues but we dealt with them relatively well throughout. Joao and Swift did the business going forward and I thought Ince and Hoilett did their defensive duties well, showing that discipline will make a big difference to the team I think. Whilst neither were that impressive going forward other than on the odd occasion, they were still willing and made us a threat on the counter attack that they always had to take into account as well.

I don't think there was a poor performance really and collectively we looked a lot better than what we have been for the previous 2 months under Pauno. We do look as if we might be quite difficult to break down now. My man of the match goes to Rinomhota though.

Indeed. He steps forward as the ball is played, seems to realise his mistake and then can’t get back. I’ve also noticed he stands just behind his line for corners or free kicks near the box and then steps forward as the ball comes in. Not sure I’ve ever seen another keeper do that?! Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention…

The latter is quite common I think, gives the keeper a better overview and chance to get a better run/spring at a ball that could be theirs.

For the goal, the cross was overhit and it looks like he planned to come for it on what the Brum player planned the cross to be, as soon as Hein shifted weight forward, it became clear to him it was going to sail over him so tried to correct but couldn't get enough of a hand on it to push it wide, so it hit the post. Rank bad luck that the ball went off the post onto McIntyre as it did. He's had luck with his errors to date, last night was the first time without.

Indeed. He has been lucky so far and it is one of the reasons I don’t understand why him playing is just being glossed over by so many. Not much better than Southwood right now. Imagine his squad space had been taken by a left footed defender…Baba’s injury would be much less of a worry now!

[Brum Royal]

First game for me since the Bristol City home game in October(?).

Some positives:
- You could see the confidence beginning to come back. Some nice moves and interpasses, and not being too panicked on the ball
- Yiadom MotM for me, had a tough battle with their left winger, great run to win the penalty, and a clearance off the line to keep us 2-1 up in the last few minutes
- Joao and Swift, the big 2, looked a real threat again, and we're so much better when they're on their game
- Meite, although he didn't get much game time, his energy and work rate are a big plus. He's really cementing himself as a bit of a fan favourite
- McIntyre, great game alongside Morrison. Won masses in the air.
- We rode our luck a bit in the first half, and Brum could have scored at least one, equally Ince should have scored for us first half, but we've hung on to just get it over the line.

Some negatives:
- Holmes passes on the ground. I just felt we needed to protect him a bit better first half, we kept giving him the ball and unfortunately for him not many of his passes seemed to come off
- The knob at the front of Y25/6 who smashed the ball up into the stand, a bit of a d*ck move in itself, but the to see all the pathetic hand gestures aimed at the Brum player who came to take the throw was just desperate stuff. He's outed himself on Twitter fairly unapologetically.
- I think Hein needs to be a little more composed, and recognise he doesn't need to come for absolutely everything - he nearly got caught out by a deep cross second half when he threw himself for a hand tip he was never getting and the cross was too deep anyway (though I put more blame on the defence for not giving him a shout there). Also, for the shot that he didn't save that went for a corner, he had a go at the ref whilst Brum looked to take the corner quickly, and again went outside his box to clearly protest the same decision a couple of minutes later. Hopefully it's just some of the naivety of youth on show there, but he was fine for the most part otherwise, albeit some indifferent kicking.

[Brum Royal]

For the goal, the cross was overhit and it looks like he planned to come for it on what the Brum player planned the cross to be, as soon as Hein shifted weight forward, it became clear to him it was going to sail over him so tried to correct but couldn't get enough of a hand on it to push it wide, so it hit the post. Rank bad luck that the ball went off the post onto McIntyre as it did. He's had luck with his errors to date, last night was the first time without.

That's how I saw it too

[TheRoyalAscot]

Whoever the bellend was who threw the ball on the pitch in the build up to Birmingham's goal you can get fcuked.

Agreed. That whole episode was a huge dose of karma.

[Elm Park Kid]

I expect the deal with Arsenal on signing Hein is that he would play. I'd agree that Southwood is all round more accomplished, but for Reading was likely a case of wanting another keeper in at short notice and so having to agree this setup. Perhaps.

I don't buy these 'must play' agreements that are often touted. You can’t have another team dictating your starting line up to you. You'd be stupid to accept such a deal

Every young player loan the club sending him out want him to play. Loads don't or lose their place.

You'd also have to be the worst run club in the country to agree to a 'must play' loan deal for a 19 year old keeper with no senior experience.

And he didn’t play the first game he was here.

It makes perfect sense for the club loaning out that they would want him to play rather than be a back up. Seems pretty likely to me that there's a clause in the loan agreement that says that if the player doesn't play X% of games then he will be recalled. We still have a choice of playing him or risk him leaving.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I'm not really convinced that he's better than Southwood yet really either. Both seem good shot stoppers, both are somewhat suspect from crosses. I prefer Hein's positive play, coming out to punch and relieve the pressure, he just seems to get away with a few things. I quite like Southwood's ability to hold a cross though which completely takes the pressure off the defence/ Of course, they both don't get it right all the time.

[NathStPaul]

The "must play" deals do definitely exist but often aren't as straightforward as the parent club dictating their player must start matches. There is normally no obligation to play the player BUT should a certain threshold of games or minutes not be met then the club taking the player on loan will have to pay more at the end of the deal, an increased contribtion to the wages of the player or an increase to the loan payment.

In Hein's case I can see him having links to someone involved in recruitment at Reading and he's cheap. Southwood had a nightmare January so it made sense to bring someone else in and give them a go. Should Hein have a complete shocker on Saturday I think Southwood gets his place back.