You know that thing when with a corner the ball is in the quadrant if even a tiny slither of the overhang of the globe is over the outside of the line, well AMB collected the ball when a tiny slither of it looked as if it was over the line of the penalty area. The officials couldn’t be sure it wasn’t so couldn’t give handball.
Would like to see it again but it wasn’t featured in the highlights video.
Not sure about a slither, it was almost a full ball outside the box.
It was a disappointing and deflating performance from us. If Coventry hadn't made the mistake, they probably would have scored some other way at some point. We were second best and couldn't keep hold of the ball. As has been said, Small was marked out of the game and TC looks like he is going through a loss of form atm. However, they've done brilliantly over the last 2 months to be in the position we are now in so lets put this behind us and give them the support that will help win the next set of battles. They are the one's that are gonna make or break our season.
Let’s be honest, apart from a 10 minute spell in the second half Birmingham had a cigar on. Very impressed by their left back who marked Small out the game, and their midfielder (24?) absolutely ran the show.
First half gave me Sheff Utd FA Cup vibes, players shitting their pants around a full stadium. We huffed and puffed but didn’t create anything, which is a shame because I’ve seen better sides than Brum this season.
Trigger warning in future please. I’ve only just finished the therapy.
Same situation after the game as before hand, 4 massive games to come that will really impact our play off chances.
A point would have been great but zero outfield injuries + a few days rest heading into the next 3 weeks - thank you very much! We didn't lay a glove on them, we made it awkward but never threatened. Cochrane completely nullified Small, TC had an off day, we had little else to make them worry. Title winning tussles is not our fight!
Back to business - must win vs Exeter!
7 points vs Orient, Barnsley & Stockport would be dream land.
You know that thing when with a corner the ball is in the quadrant if even a tiny slither of the overhang of the globe is over the outside of the line, well AMB collected the ball when a tiny slither of it looked as if it was over the line of the penalty area. The officials couldn’t be sure it wasn’t so couldn’t give handball.
Would like to see it again but it wasn’t featured in the highlights video.
Not sure about a slither, it was almost a full ball outside the box.
That’s slightly more than a sliver!
Just before this happened, during an attack down our right, the ball went MUCH more than a 'sliver' out of play over the sideline. The lino, who seemed to have a clear sight of play, didn't raise his flag, later he gave a 'fictitious' offside against Small to nip a rare attack of ours in the bud .. w t f ! I refuse to say 'shoulda gone to Specsavers'
As an aside, Birmingham is a very weird place. That walk from New St to the stadium is mainly through parts of the city centre (or adjacent to) yet it’s 50% or more derelict sites and wasteland. It’s crazy for the centre of the second largest city in the country.
Traditional big city football grounds are often in quite rundown areas but I was surprised too, loads of abandoned cars and litter everywhere. Took ages to get out of Birmingham for drive back to Leeds. Inevitably google maps took us through quite a bit of Birmingham and it was equally bleak. As the song says, I really did want to get home!!
Oh I know most stadiums aren’t in the sort of surroundings that Craven Cottage is, but my surprise is more at how much derelict and wasteland there is given the proximity to the city centre. You walk about 2 mins east from New St/Bullring and for the next 25 mins of your walk to the stadium I’d honestly guesstimate that 50% of the lane is either derelict buildings (I don’t mean closed shops - I mean actually derelict) or swathes of wasteland. That really isn’t the same in the city centre of London, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol etc.
On the upside, the walk back felt less scary yesterday than it has in the past. New St station was the normal den of chaos and confusion however.
You know that thing when with a corner the ball is in the quadrant if even a tiny slither of the overhang of the globe is over the outside of the line, well AMB collected the ball when a tiny slither of it looked as if it was over the line of the penalty area. The officials couldn’t be sure it wasn’t so couldn’t give handball.
Would like to see it again but it wasn’t featured in the highlights video.
Not sure about a slither, it was almost a full ball outside the box.
Yeah. I was watching the stream where the angle was different.
The picture suggests his hand contacted the ball outside the area, the stream wasn’t so obvious. Maybe the officials didn’t have a good enough angle to see clearly. So Birmingham probably missed out on an advanced free kick (the handball wouldn’t have been a sending off offence in my opinion) and they wouldn’t necessarily have scored from it. I do think the officials were poor overall.
Quite clear Macca's defending for the goal wasn't great. He was protecting himself (and the team) by not getting skinned immediately on the outside. In the process, he made it all too easy by being a statue.
Also, the £15m L1 rat did make the tackle on the half way line, drive forwards 30/40 yards and find the composure to finish. Fair play to the play, not the person!
PWR - Calamity defending from Gillesphy for their goal. He shows him so much on his left foot that he actually shows him a big angle to shoot with his right. Proper Sunday league stuff.
You’re taking the piss if you’re putting that goal on Gillesphey. If he’d closed Stansfield off on the right he’d have cut inside and maybe the goal goes in that way and he’s criticised for showing him inside. Showing him outside at least meant he needed a quality strike to score. Some are so down on Gillesphey that he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. He had an ok if unremarkable game. The error was Coventry’s. He’s still in credit, so we move on.
What Ash MB did, and why I called it sneaky on the match thread, was come out and positon himself in the way of the lino's view. He smothered ball and line. No way could the officials give it as from their angle(s) it would have been supposition.
Couldn't watch the match as "otherwise engaged" shall we say, but how many more photos of the handball outside the area do we need to see, we get it, he handled outside the area, and there could be a retrospective red card here, seen them given before for a goalie handling outside the area. Will watch the highlights later...🙄
What Ash MB did, and why I called it sneaky on the match thread, was come out and positon himself in the way of the lino's view. He smothered ball and line. No way could the officials give it as from their angle(s) it would have been supposition.
I don't think there was any premeditation on AMB's part. He attempted to kick the ball into his area and dive on it but made no contact with his foot and dived on the ball anyway out of panic
PWR - Calamity defending from Gillesphy for their goal. He shows him so much on his left foot that he actually shows him a big angle to shoot with his right. Proper Sunday league stuff.
You’re taking the piss if you’re putting that goal on Gillesphey. If he’d closed Stansfield off on the right he’d have cut inside and maybe the goal goes in that way and he’s criticised for showing him inside. Showing him outside at least meant he needed a quality strike to score. Some are so down on Gillesphey that he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. He had an ok if unremarkable game. The error was Coventry’s. He’s still in credit, so we move on.
Did I say it’s all on Gillesphy? If you think that was even ok defending from him, then you’re very wrong. Of course he shouldn’t show him on his right, but you don’t go so far onto his left that you leave him with a huge angle to shoot on his right.
What Ash MB did, and why I called it sneaky on the match thread, was come out and positon himself in the way of the lino's view. He smothered ball and line. No way could the officials give it as from their angle(s) it would have been supposition.
Maybe it was sneaky, but I’m inclined to think it was stupid. I can’t really believe he made all the calculations of whether he’d be seen by two officials in that split second. If he were able to think that quickly, he could have taken an extra touch back with his foot so he could pick it up legally. He was very lucky. Regardless, you can’t rely on the officials seeing that as inconclusive. Once he realised the ball wasn’t going in the box (and he was presumably nervous about cocking up an extra touch), he should’ve leathered it out of there. If you give them a corner, so be it.
You know that thing when with a corner the ball is in the quadrant if even a tiny slither of the overhang of the globe is over the outside of the line, well AMB collected the ball when a tiny slither of it looked as if it was over the line of the penalty area. The officials couldn’t be sure it wasn’t so couldn’t give handball.
From where Ash handled that ball it could have been a full-sized Space Hopper and none of it would have been in the box!
As an aside, Birmingham is a very weird place. That walk from New St to the stadium is mainly through parts of the city centre (or adjacent to) yet it’s 50% or more derelict sites and wasteland. It’s crazy for the centre of the second largest city in the country.
Traditional big city football grounds are often in quite rundown areas but I was surprised too, loads of abandoned cars and litter everywhere. Took ages to get out of Birmingham for drive back to Leeds. Inevitably google maps took us through quite a bit of Birmingham and it was equally bleak. As the song says, I really did want to get home!!
Oh I know most stadiums aren’t in the sort of surroundings that Craven Cottage is, but my surprise is more at how much derelict and wasteland there is given the proximity to the city centre. You walk about 2 mins east from New St/Bullring and for the next 25 mins of your walk to the stadium I’d honestly guesstimate that 50% of the lane is either derelict buildings (I don’t mean closed shops - I mean actually derelict) or swathes of wasteland. That really isn’t the same in the city centre of London, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol etc.
On the upside, the walk back felt less scary yesterday than it has in the past. New St station was the normal den of chaos and confusion however.
Birmingham is a weird city. The inner bit is nice, but then there is a ring of dereliction and scruffiness right around the centre before some nicer areas again.
If you walk to Edgbaston cricket ground or Villa Park you notice the same thing. Areas ripe for redevelopment, hopefully HS2 will accelerate this.
As an aside, Birmingham is a very weird place. That walk from New St to the stadium is mainly through parts of the city centre (or adjacent to) yet it’s 50% or more derelict sites and wasteland. It’s crazy for the centre of the second largest city in the country.
Traditional big city football grounds are often in quite rundown areas but I was surprised too, loads of abandoned cars and litter everywhere. Took ages to get out of Birmingham for drive back to Leeds. Inevitably google maps took us through quite a bit of Birmingham and it was equally bleak. As the song says, I really did want to get home!!
Oh I know most stadiums aren’t in the sort of surroundings that Craven Cottage is, but my surprise is more at how much derelict and wasteland there is given the proximity to the city centre. You walk about 2 mins east from New St/Bullring and for the next 25 mins of your walk to the stadium I’d honestly guesstimate that 50% of the lane is either derelict buildings (I don’t mean closed shops - I mean actually derelict) or swathes of wasteland. That really isn’t the same in the city centre of London, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol etc.
On the upside, the walk back felt less scary yesterday than it has in the past. New St station was the normal den of chaos and confusion however.
Birmingham is a weird city. The inner bit is nice, but then there is a ring of dereliction and scruffiness right around the centre before some nicer areas again.
If you walk to Edgbaston cricket ground or Villa Park you notice the same thing. Areas ripe for redevelopment, hopefully HS2 will accelerate this.
I used to work in B’ham in the early 90’s, if you think it’s bad now, you should have seen it then. The city grew up on the Industrial Revolution, it was once the metal bashing centre of the world, don’t think there’s a roll mill left there now.
I'm a fan of Nathan Jones but think he got the subs (times) wrong yesterday. I would have bought Leaburn on for TC at half time or just after, then Gilbert for Berry. Also surely Chuks to come on and rough up Stansfield (known to be on a short fuse). Alex Mitchell did a good job on Stansfield at the Valley earlier this season!
What Ash MB did, and why I called it sneaky on the match thread, was come out and positon himself in the way of the lino's view. He smothered ball and line. No way could the officials give it as from their angle(s) it would have been supposition.
I don't think there was any premeditation on AMB's part. He attempted to kick the ball into his area and dive on it but made no contact with his foot and dived on the ball anyway out of panic
I'm now slightly worried i do not remember the exact sequence of events before he fell on the ball. But I admit this is often the case, especially with incidents at games (in person or on stream) and especially without the benefit of a replay. I haven't yet seen this incident played back but accept what you are saying.
One thing though i believe is probably true is that all players are mindful of what view the officials will have at all times and this is drummed in from a young age. I think that's why it's a surprise when a player does something so stupid because it's in full view of officials, like Stansfield dragging Laird back onto the field of play to ensure more time wasted and getting booked by the ref.
With AMB i thought he shaped his body in such a way to get away with it, and he did get away with it. Similar for any ball that seems to go out of touch but players play on. Of course with more cameras and replays and tech, especially at higher levels, we can all judge players more effectively and judge them (and officials) accordingly and with even less reliance on our own personal memory in the moment!
Can’t get too down about the result. What is slightly concerning is our lack 9f midfield options on the bench and even more so the lack of suitable cover for Campbell/Small.
Also hope our lacklustre performance wasn’t to do with stage fright. Need to be a lot better at Stockport, Wrexham, Wycombe and Orient.
What Ash MB did, and why I called it sneaky on the match thread, was come out and positon himself in the way of the lino's view. He smothered ball and line. No way could the officials give it as from their angle(s) it would have been supposition.
If you watch the replay he tried to kick the ball back into the penalty area, but missed it. I think he was on his way down (expecting the ball to be 'legal'). [Which is pretty much was @Six-a-bag-of-nuts just said].
Not sure its been mentioned already but did their goal not come from Jones going too far forward onto the left wing? The photos of the move that were posted show him struggling to get back. Not sure it would have made a difference but at the time we did look very exposed and then the mistake happens.
After a game against Brum at the valley a few years ago some of their fans in Floyd Road started singing ‘Charlton’s a shit hole. I wanna go home’. I looked at one of them and said, ‘Seriously?’ He burst out laughing and said, ‘No, fair enough.’
I really can’t believe the negativity after that. Limited a good side to not many chances at all. Yes it wasn’t pretty but their side costs about £29m more than ours. We’ve picked up 16 points from a possible 21 in our last 7 games. We go again vs Exeter
Just a shame that our billionaire owners didn't spend a bit of cash in the summer then.
Still think we should wear red unless there is a colour clash. White at a push....but yellow ??? Don't care about sponsorship money. Hand it back if needs be. How much is it anyway ?? £50k ? £100k ? More ?
Whatever it is it's not worth it.
Red and blue is impossible for many colour blind people. Something like 10% of men are colour blind. That means that at least two players on the pitch by law of averages would have trouble telling the difference between the two colours. We’ve been over this before. What is it that you don’t understand? Even your Dad is partially colour blind. If you don’t believe me, test him yourself.
On the final leg out of Charing X, good but long day with Jnr.
Game wise, we gave them far too much respect first half and a few players looked overawed for some reason. Unless we were playing backwards, lots of panic when in possession and we didn’t retain the ball well at all.
Poor from Coventry for the goal and equally poor from Gillesphy showing him space outside onto his right to shoot. Quality finishing from a £10m player, absolutely no idea why he decided to run the width of the pitch to goad us after. Sometimes players don’t help themselves.
Second half our shape just didn’t look right, not sure where Small was meant to be playing after HT and then when we made changes, having to put Campbell to what, right wing back when he was having a really poor game did show some of our squad limitations.
We put up a spirited effort but in all honesty never really landed a decent punch at any stage. Their shithousing in the last 15 mins was dire but the don’t blame them solely because almost every team does it now.
We go again. We’ve definitely improved but today showed we we’ve still more to do. Bit worried about this 11 burning out come May, but that’s a worry for
Disagree with the part about Gillesphy and being poor for the goal.
They had a 3v2. As a defender you’re taught to isolate the player and force them to shoot in that situation, knowing that it has to be a great finish for them to score. Unfortunately Birmingham have the only two strikers in this league who will consistently score from those chances.
Don’t think there was much else he could have done.I
I don’t know @SOTF maybe you’re right. But it’s certainly not how would have defended it.
After the initial steal on the touchline. Stansfield initially went more central than I realised. MG has a decision to make. Show him left towards Jones so Stansfield either has to play to the player wide left or have a more difficult shot with his left foot with two closing defenders narrowing. Or switch his body shape at this point and try to show Standfield wide right
He doesn’t do that though. He continues to shape his body to show him left towards Jones, but positionally he’s two yards too far to the right to do that. He makes Standfield decision for him.
By the time MG slowly switches his body to show him right, it’s too late as he’s been worked too central too close to the goal. Positionally he’s at sea and in no position to block a shot let alone show him wide. Stansfield ends up setting himself up nicely for a shot centrally just to the right of the D (still a good strike)
Retrospectively, I think he should have shifted his position more left at the earlier phase to have forced Stansfield to go left towards Jones. But he didn’t really do neither. Just my take, I thought MG had a decent game bar that move.
I’m glad that people are debating MG now because I’ve always liked him. I do think however that he backs off too much. By the time he commits to a tackle, he’s too late. This is the only part of his game that I don’t like. I’m not sure about him playing in this new position. I prefer him as a traditional left back.
You know that thing when with a corner the ball is in the quadrant if even a tiny slither of the overhang of the globe is over the outside of the line, well AMB collected the ball when a tiny slither of it looked as if it was over the line of the penalty area. The officials couldn’t be sure it wasn’t so couldn’t give handball.
Would like to see it again but it wasn’t featured in the highlights video.
Not sure about a slither, it was almost a full ball outside the box.
Really think this incident didn't work in our favour. It buoyed the crowd and certainly riled up Stansfield. We looked very tetchy after it happened and never really settled .
Comments
We didn't lay a glove on them, we made it awkward but never threatened.
Cochrane completely nullified Small, TC had an off day, we had little else to make them worry.
Title winning tussles is not our fight!
The lino, who seemed to have a clear sight of play, didn't raise his flag, later he gave a 'fictitious' offside against Small to nip a rare attack of ours in the bud .. w t f !
I refuse to say 'shoulda gone to Specsavers'
On the upside, the walk back felt less scary yesterday than it has in the past. New St station was the normal den of chaos and confusion however.
So Birmingham probably missed out on an advanced free kick (the handball wouldn’t have been a sending off offence in my opinion) and they wouldn’t necessarily have scored from it.
I do think the officials were poor overall.
Also, the £15m L1 rat did make the tackle on the half way line, drive forwards 30/40 yards and find the composure to finish. Fair play to the play, not the person!
Some are so down on Gillesphey that he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. He had an ok if unremarkable game.
The error was Coventry’s. He’s still in credit, so we move on.
Will watch the highlights later...🙄
If you walk to Edgbaston cricket ground or Villa Park you notice the same thing. Areas ripe for redevelopment, hopefully HS2 will accelerate this.
One thing though i believe is probably true is that all players are mindful of what view the officials will have at all times and this is drummed in from a young age. I think that's why it's a surprise when a player does something so stupid because it's in full view of officials, like Stansfield dragging Laird back onto the field of play to ensure more time wasted and getting booked by the ref.
With AMB i thought he shaped his body in such a way to get away with it, and he did get away with it. Similar for any ball that seems to go out of touch but players play on. Of course with more cameras and replays and tech, especially at higher levels, we can all judge players more effectively and judge them (and officials) accordingly and with even less reliance on our own personal memory in the moment!
[Which is pretty much was @Six-a-bag-of-nuts just said].
It buoyed the crowd and certainly riled up Stansfield.
We looked very tetchy after it happened and never really settled .