I traveled up from Oxford to see the friendly. Overall it was an ok performance, some good passing but little service for the strikers. Danny Graham didn't have much service in the 1st half. Proschwitz in the 2nd worked hard off the ball and had a decent shot saved. Cairney played well. I hope Boyd doesn't play on the left again as he doesn't have the pace. He is much better at hold up play and picking out passes up front. Dudgeon was making some good runs in the second half.
Boyd doesn't seem to have a position. He's mostly played up front and did well there, but he's also been tried as a CM, LM and now LWB. Seems like we're trying to find a more permanent position for him.
I went to the game, first time I've been back in UK for 2 years, friendlies are all I ever get to see even when I'm back so I at least value them whatever the result or how we play and I stay in Brum these days when I'm back. 1st half team seemed to be a bit experimental - only thing of note was McGregor's shocking, lurid, luminescent pink/red (?) outfit - head to foot including socks and boots - looked a right tit - also was a worry the way he played - had nowt to do except deal with our many back passes which he had to play with feet and his kicking was poor, though he was not at fault for their farcical second goal which came about initially from a poor Brady back pass - he was playing on left of defense at time but had a poor game overall apart from some decent crosses though nobody was on the end of them. He also played a shocking back pass straight to one of their forwards who should have got a 3rd but screwed it horribly wide of far post. Clearly Brum were up for it and we were not but it was really hot and humid - must have been horrible to play in and they closed us down well and looked threatening with some good build up play without really testing McGregor. First half cried out for someone in City's midfield to take control - Koren was in there but seemed rather lost much of the time. Cairney had a good game throughout - impressed with him but he couldn't boss the midfield. Second half Meyler came on and took control and was our most impressive player. Graham had no service and clearly needs more time to gel with others. Boyd poor - did nothing much and seemed a mockery of reports of him being amongst the fittest in the squad - even looked tired. Quinn looked good - busy, worked hard and got stuck in. Elmo didn't seem interested and defensively weak but put in some decent crosses when given time/space but didn't do much to create it. Davis looked very good, commanding in the middle of defense playing a deeper sweeper kind of role and nothing much got past him, replaced by Bruce in second who looked same, commanding and didn't put a foot wrong. McShane impressed when he came on and got forward well. Chester looked good and I didn't think their second was really his fault as the damage had been done by Brady in first place. Aluko looked tidy but was closed down all the time and struggled to find space for himself but worked hard to try and find some but hardly had chance to use his pace. won the pen though it was a bit soft. Dudgeon was clearly keen to impress, energetic, worked hard made some good overlaps for Brady but he didn't use him as much as he should have, got a bit overexcited at times and got into some awkward positions defensively at times but that was his youthful overenthusiasm - always wanted the ball - promising. Fryatt almost went unnoticed and looked lacking pace - didn't seem to know where to go or what to do! Proschwitz looked ok and the only tiger who had a decent shot on target and their keeper pulled off a fine save to keep it out. Overall a good workout and no doubt that were we at the same stage of preparation, and if it had been a competitive game we'd have won, clearly the better side, though sometimes tried to be a bit too fancy. We seemed short of height in both defense and up front which could be a concern against some of the prem big boys, though that impression may have been exagerrated by their 6' 6" defender who impressed. That said, Meyler looked the biggest player on the pitch when he came on - very commanding in midfield. I enjoyed seeing so many players who I've hitherto only read about - good day out for me. Apologies for errors and disjointed comments - it's late and I've driven up to Carlisle and Scotland and back to Carlisle since the game, not to mention the decent wine I'm enjoying right now! Cheers!
Seen people complaining about our pre season results. Well losing to Winterton 3-2 in 2007 and Crewe 4-1 in 2008 didn't do much harm to following season.
I read a report today that somebody found a kidney and a spine in a chicken leg at KFC. How on earth that happened is beyond me, but when they lodged a complaint, KFC sent them free vouchers to use
