I was at the game yesterday, I think there were both positives and negatives to our win. Angella and Iriney really impressed on their debuts, providing a real spine to the team. Angella was man of the match for me, his reading of the game, positional sense and ability in the air seemed to make a difference in the middle of our defensive three. We definitely did not have someone like that last season leading the back-line in such a way, looks like a great addition to the team. Iriney also looked great, combining the strength needing the anchoring the midfield with being able to link the play well. Of the players from last year, Doyley had a great game. I canât quite believe how far he has come on since Zola has become manager. From being a liability he is now competent on the ball, and his defensive play is still as good as it has always been. The block he produced in the second half was superb. Almunia also produced a fine save in the second half and generally seemed quite commanding in the air. Foresteri and Anya also produced some excellent moments. But there were negatives. Birmingham really seemed to target Cassetti, and for a large part it seemed to work. As times he was good, but he was also liable to make silly errors, like in the play-off final. A complete breakdown in communication between him and Almunia in the first half saw Cassetti head the ball over the Spaniard, thankfully it just went wide. Earlier in the half he did nothing with a ball that bounced over him, allowing Andrew Shinnie to draw out Almunia and cross the ball in, luckily for us Novak couldnât convert. In the second half any through-balls from Birmingham were targeting the inside channel of Cassetti, and Angella had to come across on more than one occasion to cover for him. Surely Brown or Ekstrand would be better to play against Bournemouth then Cassetti. We also seemed to lose a lot of momentum from the first 25-30 minutes or so, when we at first passed Birmingham off the park. Part of it was down Birmingham pressuring us more and putting us on the back foot, part of it was down to our sloppy passing. Birmingham were very unlucky not to score, they did everything but put the ball in the back of the net. It does show that even though we are better at moving the ball then other teams, weâre not going to steam-roller too many other clubs teams. With a 3-5-2 its quite easy to pull a team apart if the other side can put a few passes together. Obviously Iâm not the manager, but would a 4-3-3 be more suitable for us? Generally though, we did well to beat a team who will finish about mid-table this year. Birmingham had a good defensive basis, but it showed that their front two were playing for Mansfield and Iverness Caledonian Thistle last year, they really lacked a cutting edge in their attack. For us, there is still al ot to improve, but itâs good to put three points on the board at the start of the season. Was quite a lively game, thought the away support was great, despite the travel issues. On a final note, the pass-back issue was a complete disgrace on Birmingham and Lee Novakâs behalf. It doesnât matter if you donât believe the player whose down is actually injured, if the ball is kicked out of play it is an unwritten law to kick it back to the other team. There would have been pandemonium if Birmingham had scored from that. And they have the cheek to complain about our sportsmanship! COYH!
Thanks for such a good report. I was nervous that we would not be able to keep the passing game going as it requires very high fitness levels that maybe are not quite there yet. Zola talks about it in his post match interview. On the Hornet player there was a lot of talk about the two Brum centre halves who did not look very assured. It sounded as if we looked poor at defending the punt down the middle.
Obviously you get a completely different perspective when only listening on the radio, but.... JM & DP both mentioned, on more than one occasion, that there seemed to be a lack of communication at the back - particularly between Angella and Almunia from what I could gather. I suspect that Cassetti may only have been playing due to Ekstrand's lack of fitness after injury - would imagine that he will be back next week. And then there is Algerian Guy (whose name escapes me).... Still a worry that we seem suspect to pressure and disappear for parts of the game - didn't suffer for it yesterday thanks to Brum players being poor in front of goal, but there are a few other teams who won't let us off so lightly. From the commentary, as poor as their forwards were, their keeper had a bit of a blinder and kept them in the game with some good saves - thankfully not all Championship clubs have good keepers....
Maybe there could be an issue with communication between a couple of the new guys maybe not up to speed with the language but sure Zola will sort that out? We are always going to come under pressure - home team playing their first game of the season are bound to be up for it and trying to get the points.
I agree with what you say BB, very early days but signs of the good and bad of last season visible on this display. We will need to improve defensibly by the time we go to Reading for sure, was hoping we would look tighter at the back this season.
Only listened on 3CR, but sounds like early season fitness is the issue, but we saw that last season. Started out like a train for the first20/30 mins then fell away, but as we got thru the end of August/Sept we started lasting longer & longer. So that will take care of it's self. As the fitness comes, everything-understanding/movement etc, will click into place.
That could well be part of it WFC63, but were it was understandable last season it surely should not be the case for this one, that is something with last seasons experience behind them they should have worked on harder in pre-season. I hope its just a question of the side jelling together and next weekends game shows greater understanding between them.
A number of unbiased reports appear to suggest our players were going down easy and also that there was a lot of time wasting going on. I wondered if that is what lead to them keeping possesion after the ball was kicked out for the injured player? I would remind people that last season a team (I think it was Bristol City away) did exactly that to us (feined injury) and we also took the throw & played on. We also played on when a man was down injured on more than one occasion and from my memory on all occasions it appeared justified. So I personally can accept the Birmingham players doing what they did. I know that Birmingham were rough and physical, of that there is no doubt but did that then lead to our players going down quickly? Last season that happened for a while until most of the players realised it was not in their best interests.
I agree with this completely. It's useful to be reminded we are not perfect, partly for us but mainly for the team. On the game itself i really like Cassetti but I have to admit the last few games (last season and this game) have not been his best. I hope he gets his form of earlier last season back.
Good write up, thanks emiatss I always preferred Cassetti at RWB, with Doyley playing just behind at RCB. If Cassetti made an error, was always assured Doyley would be there to back him up. Unfortunately playing CB, you are the last line of defence before the keeper so any mistakes are highlighted more! When a few of the CB's are fit again, as much as I like Cassetti, I hope he starts on the bench as cover for CB and RWB. Seems to have been a lot of noise about us 'cheating'. Having not seen the game, I do hope that is more home fans not wanting to see the physical side of their own team rather than us going down easily. If they were going down too easy, I'm sure GZ will have a word. What we don't need is a reputation and not getting fouls/penalties because of it.
Thanks everyone for the analysis. All I saw were the pathetic (as usual) BBC highlights where they showed our 1 attempt at goal with the rest of the highlights about Brum's attemps - we must have had more than one decent goal attempt? At least they tipped us for promotion in the top 6 so they are taking us a bit more seriously. Well done Yeovil & AFC Bournemouth!
I was there, I do not recall anything that Brum fans have a right to bleat on about in terms of diving etc. I thought the referee had a solid enough game, he missed one decent penalty shout for us and the fiasco over the throw in was almost his undoing. One assistant had an iffy moment but again nothing to get in a twist over. Quality goal, some superb attacking play. There was a dangerous lack of communication between Cassetti and Almunia (no call from Almunia, and he looked pretty sheepish about it). We were really up against it at times but as GFZ rightly pointed out that we didn't concede when we would certainly have done so in a match like this last season. There is still bedding in to do but this was a very good performance against a Brum side that was exponentially better than last season's vintage.
Yeah Brum only had one shot on target all game to our 6. The highlights were the most blatant show of bias ever! We had 58% of possession to 42%, we had 9 shots of which 6 were on target whereas they had 5 shots and 1 on target. Yet for some reason they edit the highlights to show that Birmingham were the better team.
Robbo doesn't sound too happy but then isn't going through the back of somebody to foul them on purpose as bad as diving? http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/football-league/29498-robinson-tells-watford-to-stop-play-acting.php BRW Did he mind when Helguson used to do for us!?
Cheers emiatss, really thanks, people on here give me such a better idea of what is actually going on rather than some lacklusture journalism. I was away for the weekend, so really pleased to read this result and comments now. A win, away (for a change) and 3 points on the board. A reminder for some not to be too complacent (why does that always seem to get us at some point?) and we are away on this marathon Championship mission!!
