Great performance and result and nothing short of what we deserved, it should have been more comfortable and if Longman's goal had not wrongly been ruled out then 0-2 would have been a fairer reflection on the game. Seri is just wonderful to watch and had an excellent game, credit to Doch also who brought the energy to the midfield which Woods doesn't give. No one had a bad game, and certainly keeping Greaves at left back, which gives effectively 3 tall centre backs in the penalty box for set pieces has helped greatly. Mc|Loughlin also brings a calmness to the back line and is a better user of the ball, and was unlucky with that effort he had which Ruddy saved very well. Certainly, Longman operates better on the left rather than on the right but I thought he has a very good game also. Credit to Oscar for scoring 2 in 2, after missing that penalty he hasn't let it affect him. Allahyar also makes a big difference, still a bit ring rusty but nevertheless still has a good game. We are seeing now a much better consistent level of performance, even in the games we drew, we look much harder to beat. Liam is slowly taking the handbrake off, and hopefully, we will continue to see improvement game by game. Let's hope we are not typical City and let ourselves down at Wigan, but the way we playing now hopefully that won't happen.
they criticised his ridiculous policy of playing about in our own penalty area we were playing it out a lot faster against Birmingham
I really like Docs beefy and forward running he causes teams problems , his passing has improved . Manesh occupies opposition wi g backs which reduces their threat . Christie does the same I’d bet he’s playing some of the best football of his career here, he never played this well against us - last game he must have been off it - so I retract my too much pudding suggestion.
We played a different brand of Football last-night as opposed to our recent home games.We upped the tempo,pressed them and let our midfield do the talking...Long may it continue. Just as an aside,I thought they looked a tired(leg weary) side after their exertions at Burnley.That's taking nothing away from our performance because we played very decent Football. Same game against Wigan should see another 3 very welcome points!!!
The policy of playing it out from the back has been evolving since Rosenior came. Like any skill, you have to start with the basics which, in this case is being comfortable in possession. Once that has been mastered then you can progress to moving the ball more quickly with purpose. Rosie said in his interview last night that for the first time he has a winger with pace on the pitch, so that will change things too. It also depends on the opposition. Blackpool closed down more quickly than Birmingham did in general so you have to play differently depending on the opposition. The policy isn’t ridiculous. It is giving us more possession than previously which means more opportunity to work good positions. In my view, if people must criticise then question the decision making which leads to us giving the ball away in dangerous areas but not the tactic itself.
