Championship - Birmingham City FC vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[Andym]

Looking back we’ve got 7 points from our last three league games , when we really haven’t hit any great heights . Need reinforcements in Jan but a very hard Dec to get through b4 then …

I agree about our last 3 games. Played well at times (not including today as didn’t see it) but not out fluent best. As I said earlier we can be slow when the opposition plays a high press.
Just seen Harness’ second goal. He hit it so well on the turn.

[Ricco]

A quick peak at the Brum forum and they seem to think their performance was a marked improvement and had strong compliments for Ipswich. Must be true if a forum says that, when usually they'd be moaning about chucking away a 2 goal lead.

Would've been nicer to find the stride sooner, but as mentioned early in the game, perhaps Birmingham ran themselves in to the ground too soon and were bound to have the better of the early game and then fade.

[Charnwood]

For me that was a game of two halves if ever I’ve seen one and a game of two talented managers going H2H too. Rooney won the first half by nullify the threat of Morsy and Luongo and McKenna won the second with his substitutions and tactical changes. Maybe not the greatest game for a Town fan but an interesting one for the neutral with a fair outcome for both teams.

[shabba]

Didn’t properly watch the game as was quite busy - the little bits I did see were a poor first half and better as the second went on.

Reading back these comments - certainly some rather knee jerk reactions.

This is how I currently see it, KM has proved he can punch above his weight, we’ve had an incredible start and it gives us a real platform for this season. It will be long and up and down, and January likely will be crucial - can we strengthen (ie find targets, afford them and improve the XI). All Teams, including us, will all come in and out of form - it’s whether they can continue to gather points during the dips - we’ve dipped off a bit since Hull but still got a lot of points.

What I do always believe in is KM and his ability to tactically tweak, very surprised to see that being questioned here - and the ref to Mick long ball is frankly a joke. So many times we’ve seen KM make small
Tweaks mid game or especially at half time and it’s led us to go on and win, it happened only last week vs Plymouth.

The man is a genius and should be given anything he wants.

The squad have again shown great character today. That unlucky own goal could have sunk us but we battled back, they simply don’t know when they are beat and that was even evident against Fulham despite being 3-0 down.

Big game Tuesday, need to get a good start and get out game going.

[number 9]

Finished 2-2 BUT Kieran should have made those changes in the 60-minute mark, not 70+, When will he listen to me But 2-2 is a bloody good comeback, and I can see who will be deselected for our next match, that defence has got to be changed Clarke p*ss poor wolfie needs to buck his ideas up Tuanzebe needs proper game time now so Burgess or Wolfie needs benching.

I don’t think KM is the type of manager to bench a player after one poor performance. Woolfy and Burgess have been solid for several games this season. And as far as making subs earlier, I don’t think KM is a knee jerk manager either. We were lucky to get the draw, and that’s what KM did right. So let’s focus on that, ok?

[Denny61]

For me that was a game of two halves if ever I’ve seen one and a game of two talented managers going H2H too. Rooney won the first half by nullify the threat of Morsy and Luongo and McKenna won the second with his substitutions and tactical changes. Maybe not the greatest game for a Town fan but an interesting one for the neutral with a fair outcome for both teams.

Two talented managers .are you for real .what planet have you been living on ..or basic facts have eluded you..one is a manager..other is a very talented manager.....end of ..

[Bluemike]

Finished 2-2 BUT Kieran should have made those changes in the 60-minute mark, not 70+, When will he listen to me But 2-2 is a bloody good comeback, and I can see who will be deselected for our next match, that defence has got to be changed Clarke p*ss poor wolfie needs to buck his ideas up Tuanzebe needs proper game time now so Burgess or Wolfie needs benching.

Ash, if he'd listened to you we'd have Tyreece Simpson winning the Ballon D'or

[Bluemike]

For me that was a game of two halves if ever I’ve seen one and a game of two talented managers going H2H too. Rooney won the first half by nullify the threat of Morsy and Luongo and McKenna won the second with his substitutions and tactical changes. Maybe not the greatest game for a Town fan but an interesting one for the neutral with a fair outcome for both teams.

Two talented managers .are you for real .what planet have you been living on ..or basic facts have eluded you..one is a manager..other is a very talented manager.....end of ..

I don't rate Rooney one bit, his won record everywhere is appalling, but yesterday he got his tactics in the first half absolutely spot on, nobody has even come close to making Morsy and Luongo look that ordinary.

[hallamblue]

Thing is running yet arse off closing the opposition down as a tactic is a bit like McCarthys tactics of every one behind the ball. There’s no skill or football in it is there. At some point you have to play the game . You can only run for so long and pack a defence for so long.

I like our brave approach - even if it does give me heart palpitations every week

[arana peligrosa]

Caught highlights last night, the field conditions were sub-standard second half. Under previous managers and with different squad players we'd have folded but found the resilience and desire to pull it round and take in the end something of a satisfactory score.

Would have wanted 3 points instead of the 1 for sure, the opportunity was there to take advantage of the slip at the top but one last time and once again it's been something of a dream start.

31 goals from 14 games, 11 wins and 1 loss only. It's still too early to get excited (promotion once again) but really, you got to imagine we've really provided ourselves a chance with the start made.

[Andym]

Thing is running yet arse off closing the opposition down as a tactic is a bit like McCarthys tactics of every one behind the ball. There’s no skill or football in it is there. At some point you have to play the game . You can only run for so long and pack a defence for so long.

I like our brave approach - even if it does give me heart palpitations every week

I agree. We also run our arses off but also play good football usually. We are fortunate to have the strength in depth to change the front 3 after an hour most weeks.

[hallamblue]

McKenna was spot on when he said that the bench will play an important role in winning games this season. He hasn’t been wrong has he.

[Charnwood]

McKenna was spot on when he said that the bench will play an important role in winning games this season. He hasn’t been wrong has he.

He does spring some surprises Liz doesn’t he. I didn’t like it when he first started making 3 changes all at the same time as it seemed to be disruptive but as I get used to it and see how effective it can be you realise just how well he reads the game and sees opportunities to completely change a game.

Yesterday was a classic example of this when he made 4 changes on 72 mins completely changing our 3 forward players and Luongo who was struggling to make any real impact. Without doubt these changes completely changed the game and within 7 minutes we scored our first goal and 10 min later we were level with both goals involving the players he’d brought off the bench.

The ability to make changes like this is what differentiates him from the average manager and why he has the prospect of having a fantastic career ahead of him. I just hope a fair few years of these are spent at Portman Road managing our football club.

[hallamblue]

I think the players buy into to this true use of the squad, and so are the fans now. It seems less disruptive now, than when he first used to do it. We’ve all got used to how we play out out from the back too. Generally we are accomplished at this , but 8m sure we’ll get caught at some point. I think Birmingham have been the first team to be able to maintain that high press for the whole of the first half. Most side run out of steam after 20 mins. Town had to match that fitness levels for 45 mins, and then 25 mins into second half before the changes too place. I think our squad overall fitness is probably better than most opponents 8n this division….we’ll, it seems to be so far anyway. So teams may we’ll have sussed our tactics but they still have to match our intensity over the entire game. And they’re not managing it so far.

[Charnwood]

For me that was a game of two halves if ever I’ve seen one and a game of two talented managers going H2H too. Rooney won the first half by nullify the threat of Morsy and Luongo and McKenna won the second with his substitutions and tactical changes. Maybe not the greatest game for a Town fan but an interesting one for the neutral with a fair outcome for both teams.

Two talented managers .are you for real .what planet have you been living on ..or basic facts have eluded you..one is a manager..other is a very talented manager.....end of ..

On reflection maybe my comment was an over exaggeration although Rooney like McKenna is a young inexperienced manager who has faced far more challenging situations than Kieran without anywhere near the support and freedom given to McKenna at Ipswich, not to forget a 21 points deduction at Derby which he almost managed to overcome and avoid relegation whilst playing attractive football along the way.

Yesterday he got his tactics absolutely spot on for 45 minutes not just playing 10 men behind the ball but simply by stopping Morsy and Luongo playing their normal game in way no other manager has achieved so far and at the same time playing attacking football and going in at HT with a two goal lead.

Despite your comment after 30 mins suggesting yesterday was a “wake up call” and McKenna “needed to change tactics in games … change variations, even if it takes playing McCarthy’s hoofball” ……which we really don’t want. In the second half he did exactly that which is what he always does and is why we’ve come back from losing positions more times than any other club in the Championship. In my opinion he’s a superstar at changing tactics in games which is another reason why we’re enjoying so much success.

Despite your “end of” comment which makes no sense to me. I stick by my comment that yesterday that Rooney outwitted McKenna in the first half with his team playing good attacking football, and McKenna won the second half by completely changing the way we played which is something he does effectively almost every week. This is also the main reason why we’re one of the most successful teams in the Championship at winning points from losing positions.

[hallamblue]

Rooney did very well whilst at Derby. He had barely a team let alone a squad to work with and no money at all, yet they won games.

Sometimes when your back is against the wall you find out things about individuals . He’s now up a level now at Brum… and I think they’ll be a lot stronger over second half of the season if he gets them doing what he’s trying to install into them.

But he’s streets behind McKenna as you’d expect because for his ( McKenna’s) young years in managerial terms, McKenna has massive experience / knowledge surrounding coaching because he’s been doing it for most of his professional life, unlike Rooney.

[Bluemike]

When I looked at Rooneys win record it was down at 27% which is pretty abysmal

[shabba]

When I looked at Rooneys win record it was down at 27% which is pretty abysmal

You have to look at the context to some degree. He was at Derby with a side made up of kids after a total financial meltdown where most players got sold, he cobbled together a squad and if it wasn't for the points deduction he would have kept them up.

Even someone like Warnock only has a 38% win rate- but again he is often at teams battling the drop.

[Bluemike]

On that basis we were pretty harsh on Paul Hurst and Paul Cook then.

[hallamblue]

The players ousted Hurst ( Chambers & Skuse by all accounts). Cook was appointed by Evans just prior to selling so poor did was always going to be a fall guy. I actually liked him , but he was dealt a poor hand by fuckwit Lzmbert . A squad of 50+ players taking the p*ss by that point. They knew they were out the door and Cook at that point didn’t see what was coming. When he did, he got rid of the lot of them and probably saved McKenna 3 seasons of rebuilding work. We have a lot to thank Cook for, I feel.