Match Day Thread Birmingham vs QPR

Smith's road back to St Andrew's

Birmingham-born Matt Smith played for three Midlands non-league sides, Redditch United, Evesham Town and Solihull Moors, while he was a student at Manchester University.

After graduating with a first-class degree in international management with American business studies, he made his Football League debut with Oldham Athletic in 2011, since when he has also played for Leeds United, Fulham and Bristol City.

His father Ian Smith, who also played north of the border for Queens Park and Hearts, made two appearances for Birmingham City in 1975.

What they said:

Birmingham City boss Gianfranco Zola:

"The result was very painful. Probably our worst performance. It was very frustrating. The situation is what football is all about.

"They were superior and we couldn't cope with the physicality of the opposition. On the other hand we couldn't produce enough quality to cause them problems.

"In the end we lost badly and I feel sorry for the players as it is hard for them at the present time."

QPR manager Ian Holloway:

"Matt Smith is a player I've always wanted. He is still catching up to speed. He is such a handful and scored with a brilliant header.

"The last thing you want is him towering above you. I am delighted for him as he is a wonderful kid. And what was also pleasing was that all my strikers scored.

"There is now a good feeling within the team. It shows where we are trying to get. The standard is so high and tough. We had some bad results which knocked our confidence but obviously I hope that we can build on this win."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/38940112

 

Brum v QPR Fan highlights

 

Wigan is another 6 pointer & a win would put us 10 points clear of 22nd & a lot nearer safety so vital we can do it back to back.

 

I'm in Glasgow on Tuesday so we'll win comfortably.

 

Been otherwise occupied all day so just read thread from start.......

Lovely symmetry with 50 years ago for those of us old enough to remember......

999's is grand he's in Germany for the weekend taking in a couple of games...plus photographing fraulines in qpr strips for future match day threads.......or so I'm told

Great win, nicely mellowed with a rather convivial chateau neuf du pape......

U R'S.....

 

This

Very happy right now

U R's!!!!!

 

I just hope that one win will not raise our hopes up to high against Wigan next week. I do think if we win 40 points is good enough to stay up this season and will allows to play without relegation looking over our shoulders.

EDIT:
Just read this:
Teams to go down in 22nd place have finished the season with 46.3 points on average, or one point per game.

 

Need a minimum of 50 points to be safe inthis division so another 5 wins should suffice....

 

What was going on between Lynch and Bircham after the final whistle?

Lynch seemed very unhappy about something - I wondered whether he'd been blamed for the last gasp Birmingham goal??

 

Like the fans highlights
Cilla needs to work on his goal celebrations
Hopefully he will get plenty of practice

 

Today's game is the first I wasn't able to follow as it happened in a long time. One of the few previous was the Play-off final which I watched a recording of without knowing the result the following Sunday morning. Maybe I need to do this more often!

 

55+ points will do nicely.

.....Over the last 10 years, the average points total for 22nd place has been 45.9, with the average for 21st being 49.7 - giving some credence to the notion that 50 points will keep a team up. Only twice in the last 10 years has that not been the case - Peterborough United going down in 2013 with a massive 54 points while Gillingham were relegated in 2005 on goal difference with 50........

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/03/0...-drop-zone-how-many-points-are-needed-for-sa/

 

Man, I kept thinking "that Sandro has lost a lot of weight and running fast for Brum....." and then he scores at the end! I mean he looked like Sandro with the beard and shaved head, just a more compact and quicker version of him

 

Gary Rowett must be laughing so much he could cry...

 

Ellers has a point about the need for consistency, certainly with respect to match home performances with those away. We're second in the table of previous 5 away games. We're second bottom of the previous 5 home games. Of those at home I've only seen the Ipswich game. One way or another I've seen all the away games and with every game we seem to be getting harder to beat. There's a certain irresistible quality to our play away, an intensity from the off, an utter refusal to give an inch and game on game we're creating better, more clear cut chances up front while at the back we're generally offering up scrappy half chances, hit'n'hopes, harried, rushed attempts from harried, rushed set-ups.

At 0-2 yesterday I was saying to my mate we must be a nightmare to play home against at the moment. At the time we were ceding a lot of possession to Brum but they just couldn't get through. From the back out they're faced with Smith and Conor chasing them down. Get through them they have to get through Pawel, Manning, Freeman and Hall battling for every ball and constantly snapping at their heels. Get through them and you find a defence doing the same. An immense team effort throughout. And there's always the constant menace we offered up front. 1-4 and Kuszczak was their MOTM says it all really. The highlights don't do justice to the myriad of threats our attack offered all afternoon.

I just don't know where it's going wrong at home but get that sorted and we'll definitely be going places.

There wasn't a bad performance from anyone individually. Given his unflagging efforts in the past when he was struggling for goals I'm delighted things seem to be coming together for Conor. Freeman looks an absolute snip at the price. Not afraid to put his foot in and good on the ball. And isn't it good to see a corner clear the first defender?

That third goal again. You have to see the effort we put in to win the ball in the first place to truly appreciate it. This was no half-hearted vaguely putting up a foot or two in the vague direction of your opponent. We're talking full on slide tackling, never giving up until you've got the ball. We just wanted it more. Then a purposeful run and superb cross from Pawel. And if you look at the goal again doesn't Sylla do well? He feints a run to near post, the defender follows that run leaving him a clear header. This goal is everything we weren't a few months ago as we suffered Death By A Thousand Sideways Passes.

Bottle this and bring it back to HQ please Ollie.

 

It is surely, the fact that we cannot do this against teams that sit back and wait for us to attack/cede us the possession... (Do to us what we do to teams away)

However with confidence it will change...and we have players Freeman, Manning and Pawel that can produce openings....and perhaps the forwards are beginning to think they can score.
I am beginning to look forward again

They must be good enough not to go down...
....that would let us perhapsallow us to think that we are good enough to think about next season with a smile

 

I disagree a bit there, mate, unfortunately, but you would;d expect that from me.
Those shots they had on our goal in the early part of the game could have gone in very easily had they some better strikers and clinical finishing. We were dearly exposed, and you can see that from the highlights, even, it's that obvious. We didn't close them down fast enough and didn't react that quickly either. We let an open game run their energy out, and we took advantage of that, is how we got the result, I think. Against a much more organized team (Zola's obviously dragon them further down at Brum), we would be taken apart - we are still quite frail and lead-footed at the back.

Oh yeah, and they had a large portion of the possession, even though the scoreline doesn't reflect that. If we let a better team keep the ball that much we would have a hard time keeping up, is why we struggle at home. We can keep punting the ball up, but that shows that our holders (Luongo?) aren't doing a good enough job of controlling the game for us.


Yes we scored a couple of wonder goals, and lets hope that at least that continues........

 

Yes that may well be part of the problem Beth. Even in that solitary home win against Ipswich I didn't think the performance was all that. Certainly nowhere near as good as anything I've seen in the away games anyway. Maybe Ravel will be the x-factor we need for those types of (home) games, those situations where passion, effort and purpose aren't quite enough.

I really don't think we're going down. There seems to be a real feel good vibe around the club at the moment whether it be in the new signings, the signing of new contracts or the way they're playing for one another, the sheer togetherness they showed yesterday. The 10-man bundle after Yeni's goal has been highlighted elsewhere and I think we can safely say the most toxic dressing room in football has finally been cleansed and whoever's here wants to be here and part of what's going on.

So yeah I'm looking forward with a smile. Not only to next season but to the next game. That's what it's all about.

 

Well no. They hadn't a shot on target in the first half which speaks of a defence well on top- 3 blocked, 3 missed. Like I said we're limiting the quality of opponents chances simply because of the effort we're putting in. Hurried shots will more often than not be off target simply because the attacker doesn't have the time to pick a spot. And that's if they get past the block in the first place. Look at the highlights again. In every attacking situation bar one Brum were constantly under pressure whether it be in setting up chances or the chances themselves. The one exception was the chance Nsue fluffed when all four defenders ball-watched and got sucked near post leaving him free. That apart we defended well from the front back. They only had 2 shots on target in the whole match. We had 9 and whatever possession stats tell you, that alone should tell anybody we were well worth 4-1.

 

Only watched the very brief highlights posted on here, and very enjoyable they were to watch......

Cheers Telford for the eyewitness report, if we can transport the away form into home form then we should achieve our aim of mid table comfortably.......what it also does is set things up nicely for next season.......remember the season before we won the championship we flirted with relegation until mid February and then stormed the division the following season, maybe, just maybe history could repeat itself.....

Oh one last thing, possession is so overrated....it's what you do with it that counts.....