Birmingham 1 West Ham Utd 1 (26/12/11)

Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.

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smuts
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by smuts »

All I can say is Zigic ****ed us over again....like he did for us last year in the cup. Could see the equaliser was coming.

Ref was ****.

Carew and Piq are shot to ****....and if we are serious about going up we need to replace these two has beens and get a decent winger in.

And to those who went today..... :thup: 5pm on Boxing Day to that ****hole? As Alan Brazil would say "Not for me Ronnie".
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by the pink palermo »

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Last edited by the pink palermo on Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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indiehammer
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by indiehammer »

DrVenk wrote:Went to the game and I thought Cole worked hard tonight, and should have had two bar a brilliant save. Faubert, again, put in some top crosses and generally worked hard. Diop was very solid as well, and his contribution was very important given the seriously weakened state of our back line.

As for team selection - looking at the bench, I think BFS picked the strongest 11 possible. Sears = not good enough (I think we can safely say that now); Carew = way off form; O'Neill and Lansbury = just back from injury. So, we had to make do tonight.

However, tactically, I think we defended too deep tonight, which meant we didn't press the opposition enough in their half, and it also led to our achilles heal which is trying to hit the front man too early. We need to squeeze up a lot more and press the opposition more in order for players like Noble and Nolan to boss games.

Edit. Oh yeah, Piq was f***ing dreadful.
Perfect assesment for me :thup:

I do wonder though, the whole hitting the front man early, defending deep tactics were not because it's just what Big Sam employs every game but rather the games in which we must defend well and staying organised is the priority? What we couldn't do today (by any means) is let Birmingham get in behind our defence and they didn't. With Potts playing only his second game and the slow O'Brien at fullback plus Linda at CB, we had to keep that line tight and our midfielder's had to protect it, which they done brilliantly all game. Sam bemoaned the passing in the post match interview and i think if the passing to Cole had been better, we would have seen a much more free flowing performance.
The priority today was to defend and protect our defenders, never a pretty watch but if we wanted to end the day in 2nd place it was the necessity.

I cannot wait to have our injured players back!
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by bristolhammerfc »

Thought Green and PBD played well.

Piq played as badly as I have seen anyone in a West Ham shirt.

Nolan was lucky not to be sent off, not for the first time and his lack of mobility saw us pulled all over he place in midfield.

The ball was in the air far too much and the football was one dimensional.

Carlton for me comes out with the most credit.

We were lucky to scrape a point. People keep telling me what a great captain Nolan is. Tonight he behaved like a child not a leader and set the tone for the rest of the team.

It was awful to watch and at times boring seeing two full backs hoof the ball over the midfield.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by Boom Kid »

Watched it on the telly - huge respect to hammers who went. Thought brum were very very poor - if we can't beat teams like that at least 3-0 then we have a problem - and that is scoring goals to kill teams off. Need 2 strikers in January - I really cannot see what piqqy and Carew do - they look like they should be playing veterans footie. Also need a creative midfielder. Having said all that the ref had a shocker - f*** me how can you ignore so many blatant penalties.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by hawkins_hammer »

To be fair to Piquionne he won the header that lead to the goal.

Second half was unprofessional, ill-disciplined with poor concentration. We were tactically inept with no idea what to do with ball wich meant we gave them a lot of possession and invited the inevitable. Avram, is that you?
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Dan1326
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by Dan1326 »

Their ref cost us with 2 nailed on pens not given
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by EvilC »

Dan1326 wrote:Their ref cost us with 2 nailed on pens not given
They would probably argue he should have sent Nolan off. If we had taken our chances or not spent the second half kicking like a rugby team we wouldn't need to be taking about the referee.

Basically, you ****ed up by starting the match thread. ;)
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by Ironintheblood »

A bad game is a bad game but the standard of football I just watched was shocking...some of the mistakes and general play was no better than a Sunday football team, not professionals earning thousands and thousands of pounds a week

:thdn:
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by DrVenk »

indiehammer wrote: I do wonder though, the whole hitting the front man early, defending deep tactics were not because it's just what Big Sam employs every game but rather the games in which we must defend well and staying organised is the priority? What we couldn't do today (by any means) is let Birmingham get in behind our defence and they didn't. With Potts playing only his second game and the slow O'Brien at fullback plus Linda at CB, we had to keep that line tight and our midfielder's had to protect it, which they done brilliantly all game Sam bemoaned the passing in the post match interview and i think if the passing to Cole had been better, we would have seen a much more free flowing performance.
The priority today was to defend and protect our defenders, never a pretty watch but if we wanted to end the day in 2nd place it was the necessity.
Definitely agree with that, but given how poor Birmingham were in the first I think BFS could have erred on the side of being slightly more attack minded and played a higher defensive line in the second. We looked all the better for it in the last 10mins.
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indiehammer
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by indiehammer »

DrVenk wrote:
but given how poor Birmingham were in the first I think BFS could have erred on the side of being slightly more attack minded and played a higher defensive line in the second. We looked all the better for it in the last 10mins.
Definitely, there's always going to be the feeling of shoulda, woulda, coulda but with the position we are in and the target we're trying to reach i think Sam feels it's better to play it safe and gain our target rather than risk it to make us look attractive. If you kept the same defence in that game but replaced Piq with Taylor and brought Baldock on for Faubert for the last 30 mins, we would have won by 2 or 3 goals. With the personnel we have, the system will always be defensive for the time being. Birmingham were poor but it only takes one free kick or corner to get their fans excited and their players more adventurous, as we saw.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by Het-Field »

Groundhog Day.

Watching us conceed from a Birmingham set piece is a direct replication of the script of last year's games.

First, Birmingham City are VERY poor, and are not true promotion contenders. Pablo Ibanez was there for the taking, while we know how poor Spector can be as a full-back. Their midfield was devoid of creativity, and their frontline is blunt. In spite of this, we invited the onto us, and the goal was guaranteed.

Second, we have got to be more ambitious after scoring.

Third, we NEED Baldock back, or the signature of a small, pacy forward player who can accompany Cole, Carew, or Piquionne.

Today is a case of points dropped. These will be costly come the end of the season.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by The Gibbins »

Should have put them out of sight in the first half, but missed some great chances. Even though it was a blatent pen, Faubert really should open his ****ing eyes when heading a ball goalwards :lol:

I said i would take the point all day long and going in at half time at just 1-0 you knew there was going to be pressure from them second half. They were very all over us second half and we played really ****. We just pumped balls down the left flank and never got hold of it, just giving possession back. But with the back four we put out i have to say i wasnt confident before kick off but they done really well and kept Zigic as quiet as they could really. Decent point at a tough ground.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by bspur1 »

I thing Sam has been unfairly criticized for long ball tactics at times this seasons, however that was dreadful , the second half was the worst i think i can ever remember even games with Zola where we couldn't get possession for 15 minutes a time against teams like Wigan werent as bad to watch as that. Dreadful to watch and quite embarrassing, time wasting virtually 30 minutes to go and Nolan effort was a disgrace.

In saying that you'll struggle to find two clearer handball penalties all year
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by Morocco Mole »

This hoof ball thing....

As strong a squad as we undoubtedly have, the one thing we are not overly blessed with are technical footballers.

Noble, Taylor, Lansbury, Bentley, Baldock...maybe Collison. That's about it and five of those are out.

Sow's purse. Pig's ear. The more games I see this year, the more impressed I am that we are where we are....
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by irving boleyn »

Indeed, we dont have two or three players who can interpass from one box to the other.

As soon as Cole went off we were unable to relieve the defence for a moment.When that happens something has to give.That it was just one goal is a credit to the hard work of the back four and Green.We are so slow it would be suicide to play a high line.

i am disappointed that Diop's selection was forced on Sam. He would normally have selected Jack and we would have lost that game.

How can I be delighted that our Captain is prevented from playing next week? Today I saw him in ten yards of space pointing for the ball to be directed elsewhere....Whilst Faubert had about as many plus points as negatives today I shall also welcome his absence from the sharp end of things.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by The Moth »

I felt ashamed watching that. I cant stand this anti football percentage play, its not what football is about imo.
Mind you, I didnt expect anything else from the fat arrogant one.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by TheAlmightyAmmer »

Were Birmingham poor defensively today? I don't know because we chose not to attack them! First 5 minutes they make a howler and look shaky which we score from, that should be a sign to keep attacking their defence and try to build on your lead, not sit off them and hoof it up the pitch everytime you get possession!

The fact is I've defended Sam a lot but I don't agree with this negative attitude. I'm NOT asking for Barcelona I'd just like the see the league favourites ask questions of the opposition a bit more :crest: !
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by Happyhammer52 »

The Moth wrote:I felt ashamed watching that. I cant stand this anti football percentage play, its not what football is about imo.
Mind you, I didnt expect anything else from the fat arrogant one.
Allardyce was brought in to get us out of the division by any means possible. I don't think it is a division where you can often play free flowing football. The players that have been signed so far have been brought in with the one intention of getting us back into the Premiership and we are on track for that. As plenty of others have said, when he brought stability to Bolton he begun to bring in the creative technical players like Okocha, Anelka, Djorkaeff. However at this point in time I would not like to see Faye or Papa trying to dribble around 3 or 4 players as they don't have the technical ability to do it, not many players in the squad do so we have to play to our strengths.

He has been in charge for 23 games, 13 of those we have won, this stage last season we had won 3. We have not gone the way of Leeds, Southampton or Charlton and we should be thankful of that. Short term it might be the worst football West Ham played in 116 years however it is getting us where we need to be and then I am sure Allardyce will look to progress.
Last edited by Happyhammer52 on Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Birmingham v West Ham United match thread

Post by Brum fan in peace »

BCFC fan.

Always interesting to see it from the other side's perspective. Seems Big Sam isn't that popular after all. He's certainly imprinted his style of football on your team but you're also a cert for promotion IMO and we'd love to be in your position. Would love to have Sullivan and Gold back too, we've just about had it with our Chinese owner.

To mirror what others have said, this division is *****. That the likes of Palace are in contention for a playoff spot says it all. We are nothing special ourselves, with a team full of free transfers, loanees, and youth teamers. We are decent going forward but lack a killer finishing touch to most moves. Very happy with a point tonight.

As for Zigic, you're more than welcome to the lanky uncoordinated **** in the Jan window. He gets sarcastic cheers from us whenever he wins a header. But three of his best games at the club came against you.

FWIW, a video here recorded from the Blues end shows the reaction to your goal: " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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