Uwe 3,545 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 3-5-2-1 --------------------Dimi--------------- Varga------- Woody ---------Chalobah ------------Whitehead--Leadbitter------ Adomah-------Butterfield------Williams ------------Tomlin---- Graham---------- Simples :) Never going to happen I know mate. It was very tongue in cheek, burnley would tear apart a 3 man back line no matter how much we packed the midfield out. AK has his work cut out this week :s Link to post Share on other sites
Prowler 197 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Varga - Ayala/Chalobah - Woody - Atkinson That's my guess. Link to post Share on other sites
boroinbishop 65 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Prowler will hate me for this but thinking about it a 5-3-2 may work wonders if we set up to counter Burnley who won't be sitting back, keep the back tight with 3 CB's and then Varga and reach each side ready counter with Graham/Tomlin playing off Kamara, would also allow us to slow the game down by dominating the central midfield area if the pace of the game is swinging in their favour. Link to post Share on other sites
Prowler 197 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 You're right. I hate you for that :P Link to post Share on other sites
Aphex_Boro 1,444 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Sky are really late showing the goals tonight Link to post Share on other sites
Somerset Boro 98 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Yeah I'm laid in bed waiting for them!! They are super late tonight Link to post Share on other sites
Aphex_Boro 1,444 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Yeah I'm laid in bed waiting for them!! They are super late tonight I've just given up, que them coming on in the next 2 or 3 minutes Link to post Share on other sites
p_mards 1,365 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Just about calmed down after a frenetic end to the match. First half we were absolutely shocking and couldn't cope with Birmingham playing very adventurous football and pretty much had us pinned in with their forward 4 pressing our defence. They looked the best side we have faced at home this season on that first half! A lot of that will probably be down to us being awful though. Easily the worst half of football we have played under Karanka as we looked terrible and if we were 2-0 down at half time we couldn't have complained too much as it would have been fair on the balance of play as we didn't really deserve our 2-0 lead. Burke was tearing Friend to shreads before he went of injured and continued to do so to Gibson until the second half where Gibson must have been told to get tighter on him and not let him get a run on him as he coped far better and stopped their biggest threat. Second half the whole team seemed more focused and driven as we took hold of the game and fully deserved the win and were unfortunate not to score 3 or 4 in the second half alone. The referee should never have giving Gibson his second yellow as Zigic just threw himself to the floor which the linesman flagged up. Omeruo's first yellow card didn't look one either. The most pleasing thing of the evening was that there was a feeling of togetherness between the players and fans which there hasn't been at a match for a very long time. Birmingham's goal was a screamer but our closing down was shocking as only Butterfield went to press the ball whilst the other players just sat deep in the box anticipating the ball to go wide for another cross, totally avoidable if we bothered to close down. Player ratings(mainly on second half as first half the team just didn't function so no one done well except Omeruo and Butterfield): Dimi: 7.5 -Solid but some very poor kicking. 1 assist for Tomlin but other than that it was very poor. Came out well to force an early shot before he carried a shot before Omeruo headed it over the bar. Varga: 7 -Defended well. A few poor passes but a little improvement. He was targeted again by long diagonals. Omeruo: 9 -Brilliant performance from start to finish. A few silly passes but defensively he was a rock and was key to us withstand some massive pressure in the first half. First yellow wasn't one but I couldn't tell whether his second one was even a foul or not so not sure. Gibson: 8 -After initially struggling massively at LB with Burke he adjusted his game very well to start getting tighter on him to prevent him from getting a run on him. In the first half he got caught tucking in which very nearly cost us a goal if it wasn't for a combination of Dimi and Omeruo somehow keeping the ball out of the net. Played a good ball(probably too hard though) to very nearly play Graham through 1 on 1 which he couldn't control properly. Done well at CB. His first yellow card was the right decision as he was taking one for the team as they would have been in a very dangerous position. Friend: 6 - Struggled massively with Burke and looked vulnerable. Leadbitter: 8 -In the first half our whole midfield was largely anonymous but in the second half he got onto the ball more and was key to us getting control of the game. What I liked was when we went down to 9 men with them having a free-kick in a dangerous area he was shouting and encouraging the rest of the team to keep their heads up. Put some good corners into the box. Chalobah: 6.5 -Didn't play too well as his passing and touch was shaky at times. Won some key headers. Filled in well at CB when we needed him so I'll give him credit for that. Adomah: 7.5 -Pretty good game as he provided some threat down our RW and Birmingham had targeted him with some snapping tackles to try and subdue him. Butterfield: 8 -Done well throughout the game and his goal was brilliant. Reminded me of Reach's v Burnley last season. L.Williams: 6.5 -Pretty average game. Had a few good runs infield but he didn't really get given too much of the ball to create things with. Not a bad game though. Graham: 7 -Scored a goal but should have had a hat-trick. Worked very hard pressing the ball in the second half when Woodgate: 7.5 -Defended well under heavy pressure. Ledesma: 7.5 -Good performance as he created a few chances when he came on. Very unfortunate not to have scored when the keeper could control his shot from outside the area. Tomlin: 7 -Created his won chance for his goal by pressurising their CB's into bundling into each other to leave him to slot it past the keeper. Very unfortunate not to have scored before that which somehow hit the post and the back of the keepers head. Link to post Share on other sites
Somerset Boro 98 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Here they are!!! Hang in that was only a couple of games!! I'm giving up too!! Link to post Share on other sites
Adam P 331 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I think you've been very very generous with williams' rating there mards, the reason he doesnt get on the ball is because he hides, its clear to see that he doesnt want the ball at all, he offered absolutely nothing going forward and he didnt protect his fullback either. Link to post Share on other sites
p_mards 1,365 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 I was a bit more forgiving with him as the first half our whole midfield couldn't get onto the ball as Birmingham had total control of the game so it's no surprise that he didn't get to have much influence on the game. Also with Friend going off injured he had Gibson behind him so didn't have Friend's driving runs to open up space for him to play in and through so generally he had a very tough job to get into the game. Link to post Share on other sites
Brunners 7,982 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Sky showed Blackpool vs derby goals and wigan vs milwall and nothing else. What. Link to post Share on other sites
starbuy 35 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Very entertaining match with a lot of end to end stuff in the first half. Birmingham caused us a lot of trouble early on and seemed to start quicker than us but I thought it was a decent contest once we settled in and scored the goals. Second half was great to watch and we really should have put the game to bed long before the sendings off. I thought Omeruo was harsh but ben gibson was a very silly boy and while zigic made a meal of it there is no doubt he pulled his shirt. Varga is quickly becoming my favourite player and I think is one of the reasons for our defensive strength and should be signed up for next season. Graham worked hard and played well but missed some good chances. Chalobah continues to grow into the team and was important to us today. And got to say a word for dimi who played well and was only beaten by a wonder strike. Link to post Share on other sites
p_mards 1,365 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 When that third goal went in it was good to see all of our coaching staff jumping up and down hugging each other in the technical area celebrating the goal. Link to post Share on other sites
borojod 7 Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Absolutely hammered, great game, good atmosphere, ***e ref. any defenders left for Saturday. Oh, and zigic is not a footballer IMO Butterfield played very well and dimi did a good job, I don't feel nervous with him in goal. Link to post Share on other sites
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