SHA Small Heath Alliance

This is what has pleased me and shows Davies is thinking and developing. We've let go that aim of iron control to be more dangerous and accept we might get hit a bit more. Its deffo a gamble worth taking and Iwata plays it brilliantly (Bright was ok last night but I don't think he has the engine for it in comparison, same as Laird wouldn't last 90 minutes doing it).

Massive positive from the beginning of the season, fair play to him.

I hope we go that way at Southampton as well and see if we can get something out of them. If we start picking up points away we are right in the mix.

MidlandsNumberOne

Really don't want to start a pile on, were playing well we need the whole squad, maybe not match fit but does something look really off with him? After the Ipswich game i thought we'd signed the best full back in the league, he looked strong quick, offered a threat going forwards and looked strong against a top team. Last few times he has played looked unfit, struggling to run, lacking any defensive awareness, do we think he is struggling with the system or lack of game time?

Think he needs to be given a wide berth due to injuries and especially him coming back from one very recently.

I think he looked really good but clearly tired before being taken off (expected from a player lacking match fitness/returning from injury)

I think he is better at going forward than defending due to starting out as a natural winger, he has raw pace and is the mould of most modern day fullbacks.

Way too early to judge, he shows some positives and given his injuries i’d like to give him a very fair crack before labelling him having any negatives.

He certainly looks a good asset in my opinion - having him, Laird and Iwata as right back options is a nice place to be.

Dare I say, if Roberts was injured/suspended he’d be pretty useful at right wing too.

I actually think he's better defensively than going forward, he reminds me a bit of Wan Bissaka, a bit awkward on the ball and his delivery isn't great, doesn't really go past anyone either, but he's very strong and pretty good at defending 1 vs 1

I thought the issue last night was him getting done by quick one twos played around him as opposed to getting beaten in a one on one foot race or by any skill, though I think he was pretty good for about 60 mins

The ball for their goal was excellent too from the Georgian lad, I think the ball watching shout was harsh.

Should Beadle have done better for the goal. My view was blocked by a few players but it looked very close to him

Nikola Zigic

From about the 65th minute to the 90th we did a really good job of playing high and pressing them in their own defensive third, it pretty much stemmed the flow of their pressure and killed the game, a lot of their play was around their own box. Credit to Davies

They did have some dangerous crosses in stoppage time but by and large we limited to very little after their goal

Klarer was absolutely immense in stoppage time, the one flick on header was goal saving.

I actually celebrated him heading away a bullet of a cross back towards the Kop with seconds left. I love him. I immediately thought of Marc Roberts ducking at a corner at Millwall 19 months ago which cost us the game. The difference is immeasurable

Rab C Nesbitt

Should Beadle have done better for the goal. My view was blocked by a few players but it looked very close to him

I think a few players could have done a bit better but feels a bit harsh to actually put blame on them rather than it just being a really good bit of play.

BOS, I do think, was a bit guilty of ball watching - his man ran off him and he was slow to follow. He was tired and it was a very good run and pass to beat him though.
The cross was close behind Klarer as he sprinted back, I don't think he could stop his momentum quickly enough to get a foot back in the way.
Then Grey got caught out by Maamma coming in from his blind side.
Finally Beadle looked to me like he had his sight blocked initially by Cochrane and one of their attackers, so was a little slow to react but really nearly got to it.

It was in the middle of the goal but Beadles was moving from his near post across his goal line so next to no time to react.

Its one of those instances where if he had saved it we'd be talking about how good a save it was. It probably just about breaches the 'could have done better' threshold given it wasnt particularly well struck.

Cheers to you and snoop 👍