B F T G_brum

[NewCorkSeth]

Delighted to report that I am back from my first game of the season. I thoroughly enjoyed myself in case anyone was wondering and not realising that you are not allowed take pints to your seats managed to walk straight past 3 guards to my seat with 2 pints of Fosters for the second half.

On to the performance..

McCarthy - 7 Didn't have much to do but most of it very well. Strange throw out in the second half straight to an opposition player.
Gunter - 7 Actually did quite well! A few good crosses and passing was generally well. Brum didnt really challenge him much in defense
Pearce - 8 Passing was good, heading was good, overall he was good. Good player.
Morrison - 7 Standard performance.
Bridge - 7 Same as above
McCleary - 7 He is a "cracking" winger. Very exciting on the ball and looks capable of anything.
Baird - 7 Grand seems a good addition.
Guthrie - 9 Guthrie deserved these 2 goals hes a fantastic player and has been great so far this season
HRK - 7 Looking solid!
POG - 7 Looked fiesty today, contributed well and really was hungry for a goal
ALF- 7 Alfie put in a big effort today probably to warrant a starting position above Sharpie

[Royalwaster]

Clarke thinks they had the better of the second half. What game was he watching?

I thought until we got our second we were starting to look a bit lacklustre and I was afraid they might score, atlhough they didn't really create much of note apart from that half chance Zigic had just after he came on. They pushed on more in the 2nd half and when we tried to go over the top we were always off side and so we for a while kept losing possession too easily. Guthrie's goal came just at the right moment.

Thought the first half was much better - particularly down the right hand side; thought Gunter had one of his best games this season with some lovely play.

[leon]

Fairly easy home win. Thought we were poor second half giving them far too much possession however they did very little with it and we still could have scored three which says alot about how crap Birmingham are.

Guthrie was good first half but faded badly in the second. Not convinced by adkins substitutions. I'd like to see mcanuff back from injury.

[JC]

Does anybody else have a problem with the published match stats which show they had 17 shots?
I can remember Alex having one full length save in the second haldf and a few routine catches but I cannot remember anything like 17 shots

[Victor Meldrew]

The first comfortable home win for a very long time.
We have to take into account the opposition but Pog at last looked as though he was interested and did well-I'm still not sure if he is any good but a combination of the window closing and Sharp arriving seem to have woken him up.
Of the others I thought McCleary played well and, as another poster said,HRK should take a look and see what being a winger is about.
Hopefully when Drenthe and Jobi are fit HRK won't be a starter.

Baird is another Griffin/Kelly signing-a pro who knows his limitations and keeps things simple and at least for this season looks to be an asset.
Gunter hasn't a clue about defending but today we saw the combination with McCleary that worked so well for Forest and at this level his defensive weakness may not be tested too often and with Adkins being keen to pick a side based on the opposition it is likely that Kelly will come in when we play sides with greater attacking threat than the likes of Birmingham.
Tonight it feels good to be in the top 6.

[EverHopeful]

Can't be arsed to rate individually but good ones are Guthrie - two good ish goals and always looked for the ball

bridge - always solid

Bad one

HRK - has got to offer more IMO. Not the same player as end of last season. At least run at the full back

Overall, easy win against average opposition and I think much more to come

[NewCorkSeth]

Just realised the jersey I bought today, which was sold to me as a long sleeve top, turned out to be a short sleeve top.. Not only did I have to suffer that disappointment but also found out that the long sleeve tjersey I payed for is 2 pounds more expensive than the short sleeve one..

As a result I am downgrading all my player reviews by one.

[SLAMMED]

*shirt

[sputnik]

Good first half, average second. Guthrie's brace earns him my MOTM, though if anyone wants to give it to Gunter I won't argue. Alf needs to work on not getting caught offside so much.
Did someone say HRK was on the pitch today ?

[AirRaidSiren]

Delighted to report that I am back from my first game of the season. I thoroughly enjoyed myself in case anyone was wondering and not realising that you are not allowed take pints to your seats managed to walk straight past 3 guards to my seat with 2 pints of Fosters for the second half.

On to the performance..

McCarthy - 7 Didn't have much to do but most of it very well. Strange throw out in the second half straight to an opposition player.
Gunter - 7 Actually did quite well! A few good crosses and passing was generally well. Brum didnt really challenge him much in defense
Pearce - 8 Passing was good, heading was good, overall he was good. Good player.
Morrison - 7 Standard performance.
Bridge - 7 Same as above
McCleary - 7 He is a "cracking" winger. Very exciting on the ball and looks capable of anything.
Baird - 7 Grand seems a good addition.
Guthrie - 9 Guthrie deserved these 2 goals hes a fantastic player and has been great so far this season
HRK - 7 Looking solid!
POG - 7 Looked fiesty today, contributed well and really was hungry for a goal
ALF- 7 Alfie put in a big effort today probably to warrant a starting position above Sharpie

P!ssed Off will not accept this and will say you have no right commenting on your first game this season

Glad you enjoyed the game, wish I could of been there. Guthrie really is throwing a load of 'fu*k you' to the cock ends who doubted him and his ability. Where is all the anti-Guthrie now?

Exactly. As quiet as our home support.

[BenSmith91]

^ Don't think anyone doubted Guthrie's ability. Even in his short spells in the side pre-McDermott bust-up he showed glimpses of his quality. I think we all just thought he was a d ick. I'm glad he's enjoying his time at the club now and acknowledging the fans (clapping us before corners etc). He's been the only consistently good player in an otherwise inconsistent team.

[AirRaidSiren]

^ Don't think anyone doubted Guthrie's ability. Even in his short spells in the side pre-McDermott bust-up he showed glimpses of his quality. I think we all just thought he was a d ick. I'm glad he's enjoying his time at the club now and acknowledging the fans (clapping us before corners etc). He's been the only consistently good player in an otherwise inconsistent team.

I can easily filter through Guthrie's own thread for the slating of his ability as well as him standing his ground (others call it 'being a dick').

I've always been a fan of him and can understand why the MAJORITY of Newcastle fans were gutted he left. He is better than the Championship and I'm glad he's stuck it out with us to prove those who doubt him wrong.

It's not just today, but the season so far. Keep up the good work, Danny.

[Unbelievable Jeff]

HRK - 7 Looking solid!
ALF- 7 Alfie put in a big effort today probably to warrant a starting position above Sharpie

Sorry, but don't agree with these two ratings. HRK was extremely poor throughout, he is very slow on and off the ball and his first touch is shockingly bad.
I also though Le Fondre was poor and he showed just why he doesn't start games. Always offside, couldn't hold up anything and really struggled to become a threat to their defence.

[royal_ross]

^ Don't think anyone doubted Guthrie's ability. Even in his short spells in the side pre-McDermott bust-up he showed glimpses of his quality. I think we all just thought he was a d ick. I'm glad he's enjoying his time at the club now and acknowledging the fans (clapping us before corners etc). He's been the only consistently good player in an otherwise inconsistent team.

I can easily filter through Guthrie's own thread for the slating of his ability as well as him standing his ground (others call it 'being a dick').

I've always been a fan of him and can understand why the MAJORITY of Newcastle fans were gutted he left. He is better than the Championship and I'm glad he's stuck it out with us to prove those who doubt him wrong.

It's not just today, but the season so far. Keep up the good work, Danny.

By refusing to play shows a lack of respect towards his manager and most importantly the club, that's why personally I thought he was a d*ck last season and was majorly annoyed at him, but fair play to him he's turned it around and has been by far the best player this season, was top class today.

Don't think people doubted his ability, just doubted his attitude at times.

[Scarface]

HRK - 7 Looking solid!
ALF- 7 Alfie put in a big effort today probably to warrant a starting position above Sharpie

Sorry, but don't agree with these two ratings. HRK was extremely poor throughout, he is very slow on and off the ball and his first touch is shockingly bad.
I also though Le Fondre was poor and he showed just why he doesn't start games. Always offside, couldn't hold up anything and really struggled to become a threat to their defence.

Agree with you on Alfie, he wants to start, but when he does for me he doesn't do enough to nail it down. I thought he was lazy getting caught offside. He won't like it, but he's far more effective coming off the bench IMHO.

Guthrie is a class act, no coincidence we weren't as good 2nd half when he wasn't on the ball more. He highlights BM's limitations as a manager that he couldn't fit him in the side. Possession stats were shocking last season and not playing to Guthrie's strengths massively contributed to that.

Is there a better ball player than Guthrie in this league? Perhaps Krancjar, Carroll or Barton?

Baird is quality addition in this league, we need to sign him up. Quite simply he knows his game, breaks play down and gives it simple. Him and Guthrie were miles apart from the Brum midfield.

Looking good for promotion

[AirRaidSiren]

^ Don't think anyone doubted Guthrie's ability. Even in his short spells in the side pre-McDermott bust-up he showed glimpses of his quality. I think we all just thought he was a d ick. I'm glad he's enjoying his time at the club now and acknowledging the fans (clapping us before corners etc). He's been the only consistently good player in an otherwise inconsistent team.

I can easily filter through Guthrie's own thread for the slating of his ability as well as him standing his ground (others call it 'being a dick').

I've always been a fan of him and can understand why the MAJORITY of Newcastle fans were gutted he left. He is better than the Championship and I'm glad he's stuck it out with us to prove those who doubt him wrong.

It's not just today, but the season so far. Keep up the good work, Danny.

By refusing to play shows a lack of respect towards his manager and most importantly the club, that's why personally I thought he was a d*ck last season and was majorly annoyed at him, but fair play to him he's turned it around and has been by far the best player this season, was top class today.

Don't think people doubted his ability, just doubted his attitude at times.

Oh fu*k off with your stale-year old bullshit.

But fair play to him for turning it around??? You mean...fair play for being played and getting on with it, his whole intention from the day he signed on with us. You lot have short memories and now he's 'great'? I wonder why....

[SydenhamRoyal]

elsewhere, Gunter surprised me, demanding the ball, whipped in a fantastic cross in the first half instead of his normal floaters, pearce unfortunately was awesome again; despite his 2 goals, i didnt think guthrie had as good a game as normal, and mccleary was pretty good; HRK tho was pants, far too slow when picking the ball up, especially when defending[/quote]

The Guthrie long ball diagonal to Gunter, followed by a decent cross is such a standard part of our game, I'm surprised that you were surprised.[/quote]

Its Gunter putting in a decent cross that took me by surprise

[Millsy]

To be fair Guthrie was slated more for his attitude than anything else, and any skating of his ability would've been relevant only to the prem. Im not sure anyone thought he couldn't be better in the champ.

[AirRaidSiren]

To be fair Guthrie was slated more for his attitude than anything else, and any skating of his ability would've been relevant only to the prem. Im not sure anyone thought he couldn't be better in the champ.

True. But what 'was' his attitude? I don't get it.

All I saw was a player who fell out with a 'hero' manager who dropped him like a sack of shit, we played our worst football in many years and he bore the brunt of a situation that we don't know the full truth of? Good thinking, let's all believe the hype.

There's never been an issue with Guthrie' s attitude at previous clubs, maybe it's us? Oh hang on.......

[Royal Ginger]

Few stand out performances in the team today, but a solid game from pretty much everyone.

Positives:
Guthrie marches on
There's a place for two strikers
New Pog is excellent
It was a 90 minute performance (sure they had a few cracks at us, but no period was all them except the last 5 minutes when we had 6 recognized defenders on the pitch and were clearly sitting back)
Le Fondre wasn't bad
Gunter wasn't bad

Negatives:
McCarthy's distribution is, if anything getting worse. Very nearly gifted them a stupid goal from nothing.
The passing lacks urgency when we're on the break
Atmosphere was hopeless
The off-side trap completely flummoxed us

Good stuff today, but Birmingham were worse than hopeless. If they play like that for too long the'll find themselves in a relegation battle.