A proper LB, another wide option, more solid back up for Smith up front. Basically all we need.

You say a proper left back, Dorset for me was the best player in the pitch untill he went off. He had their winger in his pocket all game.

why are we “always going to tire” ?
That is not a criticism of todays effort….just a lot of cramped players on our side….and yes Ian, their cramp is probably the result of that “high press” :roll:

Because we were playing a high pressing game which, unless you have 11 James Harpers (which we haven't), is very difficult to sustain effectively over 90+ minutes.yes of course, and so we are destined for a whole season of cramped-up players in pursuit of that “high press”?
Don’t get me wrong, I know what I prefer…I love it, but these lads are (by and largely) young and fit atheletes…..game one…game fukcing one.
More understandable once the pitches become like glue pits in winter

Correct.
A very good performance against a strong team, a pleasure to watch.

Because we were playing a high pressing game which, unless you have 11 James Harpers (which we haven't), is very difficult to sustain effectively over 90+ minutes.yes of course, and so we are destined for a whole season of cramped-up players in pursuit of that “high press”?
Don’t get me wrong, I know what I prefer…I love it, but these lads are (by and largely) young and fit atheletes…..game one…game fukcing one.
More understandable once the pitches become like glue pits in winter

It’ll be more that they’ll be fine once they get used to the intensity. Pre season just doesn’t match it. 3 to 4 games in and they won’t be cramping when they’re fully conditioned

yes of course, and so we are destined for a whole season of cramped-up players in pursuit of that “high press”?
Don’t get me wrong, I know what I prefer…I love it, but these lads are (by and largely) young and fit atheletes…..game one…game fukcing one.
More understandable once the pitches become like glue pits in winter

It’ll be more that they’ll be fine once they get used to the intensity. Pre season just doesn’t match it. 3 to 4 games in and they won’t be cramping when they’re fully conditionedgood, that applies to every team

That was a pretty enjoyable day bar the last 10 minutes. Shame we didn't hold out. Another 5 minutes though and I think we'd have lost it.

A proper LB, another wide option, more solid back up for Smith up front. Basically all we need.

You say a proper left back, Dorset for me was the best player in the pitch untill he went off. He had their winger in his pocket all game.
Doesn't change the fact we're a body light at the back. Craig played RB and Abrefa came on at LB - not ideal. I see Dorsett as 3rd choice CB and 2nd choice LB all in one; reliable in both roles and will get lots of game time.

A point is a great start to the season, and yet there's still moaning on this thread. A win at home next weekend and that's a f**king belter of a start!
Thought our fans more than outsung Birmingham for 90% of that match!
So many positives!!
We move on...

Because we were playing a high pressing game which, unless you have 11 James Harpers (which we haven't), is very difficult to sustain effectively over 90+ minutes.yes of course, and so we are destined for a whole season of cramped-up players in pursuit of that “high press”?
Don’t get me wrong, I know what I prefer…I love it, but these lads are (by and largely) young and fit atheletes…..game one…game fukcing one.
More understandable once the pitches become like glue pits in winter
We won't spend many games with as little of the ball, or chasing as hard.
The first few games the players aren't necessarily at full fitness.
We were also missing Azeez, meaning we were down on the number of fresh legs we could bring on to manage the press better later on. Same with Craig at RB and Senga injured, one less midfielder to bring in to freshen things up. Dorsett and Abrefa haven't had a pre-season. Knibbs didn't have a full preseason.
Much of the season will be less warm.
These things aren't particularly hard to work out.

Who”s moaning?
Moaning about the officiating, yes

Moaning about those fitness issues, maybe?

Not moaning about the result, it was great.

Maybe one or two goal scoring opportunities passed us by, but hey, inexperience and confidence will sort that out.
Sort out the fitness (and bench options) we’ll have a good season 8)

yes of course, and so we are destined for a whole season of cramped-up players in pursuit of that “high press”?
Don’t get me wrong, I know what I prefer…I love it, but these lads are (by and largely) young and fit atheletes…..game one…game fukcing one.
More understandable once the pitches become like glue pits in winter
We won't spend many games with as little of the ball, or chasing as hard.
The first few games the players aren't necessarily at full fitness.
We were also missing Azeez, meaning we were down on the number of fresh legs we could bring on to manage the press better later on. Same with Craig at RB and Senga injured, one less midfielder to bring in to freshen things up. Dorsett and Abrefa haven't had a pre-season. Knibbs didn't have a full preseason.
Much of the season will be less warm.
These things aren't particularly hard to work out.whatever you say Ian :roll:

According to the Brum fans we have no fitness issues and were just faking going down with cramp.

twas getting a bit ‘worrying’ tbf

Are these the same Birmingham fans who were saying "Oh fcuk, this league is better than we thought" on their forum at half time?

Might not be far wrong there tbf
Selles a class act as always with the interviews. Can see clubs starting to circle him if we keep playing like that

Might not be far wrong there tbf
Selles a class act as always with the interviews. Can see clubs starting to circle him if we keep playing like that

Cramp has been a problem for quite a while. Azeez was going down with it a lot last season. Don't think we're faking it at all personally.

Might not be far wrong there tbf
Selles a class act as always with the interviews. Can see clubs starting to circle him if we keep playing like that
If Mbengue was faking he deserves an Oscar. Managed to get his whole body spasming.

Might not be far wrong there tbf
Selles a class act as always with the interviews. Can see clubs starting to circle him if we keep playing like that
If Mbengue was faking he deserves an Oscar. Managed to get his whole body spasming.

Mbengue clearly wasn’t faking. Some of the others a bit though

Might not be far wrong there tbf
Selles a class act as always with the interviews. Can see clubs starting to circle him if we keep playing like that

Cramp has been a problem for quite a while. Azeez was going down with it a lot last season. Don't think we're faking it at all personally.there is a reason for that?
They are young very fit athletes these days…(fcuk off Ian btw…. :wink:…..the high energy, high press is no excuse, if it were, why employ it if it renders your team disabled for the last 30 minutes plus).

Cramp has been a problem for quite a while. Azeez was going down with it a lot last season. Don't think we're faking it at all personally.there is a reason for that?
They are young very fit athletes these days…(fcuk off Ian btw…. :wink:…..the high energy, high press is no excuse, if it were, why employ it if it renders your team disabled for the last 30 minutes plus).

It’s because they’ve just not played that intensity for months. Can’t replicate it really, even the hull game was at walking pace last 20m
They’ll be fine in a couple of games time. They are clearly very fit in basic terms, just a bit of conditioning still

Yep, of course.
Just a pity that we are not ‘one step ahead of that game’….could’ve been three points.
Game fukcin’ one…..almost inexcusable
Still, just happy to still have (an evidently) competitive team….but could do better :wink:

A lot of sides won't go to Birmingham and play football like we did. They'll put 10 men behind the ball, foul and frustrate. For an hour we gave them a good run for their money, tried to score and were pegged back due to a fairly harsh penalty. Not many teams will take points at St Andrews in this league.

And the next league away game will be just as intense and knackering for the players. Let's hope Parky does us a favour and gets Hollywood to leave a few holes in their defence.

Tremendous team performance, could have won 3-0 , great point , shame we couldn’t hang on , only good things about that game , Brum grossly overrated

Might not be far wrong there tbf
Selles a class act as always with the interviews. Can see clubs starting to circle him if we keep playing like that

Yes that`s a real concern, as soon as a championship side sack their manager this season he`s sure to be on their radar.

I was so oxf*rd proud of that performance yesterday. They were sublime in the first half and fought really hard in the second half. Honestly, I don’t know if it was a penalty to Brum, but nothing can take away that performance.
With the way we finished last season I always thought we’d be competitive in this one. We just need the takeover to happen and to add a bit more depth to the squad. I put us to finish pretty low in my predicted league table, but I thought we’d lose key players.

A well deserved point that was close to being three.

The commentator made a good point that Reading looked more of a team that has played together whereas Birmingham were just a group of players.
I agree with Spizz that if we are going to play this full-on pressing game it is vital that we have 5 players ready to come on from around the 60 minute mark onwards to keep it going as so many were knackered late on.
As for Birmingham they seem to have done what so many clubs do in bringing in attacking players when their defence is much the same as last season, got them relegated and remains dodgy.

Was surprised Selles went with 4 defenders on the bench. I know Craig was RB, which gives an extra option, and alternatives were limited, but Sackey looked good when he came on in pre-season and could have offered fresh legs further forward.
Both Osho and Garcia seemed a bit unnecessary with Dorsett coming straight back in and Abrefa favoured on the left over either.
I think we definitely needed some fresher legs up top a bit earlier. Yes we wouldn't have had the same threat,but when that threat is running on empty and you're dropping deeper and deeper, I'm not sure it matters.
Saying that, Brum looked like a penalty was the only chance they would really take.
They looked like they barely knew each other, I expect they'll improve considerably over the next 10 games. But classic arrogant big spending, rebuilt team under estimating the league below where they had been playing.

What a whopper Alfie May is though. Finally gets a move to a big club (Charlton don’t count) at the age of 31 after years of scuffing around non-league and the lower leagues and looking forward to a season where he thought he could be a flat-track bully and he needs a penalty to emerge from 19 year old Bindon’s pocket to get off the mark. Didn’t even realise he was playing until an hour of the game had gone.
Should’ve been more interested in retrieving the ball to get the game restarted asap then running off to give it the biggun to us. You can take the player out of small-time, but you obviously can’t take the small-time out of the player.

Enjoyed that, duff red decision aside. Packed st Andrews. Some great passing play by RFC. A tiny bit of poo came out when Jutkewitz came on for 6 minutes of added time.
Tired at the end, understandable given we looked short of squad depth and that match conditioning takes time to build up.