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Tim Dawson

31 days, 31 bl00dy days !!!

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Just got home from the game, amazing support today well done guys, but before we kid ourselves what a great point this was we were as poor as last week the difference being the opposition were just as poor unlike last week.

This transfer window has been open and nothing is being done to address the obvious issues within the team, Jarvis , Dorrans and the other Thompson brother could adequately fill the holes and give us the momentum to achieve promotion.

But no we will stumble into the final day and end up with some half wit ( think the last couple of january desperado last minute signings) makes me so angry that we appear to be stumbling around blindly, Whittaker was beyond belief poor today and if the management cannot see the failings when us humble fans can see the obvious then there really is no hope.

Pi55ed off is an understatement !!

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This window is actually 33 days and doesn''t shut until Monday evening but then i believe the loan window continues a while longer so no need to panic, yet.

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Neil certanily didnt rule out any transfer activity in his post match interview....but intimated that it would only happen if players left first.

...I wouldnt be surprised to see Lafferty leave on Monday....and hopefully a wide midfielder in to replace him.

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Away support was more impressive today than for sometime. As for the football I suspect we''ll be returning to St Andrews again next season, unfortunately. It''s certainly easier to get away from Villa Park.

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I wish i shared your confidence but the longer you leave it the more desperate you become. Kane, Kamara, Becchio and Elmander all brought in fairly last minute as other options had not been followed up so lets get a body in for the sake of it, i think those 4 strikers have amassed about 3 goals between them, say no more.

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no... but 1 plus 2 loans is certainly feasable...

plus only Alex Neil knows how many players he wants, 3 could be totally incorrect.

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I would be happy with a permanent signing and 2 loans, just somehow cannot see it happening, but i guess its a case of wait and see, i think today has tired me out, it must be my time of the month ha ha

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the problem is no one has put any bids in -according to AN and the club- yet the manager has also stated that for there to be transfers coming in, there first has to be transfers out. He said at this moment in time the only thing like a bid was around olsson and swansea. If no-one is coming to buy one of our players, there won''t be anyone coming in.

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what annoys me is if we signed our targets earlier they could of helped us win lastweek and today ? maybe maybe not but if you need a lm get one in don''t pi$$ about

I realise player become available and value gets better near the close of the window but we needed players today

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Exactly my point, 4 points dropped the last two games, and no-one going out should not affect anyone coming in, for goodness sake we are not skint......

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]Whittaker? Again?? Really???[/quote]

Yes Whittaker ! Yes Again ! He was awful !!!

Source...my eyes.

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Thank you for backing me up Mr Tilson, i don`t like the scapegoat thing that happens on the pink un sometimes but Whittaker needs dropping he was truly appalling again today in his supposed prefered position.

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Perhaps, we should have kept Snodgrass, played him on the left and made him captain. He always gave of his best.

Today Seb was back. Whittaker was poor. Olsson was good. and Grabban was offside.

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In fairness the fans never really gave Whittaker a hard time, Olsson was dreadful first half but picked up in the second, Bennett is not a winger ( ironically his song about running down the wing for me could hardly be anymore inaccurate) only Ruddy came out with any credit for me.

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From my seat in front of my wireless it appeared Wes was rarely involved, especially in the first half. How about some ratings from you guys who went? The only real feedbackk is Whittaker was awful which is a oOK but we did draw 0-0 so I doubt rubbish right back was the difference. But then again...

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Martin is way better at centre back and had a stinker today, Bassong at times looked assured but also a bit too casual and almost got caught out once or twice, as for Wes time to say goodbye i think, turning into a one trick pony who loses it more than does anything with it.

Ruddy - 7

Whittaker - 3

Olsson - 5

Bassong - 6

Martin - 4

Johnson - 5

Tettey - 5

Hoolahan - 5

Bennett - 5

Redmond - 6

Grabban - 4

subs

Jerome - 5

Murphy - 3

Hooper - not on long enough to mark

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I doubt when the Manager was at Hamilton he was looking at the players we can afford. Unlikely to be scouting in England so it must be difficult for him to have identified any targets.

Someone else must be advising on players for the positions he identifies, and I hope it''s not the person Adams used in the summer.

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Not sure why Whittaker is always the one to be isolated, Olsson was hopeless for much of the game though a couple of crosses helped redeem his performance; he was poor defensively throughout.

We seem keen to be critical as a group at the moment. The same old critique of Bassong "looking" casual and "nearly" getting caught out. We kept a clean sheet yet our back 4 only earn an average rating of 4.5 out of 10? Just doesn''t compute for me.

Ruddy - 7 - Did little wrong, good save second half.

Whittaker - 6 - Far more assured at RB than in MF, caught forward on occasions but also combined well with the MF in possession.

Olsson - 6 - All at sea defensively but caused Birmingham some problems when getting forward.

Martin - 6 - Perhaps not his best game in possession but also came closest to scoring and had 3 presentable opportunities.

Bassong - 7 - Our best defender. The one concern being he still looks uncomfortable under the long, straight ball. Largely untroubled.

Johnson - 6 - Worked tirelessly. Looked ponderous in possession but was let down by movement ahead of him.

Tettey - 6 - Not his best game but there''s little doubt that we''re better with him than without.

Redmond - 7 - Birmingham tried hard to close him quickly and prevent him turning wherever possible. Despite that he had our best effort on goal and always looked the most likely.

Bennett - 6 - Certainly tried hard but the jury remains out. Really want him to do well but...helped out well defensively with a couple of timely interceptions covering the FBs.

Hoolahan - 5 - Played one superb defence splitter when the off side flag denied us what would surely have been a penalty. Again, perhaps hamstrung by a lack of movement when on the ball.

Grabban - 4 - Thought he was poor. Had one sighter in the first half but rarely looked likely to threaten.

Jerome - 7 - Maybe a touch generous but the energy levels of the team lifted with his introduction and looked twice as likely as Grabban to make something happen either for himself or the team.

Murphy - 4 - The kid with all the confidence has become the kid with none at all. I wonder if all the recent upheaval has played a part.

Hooper - Not even sure he got his kit dirty.

To their credit, Birmingham worked hard to get men behind the ball and to pressure Wes and Redmond quickly. They were limited and relied a lot on the long ball, in fact, I don''t think their right back did anything except punt it long into the channel all game - apart from heading Martins header off the line.

Bassong and Tettey back were the positives along with our first clean sheet since......Huddersfield....? Again, our biggest failing was our inability to break down a team who played with positional discipline without the ball.

I''m still wondering how much Vadis might have helped us with that this season but by the same token, I''m probably guilty of over-playing his potential impact because he hasn''t played.

Wes is still one of my favourite NCFC players of the last decade but our failure to upgrade in his position was a key factor in our relegation and our lack of options there now is hindering our promotion bid.

We''ve been better than Birmingham in both games this season but failed to win either. That sums up so much of this season so far. Play Offs are still on, the top 2 looks beyond us at this point.

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I think you''ve been kind to Whittaker & Bennett. I would have put them on a par with Grabban.

Tettey was good but I wish he wouldn''t carry the ball upfield, get a nosebleed and then pass backwards. Yes there was no movement but he could have taken the ball forward himself.

BBC has us at 65% possession which seems about right but with that we should have won the game but no-one appeared to have the nous to do so.

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"Olsson - 6 - All at sea defensively but caused Birmingham some problems when getting forward."

Olson should be given a chance at LM at least once. Every other option we have tried there seems to not produce. He plays there for Sweden apparently. I have wondered how many times he has played there for club and country.

Or perhaps just swap Redmond and Bennet around for the next game

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In reply to your comments Pauls ferry about giving the defence an average of 4.5 out of 10, well thats simple, for some reason Birmingham despite an upturn in form parked the bus and never looked like they wanted to win the game, sitting deep and offering little going forward which in general gave our defence an easy day.

And as regards your score on Whittaker i can only assume you are his wife, dad or brother !! ;)

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Or perhaps some people have preconceived ideas about players?

I thought he looked nervous to start with, which given last weeks reaction from the crowd was understandable, but grew into the game. Hell, at one point he even produced an audacious back heel!! He made mistakes but no more than others. Unfortunately for him, a section of the crowd are waiting for an error and an opportunity to seize upon it. An example of this came in the second half when I think it was Tettey attempted a pass to Whittaker that should have been bread and butter for a professional footballer. Inexplicably he misplaced the pass which went straight out of play. Whittaker didn''t have a hope of keeping the ball in yet I didn''t hear one criticism of Tettey and his crud pass but plenty berating Whittakers inability to keep it in.

In short, Whittakers game is simply under more scrutiny because people are expecting him to make errors. He did yesterday, including one horrible pass up the line that made him look like he had a 50p right foot. However, Tettey, Johnson, Martin and Olsson all made similarly poor passes during the game and escaped the same treatment.

He didn''t have a "good" game but he wasn''t all "that" bad either.

As for Birmingham offering little and parking the bus, that''s probably been the most successful policy against us this season. Teams do not (Brentford and Middlesbrough aside) tend to come out and dominate us. The success comes from allowing us plenty of the ball, commit men forward and then hit us with counter attacks. Reading did it twice, Charlton, Forest two more examples and it very nearly worked for Birmingham at Carrow Road too. They never really looked like scoring yesterday and rather than put that solely down to their inadequacies, I choose to offer some credit to the defensive aspect of our game.

We all see things and interpret them differently but two-thirds of the way through the season it''s apparent that any idea we had that we''d walk this league and sweep all before us was way wide of the mark.

I was one of those that thought we''d win the league, I was wrong. At 85 minutes yesterday I mentioned how important it was that we made sure that we left with at least a point. I think we should have won the game but at that stage I reconfigured what represented a decent result. I''ve had to do the same with this season as a whole. My expectations for many reasons were high, bolstered by the bullishness of the board, supported by what appeared reasonable business in the transfer window and buoyed by a strong start. As the season has gone on it seems I over-estimated our prowess and lacked respect for the teams we were playing. I had gotten all "Premier League" and I''m disgusted with myself for that.

The Play Offs are still on and at this stage of the season, however disappointing that may be in comparison to what we first expected, that would represent a decent result.

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