Birmingham City v Leeds United Match Thread

[CUSSIE01]

He improved once Ampadu came on.

Everyone improved when Ampadu came on, he’s one of those players whose presence on the pitch just lifts everyone around him. He’s priceless to us.

[The Subhuman]

Everyone improved when Ampadu came on, he’s one of those players whose presence on the pitch just lifts everyone around him. He’s priceless to us.

I think the saame might be achieved had it been Gruev, it's just the balance was restored with a DMF playing. Buonanotte may go on to be a high quality AMF for someone, indeed it's likely but playing him today and making Longstaff and Tanaka the Gruev/Amps replacements didn't work and he was a passenger today so we were playing with 10 basically.

[Barlow Boy]

Everyone improved when Ampadu came on, he’s one of those players whose presence on the pitch just lifts everyone around him. He’s priceless to us.

Around £8M wasn’t he?.

Unbelievable money for a top quality player.

[CUSSIE01]

Not sure it mattered who Buonanotte played with today, I was looking forward to seeing him play but even DF took pity on him & took him off. Can’t see him getting many more minutes in the Prem this season.

[weasel]

In regard to the U21s having watched some of the games, even the ones where they play lower league first teams the standard and intensity is weak so I doubt they would get much out of it in terms of proper match sharpness. I do think reserve matches in the past would likely have been better in the sense of competitiveness. Not really sure what the best solution is. I don't htink that it helps in that sense that these days there are so many subs that play rather than in the past where there would just be 1 or then 3. As such the back-up players had no involvement at all rather than getting a few minutes and would therefore have been more likely to give it their all in reserve matches as they had no other chance to impress.

[1964white]

Phenomenal scenes of the Leeds end.

What an atmosphere we create!

[weasel]

Has he ? Not so certain even though he had a great game today. Pretty certain Farke starts Darlow next game.

I'm with you. He made a couple of good saves but don't think there would be a reason to change

[Cjay]

I suppose today was a game to shine, but by no means easy for any of the players.

Will be interesting to see what side he puts out in the next round, depends on who we get to some degree, but this is what happens at the top level. Tanaka should have thrived in midfield, he was poor in possession at times, even with time on the ball.

Piroe struggles in our current set up, probably why he didn’t start. It looks like a bleak proposition for him to force his way into the starting 11 this season unless we have a plague of injuries.

I will be surprised if he is still at the club next season, particularly as Gray will be back from his loan spell and fighting for a place and we will be looking to get another 9. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gnonto moves on also.

Justin has taken his chance and Born is a rock solid defender who will get plenty of minutes during the rest of the season. So it isn’t impossible to force your way into the starting 11. Gruev is perhaps the biggest evidence of that.

I think lack of sharpness plays a large part though

Players like Tanaka, Piroe and Buonanotte have played about 5 games worth of minutes in 6 months.

Those Birmingham players play every week and the sharpness shows.

My concern would be if we suddenly need to use these under cooked players.

Going from almost 0 football to starting games in the Prem would be really difficult for them.

[weasel]

I think lack of sharpness plays a large part though

Players like Tanaka, Piroe and Buonanotte have played about 5 games worth of minutes in 6 months.

Those Birmingham players play every week and the sharpness shows.

My concern would be if we suddenly need to use these under cooked players.

Going from almost 0 football to starting games in the Prem would be really difficult for them.

I think it's fine if it is 1 or 2 of them suddenly starting rather than 4 or 5 at the same time. We've seen with Gruev and Justin that if they come in and 9 or 10 of the players around you are match sharp it isn't a problem and then within a couple of matches you are up to speed.

[1964white]

Au revoir buonononte

Such a disappointment.

[1964white]

Nmecha

Seven goals for our second striker, our other freebie.....what value!

[CHAPELALLMAN]

That's a weird approach.

How would you expect peripheral players to stay match fit if they're only training and given charity minutes?

Is this not just gonna encourage players to become disenchanted and leave?

Fair enough Casilla and Darlow have spent a lot of their careers on the bench, but this must feel pointless when your only chance of playing football is someone getting injured, I'll or suspended.

No wonder they look rusty as hell.

Will effect trying to bring new players in as well during transfer windows.

Turns out our " recruitment " in January was a total waste of time. Could still bite us if injuries mount up. There can be value in January, as West Ham have proved.

[CHAPELALLMAN]

I think Perri did.

Darlow hasn't done anything to deserve being dropped however.

Perri had his opportunity, and may not easily get back in unless Darlow gets injured.

[BlackHillsPaul]

Got home a little early today and got a chance to watch the match replay. I thought Birmingham City played well. They were up for it from the first minute. I thought we were mostly shite in the first half. The starting eleven just didn't work. We were absolutely overrun in the midfield! Gnonto playing Wingback was weird. And I thought his performance showed that the role doesn't suit him at all. I was screaming for the Ampadu for Buonanotte sub to start the 2nd half. I'm glad Farke heard me...

Buonanotte is well off the pace at this level. And frankly, I don't see him helping us in any way during this loan term. I wouldn't play him again if I were Farke! In my view, this is a player that would be hit or miss at the MLS level. A league that has been snatching Argentinian #10's for years. Now, you can say that he's not match fit, and that's fair. But I just don't see him as a Premier League level talent. He's going to need to take a step down to get his career back on track.

In the end a draw was probably fair. I'm glad we were able to win the PK's. As someone that cares about the FA Cup, I'm glad we have advanced.

[BlackHillsPaul]

As an aside, Kai Wagner started and went the distance at LB for Birmingham City. And he was taking most of their free kicks and corners. I thought it was a pretty good performance from a player that had been linked with LUFC about 3 years ago. At age 29, it's a late move back to Europe. But this is a player that took a very unconventional path climbing from the 5th tier of German Football. It took a move to America and MLS for him to get a real chance.

[John in Louisiana]

Excellent/very good pieces of play
23 Bijol
20 Justin
16 Ampadu
15 Bornauw
15 Gudmundsson
10 Calvert-Lewin
10 Aaronson
10 Longstaff

Ampadu, Aaronson, and DCL in half a game or less.

[White Riot]

Will effect trying to bring new players in as well during transfer windows.

Turns out our " recruitment " in January was a total waste of time. Could still bite us if injuries mount up. There can be value in January, as West Ham have proved.

When you have had the opportunity to bring in loan players and then you don't utilise those players then clubs, agents and players will view us as a less attractive destination for a loan spell.

The more this continues then the more the clubs, agents and players will dismiss us. You're then placing full faith in our recruitment team to do effective transfer business in the summer, as they/us have been mentally conditioned to believe transfer business is impossible in January.

The saga with Buonanotte, Longstaff, Paixao, Muniz, JSL, would call into question the capability of our recruitment team. Some decent recruits like Stach, DCL, but we should now be moving to the next level of players and is the recruitment team capable of facilitating that progress?

[1964white]

Ampadu is already my MOM

Amazing how one man made such a difference.

Ampadu is a special player.

[1964white]

Never seen that before

What & whose post referring to?

[1964white]

Bornauw imo

Saved 2 goals.

He certainly did,

I think some of our fans must have his brilliant defensive work.