Absolutely fuming after that 2 hour torture fest I just subjected myself to.
Cooper was playing the fatigue card before the break and because of league position I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but two thirds of this squad had two weeks with no game, there was zero hunger and zero offensive creativity on the pitch. We played 3-5-2 with three defensive midfielders against the team with the worst home record in the division by a clear mile and didn't change it until gone 70 minutes.
Whittaker who had an excellent debut against Cardiff was rewarded by being dropped to the bench for a winger pigeonholed into a striker who hasn't had a goal or an assist for 15 games (16 including this one). The result? We were effectively carrying 10 players on the pitch for the majority of the game, Lowe looked sharper than he had done recently but you could still see he had f*ck all confidence.
With zero creativity on the pitch we didn't bring on a creative player until well past the 70th minute and didn't replace the liability of a striker (it might feel harsh to call Lowe that but for the two or three flashes of good play he showed there were easily a dozen where we failed to control a simple ball or make a simple pass and move which constantly broke down possession) until the 88th minute of the game when we hooked him for the well known goal scoring powerhouse that is Wayne Routledge.
Unlucky with the slip and fall that lead to the second penalty, but any team that is chasing second place should have been 2-3 goals out of sight long before the 92nd minute.
It was only THEN that Cooper decided that maybe we should bring on a striker who has looked dangerous in both of the previous games that he has been on the pitch.
While some of the blame has to fall onto the players without a doubt the person at fault for this display and the tactical ineptitude not to change things when they were painfully obvious from the 10th minute or so of the game is Steve Cooper. We played like we were in 21st place and Birmingham were in 3rd, if you told me that without any knowledge of the division I would have completely believed you.
I find myself praying to a god I don't even believe in every day these days hoping that someone will be dull enough to come in and take Steve Cooper off our hands so at least we don't have to pay him off to get rid of him.
Cooper was playing the fatigue card before the break and because of league position I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but two thirds of this squad had two weeks with no game, there was zero hunger and zero offensive creativity on the pitch. We played 3-5-2 with three defensive midfielders against the team with the worst home record in the division by a clear mile and didn't change it until gone 70 minutes.
Whittaker who had an excellent debut against Cardiff was rewarded by being dropped to the bench for a winger pigeonholed into a striker who hasn't had a goal or an assist for 15 games (16 including this one). The result? We were effectively carrying 10 players on the pitch for the majority of the game, Lowe looked sharper than he had done recently but you could still see he had f*ck all confidence.
With zero creativity on the pitch we didn't bring on a creative player until well past the 70th minute and didn't replace the liability of a striker (it might feel harsh to call Lowe that but for the two or three flashes of good play he showed there were easily a dozen where we failed to control a simple ball or make a simple pass and move which constantly broke down possession) until the 88th minute of the game when we hooked him for the well known goal scoring powerhouse that is Wayne Routledge.
Unlucky with the slip and fall that lead to the second penalty, but any team that is chasing second place should have been 2-3 goals out of sight long before the 92nd minute.
It was only THEN that Cooper decided that maybe we should bring on a striker who has looked dangerous in both of the previous games that he has been on the pitch.
While some of the blame has to fall onto the players without a doubt the person at fault for this display and the tactical ineptitude not to change things when they were painfully obvious from the 10th minute or so of the game is Steve Cooper. We played like we were in 21st place and Birmingham were in 3rd, if you told me that without any knowledge of the division I would have completely believed you.
I find myself praying to a god I don't even believe in every day these days hoping that someone will be dull enough to come in and take Steve Cooper off our hands so at least we don't have to pay him off to get rid of him.
