Does anyone actually think that was an improvement?

I'm not sure what anyone 'expects?' 😂

The same coaching staff and 2 days to prepare. Oh and exactly the same players bar Hackney. I mean what did people think would suddenly make us drastically improve?

Leo is clearly a great voice full of positivity. So that may give the lads a boost. Also its been mentioned that some didn't overly look like they fancied player under Wilder. So again may give them a bounce.

I think we've played better and lost. Yet I can't complain about a clean sheet and 3 points. They have both been very hard to come by.

I think the biggest single 'issue' is that we are absolutely shot confidence wise. I mean every player. So a win can only be a boost. If we win or even a decent draw then again a bit more confidence. Its the only thing we are lacking. It certainly isn't a poor side/squad. It's more than enough to challenging (despite Wilders moaning).

I mean man who was definitely given a 'bounce' was Forss. He came on like a man posessed . I'm sure if his goal had stood he'd have whipped his top off with a 'f*ck you Wilder' t shirt on underneath.

I can't be remotely negative about last night. We've won and gone into work happy... UTB👍
 
I was listening to the Birmingham commentary. Local commentators are usually horribly biased, but these were quite fair I thought. They were quite complimentary about our first half performance. They really liked the look of Dijksteel as Wing Back. Second half less positive of course. It was an unspectacular win, which is pretty much exactly what we needed and it would be unrealistic to expect much more at this stage. If Wilder had 2 more of these performances earlier this season he would still be in the job.
 
Without stating the obvious and at the very least

The very first improvement is that we are happy we won, instead of sad/angry we lost

People who support the Boro will go about their lives today, knowing we have took a very important first step in the right direction by winning and not losing

The HOPE has returned that we can rescue this season and have a respectable finish

There really is no need to search below the surface of what was always going to be a difficult match to manage and set up for......a win is enough to be going on, everything else is just noise
 
I don't think we were massively different; wouldn't expect so in 48 hours either. Great that we won, and buzzing for Leo, but equally not going to go about pretending the team was transformed because again, 48 hours. I know some people like to be cheerleaders but my feet stay in the ground.

Hopefully he gets another win or a point on sat too.
 
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As others have said it's only 48 hours ,so not expecting much different - and didn't think there was - maybe more effort
For once I had no worries that Birmingham would score. They were unexpectedly poor after their good result at SheffU at the weekend
Thought Crooks was blowing out his backside and probably would have put Mowatt on for him and left Muniz on
But the result was more important than anything. A win might improve what must have been fragile confidence after recent results
Great to see Leo wearing his heart on his sleeve at the end
 
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Otto42 said:
It was an improvement as we got the win, attitude seemed better from the players as well. Not necessarily a better performance than Wilder’s been producing, but players seemed to want to win for the manager, something we seemed to have lost.

I feel a bit sorry for Wilder, as some of the players had clearly stopped working for him and listening to him, but I guess that’s modern football and showed why he had to go.
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Don’t feel sorry for Wilder! He wasn’t one of us, he only had his own best interests at heart! Did the players stop playing for him back end of last season too?
 
Jedi boro said:
Birmingham unlike us were on a 4 game unbeaten run as well
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Yeah I was surprised how flat they were
Hogan got in some good positions (one courtesy of Dijksteel) and looked their main threat - but didn't have his shooting boots on. McNair was maybe lucky only to get a yellow when he brought him down - though I think a yellow was right
 
B_G said:
It was great to get a much needed result last night but I can't say that last night was any better than I've witnessed under Wilder.
I genuinely think that we were better against Rotherham than we were last night.

We created very little and defended poorly in the second half. The clean sheet was a result of brum being terrible rather than us being solid.

There were a couple of positives to take from the game:
1. Hackney held is own and showed some bursts of creativity. I thought it was encouraging league debut.
2. Steffen had a better game. Looked a bit more assured from crosses.
3. Nice to see the introduction of Akpom and I think the front two held the ball up relatively well in the first half.

But apart from the above I can't see what was different. We weren't much value for our win and could have easily drew or lost that game. We were actually much more solid against Rotherham where we didn't give the a sniff at goal and actuallyu created 3 really good chances. I don't think we really created any good chances last night. The goal was a result of some sloppy defending from a set piece.

Don't get me wrong. We really needed those 3 points and I'm happy that we got them, but I'm not coming away particularly encouraged by the performance. I'm surprised at how many people are saying on social media that they thought we were great and it was a massive improvement. I just didn't see it. Gazette ratings giving all the players 7s and 8s was mind blowing for me.
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Did you actually go to the game?
Just asking.
 
r00fie1 said:
Did you actually go to the game?
Just asking.
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Yes, went to the game and pleased we got a much needed win.

We played poorly but managed to get a result. It was no better than the performances we've seen so far under Wilder. If we played like that all season, we'd finish in the bottom half. Hopefully we build on it and improve because we'll need to improve our league position.
 
B_G said:
Yes, went to the game and pleased we got a much needed win.

We played poorly but managed to get a result. It was no better than the performances we've seen so far under Wilder. If we played like that all season, we'd finish in the bottom half. Hopefully we build on it and improve because we'll need to improve our league position.
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We are more than likely to finish bottom half in any case! As I've said automatic promotion form gets us in the play offs, playoff form gets us midtable and and upturn in what we were getting from Wilder has us bottom half.
 
Diego said:
Thing that impressed me about Forss was him keeping the ball when it went to him as that was a previous worry if he isn't scoring then what can he do. He looked a handful last night and hope to see him get plenty of chances now. I have no doubt he can chip in with goals this season.
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Whilst Chuba has done well I think at times him and Muniz are a touch too similar. Last night they were occasionally challenging for the same ball and in each others way I thought. Of course they haven't had much game time together to form an understanding/partnership.

I do think our best pairing maybe Muniz and Forss in the long run though? Muniz has strength, hustle and bustle and good technique, Forss nippier, more mobile closes down better and looks good on positioning and finishing.

Although as said, Akpom deserves his spot currently.

I found Watmore super frustrating again unfortunately, as I have for most of this calendar year.
 
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I wasn’t there but watched it on Sky, I thought we got the ball up the pitch quicker than in recent games and looked much the better for some energy in midfield, well done Hackney.

Still massive room for improvement, McNair looks like a rabbit in the headlights at times, he looks a shadow of what he’s capable of.

Leo’s substitutions were well timed and logical, Wilder’s substitutions used to baffle me at times.
 
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