Here's what Michael Beale had to say after that poor defeat at Birmingham.
GAME OF TWO HALVES
“We came into the week with a lot of optimism and the two away defeats have sort of made a lot of questions around us as a team, and the staff as well. We have to accept it because today, first half in particular I thought we played very well. We go 1-0 up to a really good goal, our press was good and Jack finished. We had one or two more opportunities, Romaine does really well and it’s a fantastic save from John Ruddy in a key moment in the game. We spoke about what to expect in the second half. We knew the crowd would get behind them and they would squeeze up. I thought we played in front of them and made it a little bit easy to be pressed. Could we run behind more or hold the ball up? It’s a big moment when Mason has the goal taken away, it was marginally offside but a big moment for us. It’s a really really poor second half considering the great position we were in at half time.”
TIRED LEGS
“What people don’t know is that people like Trai Hume passed a fitness test and they’re going to the well for us. I absolutely love him for the mentality that he has. There are players this week who have played all three games and after Wednesday’s game were a little bit mentally and physically drained. We’ve come down here today and I thought our first half performance was more than worthy of us being in front, but I just felt we were a little bit too easy to play against in the second half. We played in front of them, straight away even if you look at us taking kickoff we were negative and went backwards. I would like us to be more positive, it’s on me as a coach to find the solutions and to make us play and give instructions for us to improve. Even today the subs could have had a greater impact so again am I making the right decisions in those moments?”
BALLARD YELLOW
“Jenson’s been waiting for his opportunity to play at centre half so he’ll get it now. I didn’t think it was a yellow card, I would like the fourth official to help the referee out there. On a day where we’ve cost ourselves, I don’t want to be moaning about the referee but in that moment Dan played the ball so it’s a harsh yellow to get. So Jenson will get his chance now and I have no doubt he’ll come in and add to the team as well.”
ROBERTS/EMBO UPDATE
“We won’t see either of them for a while unfortunately. With Paddy it’s four or five weeks, and with Embo on the scan there was something we didn’t really expect to see which we have, so he’ll probably be the same amount of time as well which is disappointing for both. Today is a disappointing day, I understand that the last two results have been disappointing and we must bounce back next week at home to Swansea. Our away form needs to improve, that’s clear to everyone, but we don’t play away now for two weeks so let’s get our heads back. We need to have a positive performance from everybody next week at home.”
