Daniel Farke post Birmingham
Very important because we wanted to return to winning ways. Complicated game because we knew Boxing Day we were in a brilliant shape. Best performance of any team on this league against Ipswich.l Fourth game in 10 days after back to back defeats is hard.
Heavy in the opening 10 minutes, but we opened up eventually. Good assists and perfect header from Bamford. Confidence and rhythm came back. Bit concerned at the beginning of the second because we did not bury the game. Third goal made it clear. Kristoffer good positioning at times.
Good will to return back to the dressing room with the clean sheet. Goalkeepers not available. Full debut for Klaesson, clean sheet. Pascal not available, our rock. Byram injured early. Diffcult today, but ladas responded in the best way. Important to have a good win.
Rutter
Played him more and more in a deeper role. Put him more deeper because we got the feeling he has improved in many areas. Fitness levels for covering more ground. Tidiness with the ball and his confidence levels. Tight areas he lost the ball before, but positional discipline s there. If he plays like this he can do it. Today fulfilled it in a nearly perfect way. Helped to have a target like Patrick in attack. Took the CBs away from him. Brilliant performance to surprise Birmingham with GR in a deeper role.
Bamford
Delighted for him after a difficult time for more than two years. Good pre-season. Close to starting the opening game and then got an injury. Needs time to recover. Unlucky because striker needs goals for confidence. Did not score much from the bench. Been on it in training.
Last two or three weeks we got to give him his chance. Repaid my trust back with a solid performance. CRucial goal. Priceless for his confidence. We need him in his best shape. Important day.
Byram and Cresswell
Sam's hamstring issue. Felt something. Not too bad, but at least bad enough he could not go on. Tricky because I was not sure if Junior could do 80 minutes. Assisted two goals, he needed to dig in to survive this game. Time now for him to recover.
Charlie not here because I wanted creative player like Ian Poveda on the bench. Lacked a it in attack over the last few games. If something happens at CB we had either Gruev or Ampadu.
Cresswell staying?
We will see. He is proud and wants to play after being a main man at Millwall. Competition for places. Up to Charlie if he wants to take on this challenge and climb the ladder. If he wants something different, we will see. No coincidence we gave him a new contract. We have faith in him. Important he is happy with the challenge. On our side, there is no will to let him go
Rutter's flair
Relentless talking to him and explaining. I like the first goal and the confidence as there with the second goa; I want my players to enjoy what they are doing. We need to entertain supporters. He is why fans come here. Fine margins you do not embarrass the opponent. My players need to be respective of the situation Birmingham are in. No need to fool the opponent because we are in a good mood.
If tricks do not make sense, do things in the proper sense. Do not provoke heavy fouls from opponents.
Better for Bamford to come off the bench?
Different types of players. As a striker, to bring me in, I never scored. I needed to start and score. If you are chasing the game it's hard to score or if you are already leading, the risks are not there to create more goals for the subs,
Would have preferred it during this period, for him to make a bigger impact as a sub, but again, I told him if I play you I have a good feeling because he was on it in training. I got the feeling he can be more focused, we spoke about this and he has changed his behaviour.
I got the feeling Patrick needs backing and trust. Always easier when you get the trust to start
Struijk
Needs to see a specialist. Has not made much progress. Fingers crossed for the cup game, but we will not take risks.