Austin, a player who I feel to be fairly overhyped, put in a fantastic performance during the weekend as he benefited from the shift further forwards. Having been deployed mainly as a break up player, he was far better suited to marauding forwards from deep, twice finding McCormack in space with delicious balls. This however, should be no surprise as it is the position Austin won the Norwegian league's player of the year in and it is where he plays for Jamaica. I feel he benefits from a simpler game which he can do going forwards as he has the space to run into and the pace and power to utilise it.
2- At £600,000, Chris Burke would've been a bargain
Birmingham's one bright light during the game, he was a constant thorn in our side (as pointed out on twitter by Jonny Brown). People may point to the fact that he's approaching thirty, but as someone who is more of a clever player rather than one reliant on pace (see Ryan Giggs). Matt Smith would also thrive up front off balls into the box from Burke and as we saw on Sunday, he's a decent finisher.
3- 3 At the back worked well
Now we don't mean to blow our own trumpets, but on this blog, a number of weeks ago, we argued that the use of wing backs would go some way to solving the problem of width. And to an extent it worked with Byram and Warnock bombing forwards. As a central trio, they all played well, however I'd be tempted to try Peltier in there as well as I think his pace would certainly benefit the defence. However we are light on cover if we resort to a three at the back, which may explain why McDermott is looking at Zaliukas.
4- We are the most reactionary fans in the League
Yes it was a win and a good one at that, but Birmingham were awful. The keeper and centre backs look like they had taken copious amounts of illegal substances before stepping out on to the pitch and their decision making was awful. It's important not to get carry away, I'd say that we still need extra touches of class and that McDermott needs to look to the loan market as I don't think we have enough strength in depth.
5- The Academy Is Definitely Not A Cancer
Amongst a whole host of good performances was the shining light that is Alex Mowatt. With less than 10 professional games to his name, Mowatt ran the show from the midfield and his cross for the last goal was spectacular, a move which he also started. This alongside the return of Sam Byram (alongside another three academy graduates in the squad) into the fold, who played exceptionally in the first half and assurances from McDermott that we can expect to see more youngsters in the starting eleven means it is potentially a bright future for Leeds fans, assuming they don't all get sold, to Norwich.