Match Report: Birmingham City 1-3 Stoke City

Defensive errors continue to blight Blues as Blues lose for the 8th time in 13 matches under Wayne Rooney.

Birmingham City conceded three goals for the third game running as Stoke City left St.Andrews with all three points.

More basic defensive errors cost Blues as Jordan Thompson, Lyndon Gooch and Andre Vidigal put the visitors into a 3-0 lead.

Jay Stansfield did get a goal back after excellent work from teenage sensation Romelle Donovan but Blues couldn’t mount a fightback.

Rooney made two changes with both enforced. Lee Buchanan was stretchered off on Saturday while Krystian Bielik is suspended for three games. Emmanuel Longelo and Koji Miyoshi stepped into the XI. Keshi Anderson, Josh Home and Donovan were on the bench. Scott Hogan wasn’t part of the matchday squad.

Blues created the early openings with Stansfield denied by two Stoke blocks before the visitors took the lead. A cross from the right wasn’t cleared at the near post and found it’s way to Gooch, free at the back. He beat John Ruddy but Marc Roberts’ clearance off the line found its way to Thompson who fired home via a deflection.

There was little goalmouth in the first half. Blues caused their own problems, Roberts hammering a free-kick against the nearest man and Vidigal was free to blaze over. Stoke then scored their second from the resulting goal kick, the visitors winning a free header and two passes later, Gooch was in behind and scoring.

Blues’ best chance of the half came when Emmanuel Aiwu’s teasing delivery evaded both Jordan James and Koji Miyoshi. At the other end, one straight long ball found its way over Dion Sanderson but Vidigal lacked accuracy with the lob.

Rooney’s side had a great chance of getting back into the game but Roberts headed wide from Juninho Bacuna’s cross. Dembele then skipped away and found Stansfield whose shot was blocked.

Blues were playing okay and that spelt danger for, well, Blues. Ivan Sunjic kid placed a pass and Bacuna was beat by the loose ball. Burger found Vidigal who cut inside of Sanderson and chipped Ruddy. Game over.

Tyler Roberts made his long awaited return and fired over from distance shortly after. Sanderson headed over at the near post. Burger beat the entire Blues midfield but Mmaee couldn’t quite reach his through ball before Ruddy. Tchamadeu got the better of Sunjic and Dembele before thundering an effort against the outside of the post.

Blues did get one back and it spelled the arrival of a potential star. Romelle Donovan has shown glimpses but he took the bull by the horns here, beating two players before forcing a save that was parried to Stansfield.

The teenager then tried his luck from 20 yards but wayward. At the other there was a comical moment where Sanderson deflected a shot that Aiwu cleared by rebounding the ball off the face of his keeper. Oli Burke had a late shot on target.

A disappointing day as defensive errors continue to cost Blues.

Lineups

Blues

Ruddy; Aiwu Roberts (Roberts 57) Sanderson Longelo; Miyoshi (Donovan 67) JJ Bacuna Sunjic (Gardner 77) Dembele (Anderson 77); Stansfield (Burke 77). Unused: Etheridge; Oakley Home Jutkiewicz.

Stoke

Bonham; Tchamadeu McNally Rose Hoever; Bae Thompson Burger (Pearson 70); Vidigal (Johnson 86) Mmaee (Gayle 70) Gooch (Haksabanovic 57). Unused: Simkin; Clark Baker Wesley Lowe.

---

Tactics

Almost a carbon copy of the Plymouth game with Steven Schumacher’s stamp all over both sides.

Blues again lined up 4-5-1 with Stoke in a fluid 4-2-3-1 cum 2-3-5 shape.

Stoke showed their ambition pretty quickly. They lined up in a standard shape before moving towards their 2-3-5. This saw McNally and Rose take possession at the back with Thompson in front, Tchamadeu to the right and Burger stepping in on the left. Gooch and Vidigal held the width with Hoever and Bae just behind Mmaee. There was an element of fluidity, but that was primarily it.

What Stoke wanted was to get Burger on the ball, on his left foot and finding those that could hurt Blues further forward beyond the press.

Blues did try and press high. This saw Stansfield occupy the back two while Sunjic stepped onto Thompson. The back four tried to be aggressive whenever a Stoke player stepped off, leading to Mmaee being chased 30 yards away from the defensive line with Bacuna often stood in front to make it more of a 4-1-4-1 than a straight line of five. The passing lanes were cut off towards the Stoke right but less so down the left.

Stoke showed no complications in their pressing of Blues. It was virtually man for man across the pitch and unlike Plymouth, there was real pressure exerted. Vidigal was quick to join Mmaee in closing the centre-backs, leaving Tchamadeu and Gooch against the full-backs. It was man for man in the centre leaving the remaining three Stoke defenders to watch the Blues front three. However, they were compact in shape and narrow, ensuring they weren’t leaving big gaps.

Blues, like Saturday, looked to make things happen down the channels to exploit the spaces vacated by the full-backs. This saw Stansfield gain early opportunities cutting inside from the left while he also managed to stretch Rose down the right-hand side with Miyoshi dropping off and taking Hoever with him. James was then quick to get into the box, ensuring we had bodies there.

Blues did have an issue down the left, namely Longelo and Dembele unsure where to be and who should receive the ball. Hesitation from the back didn’t help with regards to knowing when the ball would be played and where it would land.

Blues made a switch at half-time, pushing Dembele on to close McNally and allowing Stansfield to focus on Rose. It allowed Blues to engage a little higher up the pitch.

The first change saw a change of shape. Tyler Roberts replaced Marc Roberts, with Aiwu moving to centre-back, Bacuna from midfield to right-back and Roberts just off Stansfield in attack. Blues were now 4-4-2.

Stoke dropped off for the final 20 minutes or so, letting their midfielders sit off Blues in deeper positions to protect the lead. This did allow Blues to play passes into Gardner and James who could play forward.

---

Players

Let’s start with the positives.

For the second game in a row, Jay Stansfield was quite lively. He caused problems. Got down the flanks. Tried to make things happen. And Romelle Donovan was superb when he came on. He was raw and fun to watch.

Beyond that. Defensively we were a train wreck. The entire back four. No communication. No leadership. Naive defending. Not reading play. And the protection in front of them wasn’t great either. Players diving in and exposing themselves. Not covering in each other. Aiwu and Sanderson are receiving a lot of heat but I don’t think anybody comes out well.

For Stoke, I thought McNally and Rose were fine at the back. Tchamadeu is raw but looks physically ready having stepped up two levels. Burger was classy and the rotation allows him to pick up the ball in a way that suits him.

---

Conclusions

It perhaps says plenty of the fragile relationship between Wayne Rooney, the players and the fans at present that this performance and result brought such a negative response.

This wasn’t good.

The goals were horrendous. The first comes from a cross not being dealt with and them having an extra man in the box. The second is from our goal kick that leads to them being in on goal three touches later. The third is yet another situation in which we don’t defend a transition. Teams don’t have to work hard to score against us.

Players and management were booed off at half time and full time as patience wears thin. There has been a lot of frustration, anger and apathy post-match as fans share their thoughts with blame placed on a number of different aspects.

It’s the players’ fault. It’s the manager’s fault. It’s Garry Cook’s fault. The players aren’t good enough to play how the manager wants to play. The players are good enough and the manger isn’t. We’ve had over a decade of bad dressing rooms and it’s just continuing.

There is no one single reason we are enduring what we are right now. There never is.

The club expected the style of play to change from the summer yet the recruitment in central and defensive areas of the pitch consisted of Dion Sanderson, joining permanently, Kevin Long, signing a new deal, Emmanuel Aiwu, who arrived on deadline day and missed pre-season, and Ivan Sunjic, returning from a loan spell.

Still, there is always scope for an improvement of style and to bring players on. It takes consistent messages and implementation of core ideals to help shape the identity of the new style. A manager will understand mistakes may happen as a result of the change and back himself and the players to move forward.

It’s why fans were so worried when after two games when Wayne Rooney came out post-match and claimed the players weren’t good enough to carry out his style of play and he would have to change things to suit them. It’s little wonder confidence hasn’t been sky high.

Of course, it makes you wonder what the issue is as far as playing style is concerned – is it the manager’s fault or is the issue recruitment? Let’s not forget that eight of the starting XI here and three of the five substitutes were all signed by the same person leading our recruitment.

Garry Cook believes the players are good enough:

“At the same time, we’ve got great players. I always worry when everyone starts to look forward to the window. We’ve got some great players and they will get better. That’s the commitment that the coaching staff are making, and the commitment that support staff are making. Let’s make everybody better before we worry about how to replace everybody.”

He’s not blameless, of course. Discarding with John Eustace was a decision many probably expected at some point. Bring in your own man and keep the positivity going into the new era. Only he and high level club staff will know the financial benefits to signing Rooney up for the project but they also want bums on seats and there aren’t many Bluenoses that were happy to trade managers for Rooney.

The players aren’t blameless either. I can’t say we don’t concede good goals, because Leicester and Stoke scored a couple of brilliant ones from their perspective. It’s just angering how easy we’ve allowed it to happen. We’re naive. We don’t react. We don’t take the yellow card if we have to to stop an attack. We let ourselves be bullied or overrun. Braindead decisions or a lack of effort. It’s not good enough.

Nobody can come out of this period feeling positive about the men’s football team and as I’ve eluded to on numerous occasions, we can’t look to January to solve our problems. It won’t happen.

And this is where difficult decisions have to happen. If we can’t make big changes and if the threat of relegation looms closer post-January after we have made a couple of changes, there becomes only one change that can be made to give ourselves a chance, because we can’t overhaul the playing staff. And how close will the club want us to fall to the drop zone – now seven points clear – before they think about a change? And then, do we trust the ownership to pick the right man to take us forward, or will it just be another big name?

For now, it’s Bristol City on Friday and we are reaching the point of “just get a win” territory as far as Rooney and his job are concerned. Anything less and that patience is going to wear even thinner.