Match Report: Birmingham City 2-2 Ipswich Town

Birmingham City earned a first EFL Championship point of the Wayne Rooney era against second-place Ipswich Town.

Birmingham City picked up their first point of the Wayne Rooney era – but only after conceding twice in the final 11 minutes against second-place Ipswich Town.  

Jay Stansfield showed sharpness to put Blues ahead and it got better just after half-time when Cameron Burgess prodded past his own keeper. However, substitute Marcus Harness made a telling contribution by scoring twice late on.  

Rooney suggested a training match in midweek helped shape his XI and four changes were made, Ethan Laird returning after a lengthy lay off while Juninho Bacuna, Koji Miyoshi and Jay Stansfield returned, replacing Emmanuel Longelo, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Krystian Bielik and Siriki Dembele, all of whom dropped to the bench.  

Blues started on the front foot and made the most of it. Bacuna saw an effort deflected wide and he was involved again moments later, receiving an excellent cross-field pass from Laird and poking it towards goal. Stansfield read the pass, showed good feet to avoid goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky before firing low into the net.  

The front foot start didn’t stop with Cody Drameh, who had moved to left-back, and Miyoshi having efforts blocked. Ipswich were hopeful of exploiting the space in behind but George Hirst couldn’t beat the offside trap and Nathan Broadhead volleyed wide with an opportunity.  

Chances were few and far between with Stansfield blazing over from distance. Ipswich’s best chance came when Conor Chaplin noticed John Ruddy off his line but accuracy was missing with a cheeky attempted lob from a way out.  

The second half started like the first. Stansfield held the ball up and found Burke who in turn played Bacuna in down the left. His low cross was teasing and Burgess wrong-footed his goalkeeper as an attempted clearance crossed the line.  

Broadhead beat the offside trap but was excellent denied by Laird and Blues responded quickly with Burke denied by Hladky. Slowly, Ipswich began having opportunities with Broadhead seeing a header deflect against nemesis Laird, Ruddy having to palm away a tricky Davis cross and then a back-post header from the resulting corner. Laird and Ruddy were on hand again to deny Chaplin after loose possession was picked off and Luongo almost squirmed the ball home.  

Their form couldn’t last. The ball was worked out to substitute Dane Scarlett who beat Drameh, now back on the right, too easily. His cut back found Freddie Ladapo free to shoot with Ruddy only able to parry to another free man in Harness.  

Scarlett was a lively presence and forced a stop from Ruddy and after Jutkiewicz got his angles wrong attacking a Drameh cross, the equaliser came. Blues had moved to a back three and a simple ball in behind for Hutchinson caught out Longelo, Aiwu and Roberts. The cross was cut out but Harness, free once more, was on hand to volley home.  

Jutkiewicz had a good chance to seal the win after good work from Drameh but his tame effort was blocked before Ruddy was forced into action one last time.  

Lineups 

Blues 

Ruddy; Laird (Longelo 78) Sanderson Aiwu Drameh; Miyoshi (Jutkiewicz 85) JJ (Bielik 73) Sunjic Bacuna; Burke (Dembele 73) Stansfield (Roberts 85). Unused: Etheridge; Long Gardner Hogan.  

Ipswich 

Hladky; Clarke Woolfenden Burgess Davis (Humphreys 87); Luongo (Taylor 73) Morsy; Hutchinson Chaplin (Harness 73) Broadhead (Scarlett 73); Hirst (Ladapo 73). Unused: Walton; Tuanzebe Ball Jackson.  

Tactics 

Blues returned to the 4-4-2 shape that proved successful early in the campaign with a couple of tweaks in possession.  

Ipswich lined up 4-2-3-1 and it matched up nicely against Blues’ shape. They wanted to try and play out, using the full-backs or central midfielders as the route to drawing Blues on and springing in behind to play quickly. However, they weren’t quite at it while Blues’ press was excellent.  

Stansfield and Burke were the front two and once the option became available, they would step onto Woolfenden and Burgess. Depending on which flank the ball was being played, the Blues winger on that side would close the full-back with the other winger stepping inside and being joined by Sunjic or James in closing the two central midfielders. The full-back on the other flank would be left free as part of the narrow press with Blues having one man spare at the back against Ipswich’s front four.  

If Ipswich did manage to find a way to stretch the ball out to the other flank, the full-back on that side would be on hand to step up with the rest of the team switching across.  

Ipswich largely went direct in a bid to combat this, looking to play Hutchinson, who often stayed high and wide on the right, or Hirst into either channel, or the latter into feet or chest. Blues won the majority of these battles. Their best avenue of getting out proved to be Conor Chaplin dropping into deeper positions towards the right-hand flank where he would try and show quick feet in order to play forward quickly.  

When Ipswich did make it out of defence, they found themselves in a 3-2-5 shape with Clarke tucking in, Hutchinson and Davis providing the width with Chaplin and Broadhead off Hirst.  

Blues didn’t tend to hold onto the ball much in defensive positions, instead setting up to press Ipswich high. When playing out, Laird and Drameh were often the men tasked with getting of the ball and playing, the former particularly important with his passing range (tending to find Bacuna on the other flank) or Stansfield down the right with Miyoshi tucking inside and being marked.  

Changes were made and Blues changed around on three occasions.  

1: Bacuna replaced Oli Burke and shifted into the attack with Stansfield while Dembele came on in his normal left-wing role 

2: Laird was replaced by Longelo, the substitute slotting in at left-back with Drameh on the right 

3: Roberts & Jutkiewicz replaced Stansfield and Miyoshi with Blues moving to 5-4-1 to try and see the game out. Roberts slotted into the centre of the back three, flanked by Sanderson and Aiwu. Bacuna and Dembele were wide of Jutkiewicz in attack.  

Players 

For 65 minutes or so, it was difficult to pick out individual Blues players. The whole team were a well-organised unit.  

Ethan Laird deserves mention. He was exceptional, playing a key role in the first goal, making a couple of big defensive challenges and generally ensuring there was zip to our play. Jordan James slotted into midfield seamlessly as part of the two, a role he has performed well in for Wales. Jay Stansfield has a stardust that is often missing from our play.  

The substitutions didn’t have the desired impact, unfortunately.  

As for Ipswich, they were a shadow of their normal selves. Dane Scarlett and Marcus Harness certainly stepped up from the bench, however.  

Conclusions 

Emotions are running high amongst the fanbase at present and it has led to heavy plaudits and criticism in some ranks. Some people have said it’s the best Blues have played in years while some of the criticism levelled at Emmanuel Longelo has been harsh in its language.  

I don’t want to be boring but I feel my job with these reports is to be as balanced and fair as possible. I understand the tribalism and emotion that comes with supporting a football team. I’m no robot – my missus is happy enough to tell people about my moods after a loss. It’s why I don’t write these reports until late in the evening or the following day. 

I’m pleased to see so many going big in support of Rooney to ensure he feels welcome after the abuse videod against Hull City. Yesterday was some reward for that support and the more people unite, the better the club feels.  

Was yesterday our best performance in years? It’s a tad hyperbolic. After all, we limited Bristol City earlier this season to 0 shots on target. The 2-0 win against West Bromwich Albion in February was sensational. And how about the victories over Luton Town in Lee Bowyer’s full season?  

Is Longelo an abysmal football? No. He’s had a bad couple of weeks. He has a tendency to switch off. But he’s not the only player at fault for some of the goals conceded recently and he was being applauded for stepping in for Lee Buchanan before the last international break. He’s still a young man with around 30 odd league starts in his career. We’re allowed to criticise, but let’s not go overboard and begin abusing players.  

My takeaways from yesterday? We were excellent for an hour or so. We played on the front foot, we made life difficult for a very good side – that admittedly underperformed – and deservedly led. The players looked confident with Laird superb, Drameh solid out of position, Bacuna showing more than he often has from the left, James showing why he (and his family) believes he should be getting more opportunities and Burke looking useful in attack.  

The statistics – xG, shots and so on – don't tell the story of a game in which Ipswich were penned in their own defensive third for pretty much an entire half of football. I’m hopeful @Blues_breakdown might tweet something to showcase that. 

I don’t want to get to deep into the final half hour. Tired legs. Rooney still getting a grip of who he can trust form the bench. Three changes to the positions of players / formations which will have inevitably caused some confusion. Players getting used to being substitutes rather than starters. And, quite frankly, players failing to get to speed with the game. At least this week it’s details, as Rooney called it post-match, rather than picking apart the entire performance.  

I’m curious about how Rooney came about reverting to the 4-2-4 that worked so well under Eustace. It is the same system that England U21’s used during their successful summer, something that Ashley Cole was a key part of. Rooney has also referenced having conversations with the players and perhaps it came via this, understanding this is what the players feel most comfortable with. A third reason is that it is commonly suggested that 4-4-2, or a slight variation, is the easiest way to teach the high press.  

The big change between what we saw for the first part of this season and yesterday was the personnel. Jordan James being trusted in central midfield, a role he’s often had to watch others fulfil. Emmanuel Aiwu stepping in at centre-back with Kevin Long having performed excellently in the early part of the season. Oli Burke now playing up top and Juninho Bacuna from the left. It’s a similar system but with a freshness to it, and perhaps more of a luck to the future.  

The challenge now is showing the same level of performance against Sunderland. We failed to win yesterday but the overwhelming feeling is positive. The first sign that the Rooney era could be a positive one. Back that up and it becomes easier to get behind Rooney heading into home games against Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United.