Match Report: Blues 0-0 Blackpool
A goalless draw in a game where Blues didn't show their best. Blackpool hit the post, Blues had one cleared off the line & Blues have kept four clean sheets in a row.
Birmingham City made it four consecutive clean sheets in a row as they played out a goalless draw with a lively Blackpool side.
The visitors were the better side for an hour and almost squeezed ahead when Kyle Joseph hit the post. Blues found their groove for the final half hour but couldn’t find the key moment, a deflected Jay Stansfield shot being cleared off the line by Odel Offiah.
Davies has had to be careful managing his squad during this period and made six changes from the side that beat Burton Albion 2-0. Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Christoph Klarer, Lee Buchanan, Paik Seung-Ho, Alfie May and Emil Hansson returned. Ethan Laird, Jay Stansfield, Marc Leonard and Ben Davies dropped to the bench with Alex Cochrane and Keshi Anderson missing out altogether. Ayuma Yokoyama stepped onto the bench in place of Dion Sanderson.
The first big effort of the game came when James Husband found the run of Joseph. He beat Ryan Allsop to the ball but was denied by Lee Buchanan. Unfortunately, Buchanan leg extended and twisted which forced him off on a stretcher.
The game didn’t really hit a flow after that. Rob Apter was given the ball by May but skied over. Harry Tyrer was forced into a fine one-handed stop after good work between Hansson and Paik before Allsop produced an excellent stop to deny Ashley Fletcher after he bulldozed his way through Krystian Bielik.
Apter’s cross from the right was teasing but Joseph’s header landed closer to the linesman than the Blues goal. Gardner-Hickman played short back to Allsop who beat Fletcher to the ball but was left thankful that Lee Evans was wayward with an effort from halfway.
The second half wasn’t much more exciting but Blackpool will feel they ought to have gone ahead.
Matthew Pennington connected with a near post free-kick but not cleanly enough. Oliver Casey then headed wide a corner. And Joseph came closer than anybody to scoring, latching on to a through ball and beating Allsop only to see the ball rebound off the inside of the post.
At that point, Davies made a double save, completing his five and Blues controlled thereon. Leonard made a positive impact but his cross was tamely headed on target on by Luke Harris. Willum Willumson did well to knock down a cross for Stansfield who couldn’t connect cleanly.
The best opportunity came when Tomoki Iwata slipped in Willumson who cut back for Stansfield. The first time shot deflected way up into the air but Offiah was quick to meet it. Blackpool quickly went down the other end but Morgan’s teasing cross glided just past the far post.
Blues came close to stealing it at the end. A lot of patient build-up down the left ended with Paik beating his man a couple of times and delivering a delicious left-footed cross that Willumson looked to have headed beyond Tyrer only for Casey to get in the way.
A goalless draw. Blues remain top and unbeaten in nine in all competitions.
Lineups
Blues: Allsop; Gardner-Hickman Bielik Klarer (Davies 58) Buchanan (Laird 9); Iwata Paik; Willumson May (Leonard 58) Hansson (Harris 44); Dykes (Stansfield 46). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Davies Leonard Yokoyama.
Blackpool: Tyrer; Offiah Pennington Casey Husband; Apter (Gabriel 85) Evans Morgan Coulson (Carey 70); Joseph (Ballard 79) Fletcher (Rhodes 79). Unused: O'Donnell; Ashworth Norburn.
Tactics
Blues switched it up here. We reverted back to the 4-2-3-1 of old with our right-back and left-winger holding width as opposed to the left-back and right winger as has been more common recently.
Blackpool played a 4-4-2 but they were on the front foot and got up against us. It meant their midfield four were quick to step on to our back four, but in a way that meant three would step up high with the other looking to cut off a passing angle to one of the wide men, while the midfield two were quick to step onto Paik and Iwata and close the gap. When the ball was played forward, the back four were on the front foot too.
It meant Blues needed to move the ball quicker and it just didn’t come. The work getting the ball out of our defensive third was okay. We had options out wide while Iwata and Paik were found on the regular. But once we reached the final third, we struggled.
Why was this? A number of reasons. We lost key duels. We lacked speed of play and movement. We didn’t take enough risks. It was a little easy to defend against and it’s no surprise that Davies made his subs early in the second rather than holding off – we needed change up there.
The Blackpool press did mean that Blues utilised Allsop more often and they tended to stop at that point. Because Blackpool were high, Allsop did have the opportunity to showcase his passing range and used it well but Blues were slow on the uptake in making the most of the space or producing once in receipt of the ball. The type of game Anderson may have enjoyed, you feel.
We also had issues out of possession, combined with Blackpool being on it.
Blackpool moved the ball sharply in possession. Husband, Casey and Evans in particular linked up well and they did well to find Evans and Morgan in good space in the centre of the pitch by going outside to inside, which allowed them to play the forward pass.
From that point, things weren’t always brilliant. They looked for the direct ball into Fletcher or Joseph more than once. It worked on a few occasions, but not always and did see them gift the ball back to Blues. The other option was Apter, who stayed out on the right-hand touchline all game with Evans and Morgan able to play blind passes out to the right. Offiah would then go on the overlap and try to open up space for Apter to step infield.
For Blues, it was the usual attempt to press, largely man-for-man but with Willumson and Hansson likely to take a chance stepping inside to press the centre-back if the opportunity arose. It never really worked, Blues lacking energy. Blackpool’s better footballers were playing from the left, but it’s also notable that it was the side of Dykes, Willumson, Gardner-Hickman and Iwata where tiredness and / or a lack of sharpness was evident.
Blues never really changed too much in terms of shape but the arrival of Stansfield allowed us to go longer by having somebody willing to make the run, which forced Blackpool to drop a touch deeper and need to utilise seconds, which Blues did well on. And the arrival of Leonard and Davies gave Blues more control, having a natural left-footer in defence and Leonard and Paik combining down the left which gave Blues more fluidity and control.
The big frustration was that with Buchanan and Hansson going off, coupled with Laird and Harris replacing them down the left, we lacked a natural left footer and meant that deliveries were delayed, which in turn meant we often had to work the ball back to a position where we could deliver and it caused frustration.
Players
I’m going to champion Iwata. Not his finest display of the season, but also one where we are entering the latter stages of our third in six days, of which he hasn’t missed a single minute and he’s still winning possession high, still snapping in, getting into the final third, making forward runs. He might be a machine.
The substitutions of Stansfield, Leonard and Davies had a positive impact. And Paik was Paik, popping about the park and moving it well.
Otherwise, it wasn’t fantastic. Bielik and Willumson looked as leggy as you would anticipate big boys starting their third game in less than six days to look. Fletcher targeted Bielik and got some joy out of it.
Dykes and May ran about but it wasn’t their day, both in terms of what they did with what little of the ball they saw and also the quality into them. I thought Gardner-Hickman had a poor day with his delivery and his movements in possession when he wasn’t running onto it in space. Laird was sound in most of his work but frustration came through the fact that’s so right-footed and therefore couldn’t produce quality on his wrong side.
I understand frustrations around Harris. I’ve stuck up for him online because I think some of the criticism is over the top. He’s not producing in the final third but he’s also not letting the team down and there’s a reason Davies trusts him ahead of others. At the same time, there is ability there and it just feels like he needs to be shaken and told he can produce more. I don’t think the timing of his injury helped at all and he’s returned at a time where the shape has changed and he has spent more time out wide than in the centre. Just one of those loans that hasn’t worked to date, but he’s not the only player that could potentially produce more.
Conclusions
It’s tempting to look at the last two games and be frustrated, but we’ve still walked away with four points having kept clean sheets in both.
There really isn’t a huge amount to complain about. We’ve conceded 0.52xG per game since the Shrewsbury Town debacle, averaging 6.57 shots per game concede and just 3.00 from inside our box. We’ve conceded once – a Paik Seung-Ho own goal.
But I get it to a point. We keep talking about how “it will come” in the final third and we’ll thump somebody and it hasn’t happened. We haven’t been able to truly put a team away.
We averaged 3.25 big chances per game against Exeter City, Stockport County, Barnsley and Bristol Rovers during a period where our starting XI could be rested at key points and produce. It's the last three that have been more problematic in the final third.
What is the answer? I don’t think it’s as simple “put this person there and everything works”.
I do believe the lack of wide options is an issue and I wonder what the balance may be had Emil Hansson and Scott Wright stayed fit, more from a point of view of having more ball carriers. Ayuma Yokoyama has shown flashes but he’s got a lot to learn about his impact on the game as a whole rather than just those flashes. Harris has been discussed in the Players section.
The mirroring of our shape has worked for Jay Stansfield and Keshi Anderson, but has also reduced the impact of Willum Willumson in the final third and left us more unbalanced as far as using the right far more than the left is concerned. The alternative is switching back where we are more vulnerable to the counter and again find ourselves likely shoehorning somebody into the side either as a ‘10’ or inside right owing to the lack of wide options.
Do we alter the shape completely? Not for me. Not at this stage of the season. We’re winning football matches regularly, barely concede chances and sit top of the division. There’s just no need to piss about with things.
It does make me wonder how January goes though. We have two spaces available within the squad. There’s talk about a change at centre-back with Sanderson out and somebody else in, so presumably that means we still have two slots available. Can we add a couple of bodies? I’m not going to cry if we don’t, but it would be nice if we can find somebody that just helps provide more balance to the attack. Either somebody that injects some speed and spontaneity to our attack or performs a role that helps accentuate the quality others provide. I’m sure the club are looking.
In the meantime, it’s Stockport County away.
I have frustrations with the schedule and that was showcased with Lee Buchanan, Emil Hansson, Christoph Klarer and Keshi Anderson all now being unavailable. The latter could return but he was withdrawn against Burton Albion at half-time through fatigue and missed Blackpool completely – can he come in and complete 90 minutes at Stockport all of a sudden? Seems fanciful. It didn’t surprise me at all that Crawley Town lost a 4-1 lead in the second half yesterday having endured similar to us.
The above injuries, coupled with Krystian Bielik, Tomoki Iwata and Willum Willumson having started all three games less than six days apart means Davies could find himself in a situation where he either needs to take a couple of risks or field whatever balanced XI he can.
Allsop starts in goal. Davies and Cochrane, assuming he was just out of the squad for cover purposes on Sunday, line up in defence. Bieilk likely goes again, preferably at right-back but if Klarer is missing, he’s central with Laird to the right. Iwata probably goes again in midfield with Paik next to him. Hopefully Anderson is fit and he, Stansfield and one of Dykes or May can start, leaving Davies to decide on whether to flog Willumson again or select Leonard or Harris to play as the nominal attacking midfielder.
If Anderson isn’t fit, my assumption is that we go to more of a 3-4-3. If Klarer is fit, he’s flanked by Bielik and Davies with Laird and Cochrane on either flank. If Klarer isn’t fit, I suspect we will see Laird and Davies flank Bielik with Gardner-Hickman and Cochrane out wide.
It’s incredible that we can have the options we have and still find ourselves in this position. At the same time, whatever XI is announced, it should be good enough to win and that is the challenge for the players.
The positive is that like us, Stockport found themselves in all sorts of trouble at Rotherham as injuries were occurred. Fraser Horsfall went off on a stretcher, Louie Barry and Isaac Olaofe were withdrawn with hamstring issues.
I really can’t see it being a good game of football. Both sides are going to be knackered. Some of the more exciting / pacy players aren’t going to be on show. If we can keep another clean sheet, I’ll be more than happy.