Match Report: Blues 1-0 Exeter City
Blues beat Exeter City for the third month in a row, extending their unbeaten run to 14 in all competitions as they lead League One.
Birmingham City made it 14 matches unbeaten in all competitions with a 1-0 victory over Exeter City at St.Andrews.
Ethan Laird’s volley on the stroke of half-time proved enough on a day where our visitors failed to muster a single effort at Ryan Allsop’s goal.
Chris Davies made four changes from the midweek victory at Swindon Town with Ryan Allsop, Christoph Klarer, Jay Stansfield and Scott Wright, who was making his full league debut, returning to the XI in place of Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Alfons Sampsted, Lyndon Dykes and Ayuma Yokoyama, who all dropped to the bench, joined by new signing Grant Hanley and a returning Krystian Bielik.
The first half brought virtually no action. Exeter were excellent defensively while Blues had plenty of the ball but were unable to make the most of it. There wasn’t a single shot at goal for 38 minutes and when it came, Alfie May saw an Exeter City defender stood in his way.
In injury time, Marc Leonard received possession and quickly set Wright away. He tried to use Laird’s overlap to his advantage but the space never opened and the shot deflected kindly for Joe Whitworth to parry away.
Alfie May was quick to read the situation and with Exeter having been drawn towards the ball, he crossed just beyond the penalty spot. Laird was quicker than his marker, Vincent Harper, to read the situation and volleyed in with his left foot. An emotional celebration followed and it felt like every player was overjoyed for the full-back.
The second half started with a bit more tempo. Wright found himself in space once more but again chose to shoot rather than play, the effort rebounding against a defender. Stansfield had a rare opportunity in transition and fired just over from 25 yards and Whitworth punched a delicious Alex Cochrane cross out to Wright who again saw his shot blocked.
That was about that for a while. Personnel and tactical changes were made and it was a while before Yokoyama cut inside from the left and forced a stop low down and Dykes did the same from the right a minute later.
There was a long stoppage in play when Vincent Harper and Dykes clashed, the former going down and being stretchered off with concussion.
Play resumed five minutes into injury time and Blues almost wrapped it up when Bielik sent Yokoyama away only for the effort to be blocked.
There was enough time for Jack McMillan to receive his marching orders, committing a lazy challenge on Yokoyama for a second yellow.
Not a thriller but another three points as Blues move five points clear of Wrexham.
Lineups
Blues
Allsop
Laird Klarer Davies Cochrane
Gardner-Hickman Leonard
Wright (Dykes 63) Harris Stansfield (Yokoyama 63)
May (Bielik 95)
Unused: Peacock-Farrell Sampsted Hanley Jutkiewicz.
Exeter
Whitworth
Fitzwater McDonald (Magennis 63) Francis
McMillan Woods Richards (Colwill 63) Harper (Niskanen 95)
Mitchell (Jones 74) Watts
Alli (Aitchison 74)
Unused: MacDonald; Diabate.
Tactics
For Blues, it was business as normal to begin with. Wright and Cochrane were tasked with providing width with Laird tucking in a little. Gardner-Hickman and Harris flanked Leonard with Stansfield closer to May in attack to create something of an asymmetric 4-3-3.
Exeter were initially bold in their attempts to cut us off, almost going man-for-man against Blues in initial build up. It looked something like a 5-1-3-1 with the back five responsible for Blues’ front five, albeit Francis would step up alongside Woods to cut off the passes to Gardner-Hickman and Harris. That allowed Richards to step up onto Leonard and join the front three to go 4v4. Their jobs were to be aggressive and if necessary, give away a foul rather than let Blues progress.
This is where Davies showcased his tactical acumen in order to give Blues a real foothold in proceedings.
Following a brief consultation on the touchline, which coincided with an Allsop injury I’m sure was genuine and definitely not a ploy for a team discussion, Blues switched things up. There were three key changes:
Cochrane began stepping into central midfield in build up alongside Leonard
Gardner-Hickman started pulling wider to the left-hand side to receive the ball
Stansfield started from a wider position
The image below isn’t the best, but you can see that it is Gardner-Hickman showing wide on the left as Davies clears the ball forward for Yokoyama with Cochrane just behind Pat Jones in the centre of the pitch.
It meant that Exeter had more to think about tactically. Mitchell continued to close Davies but had to be mindful of Cochrane in the centre while Woods did not want to be dragged out to close Gardner-Hickman. And when Gardner-Hickman received, he had Stansfield ahead or Cochrane inside. This began to drag Exeter’s front four to a more narrow shape which then allowed Blues to begin spreading the ball wider quickly, which in turn allowed Laird to step forward. In the second half, this worked down both flanks with Yokoyama holding the width on the left.
As for Exeter, they had a unique tactical position when going forward. Their 5-1-3-1 would become more 3-2-4-1 with Harper advancing high down the left and Mitchell holding width on the right. Richards and Watts would then play just behind Alli with McMillan moving from right wing-back to central midfield to cut off the centre of the pitch in transition.
Blues’ press was a 4-1-4-1, almost man-for-man. Gardner-Hickman would join Harris in pressing the two players in the centre with the front three closing Exeter’s back three. When the ball was played wide, Gardner-Hickman or Harris would tuck in while Leonard pressed whichever attacking midfielder was closest, with the wide man on the other flank dropping in on the deeper central midfielder.
The image below is straight from kick-off in the second half where you can see the four attackers behind May stepping up with McMillan in the centre of the pitch next to Woods. In the second image, Wright is closing the ball, Leonard has stepped over to close Watts with Gardner-Hickman and Harris both tucking in to stop the short pass.
Exeter didn’t want to get caught in the centre of the pitch so they would set themselves with a couple of sharp passes then task somebody, usually a wide centre-back, to search for Alli, Harper or Mitchell with a longer pass forward towards the channel in an attempt to stretch the Blues back line. They would then be supported by an energetic and pretty athletic attacking midfield quartet. Blues were comfortable dealing with this.
In the first image below, Woods has just played the ball to Francis. Stansfield has stepped inside with May next to McDonald, Harris watchful of Woods and Wright closing Francis. In the second image, Harper is about to nod the ball down to Watts but has Laird and Gardner-Hickman in close attendance with Klarer spare while Leonard, Davies and Cochrane are watchful over the other three attackers.
There were some other tactical switches during the game.
Exeter (60): Moved to a 4-2-3-1. Mitchell and Alli were now flanking Magennis with Colwill just off the front.
Blues (60): Harris shifted to the right, Dykes just off May with Yokoyama on the left.
Blues (95): Dykes up top, Gardner-Hickman just behind him, Leonard slightly more advanced with Bielik sitting in front of the defence.
The goal
Ryan Woods attempts to find one of Richards or Watts either side of Leonard having drawn Blues on. However, he gifts the ball straight to Leonard.
On the left, you can see that Harper has quickly jumped in a bid to create the 4-1-4-1 shape, leaving Francis to deal with Wright while McDonald (out of shot) is the spare man at the back.
Leonard receives and quickly see Wright in space. Laird reacts quickly and gets ahead of Harper for the overlap.
You can see why Ethan Laird was frustrated after. Meanwhile, everybody is watching the ball and May is free at the back post, ready for whatever falls.
Whitworth pushes the ball out and May receives. McMillan is concerned by the presence of Gardner-Hickman while Fitzwater doesn’t want to overcommit, allowing May to weigh up his options. However, Woods is in position at the near post with four other team-mates marking men, meaning that he ought to have closed May down and forced an action from him sooner.
May delivers the ball. Harper seems to be anticipating a touch while Laird is on the front foot and scores.
Players
We went into this one without the entire midfield trio that has served us so well this season.
How did the replacements perform? Okay.
It’s tricky. You immediately begin judging them against what came before rather than for what they are and it’s important that Davies continues to show the little tactical tweaks that enhance his team and cover their weaknesses.
I felt Gardner-Hickman struggled early on and I think he’s a player much more at ease when he can see the game rather than when he can’t, and it’s no surprise he looked more at ease when pulling out to the left with the play ahead of him. I think his long-range work is better than his short-range and it suited him sweeping the ball out and running forward than trying to be Paik.
Leonard showed enough. He was always available, showed his quality for the goal and I think’s about sharpness with him. His run of games this last week should serve him well given he’s likely to start against Wrexham.
Harris was okay. I think it was a typical performance from him. Reliable without ever really standing out at any point. Wright was lively and provided a threat but still looks like he’s getting back to fitness. It was a similar story for Stansfield who doesn’t look quite right just yet.
Laird got another goal and deserves credit for adapting to be more of a centre-back than wing-back. He became more important as the game progressed with his forward bursts. Klarer, Davies and Cochrane were excellent. May was busy and got yet another assist.
For Exeter, it’s hard to say players impressed. You could see the energy and pace about their game but they offered so little going forward. The young lad Richards was busy.
Conclusions
Total control.
We limited our opposition to:
0 shots
0 touches in our box
1 corner kick
I mean, just look at this touch map:
The curious element is that in the second half, Exeter actually as much of the ball as Blues, which suggests our control wasn’t the control we are used to but one of game and positional management. We controlled the game without the ball as much as we did with it.
Davies has been accused of lacking a Plan B but I believe the issue relates more to what we as general fans see as a Plan B. Often, it’s been getting another striker on and being more direct but in the modern age, it’s more about subtle tweaks to give the side an overload and a way through or round the opposition. He’s been clever on a number of occasions but it will often see us gain a little bit more control than maybe score a second or third and I think that’s the issue for him – the changes aren’t tangibly effecting the score and more the flow of the game.
His response to a question about Exeter being aggressive in the first 45 minutes was blunt and it was clear that he wasn’t happy with their spoiling tactics, albeit praising the referee for getting on top of it and eventually sending a player off. It says plenty that we didn’t react to it and instead just got on with playing our game – it's an approach we will need next Thursday.
It’s the first time we’ve played without any of Paik, Iwata or Willumson this season, so getting the result was important. However, it raises questions for fans about what we do over the next week or two.
The state of play appears to be:
Stansfield, Wright and Bielik are fit
Iwata is a doubt
Paik is a “major doubt”
Anderson could return
Willumson and Hansson are definitely out
It’s therefore difficult to predict what we may do.
We know that Allsop, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane, Stansfield and May are starting. Presumably Bielik and Iwata will return if fit, the former at right-back and the latter in midfield. I’m guessing Leonard starts if Paik is absent. That leaves two spots up for grabs between Laird, Gardner-Hickman, Harris and Wright. I think Gardner-Hickman starts, it’s just whether it’s from the right or in the middle.
I’m curious what the plan is if Iwata is missing. Bielik briefly played in front of the backline yesterday and I wonder whether he may play there against Wrexham, relieving Leonard and Gardner-Hickman of the duty and freeing them up to play.
The fixture list over the month six weeks is tough. Trips to Wrexham and Huddersfield Town are up next before we welcome an improving Rotherham United in the league. It’s a week break before hosting Newcastle United in the FA Cup and then in the following month we play Charlton Athletic, Reading, Leyton Orient, Wycombe Wanderers and Bolton Wanderers, two being on the road. We’ve also got an EFL Trophy quarter-final to fit in and possibly the semi-final. It could very well be Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday (or near enough) from 8th February to 15th March.
One thing I do appreciate is that while us fans raise concerns about who can step in and step up, Davies always bats away any questions, simply focusing on what he and we can do. And I think that is part of the reason why players step in and continue to perform.
Final notes.
The bad first. The racist arsehole that tweeted Caleb Watts post-match deserves the ban he’s going to receive. Hopefully he’s forced to undergo some education. Racism of any kind is sickening and it angers me when a fan of our club, a club whose fanbase has traditionally been so diverse, acts in that manner.
But let’s end on a positive. The tributes to Stansfield’s father and Arthur Labinjo-Hughes were lovely. And Vincent Harper, who was stretchered off yesterday, is up and confirmed to have suffered a concussion. He thanked medical staff from both clubs.
We’re 14 unbeaten. It’s five clean sheets at home in a row. We’re top of the league. I’ll see you all for Wrexham.
KRO.
Interesting as ever, Ryan. I hope the vile prat who abused Caleb Watts is banned for life. Racism has no place anywhere but we live in a proudly multi cultural city with a multi cultural fanbase .
Coincidentally, I thought Watts was ,by some distance, Exeter's best player but that's damning with faint praise.
TGH and Leonard were, I thought, very good . When TGH popped up on the left wing ,we wondered if that was every outfield position he has played in. When Allsop appeared to be injured, I expected TGH to go and put a 'keepers top on and make it a full 11 positions. The guy doesn't seem to be fazed by anything.
Exeter nearly got away with it, a first half littered with petty fouls and time wasting spoiled the rhythm so fair does to our lads for just keeping going, an I'm very pleased for Laird getting his goal; left foot as well(shock!).