Match Report: Blues 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers

Taylor Gardner-Hickman's volley secures Blues another victory as we go 12 points clear at the top of the League One table.

Birmingham City moved 12 points clear at the top of the League One table after a 1-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers at St.Andrews.

Taylor Gardner-Hickman scored the only goal of the game during a dominant first half in which Xavier Simons was sent off for the visitors. Wycombe gave plenty in the second half but Blues held on for the win.

Chris Davies’ squad was completely unchanged from the 2-0 win over Leyton Orient in midweek, meaning Alfie May continuing up top while Taylor Gardner-Hickman remained a part of the attack.

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Blues were very comfortable early on but took a few minutes to create opportunities. Ben Davies was under little pressure and found Ethan Laird with a switch, his good work allowing Willum Willumson to play May in behind for a smart stop. Wycombe did heed that warning because moments later, Davies was playing Kieran Dowell in behind to finish, the offside flag the only reason Blues didn’t lead.

Laird couldn’t quite connect with a Gardner-Hickman cross but Blues recovered the ball and when Ryan Allsop received, he was quick to spot the space for Gardner-Hickman in behind. The utility man controlled on his chest and volleyed towards goal from 20 yards, the ball squirming into the net via the arm of Norris to give Blues the lead.

The good play continued as Blues searched for a second. A nice move down the left allowed Dowell to cross to the back post. May couldn’t connect cleanly but his shot fell kindly for Iwata, who was denied by Joe Low on the line and Dowell couldn’t move his feet quick enough to tap in the rebound on the run.

Wycombe finally had their first shot at goal just before half hour, a set-piece cleared as far as Josh Scowen to shoot wide. And after a break in play for a tactical discussion, I mean goalkeeper injury, Daniel Udoh did well against Ben Davies to tee up Fred Onyedinma to shoot wide.

That looked to be about that for the rest of the half. Then Dowell set Laird away down the right. The right-back won the race and was scythed down by a lunging Simons challenge. Red card given.

By all accounts, it appeared as though Blues would breeze towards victory but it didn’t play out that way. Wycombe went to a 5-3-1, played more direct and made life tough.

Blues started the brighter. Dowell had a free-kick towards the top corner palmed away. A Paik Seung-Ho effort then took a nick and swerved towards goal, Norris doing well. A right-wing cross then hit Willumson with May unable to turn it home.

Chances were few and far between in a scrappy affair then on. Laird got in behind and his cross was cleared to Alex Cochrane, who couldn’t get his effort on target. At the other end, Jack Grimmer had a shot blocked, ran out wide to deliver the ball into the area and forced Allsop to tip the ball away from the top corner.

A teasing delivery from the left looked perfect for Willumson to nod home only for Low to get a telling touch on the ball with his head to put it behind for a corner. Low was causing problems at the other end from set-pieces but neither he, Bradley or Taylor could fairly cause a problem for Allsop. Luke Leahy’s teasing ball towards the back post that just evaded everybody was the closest they came, albeit Udoh did side foot a Reach delivery wide after a lung-busting run.

And that was that. Blues held on for the three points. That’s 18 unbeaten.

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Lineups

Blues: Allsop (Peacock-Farrell 93); Laird (Bielik 83) Klarer Davies Cochrane; Iwata Paik; Dowell Willumson TGH (Hansson 63); May (Jutkiewicz 83). Unused: Sampsted Hanley Harris.

Wycombe: Norris; Pattenden (Grimmer 67) Taylor Low Harvie (Reach 9); Scowen Simons; McCleary (Kone 75) Humphreys (Leahy 67) Onyedinma (Bradley 46); Udoh. Unused: Ravizzoli; Lubala.

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Tactics

It was business as normal for Blues. A 4-2-3-1 with Laird (RB) and Gardner-Hickman (LW) holding width. Paik floated from a deep midfield position towards the left with Dowell doing similar from a higher position to the right.

Wycombe played from a 4-2-3-1 shape, occasionally 4-1-4-1. Their aim was to cut off the wide centre-backs with McCleary (RW) and Onyedinma (LW) quick to close Cochrane and Klarer. Udoh and Humphreys would then tend to be watchful of Iwata and Paik. Simons and Scowen at the base of the midfield stepped up to be close to the two in front, more watchful of Willumson and May dropping into pockets.

They caused themselves problems with this. Firstly, it meant Davies had time and space to get on the ball and play. Secondly, Dowell was able to drift into half spaces behind Simons and ensure the left-back couldn’t commit fully to Laird, leaving him 2v1. And thirdly, because Udoh had something of a dual role, Iwata or Paik were usually allowed to float freely and receive the ball.

Their biggest issue, however, was that they didn’t commit to their jobs. They didn’t commit to a press or to sitting off, so they were stepping into areas and leaving gaps for others. It was easy for Blues to draw them on.

Here’s an instance from early on. Davies is under no pressure. Udoh is angling his run to watch Iwata. Humphreys nor McCleary are closing down Paik. So Paik can receive, draw on Humphreys, who reacts late, then give it back to Davies.

And so the midfield and attack have stepped up with no pressure on the ball and Blues are now 4v4 with the Wycombe defence.

Willumson is already ahead of the two midfielders. Dowell and May are running across. Reach and Low are essentially 2v3. And so Laird wins the ball, Willumson is free to receive and plays in May.

And this happened time and again.

Including for the goal. When Allsop goes long, Blues are 5v4 with the Wycombe backline.

It took a goalkeeper “injury” on 30 minutes for a change. Wycombe responded by going higher and quicker. They moved consistently towards a 4-1-4-1 shape with Udoh now closing Davies, Onyedinma and McCleary the wide centre-backs while Humphreys and one other stepping onto Iwata and Paik. And it did give them more in the game, particularly with Udoh pinning himself against Davies and doing well in the physical battle.

That last bit is what Wycombe wanted throughout. They tried to leave Onyedinma and McCleary as high as possible so that they could go 3v3 against the Blues defence with Humphreys picking up seconds nearby. If Udoh could get the better of the physical battle, they could get in behind. Blues dealt well with the seconds, however.

Going on the front foot did see Wycombe play more on the front foot two. They moved more directly, looking to play quickly and find the third man run, particularly in an attempt to get the full-back in behind. It’s something Pattenden managed well at times, Scowen and Humphreys or McCleary linking up to set Pattenden away down the right.

After the red card, Wycombe went to a 5-3-1 shape. Bradley was brought on to play in between Low and Taylor. Pattenden and Reach became wing-backs. McCleary and Humphreys flanked Scowen in midfield with Udoh up top. They changed their approach, keeping everything central and looking to go longer, hoping to either wing-backs or the wide central midfielders in advance of Udoh when he dropped off. Setting away Reach was seen as key.

For the final 15, Kone arrived. He replaced McCleary and Wycombe went to a 5-2-2 shape, looking to work the two strikers in tandem. This worked well, Udoh and Kone playing largely up against Cochrane and Davies so they would have the better hand physically, looking to drop the ball off and spread it wide. Reach was again target for this.

It did require Udoh and Kone to drop in deep at times and make up space. But with the way Blues press, condensing space on the pitch, it did mean that if they could get the ball out of their feet, Reach was free, particularly with Laird managing his runs as his muscles began to tighten.

In the image below, Udoh has held off Cochrane and found Taylor to play forward. Kone gets the better of Davies and springs the ball out wide for Reach.

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Players

Another win. Another game where it’s not entirely easy to break it down for the players given we played a half against a poor side then a half against ten.

I thought Davies had one of his toughest games of the season, enduring a physical battle against Udoh and Kone, but he also defended his box excellently. Klarer was Klarer. Cochrane was steady. Iwata and Paik were their usual busy selves.

Laird was a threat throughout and it became frustrating in the second half that we perhaps didn’t play him in behind enough given he had Reach on toast. Dowell showed his intelligence throughout, picking up some lovely positions and making life tough for Low and Reach. Gardner-Hickman got another goal and was busy throughout.

The front two. I can’t fault May much. He worked his socks off, his touch was superb at points and he did what he could in the land of the giants. As for Willumson, he looked tired second half but worked hard, made some good runs. It’s a shame we haven’t been able to give him more of a break.

A word for Bielik, who came on at right-back and showed his experience and quality, offering composure with the ball, winning his battles and providing us with additional height and quality.

I was really impressed with Taylor and Low for Wycombe. Giant centre-backs who made their size count and showed another side to their game in the second half by breaking forward from wide centre-back positions. And I think Udoh deserves credit for giving Davies one of his toughest games of the season from a physical point of view.

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Conclusions

So... we’re basically League One Champions now, right?

This was a weird game. The first half suggested Wycombe are going to be clinging on to second spot, looking a shadow of a team that has been so impressive all campaign. The second half showed just why Wycombe have been in the mix all season and why they don’t lose many games – this was just their 5^th of the season, and they haven’t lost to a team outside of the top 8.

If you want an image that shows how dominant we were in the first part of the game, this shows it. This is Wycombe’s touch map for the first 22 minutes of the game. They had 8 touches in our half in that time. Dominant.

We had to once again show the other qualities in our game. If you let us play, we’ll play and you won’t get a kick. If you don’t let us play, make it difficult and even manage to gain territory, we’ll put up a fight and ensure you really have to earn your goal. It’s why we aren’t conceding.

That’s now six points from Wycombe Wanderers and Huddersfield Town. That’s four points from Wrexham and Stockport County. We’ve done the double over Leyton Orient. We’ve beaten Charlton Athletic twice this season in all competitions. When the players need to step up, they’ve done so time and again.

And so we are 18 unbeaten, having kept 14 clean sheets and we’re now 12 points clear at the top of the table. We’re unbeaten at home since April. It’s been a joy to follow.

As ever, things turn around quickly as we head to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday, backed by what is likely to be over 4.5k fans.

It was interesting to hear Davies talk about tiredness post-match on Saturday. Our gaffer has a tendency to turn every indifferent thought into a positive one, something he has done very well this season. If we’re tired, he bigs up the work ethic of the players and the size of the squad. If we’re under the cosh in a game, it’s all about how we created as much they did or it was only a short spell of pressure or how we defend our box so well. So to hear him openly mention the players are tired was curious, even if he did follow it up by talking up the work they’ve got through because he wants his team to press high. Is beginning to feel a little worn down by a long campaign? Is he just preparing fan expectations? Is he simply just being honest in how he sees things?

Fans are no doubt sensing it regardless, and the injuries are testament to that. Allsop had to go off following a clash at the back post. Laird’s hamstring went. Buchanan and Wright are done for the season. Dykes probably misses Wembley. Stansfield and Anderson aren’t quite ready yet. Leonard is close.

The big concern from our side of things is less the number of injuries and more who is injured. When teams step on and press us, we usually have a threat in behind or somebody to play the ball into, so to lose almost all the physicality we have in our front line is a tough break. And Bolton and Lincoln will play to get up and at us.

I think Leonard will return Tuesday to take up a spot in the squad with Laird dropping out. Who replaces Laird in the XI? I see three options:

1. Hansson replaces Laird. Gardner-Hickman goes to RB. Almost like-for-like.

2. Bielik replaces Laird. Bielik tucks in. Cochrane goes higher. Gardner-Hickman moves to the right. But that means Willumson probably as an inside left which may be more awkward.

3. Bielik and Hansson replace Laird and Willumson. Bielik tucks in. Cochrane doesn’t get too advanced. Hansson and Gardner-Hickman play wide. We go more 4-3-3 than 3-3-4 in possession. But it means Gardner-Hickman at 5”11 becomes our only real height in attack.

This is where Davies’ tactical nous and ability to manage games will show up once more, because we aren’t going to have the speed to hurt Bolton and will have to rely more on our timing and quality with the ball.

Whatever happens, I’ve been delighted with this stretch of games. Two cup wins, the performance v Newcastle, the wins against Huddersfield, Wycombe, Charlton and Orient. Draws at Wrexham and Reading (on that pitch). Get through Bolton without defeat and it’s a run we can look back on with real pride, knowing we don’t have to play any of the top 9.

It leads me to look at records and one record I’m curious about is the matchday record.

Unfortunately, the dates don’t align to be the earliest team to win promotion / the title – we aren’t doing it by the end of the international break. However, we may break the matchday record. I’ve asked the question and had a look myself and have matchday 39 for promotion (Burnley 22-23) and matchday 41 for the title (Reading 05-06).

If I’ve worked out our fixture list correctly, we will have played 39 by the time Good Friday comes around while Wycombe and Wrexham will have played 42. So there is some good fortune about it, but we have a great chance of breaking those records if we can stay more than 12 points clear.

KRO.