Match Report: Blues 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
The pre-season favourites squared off at St.Andrews on Tuesday with Blues running out comfortable winners courtesy of Tomoki Iwata and Jay Stansfield.
Birmingham City beat fellow pre-season promotion favourites Bolton Wanderers 2-0 on Tuesday night to make it five consecutive home wins.
The hosts led within three minutes thanks to Tomoki Iwata's volley and were largely comfortable throughout the 90 minutes.
The biggest scare came in the second half when Ryan Allsop denied James McAtee. A few moments later, Jay Stansfield was smashing home a penalty to seal the win.
Chris Davies made just one change to his starting XI, giving Ethan Laird his first start since returning from injury. Taylor Gardner-Hickman dropped to the bench, joined by Stansfield. Keshi Anderson and Emil Hansson had gotten over knocks to remain in the XI.
Blues started okay, something of a rarity this season, and quickly produced the opening goal. Having won a couple of 50-50’s in the middle, the ball was played to Alfie May out wide who cut inside and lifted a cross towards the back post. A Bolton head cleared but only to Iwata, who expertly guided the ball past Luke Southwood with the inside of his left boot.
And it was pretty comfortable thereon. Bolton were reactive and it opened up space regularly.
They did have one moment, an excellent Cogley run ending with Laird doing well to cut out the cross in a dangerous area. It was about as close as they came, barring a blocked effort from the edge of the box late in the half.
Southwood was unconvincing with a headed clearance but May couldn’t make the most of it. Alex Cochrane sent a free-kick over the bar. A poor goal kick found its way to May who couldn’t make the most of it while Marc Leonard couldn’t turn home the loose ball.
Blues did have the ball in the net via Alfie May. The Blues number nine was found by Alex Cochrane before finishing but the offside flag was raised.
Bolton tried to start the second half on the front foot and a nice move ended with Dion Charles shooting at Ben Davies. Blues went straight down the other end and ought to have gone two up but May attempted to round Southwood and was tackled.
The frustration of Bolton showed when Josh Sheehan needlessly shoved Paik Seung-Ho to the floor. It only served to wind up Blues with Anderson and Willumson denied by blocks before Southwood made a fine stop to deny Laird’s stooping header.
The Bolton keeper was at it again moments later, denying May from a tight angle after gorgeous footwork from Willumson. Santos got in the way of Willumson’s strike before Cochrane was wayward.
Similar to Lincoln at the weekend, Blues began to drop the tempo. And having gotten away with a couple of sloppy passes, they were almost punished when James McAtee slipped in behind. Allsop made the crucial stop.
It proved a crucial stop because a couple of minutes later, Keshi Anderson was one-on-one with Will Forrester and having almost caught him once, he flew in for a second bite and conceded a penalty. Jay Stansfield stepped up and smashed the ball down the middle for two.
Forester nearly made amends, heading over a set-piece before McAtee had another big chance, a fine move involving Victor Adeboyejo ending with a dinked effort just wide of the far post.
Willumson was wayward with a free-kick and then tested Southwood just before the referee blew the final whistle.
Blues stay top, now four points clear of Wrexham.
Lineups
Blues: Allsop; Laird (Gardner-Hickman 65) Klarer Davies Cochrane; Paik (Dykes 87) Iwata; Anderson (Yokoyama 87) Willumson Hansson (Leonard 20); May (Stansfield 65). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Sanderson Yokoyama Dykes.
Bolton: Southwood; Cogley Santos Johnston; Williams (Forrester 69) Sheehan Matete Schon; Dempsey (McAtee 46) Arfield (Collins 57); Charles (Adeboyejo 57). Unused: Hutchinson; Inwood Lolos.
Tactics
Unlike recent opposition, Bolton chose to remain true to their 3-4-2-1 shape here.
It meant that they went 4v4 in midfield man for man initially while the wing-backs watched Laird and Hansson/Anderson.
When Blues moved the ball to Klarer or Cochrane, Bolton shifted. The attacking midfielder closed the play with the expectation being that the central midfielder and centre-back would step up to support.
They got this horribly wrong. Bolton were reactive, rarely pressing as a unit and instead doing so in ones or twos. It just opened up space across the pitch once Blues' rotations began.
Blues would keep the LW high with Paik pulling wide. Willumson/Leonard or May would drop in to the space left while the other side of the pitch was free from opposition and the switch easy to make. On the right, either Laird would drop off and open space for somebody to move in behind, or he would go long himself. Such was the lack of pressure, Blues were able to make longer, searching passes in behind.
The big spaces were available down the sides of the back three where communication and positional sense was missing. Anderson, May and Laird were able to make forwards runs all evening into vacated space.
There was a positional change for Blues early doors with Leonard replacing Hansson. Anderson went from right to left, Willumson centre to right and Leonard into the centre behind May.
In terms of with the ball, Bolton tended to go down the flanks. However, with one of the attacking midfielders dropping deep, Blues were able to push a full-back high to press and when the long forward pass was made, Charles tended to be alone in the battle against the Blues centre backs, meaning the ball often came back.
Players
It was good to have Laird back. It took him a period to get up to speed, particularly with a couple of slips early doors, but he looked sharp physically and his speed is such an asset to us.
I want to shout out May again too. Involved for the goal. His intelligence is as impressive as his work rate and Santos didn’t enjoy himself on the night. And Anderson is making a spot in the XI his own.
Otherwise, it was same old. I’m running out of superlatives for most of them.
For Bolton, it was another opponent for whom few impressed. McAtee at least had a couple of decent efforts late on. Matete had a couple of bursts. Johnston looked their most competent defender.
Conclusions
On 6th August, just before the start of the League One season, Betfair released the traders league table.
https://x.com/Betfair/status/1820807041587503490?t=2QKvGAOFg0aHLj0CD4sdxw&s=19
Blues have now played 11 of the top 15 in this list and won nine, drawn one and lost one, averaging two goals per game and averaging 69% of the ball. We’ve also played each of the other sides in the top six, winning all five.
One of the best things I’ve heard this last week or so was when NTT20 did a focus on Blues during their Fotmob corner segment and acknowledged that of the ten goals we have conceded, the last seven have all come either from set-pieces or goalkeeping errors. We aren’t being broken down. Only two of those seven have come after the 16th minute.
And we’ve still got to play four of the bottom five. Or eight of the bottom 12. Or each of the nine sides at the bottom of Betfair’s pre-season traders list. Use whichever you fancy depending on which sounds better to you.
It’s Mansfield Town the weekend. They are having a fantastic start and deserve all the praise they get. They have won promotion and stepped into League One ready for the battle, it seems. They have a very experienced squad, players willing to muck in and play whatever roles they are tasked with and a manager that has consistently got good results with clubs despite some unusual methods.
If there is a black mark against their early season form, it’s that six of their seven victories have come against sides in the bottom nine and they are yet to play against anybody currently in the top seven.
Given Hansson was brought off early again, I’m expecting a change in attack, presumably with Jay Stansfield leading the line. That would mean Alfie May dropping into the ‘10’ position, Willumson to the right and Anderson to the left. It’s so nice having strong options ready to step into the side.
Can we achieve our first nine-point week of the season? Let’s hope so.