Match Report: Blues 2-0 Burton Albion
Blues made it eight wins on the bounce and put their Burton Albion hoodoo to bed thanks to a Jay Stansfield penalty and Max Crocombe own goal at St.Andrews.
Birmingham City put their Burton Albion hoodoo to bed with a 2-0 win at St.Andrews on Boxing Day.
Blues picked up just one point from their four matches against the Brewers during their Championship days so were relieved when Jay Stansfield opened the scoring from the penalty spot.
The scoreline increased in the second half courtesy of a Max Crocombe own goal with the hosts able to see the game out comfortably.
With a busy schedule ahead, Chris Davies took the opportunity to make changes to his starting XI, making four in total. Marc Leonard made his first start since August while Ethan Laird, Alex Cochrane and Lyndon Dykes returned. Christoph Klarer was suspended, Paik Seung-Ho and Alfie May dropped to the bench while Lee Buchanan dropped out of the squad for Dion Sanderson, assumedly for centre-back cover.
There was a brief delay to start of the game owing to the foggy conditions, unhelped by the pre-match fire and pyrotechnics display. Blues quickly found their passing rhythm and dominated early doors but only had blocked Cochrane and Stansfield efforts from set-piece situations to show for it.
The opener came on the quarter-mark of the game. Laird’s cutback found Keshi Anderson who shot at a Burton defender. Blues recycled play and as the ball looped into the area, Ciaran Gilligan jumped through Anderson to head away with the referee deeming it to be a penalty. A debatable decision but one that Stansfield made the most of, slicing the ball in off the inside of the post.
Blues had another opening down the right, Stansfield teeing up Laird to blaze over and space arose for Tomoki Iwata a moment later but he was wayward from distance.
Both sides started the second half with more ambition. Leonard collected a loose ball and shot and substitute Emil Hansson couldn’t cleanly with an attempted lob after Dykes’ header played him in.
Burton had the best opportunity of the 90 minutes and ought to have levelled. Udoka Godwin-Malife played a gorgeous cross that Jack Armer connected with but Kegs Chauke inexplicably got his feet tied up and put the ball over the bar from a couple of yards out. Ryan Sweeney then headed wide.
And they were punished for their inability to take the big opportunity. Blues’ play finally dragged Burton out of position as Laird sent Willum Willumson in behind. He steadied himself before crossing with Gilligan meeting the cross. Only, the ball rebounded against the post, against the back of Crocombe and crawled across the line.
A clearly frustrated Burton decided to shoot direct from kick-off. It was one of just three shots taken after the second as Blues completely killed the contest. The Brewers did sneak in behind through Tomas Kalinauskas but his cross just evaded Danilo Orsi at the back post.
A game killed with competence. Blues make it eight on the bounce.
Lineups
Blues: Allsop; Laird Bielik Davies Cochrane; Iwata Leonard (Paik 68) Anderson (Hansson 46) Willumson (Stansfield (Harris 80); Dykes (May 68). Unused: Peacock-Farrell; Sanderson Gardner-Hickman.
Burton: Crocombe; Vancooten Sweeney Sraha; Godwin-Malife Gilligan (Whtfield 68) Watt Chauke (Webster 68) Armer; Bennett (Orsi 50) Burrell (Kalinauskas 68). Unused: Isted Williams Bodin.
Tactics
Burton Albion lined up in a 3-5-2 shape. Their plan was to stifle, frustrate and utilise the speed and power of their front two and Godwin-Malife.
This is best shown by their first half touch map. Burton had just 38 touches of the ball in the Blues half with just five coming on the left-hand side of the penalty spot.
The approach changed a little in the second half, particularly following the arrival of Kalinauskas, who naturally drifts towards the left being a winger by trade.
For Blues, it was business as normal. Laird was technically employed in Bielik’s role with Bielik moving back inside, but Burton’s 3-5-2 shape meant he and Cochrane could both get high up the pitch when the opportunity called for it.
Leonard took on Paik’s role of stepping out to the left when the ball moved out that way with Willumson doing similar on the right, both creating overloads down their respective sides but also opening space up in the centre. Leonard’s role in particular was important because it allowed Stansfield to stay narrower rather than toiling out wide.
To stop Blues playing, Burton stayed in a 5-3-2 shape. The wing-backs didn’t really step out, sitting compact in a five with the front two asked to work across the Blues backline while the midfield three stayed watchful of their respective men – Watt would step up to close Iwata at the base if the ball came his way. It was all about working the pitch side to side and cutting off the option to switch play and hoping their pacey forwards could make the most of an error that never came.
Blues were dominant throughout in possession, the usual triangles and build up out wide coming naturally. But once in the final third, it became difficult. Deliveries were often met by a Burton head and trying to play through wasn’t easy given the sheer number of bodies, even when they did make it into the area.
The second goal was notable because it was a rare occasion Burton did misjudge things. Sraha stepped out. Watt didn’t track the run. Blues earned their fortune for continuing to probe and making the most of the space when it arose.
Players
The kind of game where nobody was below a 6 and nobody rose above a 7. Blues controlled and probed and kept possession in good areas but lacked that little bit of quality.
I thought Bielik, Davies and Iwata were excellent in their work, as usual. Cochrane and Laird saw plenty of the ball and progressed it well. Stansfield was busy.
A lot was made of Leonard getting a rare start. He did okay. Nothing incredible but then he didn’t need to – his job was to replace Paik who is so consistently good in how he moves the ball and draws people towards him. He stepped in more than adequately.
Dykes was the other starter that maybe had a question to answer. Again, he was fine. He worked hard, won a couple of flick-ons, turned the ball well. He was just outnumbered for most of the game.
A final note would be on Emil Hansson who I thought was bright off the bench. He showed a good first touch, played a clever pass leading to the second and a couple of outside to inside runs that opened things up. An intelligent player and a nice option to have again.
For Burton, the praise ultimately goes to the back five that largely stayed solid. I thought Sweeney and Vancooten did a good job defensively in keeping the back door shut. Kalinauskas had a couple of tidy moments late on.
Conclusions
Eight wins on the bounce.
I don’t care that we’re not blowing teams away with regards to the scoreline – we have won eight football matches consecutively. Regardless of spending, quality of player and everything else, it’s a super achievement.
This was the worst type of game for a fan. An attack v defence exercise in which our opposition decided to barely venture outside of their own defensive third. It meant we popped the ball about, got into good positions but were simply outdone by the numbers game.
And so we finished up with over 78% of the ball, three times as many touches inside the area, six times the number of shots at goal and a 2-0 scoreline.
The penalty? I always try and look at these things from a point of view of how I’d feel if it went against us. I think I’d feel pretty miffed. At the same time, it’s undeniably clumsy from Gilligan who tries to climb through / over Anderson to reach the ball and clatters him. If Anderson doesn’t protect himself, he’s getting clobbered.
The second also comes with a touch of fortune. But the move was crafted by excellent play out from the back and into the Burton box and deserved a goal.
Burton manager Gary Bowyer has received some stick post-match for his comments.
I think we should remember that a manager’s post-match comments are solely for the purpose of his team and supporters. He is new in the role and his job is to use the positives to give his team the belief that they can perform at this level.
Is he wrong? He’s spun things in a certain way for sure. But he’s not exactly lying. His goalkeeper made one save all afternoon – a tame Krystian Bielik header from a set-piece. The penalty was debatable, so he’s obviously used that as a reason to claim misfortune. And they did create the best chance from open play.
You can see why it winds our fans up. I just don’t think we need to care about it.
It’s Blackpool next as we bid to make it nine. A return to St.Andrews for Steve Bruce as part of the deal.
The schedule is horrible with five games in 12 days. My guess is that Davies would prefer to have his best side out for the away games if possible, so I can see us making more changes for this one.
Christoph Klarer is back from suspension. Paik Seung-Ho and Alfie May had a rest last time out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tomoki Iwata, Keshi Anderson, Willum Willumson and Jay Stansfield start from the bench against Blackpool to give them a break with Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Emil Hansson and Luke Harris chomping wanting game time. More a case of freshening things up while at home with the fans behind the team, knowing those in reserve are more than good enough to perform – they proved that away at Blackpool in the cup.
It won’t be easy. Blackpool were excellent against Wrexham last time out and unfortunate not to get a result owing to an awful handball decision. I’ll take another 1-0 with plenty of control and few chances in the game if it means continuing to win football matches.