Match Report: Blues 2-1 Sunderland
Back-to-back wins for Birmingham City as Tony Mowbray gets one over his former employers thanks to James and Miyoshi
Blues made it back-to-back home wins in front of a sell out crowd as Tony Mowbray got one over the club that sacked him earlier this season.
A first half error allowed Jack Clarke to put the visitors in front but close range finishes from Jordan James and Koji Miyoshi left the home fans in great voice.
Mowbray picked up an unchanged XI for the first time as Birmingham City manager, meaning Tyler Roberts, Paik Seung-Ho and Marc Roberts kept their spots. Emmanuel Aiwu was the only newcomer to the squad.
Blues started full of beans but it was Sunderland that began creating opportunities first, Jobe and Clarke got in down the left but their crosses were blocked, Pierre Ekwah blazed over, Romaine Mundle crossed for Mason Burstow to volley over thanks to a touch from Krystian Bielik and Mundle himself found the target.
Blues needed a response and it came through Jay Stansfield whose wicked volley from a cleared corner had Anthony Patterson stretching before Paik failed to find the target with a free-kick.
A number of the chances given away came from Blues failing to play out with any conviction and another error would lead to the opener. Paik played a simple pass towards Marc Roberts who stood and waited for the ball. Clarke latched on and a player of his quality wasn’t going to waste the chance.
The rest of the half was a frustrating one for Blues who always seemed a man short in the press and couldn’t get their game going. Tyler Roberts had two efforts either side of Hjelde heading on target to his own keeper. Jobe lacked accuracy with a free-kick and a mistimed Bielik header gave Mundle a chance he couldn’t take.
The second half wasn’t much of an event in the way of chances but it felt more controlled from Blues. The improved atmosphere helped, a full crowd buoyed by the response to left-back Leo Hjelde throwing a fairly needless strop. Both managers would reference the crowd post-match.
Blues’ equaliser came in similar fashion to the winner against Blackburn. James and Ethan Laird linked up down the left to find Andre Dozzell, whose effort was blocked. Tyler Roberts endured the same fate but showed good footwork to carve another chance which was saved. Miyoshi was then denied by two more Sunderland blocks before James found the net.
Mason Burstow thought he had put his side back ahead, only for the offside flag to be raised. A minute later he was wiped out by Dozzell and taken off. How’s your luck?
With 10 to go, Trai Hume fouled substitute Juninho Bacuna and the Curaçao man wasted little time, finding Jay Stansfield behind a defence that failed to switch on. The striker’s effort deflected twice before Miyoshi prodded home a loose ball between marker and keeper. The Tilton roared. Blues were ahead.
Blues were comfortable thereon. The sole shot in the final ten plus stoppage came via the quick feet of Clarke, who beat three cutting in from the left but lacked power in the strike.
Job done. A six point week at home and the perfect response to the loss at Wednesday.
Lineups
Blues
Ruddy; Drameh Roberts Bielik Laird; Miyoshi Dozzell Paik (Bacuna 66) James; Stansfield (Jutkiewicz 90) Roberts (Dembele 66). Unused: Etheridge; Aiwu Buchanan Sunjic Gardner Anderson.
Sunderland
Patterson; Hume (Semedo 87) Ballard O’Nien Hjelde; Neil; Mundle (Ba 70) Ekwah Bellingham Clarke; Burstow (Rusyn 70). Unused: Bishop; Pembele Seelt Kelly Aouchiche Rigg.
Tactics
This was nominally 4-4-2 vs 4-1-4-1.
Blues did their best to play from the back and attempt to do so by cutting through the centre of the pitch where possible. It meant the centre-backs and central midfielders keeping it between them until the space opened and they could thread a pass into one of the front four inside. Either that, or they found the full-back slightly higher up the pitch who could make the forward move or pass and break the line.
Sunderland had no interest in allowing Blues to play centrally. Ekwah and Jobe pushed up against Dozzell and Paik while Burstow concentrated on Bielik, leaving Clarke to ready to himself for Roberts with half an eye on Drameh. In terms of the press, Neil would step between his fellow midfielders ready to step in but mindful of what was behind him, making this a tough unit to cut through.
The story of the first half was largely Blues’ attempts to deny Sunderland.
Blues were a classic 4-4-2, similarly tight and narrow centrally with the front two dovetailing between closing the centre-back and covering the deep-lying midfielder. It wasn’t that easy, however. Neil, Ballard and O’Nien are all competent with the ball and happy to step forward, meaning the moment space arose, they stepped into it.
Hume was marked by James and he would make forward moves to take James away with Laird watching Mundle. That allowed O’Nien space to step past Roberts and play forward. When Blues did get it right, Sunderland would find an out by using Hjelde to play back infield with Miyoshi supporting centrally. It always felt like Blues were outnumbered.
A tweak was made with Dozzell pushing onto Neil for a period. This was soon made irrelevant by Jobe dropping deeper, meaning Dozzell needed to keep an eye on him receiving possession – Marc Roberts could only go so far with Clarke and Burstow nearby.
What Blues needed was for one of the wingers to be more forward-thinking in their approach and support Roberts and Stansfield in the press. That came with the arrival of Bacuna, who stopped following Hume back and instead focused on cutting the pass and the space for O’Nien to step forward. James, now in central midfield, closed Hume when necessary or at least covered that spade with Miyoshi nearby.
A curious change at half-time saw Roberts and Bielik switch sides and it seems to work in terms of Blues playing football, Roberts able to play first time under less pressure, perhaps helped by Roberts and James then Bacuna being on that side, stronger in taking the forward pass.
Sunderland went 3-3-4 late on. Semedo and Rusyn paired up top, Ba and Clarke wide with Hjelde tucking in.
Players
A strange game where few truly stood out but nobody was poor.
Ethan Laird probably gets my man of the match, comfortable in his job and tending to make good decisions on when to break and when not to.
Dozzell had another good game in the heart of midfield. Tyler Roberts is getting stronger. Ruddy was solid. James did okay down the left. Stansfield was quiet but never gave up anything. Bacuna had another big impact off the bench.
Jack Clarke was the only true danger for Sunderland and even in a quiet display, his quality was evident. Otherwise, Sunderland’s hopes are pinned on their defensive trio of Luke O’Nien, Dan Ballard and Dan Neil. Quality footballers with the presence of mind and physique to win their battles, step forward and play out. I was especially impressed with Neil.
Conclusions
Sell out crowd. Mowbray against the club that sacked him. Comeback win. Three points. Up to 15th. Lovely stuff.
We’ve played better than this under Mowbray but it felt more important. We recovered after going behind. We continued to try and play football rather than resorting to going long or losing our heads, both when behind and ahead. The subs again made a difference. Winning in front of a sell out to give people the bug to want to come back. Winning back-to-back football matches.
Looking at the 90+ minutes that played out from a more neutral point of view, it was interesting.
The flaws that remain in our squad showed on various occasions in the first half. For starters, the intensity levels had dropped slightly from midweek, no surprise given the fitness issues various players have endured. We made poor decisions with the ball and one or two hid at times, as shown for the goal we conceded. We were punished on that occasion but got away with others.
Yet, in recent years, we’ve watched our players to into hiding after a couple of mistakes. Balls start being hoisted into the channel. We didn’t do that. It helps having Paik and Dozzell at the base of midfield and Bielik behind. The half time switch of Bielik and Roberts was interesting too. I’m not sure what brought it on but it helped us with Roberts having to think less with the ball at his feet.
What killed us for an hour or so was the press. We let Sunderland dictate to us too much and it cost us. James followed Hume back, Miyoshi watched Hjelde from a central position and it gave us too much to do. Too much space to cover. Again, the subs helped with this with Bacuna stepping forward. Important changes with positive changes breeding the positive mindset.
That may also play into the gamesmanship too. Nobody likes it but it’s an important thing. Standing on the ball, knocking away and trying to avoid a booking, making the cynical challenge and taking the yellow, calling for every decision and debating with the ref. There was a fair bit of that today. A change in mentality – Troy Deeney took so much of that on his own back last season and we’ve often lacked it this year.
On the above note, Troy received a number of bookings for dishing out levellers to opponents that tried to bully their way into the game. Now, I can’t speak for Tyler Roberts, but I think he has this in him. A couple of naughty challenges – especially last Friday vs Will Vaulks after he gave it to Keshi Anderson. Good on him.
The hope is that Saturday was a glimpse to the future. Beating a good football team. Playing good football. A big crowd. Belief that we are on the up. A team that doesn’t give in.