Match Report: Hull City 1-1 Birmingham City
Lukas Jutkiewicz steps up once more as Blues take a point off sixth place Hull City
A classic Lukas Jutkiewicz header ensured Birmingham City left Hull City with an important point.
Blues were second best for the majority of the game and deservedly, yet controversially, went behind when Ozan Tufan handled the ball into the net.
Blues made a quadruple substitution that paid off with experienced pair Alex Pritchard and his club captain linking up to equalise with ten left to play.
Mark Venus again led the side and four changes were made from the gut-wrenching weekend loss against Southampton. Cody Drameh replaced the suspended Dion Sanderson, adopting his normal role at right-back with Lee Buchanan moving to centre-half and Ethan Laird on the left.
Ivan Sunjic, Siriki Dembele and Tyler Roberts also returned with Jay Stansfield, Koji Miyoshi and Paik Seung-Ho tested ahead of important games. Gary Gardner and Emmanuel Longelo returned to the squad with Scott Hogan dropping out.
The changes proved more of a hinder than a help, a lacklustre Blues display allowing Hull to dictate and they enjoyed themselves, Fabio Carvalho and Jean Michael Seri trying their luck. Blues’ first response came from individual brilliance from Juninho Bacuna, whose low cross was almost turned into his own net by Jacob Greaves.
While the midfield and attack were suffering, the defence were holding firm and Blues weren’t conceding much. Then came a set-piece on the quarter hour mark. Sunjic failed to block Greaves who rose for a header and Tufan was the right side of Jordan James to push the ball goalwards with his arm.
The game followed a similar pattern after the goal, Blues relying on individual moments but otherwise being dictated to and holding firm. That was until the final few minutes when things opened up.
A correct offside call saved a covering defender from a straight for a save on the goal line. John Ruddy produced an excellent stop from a dipping Tufan effort, Roberts couldn’t test Allsopp after good work from Dembele, Omur blazed over and Roberts was twice denied following an enterprising move involving Laird.
Things didn’t change in the second half. Hull were on the front foot, dictating the game and Blues chasing shadows. Carvalho fired over, Philogene’s effort was deflected wide, Ryan Giles blazed over and Alfie Jones’ free header fortunately found the gloves of Ruddy. Paik arrived only to gift Philogene a chance he shanked wide.
Slowly, the changes had a positive effect. Pritchard prodded wide after lovely work from Bacuna and Paik. Laird failed to clear and gave Philogene and Carvalho the chance to link up, the latter firing over. But Blues were having more final third entries and eventually, it paid off.
Stansfield and George Hall were making forward runs down the right, giving Blues an out. The former touched for the latter who gave the ball to Pritchard. The cross was begging for an old-school target man to attack the ball and Jutkiewicz obliged, powering over Jones to nod low past Allsopp.
Hull turned up again, looking to turn the game back in their favour. Anass Zaroury was denied by an excellent Emmanuel Aiwu block, there was a half volley over the bar and Philogene fired wide.
Slowly, the game died a death. Blues had got their point and left knowing it could an important one.
Lineups
Hull
Allsopp; Coyle Jones Greaves Giles; Morton Seri (Slater 66); Omur (Ohio 79) Tufan (Zaroury 66) Philogene; Carvalho. Subs: Pandur; Christie McLoughlin Jacob Traore Sharp.
Blues
Ruddy; Drameh Aiwu Buchanan Laird; Bacuna Dozzell (Paik 59) Sunjic (Jutkiewicz 80) James (Pritchard 59); Dembele (Hall 59); Roberts (Stansfield 59). Subs: Etheridge; Longelo Gardner Miyoshi.
Tactics
Both sides set up in similar ways here, adopting a 3-2 shape in defensive areas in possession.
For Hull, they had right-back Lewie Coyle tucking in with Jones sandwiched between he and Greaves. Seri and Morton then dropped deep to receive, happy to take the ball when space was available but also dragging Blues bodies forward onto them.
Giles and Omur provided the width on either flank with Tufan, Carvalho and Philogene a front three, dropping off, moving in behind – dictating how they saw fit.
The most impressive aspect was how organised they were in possession. Once the ball moved to one flank, often the left with Philogene and Giles the obvious threats, the team would move across and forward to almost make it a box. It two things:
1) Those on the left could pop the ball between them, something Philogene, Carvalho, Seri and Morton were more than comfortable doing
2) When Blues had to over-cover defensively with somebody caught out, Tufan and Omur were available with Coyle ready to burst forward on the overlap
3) The defence pushed right up to squeeze the space, making it easy to counter press and cut the space inside
It didn’t help that Blues lacked a willing threat in behind. Beyond Bacuna’s excellent footwork, Blues lacked an out with whoever received the ball inside immediately trapped by 2/3/4 players.
Blues followed similar principles to recent games but not quite as high. We had a spare man rather than going man-for-man across the pitch. Dozzell pushed high onto Seri or Morton, dovetailing depending on which side the ball was on. It was then on Roberts and Dembele to shuffle between closing the ball and watching the other defensive midfielder. Sunjic and one of the centre-backs stepped up with Carvalho and Tufan with the full-backs watching the wide men.
Blues fell short with the initial press. Dembele regularly failed to switch back on and with Dozzell unable to cover two men, Seri and Morton would drift and receive the ball centrally on the half turn, allowing them to play forward. Fortunately, Bacuna & Drameh were switched on, excellent in their jobs ensuring their men couldn’t turn or drive into space. On the rare occasion they were beat, Aiwu was sharp on the cover.
Once Hull were in the final third, Blues adopted more of a deep 4-4-2 shape. Standard stuff.
In possession, Blues looked to play out with a bit of freedom. Aiwu was flanked by Drameh and Buchanan with them more than happy to look wide for Laird and Bacuna, central to Sunjic or Dozzell, who looked to feed Bacuna or Dembele to feet, or go longer into Roberts’ chest and play off him. James’ primary involvement from the left tended to be drifting infield and supporting Bacuna and Dembele by making a forward run.
Hull looked to stop us by largely going man for man, albeit in a tight set up that didn’t put too much pressure on Blues centrally. The challenges came once the pass forward and/or wide was made and they could look to box Blues in as a unit.
Hull made a slight tweak during the game. Early doors, Philogene was looked to for the switch with he and Giles wide, looking to make the most of the overlap and space in behind. However, Blues were switched on. Philogene moved more inside with Giles alone holding the width, which dragged Drameh inside more and allowed Giles more space.
Blues responded in kind. Bacuna began pressing Greaves, which allowed Dozzell to sit off a little more rather than staying so high. Drameh occupied Giles with Sunjic shuffling across in front of the centre-backs.
Blues made a quadruple change late on and moved to 4-1-4-1. Pritchard and Paik behind Stansfield with Hall right and Bacuna left. This became more man-for-man with Stansfield having a slightly different role, covering and blocking passes between Allsopp, Jones and Greaves.
The primary difference after the change was that Blues had legs running the other way. Rather than showing for feet, Blues could be more direct to open up Hull with Hall and Stansfield regularly running in behind and off their men. This have Blues an out to get higher up the pitch and get Pritchard involved. It’s how the goal came about.
Players
Praise has to go to the defence. Drameh found himself up against Philogene on several occasions and won that battle a lot. Aiwu stepped up as the only available central defenders. Buchanan stepped in at centre-half and wasn’t fazed. Laird moved to left-back and barely put a foot wrong. It wasn’t perfect, but all four deserve credit.
Elsewhere, it wasn’t great. Bacuna was the best of the bunch but often found himself isolated or trapped and needing to produce something alone. The subs made an impact. George Hall and Jay Stansfield in particular, just because of their willingness to run forward and get beyond the last line of defence.
Those that came in? Ivan Sunjic was okay. Nothing we haven’t seen before. Tyler Roberts was okay, perhaps unhelped by the lack of runners around him.
Siriki Dembele has taken a lot of stick. I’m loathe to go in on him. He definitely wasn’t up to task in terms of our press on the night. We needed more from him and it caused us problems. But the rest of it feels a little circumstantial, Dembele being a player that wants the ball on the half turn, to face the play and to go 1v1 but we’re asking him to play in pockets, surrounded by bodies and hold the ball up.
I think, primarily, we covered for his deficiencies earlier in the campaign because he’s one of the most electric players in our squad and played a key role. Now, his role has changed because others have stepped up where he hasn’t and he’s having to show a different side to his game. It’s up to him to prove himself now, show a willingness to adapt and step up. Tuesday night hasn’t helped.
For Hull, Seri remains one of the most press resistant midfielders in the division. Jacob Greaves is Premier League bound. Philogene was wasteful but always a danger. Carvalho and Tufan were technically sound but probably didn’t hurt our centre-backs enough.
Conclusions
This is a decent point, and perhaps an important one.
I remain confident we aren’t going down. I think we’ll surpass a point per game and that will do the job for us and the upcoming fixture list is potentially promising: Millwall away then two home games against mid-table opposition. We could come out of these five matches with seven or eight points, which would do us nicely.
I raised this on Twitter the other day, but we've got six home matches against mid-table opposition. We've lost four at home this season - three vs the current top six and three while Rooney was in charge. Remove Rooney from the equation and we're picking up around 1.5 points per game.
I’ve no problem with players being rested tonight. We have to look after Miyoshi, who had no pre-season, Paik, who signed in the summer, and Stansfield, who remains a young lad. James and Dozzell being substituted made sense too. It’s just a shame that others didn’t step up in their absence and really nail down a place.
I’m really delighted to see Hall back. He’s a bit rusty but we’ve missed his directness and pace. Pritchard is clearly going to have an impact too as a standard raiser and organiser, let alone the quality he provides. We’ve got plenty of depth and that should stand us in good stead.
One thing that is a concern, especially coming into a game with Millwall whose focus on set-pieces remains very big, is our set-piece issues. Since the arrival of Rooney, we’ve gone for a blocker approach. Fine. Many clubs do it, that’s fine. The problem is, our blockers regularly fail to do their jobs. We conceded two free headers last night. Conceded two set-pieces on Saturday. Jake Cooper will be licking his lips.
The last word has to go to the big man. He rarely plays. He doesn’t particular fit our style these days. But you can never keep Lukas Jutkiewicz down. A leader by example, who knows what he is, always gives everything and if he is to leave this summer, I’d love him to do having reached 100 Championship goals.