Match Report: Leyton Orient 1-2 Birmingham City
A third consecutive win on the road in all competitions as Keshi Anderson and Alfie May punish defensive errors.
Birmingham City made it three away wins on the bounce thanks a 2-1 victory at Leyton Orient.
Capitalising on errors was the name of the game with defensive mistakes punished by Keshi Anderson, Ethan Galbraith and Alfie May.
Each goal was scored within 20 minutes and the game quietened after, barring a flurry of chances across 10 minutes of the second half.
Chris Davies was clearly comfortably with the display against Wycombe Wanderers, picking the exact same XI. The only change to the squad was Taylor Gardner-Hickman in for Brandon Khela on the bench.
The XI started excellently but dispossessions were regular with both sides suffering. After an early cross caused an awkward clearance, Paik Seung-Ho was caught on the edge of the Blues box and Christoph Klarer had to block Charlie Kelman’s effort.
Next it was Orient’s turn and they were punished. Zach Hemming and Jayden Sweeney got their wires crossed and Anderson was first to the loose ball. May beat Hemming and found the winger who slotted the ball past defender Brandon Cooper via the post for his first Blues goal.
A long ball from kick off led to an Ollie O’Neill half volley wide. Another Orient error allowed Emil Hansson to move forward and find May, the striker’s touch too heavy and the angle too tight.
Orient’s press was causing problems and a heavy touch gave them an in. Bailey Peacock-Farrell received the ball from Krystian Bielik but turned into O’Neill, who forced the ball to Zech Obiero. The young midfielder found Galbraith who fired home into the corner.
Fortunately for Blues, another error was forthcoming. Bielik won a bouncing ball and Orient didn’t deal with it, allowing Anderson to bust his way through. Jordan Brown then passed the ball against Cooper, the rebound falling kindly to May who rounded Hemming to score.
The game turned into nothing for a while after. Between minutes 21 and 72, there were just four shots at goal, the best chances being Cooper and Bielik unable to find the target with half chances from back post deliveries.
The arrival of Ayuma Yokoyama livened things up, the winger curling narrowly wide of the post before Gardner-Hickman tried his luck from a similar position and blazed over.
But the game remained tight and Orient had their own wide option ready to cause issues. Orient escaped Blues pressure to find Dan Agyei in behind to shoot at Peacock-Farrell and he was denied by a Klarer block short after. Kelman came close after Blues failed to defend a Sweeney cross and Agyei headed over from the resulting corner.
That’s when Davies made a couple of additional changes and it helped kill the game, Orient having no further efforts on goal for the final ten minutes.
Seven points from three games having come through our toughest test to dare. A good win.
Lineups
Leyton Orient: Hemming; Clare Happe Cooper Sweeney; Brown (Pratley 89) Obiero (Agyei 71); Donley Galbraith O’Neill (Jaiyesimi 89); Kelman (Perkins 89). Unused: Howes; Beckles Warrington.
Birmingham City: BPF; Laird Klarer Bielik Cochrane; Paik Leonard (Willumson 56) Harris (TGH 66); Anderson (Miyoshi 83) May (Jutkiewicz 83) Hansson (Yokoyama 66). Unused: Allsop; Sampsted.
Tactics
Blues set up in their usual shape here, adopting a 4-3-3 that was fluid and regularly shifted towards a 3-2-4-1 or variation.
Leyton Orient were sharp and set up to press high in a 4-1-4-1 shape. Unlike Wycombe, they got up high and tried to force errors closer to the Blues goal.
Both Galbraith and Obiero would step up onto the Blues midfield with Kelman leading a press against Bielik and Peacock-Farrell. Where Orient were clever was the winger on the other side stepping up high and trying to catch Blues on the blindside, something that showed for the goal. It meant that even Peacock-Farrell didn’t have time on the ball.
Furthermore, the defence were brave. Clare and Sweeney got high up against Laird and Hansson on their respective flanks while Brown and either centre back would follow May and Harris into deeper areas.
Their set up ensured that if Blues took their time or miscontrolled, they were ready to pounce.
It forced Blues to be more direct in how they broke from the back, still trying to play but needing to move the ball quicker and find the free option. That option tended to be out on the touchline or with the midfield dragging out their men so May or Anderson could become available.
Another switch was Paik and Harris showing in wide areas rather than Laird and Hansson, just giving Orient something different to think about when Blues tried to play out.
Out of possession Blues were largely 4-4-2 with Harris and May working together across the front. However, Orient moved the ball quickly and Blues were occasionally hesitant, meaning there was a man free at times and as Blues reacted, space opened.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the tactical battle is that both sides had a combined 42% of their attacking play through the central third of the pitch as opposed to the 82 and 75 percent down each respective flank.
There were a few change of roles when Agyei replaced Obiero. Agyei joined down the left, O’Neill moved the right with Donley inside and Galbraith dropping in.
Players
Positives first. The energy of Harris and May was important. I spoke on the KRO pod in midweek about believing Harris could become an important player for us, particularly after Davies’ comments about him always running, and he showcased that here for 70 minutes or so. He adapted in possession. Looked after the ball. Had a couple of moments out wide and has a knack for finding space. Still work to do, but he’s on his way to becoming an unsung hero. As for May, a goal and an assist. What more can you ask of him?
I thought Bielik was largely excellent. He had to make his extra power count against Kelman and did that. Leonard remains classy and reliable with the ball but has work to do off it while Paik had early struggles here – dispossessed four times in the opening half hour, twice more than anybody else on the pitch – but grew into the game and continues to do good work off the ball.
I’m torn with Laird at the moment. His speed is something of a cheat code and his first touch is usually superb – even if he miscontrolled a couple yesterday. But his decision making is so inconsistent and I’m hoping that it will improve with games.
Klarer had another decent game in terms of his defensive work – including a couple of important blocks covering for the space down his flank – but was caught not moving the ball quickly and the same can be said for Peacock-Farrell who was caught out for the goal. Communication. Details.
For Orient, I thought the midfield were superb. I reckon a few will have been surprised to learn that Zech Obiero is only 19 years of age. Galbraith has quality, even if he was caught once too often. O’Neill was very sharp in his work off the ball and Donley looks physically sound for a first loan. Behind them, Jordan Brown is a sizeable enforcer and key to this team.
Hemming was called out by Wellens for costing his side two goals. However, Sweeney didn’t exactly cover himself in glory on both occasions and and Cooper didn’t look particularly comfortable with the ball.
A huge thank you to everybody that has supported me so far. It’s truly appreciated.
Conclusions
The same as recent weeks in truth.
We’ve had nervy moments in each game. We’ve made some bad decisions in each game. We’ve left ourselves a little too open at times in each game. But we’ve come away from a tough encounter with Reading with a point and beaten Charlton Athletic, Wycombe Wanderers and Leyton Orient away from home. And for all the minor concerns, we’ve done so while playing some very good football.
This was an odd encounter. The first 20 minutes were fast and fluid with far too many turnovers for the liking of both managers – an average of one per minute. After that, we settled down and across 50 or minutes or so we conceded one effort on our goal – a header from a set-piece. And that was while having just shy of 60% of the ball, meaning we had to show a different side to our game. We had 7/8 minutes of chaos when Agyei entered before substitutions killed the game late on.
The main concern here was that unlike Charlton and Wycombe, we struggled to get our front four or five involved enough. Part of that is credit to Leyton Orient who were sharp, tricky and well organised. Teams are going to cut these options off and we have to find a different way while sticking to our principles.
Part of that is also the learning curve of so many new players coming together at once. Klarer, Leonard and Harris barely featured in pre-season while Cochrane and Hansson joined after pre-season had started. Willumson, Yokoyama and Gardner-Hickman are new. Anderson has shifted to the right, a role he has rarely played previously. These are small details but details nonetheless while we learn to be fluid and trust each other on the pitch. What we should see happen over time is players doing things without second thought. There are periods where that happens and it’s all about continuing to adjust and know where our players are. There will always be a spare man in possession.
Right now, teams are catching us a little cold and rusty and rightly so. Let’s remember that our first five games come against teams whose managers have been in post since the start of last season or before so there is more trust and understanding between the players. Yet these sides are still having to put everything into a game to hurt us and we’re still picking up results and dominating the ball for large periods.
The players are running themselves into the ground and continuing to play their way out of trouble. As players and fans, we are used to a culture of all parties shitting the bed when we come under any kind of pressure so this is new territory for many. Davies rightly praised the fans for sticking with the team during sticky periods and the more we back them, the easier it will become for everybody.
We now have a hectic period of fixtures, playing Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday.
Fulham in the cup is a free hit. I suspect we will make a few changes to freshen things up. Then it’s Wigan Athletic at home, who don’t play in midweek, so we may have to endure a little bit of legginess and rely on subs. Walsall in the EFL Trophy will no doubt see us make wholesale changes. It remains to be seen whether Exeter City away goes ahead given the international break.
If we can come away with a win against Wigan then it’s ten points from four league games. That’s a fantastic return and hopefully something to build upon.