Match Report: Millwall 1-0 Birmingham City

A late header left Blues with one point from four matches under Venus and a lot of questions being asked

Blues were dealt a big blow on the road as Japhet Tanganga’s late header secured the three points for hosts Millwall.

The goal proved an important one as far as the battle for survival was concerned with Neil Harris’ side moving into 16th having picked up 10 points from a possible 12 since his return while a sixth consecutive away match without a win leaves Blues a point above the drop.

Mark Venus again rang the changes with five made from the midweek draw at Hull City. Ethan Laird, Andre Dozzell, Jordan James, Tyler Roberts and Siriki Dembele all dropped to the bench with Marc Roberts, Koji Miyoshi, Paik Seung-Ho, Alex Pritchard and Jay Stansfield returning to the XI.

Blues were second best early doors with a weak display riddled with errors when in possession. George Honeyman was denied after Pritchard have the ball away, Jake Cooper had two attempts from crosses with Ruddy making an excellent stop from the second while miscommunication between the keeper and Roberts almost allowed Duncan Watmore in. A poor Roberts header wasn’t capitalised on by Zian Flemming.

It took over 40 minutes for Blues to register a notable shot at goal, Paik and Miyoshi linking to set up Stansfield to force a fine low stop while Pritchard fired after good work from he and Bacuna.

Blues were better for the final ten minutes or so of the first half and continued that into the second. Lee Buchanan fired wide of the near post after a driving run, Stansfield twice failed to find the target, Miyoshi half volleyed over and Bacuna had an effort deflected wide.

The game’s controversial moment came just after the hour when a smart set-piece routine looked to free Stansfield to shoot only for Joe Bryan to deny him any means necessary, first holding onto him before effectively bear-hugging him from behind. Nothing doing.

Stansfield couldn’t make the most of a Miyoshi pass and that was about that for Blues and the game in general. Millwall had a big chance from a long throw when George Saville headed over from Cooper’s near post flick.

As injury time beckoned, Saville saw a sweet strike deflect behind for a corner and the most important moment of the match followed. Bacuna lost his battle to block Tanganga who was stronger than Roberts and rose free to head home.

Job done. Millwall win. Blues drop to 21st.

Lineups

Millwall

Sarkic; McNamara Tanganga Cooper Bryan; Honeyman Mitchell Saville Watmore (Longman 60); Flemming (Norton-Cuffy 92) Obafemi (Hutchinson 92). Unused: Bialkowski; McNamara Wallace De Norre Esse Mayor

Blues

Ruddy; Drameh Aiwu Roberts Buchanan; Sunjic (James 83); Miyoshi (Hall 73) Paik Pritchard (Jutkiewicz 83) Bacuna; Stansfield. Unused: Etheridge; Laird Dozzell Gardner Dembele Roberts.

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Tactics

Not a huge amount of surprise of tactical ingenuity here.

Millwall were exactly as expected under Neil Harris. It was 4-4-2. Defensively, they were a 4-4-2, sitting off Blues’ backline for the most part, staying compact and narrow and asking Blues to break them down. They shuffled across whenever Blues shuffled across, looking to snap into Blues on their first touch and give players no time to play.

Blues had to try and break them down and attempted to do so via a 4-1-4-1 shape that saw the full-backs show in standard positions and one midfielder drop deep while the other stepped forward. Often, it was Sunjic in the deep role, though Paik would drop in every so often.

The truth is, Blues were so poor in the first half that it was difficult to work out that pattern of play. There was a fear of playing forward and making something happen with only Paik and Buchanan urging the team to play forward and show that personality.

I believe the plan was to create triangles out wide with Paik supporting Drameh and Miyoshi while Pritchard supported Bacuna and Buchanan, perhaps with the intention of either finding a third man run in behind down either side or spread the play to the opposite flank. But we were soft on the half turn and never really made it happen.

Our opposition, meanwhile, were the slightly modern take on the standard 4-4-2 / 4-2-3-1 approach with the back four and defensive midfielders showing in standard roles. The front two would have a shower and a spinner with the ball being played into the feet of the dropper and the wingers stepping inside to support, making them a narrow four with a full-back stepping forward to support.

The most notable aspect of Millwall’s play was that once they got themselves into a crossing position, the remaining three forwards would find themselves in the area to occupy Blues defenders with midfield ready and waiting on the edge of the box for seconds.

Blues defended this in a similar style to the Hull game, going 4-1-4-1 with Paik and Pritchard stepped up on to the Millwall defensive midfielders, Sunjic had an eye on Flemming with Aiwu and Roberts simultaneously tasked with Obafemi for the most part. Everything else was largely man for man but with Stansfield covering the centre-backs and goalkeeper and looking to cut off passing lanes.

The main issue for Blues was the gaps between players and lines, along with failing to be aggressive enough. The defence and Sunjic didn’t step out anywhere near aggressively enough against Flemming and Obafemi which gave them a foothold once the ball was played forward. Miyoshi and Pritchard in particular looked to be carrying a heavy toll trying to cover a lot of ground – hardly their strength. We were inferior physically, gave up too much space and simply failed to win the key battles early on.

What changed to give Blues a leg up? Firstly, a little more organisation off the ball. Secondly, more aggression in the challenge, epitomised by Buchanan following Obafemi in central, 35 yards from goal, winning the ball, driving past another and firing into the side netting.

Also, a more direct approach in possession. Players started trusting each other. For the first 35 minutes or so, Blues were hesitant in playing the forward pass, as if they didn’t trust each other. Too many passes went backwards. In the second half, we started cutting out the easy pass and took the more direct approach into the feet of Paik, Stansfield and Pritchard, looking to cut a man out and play. That allowed us to get into pockets quicker and play.

There was also a tweak down the right with Paik and Miyoshi dovetailing more, Paik stepping out wide and Miyoshi finding himself in the pockets, which allowed him to try and open the game up more on his left foot as opposed to the right-foot heavy midfield we had. Drameh was relied upon less to get forward with Buchanan more aggressive down the left and Pritchard was able to float inside a little more.

A couple of tactical changes. Jutkiewicz came on and Blues moved Paik into the defensive role with James and Stansfield off Jutkiewicz.

Once Millwall went ahead, they immediately moved to 5-4-1, bringing Hutchinson on in the centre of defence and Norton-Cuffy out wide with Longman alone in attack.

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Players

Praise first.

Lee Buchanan. A few weeks back, he looked a shadow of his normal self. He was reticent to play forward and lacked defensive solidity. I’m not sure what has changed, perhaps recovery from concussion, but he has returned with the bit between his teeth. More aggressive. Always trying to play forward. He had a moan at a couple of players for not following suit. He’s stepping up again and I like it.

Credit to Paik Seung-Ho and Alex Pritchard, who did their best to get us moving the ball. It’s little surprise our quality in possession suffered when Pritchard departed.

Miyoshi and Bacuna rarely got into the game despite the odd flash of quality. Drameh was solid enough defensively but his use of the ball was poor. Sunjic and Roberts are Sunjic and Roberts. Ruddy’s distribution was really poor but he remains a commanding presence in his box.

For Millwall, I have to credit the team as a whole. They knew their jobs. They worked hard. They dug in for each other. Won their battles. The two centre-halves were excellent and probably their biggest goal threat too. Obafemi is a nuisance too and regularly picked the right moment to push Roberts off balance in duels.

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Conclusions

Oof. There has been a lot of discussion post-match and a lot to digest.

Let’s start with my own views.

The game. We were awful for 35/40 minutes. Not too dissimilar to other displays since the arrival of Mowbray. Trying to play before earning the right to, lacking intensity, the team being detached, not brave enough, unwilling to make the forward runs and take men with you.

We improved when we started winning those battles. We want to play and we’re right to try and do so, but we also have to earn that right. We have to start quicker. Sunderland, Ipswich, Hull and Millwall all spring to mind with slow starts before we earned that right.

The finish to the game... I get why people are upset about the changes. It was weird. We were on top and looked the better side, so you probably don’t want to disrupt that rhythm when you’re having chances. But you also want that extra bit of oomph to really drive home the territory you’re having and it never quite happened.

It’s hard to know what the right changes would have been, in truth. Dembele has fallen out of favour with fans. Roberts hardly provides *oomph” in his performances despite obvious quality. Hall’s forward running did give us a necessary out. Jutkiewicz and James were the other options. Dozzell, perhaps? I suspect he returns for Tuesday.

Now, the goal. I don’t know what the answer is to resolve our set-piece issues but it’s apparent that our record defending corners and free-kicks has been absolutely woeful since we changed tact and moved towards blockers.

It’s not uncommon in the game and I understand the approach. You’ll no doubt have seen Raheem Sterling marking a giant centre-back just to put him off. But it has to be carried out right. Against Ipswich, Conor Chaplin had two free headers. Against Southampton, James failed to block in the final minute and conceded. Against Hull, Sunjic let Greaves go and they scored. Against Millwall, Bacuna let Tanganga evade him. It can’t continue.

If we are to improve our results, attacking and defending set-pieces will be important.

And Marc Roberts. I don’t like going in on individuals. But this is where you need your experienced players to step up and lead. Three or four times in the game, he was nudged off balance by Obafemi, so this wasn’t an isolated incident. And maybe it comes from years of seeing him nudged off balance or simply fail to defend his box when an opponent attacks a set-piece. He’s barely touched yet falls forward and ducks away. It’s where you need your centre-half to be upright, balanced, jumping for the ball and attacking it. He might not win it, but at least be there.

I actually left this until Sunday morning to see if I’d calm down. I haven’t.

Here’s the thing. I can deal with the performance. It was poor but our away form is grim. I guess I’m used to it. We’re down the bottom of the table because we’ve not performed well. But we didn’t really give too much up either. It was just a poor game.

But the set-piece concession. It just angered me. The same thing over and over and over again. Do your fucking job.

What else is there to uncover?

Who is to blame for us being down the bottom of the table? Is it the players? Is it Cook? Is it Gardner? Is it culture? Is it Rooney? Is it Venus?

You know what, all this probably needs a much larger piece to discuss. Give me time.

Venus’ game management has been questioned too. I think it’s easy to criticise given results. But look at the games.

Ipswich away. Southampton at home, when we went down to 10. Hull away. Millwall away. Largely decided by fine margins, even if we haven’t been at our best over the 90’s. Switching off at key moments.

Before that, we lost away at West Brom, Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester City. We beat a poor Stoke City side too. Our away form has been abysmal under all managers. I think we can judge the situation better on the upcoming home games with Middlesbrough and Watford.

And that’s the key now. If we survive, it’ll largely be because of our home form. Let’s not wet the bed just yet.

Two big games this week. The situation is rosier if we get six points. If we get four, we’re at one point per game over the last five, leaving us needing 7 from 7 to reach 50. Mowbray is due to return. We’ve four more home games. Let’s just take a step back and get behind the team this week.