Match Report: Norwich City 2-0 Birmingham City

Another frustrating afternoon as Birmingham City continued their awful record at Carrow Road. Report, tactical breakdown & some big conclusions drawn.

Birmingham City continued their terrible record at Carrow Road as Norwich City ran out 2-0 winners on Saturday afternoon.

Second half goals from Gabriel Sara and Jon Rowe proved to be the difference in a game that could have swung a different way had Jay Stansfield finished moments before the opener.

John Eustace made three changes to the starting XI. Oliver Burke and Emmanuel Longelo returned to the side in place of Lee Buchanan and Keshi Anderson, who are now both absent for a number of weeks, while Ivan Sunjic returned in place of Juninho Bacuna. Marc Roberts and Brandon Khela returned to the squad.

The early period of the game had a similar feel to Blues' defeat at Watford, Blues not as sharp or organised in their press leading to open gaps allowing Norwich to dictate.

Despite this, it took 16 minutes for the hosts to have a meaningful effort, Rowe turning Sunjic in the middle of the pitch and finding Adam Idah whose snapshot whipped just wide of the post.

Cody Drameh clearly didn't get a shout a few minutes later when Dimitrios Giannoulis read his attempted header back to John Ruddy, the looped effort just wide.

It took until the 27th minute for Blues to show something different, Jay Stansfield deciding to make a move down the right and his low cross couldn't be turned in by Burke or Scott Hogan.

Norwich were still in control. Ex-Blues loanee Przymeslaw Placheta his the bar with a cross, Idah headed straight at Ruddy and Giannoulis fluffed his line after escaping Burke. At the other end, Stansfield was again involved, his wicked delivery nearly finding the toes of Hogan at the near post.

Blues needed something different and started the second half better but couldn't finish the best chance of the game. Kijo Miyoshi found Stansfield with a brilliant pass but he took half a second too long and Shane Duffy deflected his effort at Angus Gunn. Desperate to atone, the former Exeter man then beat three players before rifling into the side netting.

The miss proved costly as two minutes later, Blues switched off down the right again. Giannoulis found Gabriel Sara alone in the area to head home.

As the hour mark approached, Blues made a double change. Within seconds of the subs, Rowe made the most of a loose ball to cut inside and score.

There was a feeling of panic from the visitors that was almost made when another ex-Blues man Onel Hernandez set Idah away to fire over.

Finally, Blues started to settle down. Miyoshi sat two Norwich players down with a turn only to hit the underside of the bar with Bacuna firing the rebound over.

Norwich still had a threat. Rowe found Hwang who fired over. Otherwise, Blues were in the ascendancy trying to find an equaliser. The final ball or decision was lacking until later on. Dembele recycled a corner brilliantly leading to Jordan James and Longelo failing to find the net. Stansfield struck an effort so sweet it may have given Kenny McLean a black eye while James got underneath the ball when free to head home.


Lineups

Norwich

Gunn; Stacey Duffy Gibson Giannoulis; Sara (Sainz 67) McLean; Fassnacht (Hernandez 57) Rowe (Batth 90) Placheta (Hwang 57); Idah (Forshaw 67). Unused: Long; Fisher McCallum Gibbs.

Blues

Ruddy; Drameh Sanderson Long Buchanan; Sunjic (Sunjic 59) Bielik (Gardner 79); Burke (Dembele 59) Miyoshi (James 79) Stansfield; Hogan (Jutkiewicz 76). Unused: Etheridge; Roberts Aiwu Khela.


Tactics

Both sides set up in a 4-2-3-1 here.

For Blues, it was classic 4-2-3-1. The back four aligned together with full-backs slightly ahead of their centres. Bielik and Sunjic just in front, dropping into half spaces either side to drag their men in and out of position to open space. Burke one side. Stansfield the other.

We had two ways of trying to play.

The first was more direct - search for the run of Stansfield or Burke in the channel to break down the line and get the team up the pitch. It worked horribly. The delivery was often terrible and even if we did get there, the winger would end up isolated.

The other required more patience and when it worked, it worked well. The centre-backs would wait for the opportunity to play to Drameh. Drameh would play to Bielik or Sunjic who would spin it out to Miyoshi, or they would play to Drameh who would find Miyoshi. Then the attack could be built with Stansfield stepping infield and Longelo providing the width.

Norwich were more specific in their build up. Like Blues, they would line up in a standard 4-2-3-1 set up. Idah and Rowe would show in midfield, giving the defence for options to play forward before moving back. Once the ball went back, the shape would switch up. The wingers would come inside. The full-backs would go high and wide. McLean would drop in to form a back three and they would become something akin to a 3-1-5-1 with Gunn firmly involved in build up.

Now, Blues were horrid in their attempts to stop this. The idea was that Hogan and Miyoshi would initially sit on Sara and McLean and the wingers vs the full-backs. That left us 6 v 4 at the back so they couldn't go long.

When they switched it up, Stansfield would join Miyoshi and Hogan in pressing the back three and Gunn with Sunjic or Bielik stepping on to read anything into Sara. Stansfield's role was to cut the pass to Stacey, giving Miyoshi and Hogan the primary pressing roles. It just didn't work. There was a lack of awareness.

Around 30 minutes in, Blues changed. They started to press more as a three with Stansfield moving into a more central position and Miyoshi pulling wider. It allowed one of the three to sit on Sara and press as a much narrower trio, helped by the extra pressure from Stansfield.

There were changes on the hour. Rowe moved from CAM to RW, Hwang coming on as a CAM. Meanwhile, Miyoshi moved from left to right with Dembele moving to the left.

Norwich, later made a change to their build up. They stopped going so aggressive with the 3-1-5-1 at 2-0 and settled for the full-backs staying deeper, inviting the press and playing into the wingers as they stepped inside from out wide with Blues leaving more gaps due to higher pressure.


Players

Stansfield was undeniably our biggest spark. Dembele and Bacuna were bright from the bench. I also thought Gary Gardner had a very good cameo - something I wasn't expecting to say.

For Norwich, all of them looked bloody good. Shane Duffy was superb. Kenny McLean and Gabriel Sara were the best two players on the pitch. Jon Rowe doesn't look like a young kid just making his way in the game. Adam Idah looked a threat. All round excellence.


Conclusions

A very frustrating day. It makes it worse that for the second time in two weeks, we've turned up against strong opposition and barely laid a glove.

Firstly, credit to Norwich. They were good. Sara and McLean in particular were fantastic in how they moved in and out of possession. It helped them build. I've no qualms with acknowledging they were better than we were.

However, we were nowhere near it. You need everybody on their game when trying to play on the front foot against good sides but we were carrying too many players. In turn, that made it more difficult for others to do their jobs and be aggressive because there were so many gaps.

Working out the exact issues can be tricky live - this is why coaching staff have analytic teams watching and re-watching everything. To my untrained eye, I felt:

- The front two were slow to react to the triggers too often
- Sunjic wasn't bold or sharp enough to react & was often beaten when he did
- Burke caused huge issues on the right failing to track Giannoulis

That's four of our front six off their games. Eustace had to make a change to the team within the first half to give us some sort of foothold moving Stansfield central to put Norwich under a little more pressure. And when Bacuna and Dembele came on and started committing to their roles, you could see the difference. Perhaps it's easier at two down but the intent was there.

You can't afford to carry passengers.

The problem for Eustace is that he's the one that gets the blame when his players aren't switched on.

People are out claiming we set up to play for the point but Eustace's approach doesn't change regardless of opposition - we sit off, block passing lanes, once they play forward the team springs into action, squeezing the pitch and looking to force the mistake. It's rare, but when the team aren't at it like today, it could look really, really poor.

It's been a strange week or two. We've been punished for every big chance we've conceded, let some sloppy goals in & failed to take our own. These runs happen but what fans can't accept is soft performances.

Even Eustace, who protects his players and will focus almost entirely on the positives, admitted his side were passive at times. He needs a big reaction against Huddersfield on Tuesday - he's starting to receive some heat.

He will always set his team up to be positive but he needs to pick the XI that will carry that out rather than step back or switch off. Ruddy, the back four and Bielik pick themselves. Stansfield the same. Bacuna and Dembele step into the XI. It's hard to see him leaving out Miyoshi, especially given the remaining options, which are Sunjic, Gardner, James, Burke, Hogan and Jutkiewicz.

Personally, I'm going for reliability and giving the fans a lift - Jutkiewicz returns. Stansfield behind him. Miyoshi right, Dembele left and Bacuna next to Bielik.

Whatever decisions he makes, the players need to take responsibility, play on the front foot, with some confidence and get the job done for a manager that has always put himself out there on behalf of them.