Match Report: Plymouth Argyle 3-3 Birmingham City
Six goals. A red card. A big error. Blues' final game before Christmas had the lot.
Home Park was the venue for a pre-Christmas six-goal thriller as ten man Blues failed to hold on against Plymouth Argyle.
Goals from Jay Stansfield and Jordan James gave Blues a two-goal lead before Joe Edwards capitalised on a defensive mistake to make it 2-1.
Krystian Bielik was sent off but Blues extended the lead through Juninho Bacuna. The ten men couldn’t hold on, however, with a Marc Roberts own goal and Morgan Whittaker strike securing a point for the hosts.
Rooney named an unchanged XI for the third game running following positive performances against Cardiff City and Leicester City. Tyler Roberts returned to the bench in the only change to the 20-man squad.
The first major incident of the game was saw Lee Buchanan stretchered off after poleaxing his own team-mate challenging for a ball in the air.
It took 14 minutes for a notable chance, Stansfield escaping down the left and his cross ending with Siriki Dembele to curl wide via a deflection. From the resulting corner, Stansfield was would remain free and give himself half a yard on the six yard line to nod home Bacuna’s delivery.
Blues were excellent from that point, despite occasionally causing their own problems. Dembele laid on a tap in for Emmanuel Aiwu only for Bali Mumba to produce an excellent last ditch block. Plymouth’s first opportunity came through a Whittaker snapshot that curled wide after James was dispossessed.
Patient play down the right led to Stansfield being denied at the near post while Roberts stabbed wide from the corner. Roberts was nutmegged by Finn Azaz, forcing Dion Sanderson into a superb block to deny Ben Waine. A big John Ruddy throw started a counter that ended with Stansfield unable to turn home a Dembele pull back and Bacuna had a shot on target a moment later.
Blues were menacing and positive work from Bielik and Stansfield started a move that saw Bacuna move from left to right and cross for James to volley home at the back post completely unmarked.
Blues have had a habit under Rooney of causing their own problems and they showed again here. Aiwu and Roberts failed to deal with a simple long ball and the loose ball fell to Sanderson. He dawdled and lost his bearings, allowing Edwards to nip in and finish.
Blues lost their heads from that point. Dembele could have been sent off for kicking out at Jordan Houghton. Pleguezuelo had a free header from a set-piece having never been marked. Then Waine teed up Whittaker to force a stop low down from Ruddy.
Any hopes of settling down in the second half were dismissed within three minutes when Bielik was sent off for what was deemed a two-footed challenge.
Blues immediately dropped into a 4-4-1 shape and stopped Plymouth playing. The best they could manage in the next 15 minutes was a low Houghton cross that evaded everybody.
Then out of nowhere, Blues got a third. James did brilliantly under pressure in midfield to retain the ball and find Dembele in space. The winger quickly released Stansfield. Sunjic joined him and took his marker with him, leaving Bacuna free to slot home under Conor Hazard from the edge of the box.
Blues didn’t hold the two-goal lead for long. Azaz showed composure 30 yards from goal and found Mumba who quickly played Mickel Miller in behind. The cross was sent beyond Ruddy by Roberts. Game on.
Chances were few and far between. Blues were organised and Plymouth slow to respond. Oliver Burke found Bacuna, who stabbed wide, while Azaz was wayward from the edge of the box. Then with four minutes to go, the killer.
Plymouth were finding space on the right but struggling thereon. Whittaker made a play inside and the ball popped about before a snapshot from 20 yards beat Ruddy.
Blues had a great chance moments later that Koji Miyoshi couldn’t make the most of, racing through on goal unchallenged but trying to find the pass rather than going for goal.
Deep into injury time, Whittaker got the better of Longelo and crossed with his right with Houghton denied on the line by Aiwu. Teenage striker Freddie Issaka then fired wide from the edge of the box.
Six goals. A red card. Something of a Christmas cracker. Unfortunately for Blues, three points didn’t follow.
Lineups
Plymouth
Hazard; Edwards (Edwards 53) Pleguezuelo Gibson Galloway (Miller 68); Cundle (Randell 68) Houghton Azaz; Whittaker Waine (Issaka 89) Mumba (Wright 89). Subs: Burton; KKH Gillesphey Butcher.
Blues
Ruddy; Aiwu Roberts Sanderson Buchanan (Longelo 8); Dembele (Jutkiewicz 75) James Bielik Sunjic Bacuna (Miyoshi 84); Stansfield (Burke 66). Subs: Etheridge; Oakley Gardner Roberts Hogan.
Tactics
Blues again lined up in a variation of 4-5-1 while Plymouth were fluid from 4-3-3 to 2-3-5.
In possession, Blues tried to target the flanks to exploit the space left by Plymouth pressing high.
Blues were 4-5-1 and Plymouth effectively went man for man all over the pitch. Whittaker stepped onto Sanderson with Mumba up against Aiwu. They were man for man across midfield with Edwards stepping onto Longelo, albeit with a degree of caution depending on the play and when he could release himself from Bacuna. Then Galloway vs Dembele.
It meant that if Blues could draw on the full-backs, the space was there for Bacuna or Stansfield to play down the left and Blues did get Stansfield involved via runs into that left-channel.
Down the right, Dembele and James would dovetail but have each other available for the pass. Aiwu seemed to have more options, perhaps owing to Blues not lacking as much from a physical point of view against Plymouth, meaning the ball stuck more.
Plymouth, meanwhile, were quick to step into a 2-3-5 shape with Edwards and Galloway tucking in from the flanks to join Houghton, meaning Whittaker and Mumba would show out wide.
This took communication from the Blues midfield who were regularly having to switch me once the swap occurred, Bacuna and Dembele needing to leave their full-back in order to close off the pass out wide but ensuring that their midfield were picking up the new man in the middle.
What was notable was that Blues allowed Bielik and / or Sunjic to sit off more with the winger from the other flank joining the midfield in cutting out an option. Meanwhile, Sanderson and Roberts would be tasked with stepping onto Cundle or Azaz as they dropped off with Aiwu supporting on the cover, ensuring they weren’t outnumbered by the Plymouth central front three.
At around the half hour mark, Plymouth switched it up slightly with Cundle and Azaz not getting much joy, they started to step deeper to receive the ball alongside Houghton, with Galloway offering a little wider and Edwards playing higher on the right while Whittaker stepped infield more often. The idea seemed to be trying to draw an extra Blues midfielder out for more space in behind if they could find the pass. Sunjic stepped up higher for Blues in response.
After the red card, Blues moved to 4-4-1. Despite this, Blues still tried to push forward. The front three would try and get close together for an attack, supported by one of James or Sunjic. The approach was still to try and be on the front foot where possible, albeit Plymouth’s control of the ball would make this tough.
The longer the game wore on, the more Plymouth stepped up. Pleguezuelo and Gibson had more involvement. Mumba, later Miller, and Whittaker would be wide with others making forward runs to try and open up space. They would regularly start moves down the left but quickly move to the right.
Players
Jordan James. He’s just carrying himself differently. He looks less like a boy and more somebody that feels he belongs in the starting XI. Credit to him – he’s making the most of it.
Stansfield was at his best for a while. I think it helped that the opposition had less presence defensively, which meant he had more of a chance physically both for pace and strength.
Bielik was fine until the red. Sunjic was his usual self. Bacuna and Dembele had impacts. And credit to Longelo, who made a rare appearance and barely put a foot wrong, actually helping drive Blues forward on occasion.
For Plymouth, I thought the whole team looked comfortable with the ball. The centre-backs progressed well. Whittaker was dangerous.
Conclusions
A tough game to take conclusions from.
We were 3-1 up and drew. We conceded three really poor goals. We hit the self destruct button before half time.
We were also excellent for 40 minutes, well balanced and scored an excellent goal with 10 men.
It’s another game where I feel we should take the positives over negatives.
While playing 11v11, we were the better side. We looked physically stronger than our opponents. We won a number of key duels. We had a good balance about us. We exploited gaps. Our front three and James could caused problems. It was looking our most complete performance.
We have to cut out the errors. I still think this will take time. Defenders in particular still look like they’re trying to play as much as possible and getting caught between two minds, which once again showed for their first. We’ve seen similar types of mistakes happen under managers looking to implement big changes to a team’s style and we’re being caught with that at the moment.
It’s easy as a fan to say “just clear it” but when the instructions on the training ground are different and we’re trying to implement a new style, we have to accept mistakes will happen and show patience, as difficult as that is. A number of defenders and midfielders have been caught so far and will likely continue to do so.
Not that it makes it any easier to watch.
A word on Dembele. A lot of fun to watch, as always. However, him rolling around and holding his head after receiving a push for their goalkeeper can get in the bin. And he was fortunate no official saw him kick out at Houghton. We’re all speaking about the Bielik incident but his action may have been deemed violent conduct if seen.
As for the Bielik red, I don’t really like talking referees and hate comparing incidents. I try and take the most neutral view possible – something the family behind me in the Kop used to pelt me for. As a fan, I should probably be biased, but my reaction was a Neville-esque “oooo” when the tackle happened. And my angle onscreen was similar to the ref’s. It will be interesting to see if we appeal it.