Match Report: Rotherham United 0-0 Birmingham City
A goalless draw leaves Blues with it all to do heading into the final couple of matches.
Birmingham City limped to a goalless draw at Rotherham United that leaves them with plenty of work to do in their bid to avoid the drop.
Blues were expected to turn up and earn a much-needed three points in their battle for survival but there was renewed hope around the New York Stadium with the return of Steve Evans in the dugout.
Travelling fans arrived to find out Oliver Burke had returned to the starting XI in place of Koji Miyoshi, much to the bemusement of many. Meanwhile Marc Roberts, another who had trained all week, was back in the squad with Emmanuel Aiwu and Andre Dozzell dropping out.
After Evans had put his sombrero away, the game started and Keshi Anderson was quick to make something happen, bursting away from Ollie Rathbone and finding Tyler Roberts at the back post, his volley just wide of the near post.
The game stopped around 10 minutes in due to a medical emergency in the crowd. Both sets of players walked off as the individual got the attention they required. Having had a family member in a similar position a couple of years back, it’s brilliant that fans are able to call for the game to be stopped to ensure an individual gets the treatment they need from medical professionals on the scene. I hope and pray that there is a speedy recovery for the person involved.
Around half hour later, Keith Stroud restarted the game. Both sides felt their ways into proceedings and it was Sam Nombe that had the first chance, heading on target from Seb Revan’s driven cross. At the other end, Keshi Anderson forced a smart low stop from Viktor Johansson after neat play with Paik Seung-Ho.
Another Revan delivery found Jordan Hugill to head on target and a corner kick moments later pinballed just wide. The half petered out with Tyler Roberts and Ollie Rathbone unable to make the most of breaks.
The low quality affair continued in the second period, half-time sub Miyoshi seeing an effort deflect wide with very little happening after that. It took until around 73 minutes for the next notable effort at goal, Cohen Bramall’s free-kick hitting the wall.
Blues thought they had taken the lead when Jay Stansfield rifled home amid penalty box pinball only for the linesman to raise his flag. Lee Buchanan was doing his best to get out of the way but was stood in front of Johansson as the ball was struck.
A poor Krystian Bielik pass allowed Arvin Appiah a run towards goal but a tame effort was easily claimed. Blues had two big opportunities at the end but Scott Hogan couldn’t quite get the delicate flick he needed from Buchanan’s left-wing cross and Bielik’s composure allowed Miyoshi a late chance from close range only to see Johansson react brilliantly to claim it low down.
And that was that. The final whistle blew with Blues unable to open up Rotherham.
Lineups
Rotherham: Johansson; Kioso (Bramall 37) Peltier Humphreys Revan; Rathbone Rinomhota Cafu (Appiah 31); Odoffin; Nombe Hugill (Eaves 81). Unused: Phillips; Seriki Hall Hatton.
Blues: Ruddy; Laird Bielik Sanderson Buchanan; Burke (Miyoshi 46) Sunjic Paik Anderson (Dembele 77); Roberts (Bacuna 59) Stansfield (Hogan 89). Unused: Etheridge; Roberts James Gardner Hall.
Tactics
Blues continued in their 4-4-2 shape with Rotherham fielding a diamond.
Rotherham had little inclination to play through the thirds here, happy to keep things simple and play long. They aimed a lot of their longer passes towards Jordan Hugill, who tried to pin himself up against the much smaller Lee Buchanan. Sam Nombe would move nearby onto Dion Sanderson with Ollie Rathbone ready to seconds.
The key for Blues was not necessarily being able to defend the first ball but defend the second with Bielik, Laird, Paik and Sunjic all needing to be ready on the cover and confident enough with the ball to play so Blues could break. Anderson also played an important role.
When Rotherham did play out, tending to be after seconds had been won and they were angling towards the longer pass, Blues’ midfield moved to a 4-1-4-1 with Paik stepping up and the group shifting across to cover the three central midfielders and the full-back, Sunjic sat behind ready for anything that may have filtered through. Paik had to be careful how far he stepped out, needing to drop back in to support Sunjic on seconds that Bielik or Sanderson headed away. To their credit, they did that job excellently.
With the ball, Blues were outnumbered in the centre of the park so had to look for width as a way out, which often included Buchanan receiving possession and looking to find either Tyler Roberts to feet, once he and Anderson had switched roles, or play longer towards Stansfield in the channel.
The aim was to get the ball down, involve Anderson and look to switch out to the other flank where Burke would have space to move into and Laird could come in to support. Paik was also a willing participant ready to step forward. With Rotherham being so narrow in midfield, the space was always going to be on the other side with switches or quick play from one side to the other important.
Rotherham were happy to sit off Blues and wait for the pass out wide. Rathbone was electric in closing Buchanan which forced his hand to play. Kioso then Revan were tight to whichever player showed down the left with Peltier tight to Stansfield defending the longer pass. The rest of the team would shift across as a unit, trying to ensure Blues’ centre didn’t receive the ball in space too often.
For those wondering why Oli Burke was in the side, it was clear that he had an obvious role from set-pieces, defending the near post for long throws and also man-marking centre-backs from free-kicks and corners.
One final note, Siriki Dembele entered the fray but switched with Bacuna, playing more of a central role rather than staying out on the left.
Players
Positives? I thought Paik had another strong game. He and Sunjic were largely outnumbered in midfield but did their jobs, won their battles and kept the ball for the most part.
I thought Bielik and Sanderson did their jobs well. Laird was fairly untroubled. Ruddy claimed everything that came into his area.
It was a tough one for Buchanan, but that was always likely to be the case with one of the fittest players in the division closing down his every touch and the ball being battered towards him every time Rotherham got the chance. A learning curve for the youngster.
Anderson had moments. He looked to player most likely to make something happen. Roberts didn’t get involved enough. Stansfield well marshalled. Miyoshi had a positive impact off the bench.
As for Oli Burke, he did his job from set-pieces. The less said about anything he did with or without the ball, the better. I wanted to be wrong when that XI was announced. I, and many others, weren’t.
For Rotherham, I’ve mentioned him above but I thought Ollie Rathbone was excellent. I thought Peltier managed Stansfield well, using his experience and power advantage. Johansson made an excellent stop late on.
Conclusions
The game finished yesterday and I wasn’t sure how I felt.
Around 24 hours on and I think I’m understanding where I’m at.
I went into yesterday expecting the worst. I’ve got little trust in us to produce results. An away game where self-motivation and management was required to get a result against a side that were always going to sit in and make life difficult wasn’t one I trusted us to win, and so it proved.
If anything, I expected us to lose. To do something stupid and concede, either by chucking bodies forward and being sucker-punched or conceding a crap goal from a set-piece.
That didn’t happen.
I also think my more relaxed mindset was because the game played out exactly as I expected it to. We were never going to have it all our own way. We needed to be patient, move the ball, win our battles, win seconds and take the big chance or two. We were never going to have floods of chances, especially once Steve Evans was announced as returning. And let’s not be naive. For all of Rotherham’s shortcomings, they have picked up a result in over half of their home matches and eight of their ten losses have come by a single goal.
Anderson and Miyoshi forced fine low stops from Johansson. Hogan was inches away from heading home and Stansfield did score only for it to be ruled out. Meanwhile, Ruddy was scarcely troubled, Rotherham’s best chances being headed efforts in the first half.
But, this was a massive missed opportunity to take the pressure off going into the final two games. As I write, Blackburn have shit the bed against Sheffield Wednesday while QPR picked up an important three points yesterday.
I still believe it’s in our own hands. Not mathematically. But if we win both of our remaining games, Stoke, QPR and Blackburn have to win one more, Plymouth have to collect four points and Sheffield Wednesday six. Not to tempt fate, but that isn’t happening. We win both, we reach 52 points and we stay up.
The question is, can we win both? Do I trust us to win both matches?
No.
I trust us to turn up with a game plan and have an element of control on proceedings, whether with or without the ball. I trust us to have a plan to get out of our own half. Do I trust us to create the big opportunities and take them, while also not doing the wrong things at the other end? No.
It’s that lack of killer instinct that worries me most. And the situation picking up four points is a lot different to picking up six.
We have to do our jobs now. We can’t look to anybody else to get us out of this mess. A mess of our own doing.
Time for somebody to step up.
Hopefully against Huddersfield who have a worse home form of late
Huddersfield lost 4 won 1 drew 1 at home last 6 games they conceded conceded 14 scored 5 average 3 goals against 1 for
Maybe we seem to do better when we know we are in the relegation zone and tend to play better 🤔 we could win that and maybe that could be enough to survive . Next weekends results will paint a much fuller picture
Hope you’re right Daniel. We’re powderpuff on the road, which is why I’m apprehensive about Huddersfield. Feels like we’re on for 4 points but Wednesday look have the bottle at the right time. KRO 🤞🏿
Ps Great analysis as always Ryan!