Match Report: Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Blues
Three consecutive away defeats leave Birmingham City firmly in the battle for the drop.
Sheffield Wednesday raised the stakes in the battle to survive with an important win against Tony Mowbray’s Birmingham City on Friday evening.
Ike Ugbo was the hero with a goal in each half, punishing lacklustre defending to leave Blues winless and goalless in three matches in all competitions.
Mowbray made three changes to the XI that lost at West Bromwich Albion last week, bringing Juninho Bacuna, Jordan James and Scott Hogan into the side in place of Koji Miyoshi, Jay Stansfield and the injured Alex Pritchard.
The visitors started the better on a cabbage patch of a football pitch. Andre Dozzell’s delivery was almost turned in by Kevin Long, Bacuna blazed over after excellent work from Siriki Dembele and Lee Buchanan forced a stop from distance.
Blues fans always get the sense that they’ll concede when on top and that came to fruition on 15 minutes. Wednesday beat Blues half-baked attempt to press and Ian Poveda showed real quality to beat Dozzell and cut back for Ugbo to finish from close range.
It didn’t deter Blues in the immediate aftermath, smart play leading to a James effort being deflected over and Bielik’s excellent footwork leading to a chance for Dozzell.
Wednesday stamped their foothold on the game thereon and slowed Blues down. Poveda got the better of Sunjic and curled wide before Blues made a mess of defending after Dozzell was caught by a trap and thankful the eventual effort went wide.
It woke Blues up. Hogan finally escaped the stronghold of Akin Famewo to prod wide at the near post, Dembele’s effort deflected leading to an excellent, full stretch Beadle save and Hogan headed a Dozzell corner just wide.
The second half started end to end. Sunjic was too easily beaten leading to Ugbo putting wide before Bacuna came close from the edge of the box.
The second arrived on 53 minutes. Terrible from Blues. There was no pressure on the ball, making it easy for Barry Bannan to slide Marvin Johnson in down the left. His back post cross was challenged only by Ugbo, who nodded in for the second.
Blues didn’t recover too well this time. James saw a shot deflected. Tyler Roberts did well to beat his man but shanked wide. Buchanan couldn’t find the target with a half volley. James cut inside but curled wide. And the game started to peter out.
Injury time arrived and Blues made a tactical switch. It led to a flurry of chances that ought to have led to a goal.
Paik Seung-Ho had a wicked effort that forced a smart stop and Bacuna’s half volley was struck even sweeter but bent just wide of the post. Anderson used Buchanan’s run to cut inside and miss the target and the best move was saved for last when Stansfield couldn’t quite turn home Anderson’s cross on the slide thanks to excellent defending.
Blues with plenty of chances, but left with nothing.
Lineups
Sheff Wed
Beadle; Valentin Bernard Famewo (Ihiekwe 76) Johnson (Pedersen 88); Diaby (Vaulks 63) Bannan Poveda; Ugbo Cadamateri (Smith 76) Gassama (Musaba 76). Unused: Charles; Palmer Siquiera Wilks.
Blues
Etheridge; Laird (Miyoshi 65) Bielik Long Buchanan; Sunjic (Paik 54) Dozzell (Anderson 76); Bacuna JJ Dembele (Roberts 65); Hogan (Stansfield 54). Unused: Mayo; Drameh Roberts Gardner.
Tactics
Blues continued in their 4-2-3-1 shape while Sheffield Wednesday opted for a 4-1-4-1, playing Ugbo and Gassama wide with Poveda and Bannan in the centre.
There was a change to the Blues approach. Almost from the off, the 4-2-3-1 was less asymmetrical and more narrow with Bacuna and Dembele given license to drift in from the flanks and the expectation being that Buchanan and Laird could provide the width.
There was some fluidity there. James and Dembele, in particular, showed a willingness to switch positions, allowing James to break down the left hand side. And Bacuna had a tendency to become a third central midfielder and take the ball deep.
Blues’ big issue was the lack of runners. Hogan was marshalled closely by Famewo and he needed people to move off him, but nobody really showed a willingness to make the forward run and take bodies with them. It left things a little too congested and players less fluid with their passing. Things happened slowly as players worked it out.
Blues did show early signs of how to beat the press and it primary led to using the width. Long showed little inclination to want to play and relied on Bielik and Buchanan to do that work. Bielik showed competence beating his man and playing forward. Or Sunjic was utilised to play first time round the corner to Laird on the right.
Sheff Wed had a clear idea of what they wanted to do off the ball with Bannan and Poveda stepping onto Dozzell and Sunjic and the rest of the team almost going man for man, to the extent that Di’Shon Bernard regularly followed James into deep positions or out to the right-flank. Man for man, win your battles, get the wingers involved.
This did leave Wednesday isolated down the flanks and occasionally beaten in wide areas – particularly Laird on the right. However, while a centre-back may be out of position, the rest of the team would flood the box ready for the cross and they regularly cut things out or made important blocks.
The wingers were key to how they wanted to attack as well. With Blues employing a similar style of wanting to follow players dropping deep, Beadle was tasked with going long from goal kicks down the centre of the pitch to try and catch the Blues full-backs off guard. Fortunately, Laird and Buchanan were on their game in those situations.
Otherwise, they set traps for Blues in the centre of the pitch and once possession was won, they would briefly lure Blues on, particularly Sunjic, then play quickly into the front three – especially Gassama down the left.
Blues were far too naive and/or soft in their own attempts to close. Sunjic regularly got himself turned by charging in at full speed with little support around him. Bacuna and Dembele did very little at any intensity, to the point Dembele tended to sit next to Hogan while James closed down the left side.
Wednesday always went long with goal kicks but they tended to play short early doors to bring Blues on before going long. During the second half, they cut out the decision to initially go short and Beadle was tasked with making the long kick direct from the goal kick.
Blues made a tactical change late on. Buchanan and Bacuna, the full-backs, started making inside runs which allowed Anderson and Miyoshi to hold width. This caused indecision in the marking for Sheff Wed and opened space inside to play with Blues getting in down the left more than once.
Players
Pfft. Did anybody play well? I’m not so sure.
Ethan Laird doesn’t look quite right. That zip in his game isn’t quite there. Buchanan still doesn’t look completely sure of himself. Their defending for the second left a lot to be desired.
Dozzell. Meh. Tidy. I want to see an extra step in his game. Sunjic was really poor, full of energy but akin to a headless chicken, regularly turned, poor with the ball. Bacuna had no intensity to his game out of possession. Dembele was his usual self but has to show more out of possession.
Hogan is what he is. Missed his big chance but he did work hard up top with little reward and support. The midfield really needed to make more forward runs.
I’m impressed with the power in James’ running. He looks like he can run past people. He’s a man, now. Paik was bright off the bench. Anderson the same. They’re forcing themselves into the XI.
For Wednesday, the little shit that is Barry Bannan and the man we reportedly decided against signing, Ian Poveda, were both excellent. Had our midfield on strings. Ugbo scored the two goals and had Wednesday’s other big chance.
Conclusions
I was not in a good mood after witnessing what I had witnessed on Friday night.
My feeling was that we had lost a pretty important game against poor opposition because we simply hadn’t done the basics. We didn’t win individual battles. We didn’t close the ball down. We didn’t break our necks to get beyond their defence and turn a defence that didn’t want to be turned. We didn’t stop them playing how they wanted to play and instead allowed ourselves to fall into their traps. And we were beaten as a result of conceding two really, really silly goals.
The following morning I woke up and... I was still annoyed. We have to be better. We have to show more desire and care in the actions we take on the field. That’s not suggesting the players don’t care, that’s suggesting they have to switch on, concentrate, be aware of their surroundings and do the basics of their jobs.
And yet, I felt calmer because the signs of progress are there for us to see. We’re having a lot of shots. We’re getting into the final third regularly. We’re playing through the centre of the pitch and taking risks. We are having spells where we see a lot of the ball. Players do want the ball.
Mowbray is clearly playing around with his squad. He wants to know who he can rely on, where he can rely on them and simply who is capable of doing what. He’s giving people a chance. Some are taking it and others aren’t.
It’s easy to forget that when John Eustace walked in, he had two pre-seasons, even if one was shorter than the other. He was able to set his stool out and put the structures in place before the season started. Mowbray doesn’t have that luxury.
The most promising aspect of Mowbray’s reign so far, in comparison to Rooney, is that he hasn’t chopped and changed formations and styles in a bid to make something work. He has made a few tweaks here and there but the premise is the same. He wants his full-backs to get higher. He wants his midfielders to be confident and fluid with the ball. It’s all about finding the right balance now.
He spoke of having too many artists and not enough soldiers on the field after Friday. I don't think that means we will revert to playing 4-4-2 and up-and-at-them football. I think it means that one or two players will come out because they aren’t offering enough without the ball and the challenge will be set for others to come in, do what they can with the ball but put the work in off the ball. That means closing down, pressing, making forward runs and helping their team-mates.
Koji Miyoshi and Jay Stansfield most likely come back into the XI. Alex Pritchard has a chance if fit. Paik Seung-Ho and Keshi Anderson are forcing themselves into the picture too, especially given their physical profiles. The shirts are there for the taking if people perform.
I’m not looking forward to Tuesday.
The talk around John Eustace, Wayne Rooney and Tony Mowbray and the board has been weird since the first change of manager and at times vitriolic.
Here’s where I stand.
I believe John Eustace did a wonderful job at our football club
I disagreed with the decision to part with him and disagreed that Wayne Rooney was a better manager for the job at hand
It doesn’t mean I’m anti-ownership or that I wanted Rooney to fail. I got behind it. I watched and tried to look for the positives
I’m disappointed that the board and Rooney couldn’t prove me wrong in the way Lukas Jutkiewicz has, for example, countless times since I slated the decision to sign him in 2016 (lesson learned there)
I’m pleased the board made the change they did
I’m pleased they’ve brought in a manager with a fantastic track record to oversee our development.
I want to win every game, including the one against a Blackburn Rovers side managed by John Eustace on Tuesday
I’m probably in a similar boat to a fair portion of the fanbase.
Should we jeer and boo Eustace? No. Not for me. The idea of booing a guy that did everything he could to improve the football club, from our league position to uniting the club and community while often being first in and last out of the training ground is weird to me. Especially when he didn’t leave us – we sacked him. We said he wasn’t good enough and told him to leave. That’s not his fault.
Does that mean we have to give him a standing ovation and roll out the red carpet? No. He knows the game. We want to beat him. He wants to beat us.
I hope he does well longer term because I like the guy. I’ll probably want the same for Tony Mowbray when he eventually departs. But do I want that success to come at Blues’ expense? Absolutely not.