Ryan's Blues Musings

Starting XI Completely unchanged from the Easter Monday draw against Stoke City. Game Sunderland started the better here, their fluid system catching Blues out, the visitors needing to get their communication right. Diallo cut inside and forced a save and he then found Gooch, who looked to have teed up Pritchard for a tap-in only for Marc Roberts to step across and deny him. Pritchard fired wide after a counter attack. Blues settled down and stemmed Sunderland's flow. Jutkiewicz headed wide before Chong cut inside of his man and forced a sharp reaction stop from Patterson. He was involved again as Blues took the lead, found by Bacuna and teeing up Hall for a simple finish. Jutkiewicz couldn't make the most of a loose ball, firing straight at Patterson before a Neil strike was deflected wide at the other end. Sunderland equalised in first half injury time, Batth making first contact from a corner and the loose ball flicked on by Patrick Roberts to an unmarked Hume. Chong start...

Starting XI Completely unchanged from the victory over Blackburn Rovers. Game A game with a lot of running and very little quality. Reading had the first clean chance of the game and took it, Casadei having acres of space to pick out Joao whose flick was perfect for Carroll to whip the ball beyond Ruddy, who had no chance. Reading had a decent spell for about ten minutes before Blues took control, Bielik seeing an effort from distance saved before the equaliser. Khadra's teasing cross found Jutkiewicz unmarked and his header was a bullet into the top corner. That was it for the first half and the second brought little in the way of consistent, attacking intent. Two long throws caused problems, Sarr blazing over before Hendrick couldn't connect to a loose touch. At the other end, Jutkiewicz couldn't quite connect to Bielik's back stick cross. The best move of the half involved Jutkiewicz, whose lay off for Hall allowed the teenager to drive beyond Holmes and Sarr befor...

Line-ups One change. Alfie Chang replaces Juninho Bacuna, who is benched having returned from international duty on Friday. Harlee Dean and Jobe Bellingham return to the squad after injury. Emmanuel Longelo and Jordan Graham are out. Game This turned into an open affair quite quickly with Blackburn dominating the ball and Blues looking to break quick in transition. The visitors had the early running but only had a couple of set-pieces and a tame Sam Gallagher header to show for it. George Hall sprung to life for the first big action point, beating three players over 60 yards before finding Tahith Chong, who teed up Lukas Jutkiewicz for a cross that his a defender, post and goalkreper but stayed out. Chong and Jutkiewicz linked up again shortly after, the former firing wide when he ought to have hit the target. Gallagher headed over a near post corner. Later, a free-flowing move set Ryan Hedges away but he fluffed the final decision. At the other end, Jutkiewicz came close twice, first...

Starting XI Three changes. Marc Roberts, George Hall and Juninho Bacuna are back in. Jordan Graham and Hannibal Mejbri drop to the bench. Harlee Dean misses out with injury. Blues revert to four at the back. Game The opening to this game was turnover central, neither side capable of finding a team-mate until Kristian Bielik did, playing a superb pass into Reda Khadra. He sized up Rob Dickie, played in Bacuna on the overlap and his cut back found Tahith Chong at the back post to score. QPR had a spell on top after Khadra blazed over but all they had to show for their efforts was Lyndon Dykes firing over an Albert Adomah cut back. Blues settled back into proceedings with Chong finding Hall, whose effort was blocked then Seny Dieng won a trio of duels with Lukas Jutkiewicz, first denying a header, then producing an excellent double stop before making a save at the near post after the big man controlled and turned from a throw-in. Dykes half volleyed over a free-kick that wasn't cleare...

Starting XI Two changes. Hannibal Mejbri and Jordan Graham for Alfie Chang and George Hall. Both drop to the bench. Game A game of two halves but the hosts had the first and punished our negligence. It took six minutes for Watford to kill us, some tidy play leading to Sema being found out wide alone. His low, driven cross found an unmarked Imran Louza to finish. And ten minutes later, they had a second, Bielik's misplaced header in the centre leading to a transition from which Louza found Davis. He squared up to Long 1 v 1 before rifling into the roof of the net from a tight angle. Ngakia was later giving all the time he wanted to fire off the post from 25 yards. Pedro and Davis linked up to find Kone, who was close from 20 yards and Cathcart headed wide a corner. Blues offered nothing all half. A double change at half time breathed life into Blues. Within a minute of half time, Pedro had a tame effort saved and Hogan wasted a glorious opportunity after being slipped in by Bielik...

Starting XI Three changes. Harlee Dean, Gary Gardner and Lukas Jutkiewicz return. Auston Trusty is injured. Juninho Bacuna and Alfie Chang drop to the bench. Jordan Graham and Marc Roberts return to the squad. Game A scrap. Luton started the brighter but it was Blues who had the first chance, Gardner cutting back for Tahith Chong whose effort was blocked. Elijah Adebayo headed wide a Cody Drameh cross then Jordan Clark tamely found the arms of John Ruddy. With a quarter of the match gone, Scott Hogan headed wide a Jutkiewicz cross. Adebayo headed over from Alfie Doughty's left-wing delivery and their best chance of the half fell to Jordan Clark, who miskicked Drameh's low cross. Luton were out the blocks quicker second half and got their rewards almost immediately. Blues failed to clear their lines and invited pressure. A left-wing cross found Carlton Morris 1 v 1 against Longelo at the back stick and the burly striker headed down and past Ruddy. A Clark snapshot forced Ruddy i...