Blues 0-1 Wigan Athletic

The XI

One change. Lukas Jutkiewicz replaced Troy Deeney, who was rested. Rest of the squad the same with Nico Gordon, Gary Gardner, Kristian Bielik, Jordan Graham and Marc Roberts unavailable.

The game

A positive start. Placheta fired over on the half volley then the press paid off twice, Bacuna first firing a pass a little too tough for Hogan before weighting one perfectly for Jutkiewicz who was deemed to have been fouled by Joe Bennett, resulting in a red.

Bacuna shot just wide from the resulting free kick then Hogan had an effort blocked. Wigan made a change and had a couple of chances, Darikwa seeing an effort blocked before Naylor missed a great chance. The game petered out from there, James curling wide from 20 yards and Keane later volleying wide from a Lang cross.

We started the second half well, Trusty's cross finding Bacuna whose effort was deflected wide then Jutkiewicz headed a cross on target but with no power. Power's effort from a tight angle was well saved by Ruddy. There was a break in play when a poor challenge from Will Keane brought a booking - on second viewing he was quite fortunate not to see red. 

Not that that excused what came next. Blues sent a lot of crosses into the box with poor quality. Cosgrove came close via a deflection and then the inevitable happened. A long ball forward and Wyke got ahead of Sanderson. He found Broadhead, who wasn't volleyed and scored. 

Jobe Bellingham missed a big chance when a Bacuna cross fell his way. James and Sanderson summed the day up by trying their luck from 30 yards while Blues chased an equaliser. 

Tactics

Blues lined up 3-1-4-2 with Wigan 4-2-3-1. 

There was only ten minutes to work out what each side tried to do but I think I caught the basics.

Blues were happy to force the ball to the Wigan full-back and cut off the option backwards to the CB, forcing the ball to go more direct and looking to deal with it from there. Once in possession, Blues' back three stretched out and the aim was to look for the switch with a midfield runner going in behind and the wide CB offering the option to start again. 

For Wigan, they were looking to deal with a loose pass, track runners, play a neat triangle so the forwards on either side could come together. The ball would be floated to Magennis with Keane and the WG close by. 

Red card. Wigan quickly switched to 4-4-1-1 with McClean dropping in at LB and Keane LM. Ryan Nyambe replaced Magennis and Wigan moved to a 3-4-2 with Nyambe RCB & Darikwa & McClean WB. Lang & Keane up top.

The game set into a clear pattern. Wigan were happy to block the centre of the pitch and force the ball wide. Blues were happy to move the ball wide and cross the ball. Rather than the quick switch, Blues were able to play across the back and find the WB to feet to turn, run and cross. Wigan were happy with this, either winning a 1-on-1 duel or defending a weak ball into the area then the CM/WB would get hold of the ball and drive forward. Wigan were also intelligent, taking as much time over every set piece & playing for cheap free kicks to slow the game down. 

There were player changes. Shinnie came on for McClean at LWB, Darikwa moved to LCB and Nyambe RWB. Cosgrove replaced Hall late on with Deeney dropping into the hole behind the two strikers. After the goal, Bellingham replaced Colin and Blues moved to 4-3-3. 

Players

Nobody really stood out in a Blues shirt. Trusty and Sanderson were largely dominant in their duels, although the latter struggled with Charlie Wyke after he arrived.

Delivery from wide areas was largely abysmal, especially Jonathan Leko - two hit the first man, two went too far and three hit the top of the net. Oh, and he ran the ball out of play twice. Bacuna, Williams & Placheta weren't much better, albeit not quite as poor.

Wigan stood up to be counted. Whatmough was excellent in the centre of the back three. Naylor & Power performed well, picking up several loose balls to deny Blues the ability to recycle the ball. Tendayi Darikwa was very good as well.

Anything else? 

It was good to see James Beattie in the Wigan dugout. Their front four played close together, memories of Blues' four under Monk.

I don't blame Wigan for taking the time wasting. Blues had to be better getting onto the referee and forcing the issue. Deeney was a definite loss in that respect. 

More importantly than anything else, Charlie Wyke returned to a football field. Amazing! 

Conclusions

First, the performance. Blues' defence continue to lack concentration on occasion, backing their pace & power to bail them out. Need to be more switched on. And the delivery from wide areas was largely awful. We also didn't do enough on second ball to keep Wigan penned in and wear them down.

However, I can't be angry with the team. We were only missing four senior players today, one of whom has never played for us. It left Eustace needing to start three teenagers with only two senior bodies on the bench, and one of those is only expecting to play a few games this season as he prepares for the next stage of his career. Our subs today were Deeney (34), Leko & Cosgrove (who the club are actively trying to shift) and Bellingham (16). 

Blues effectively have five across the middle of the pitch. That five for the last two fixtures has been Josh Williams (19), the maverick Juninho Bacuna (just 25), Jordan James (18), George Hall (18) and Polish winger Przymeslaw Placheta (24). James has been shoehorned into the base of the midfield because Ryan Woods, 28, has been sold without a replacement and Kristian Bielik was signed in the knowledge that he would not be fit until September at the earliest and has a history of big injuries. James is being asked to hold the midfield together with no experienced support around him. And who is on the bench to help? Alfie Chang (19) and Jobe Bellingham (16). Even if we sign Hannibal on loan, which is rumoured, it's yet another young player, hardly fixing the issue from a patience and composure point of view. 

John Eustace is doing a good job. There is a clear structure to our play. The players are giving their all. They are being let down by those in the boardroom. Let down by the mistakes of the last decade. Let down by a board that have handed out ridiculous contracts & can't shift them. Let down by a board that refuse to employ a proper recruitment team, leaving an ex-player to wheel and deal with no support. Let down by a board that have made bad decision after bad decision on the football side of things. Let down by a board that refuse to sell the club but won't put money in to fix the rot that has set in. Let down by prospective new owners bullshitting publicly, letting off noises that undermine everybody associated with the club & using dodgy individuals to source the money. 

Today didn't hurt because we lost against ten men. It hurt because I'm watching a group giving all they have & receiving no support from the people whose job it is to support them. Ageing players and kids being asked to either roll back the years or grow up quick. 

The board need to stop fucking around, sort out the ownership of the club, make some fucking decisions & back whoever the hell they want in charge of the football team. At least give the bloke in the dugout and players on the pitch a fucking chance.

I'm not sure how much more I can take because it's fucking soul destroying.