Blues 1-2 Norwich City

The XI

Three changes. Jordan Graham and Gary Gardner make first league starts of the season. Alfie Chang returns. Maxime Colin is injured. Jordan James and George Hall are rested. Tate Campbell and Hannibal Mejbri make first squad appearances for the first season. Jonathan Leko returns. Ryan Stirk and Sam Cosgrove are out amid transfer speculation. 

The game

A well contested first half in which clear chances were few and far between but the intensity was high from the hosts.

Hogan couldn't quite sort his feet out at the near post to finish a Bacuna delivery. Byram then got the better of Williams before being denied at the near post and a clever move involving Nunez and Aarons almost saw Dowell finish. A Graham delivery deserved better before the big moment of the half, Sargent fouled, Blues stop, the American carries on and is denied by Trusty from a tight angle. Nunez and Sinani couldn't trouble Ruddy from distance. 

Blues scored four minutes into the second half. Graham with a wonderful ball behind for Bacuna whose cross was deflected into the path of Hogan to finish. Deeney then fired over following good work from Chang, Williams and Hall down the right. 

We couldn't create much else. We retreated & lacked options from the bench. Where Norwich could bring on Sara, Cantwell, Pukki, Idah and Hernandez, Blues were bringing on Hannibal, Campbell, James and Hall. Teenagers. 

The first came from a questionable free kick. Ruddy made the save from a decent Nunez effort but we couldn't defend the second ball. Somehow, Hall and Williams were the ones trying to defend before Hanley rose above Deeney and the deflection fell to Omobamidele.

 

And after half hour of neither really creating much, save for a Pukki effort after good work from Hernandez, Norwich struck the killer blow. Roberts was soft against Hanley defending a clearance, Trusty was turned by Hernandez and Pukki made the pass for the finish.

 

Gutted. 

Tactics

3-4-2-1 v 4-1-4-1 in terms of general set up.

Norwich seemingly had a plan. With Blues looking to close the full back, they were trying to be patient and find the pass inside, play quickly and spin the ball into space on the other side. Nunez was excellent at making that happen with his ability to turn so quickly out of a hole. 

To combat that, Blues effectively became 4-1-4-1 out of possession. This would work one of two ways. Either Deeney and Williams would set up to close the full back with Sanderson shifting to RB and Chang sitting behind Gardner and Bacuna. Or, Bacuna and Deeney would press wide, Chang and Gardner would step on with Sanderson or Trusty stepping out with a Norwich forward. It was tight, aggressive and when we were opened up, we had the physicality to deal with the ball in behind.

Going forward, it was all about utilising space on the break. That meant finding Bacuna running into the left channel or Williams charging down the right. The box midfield meant we had the overload in central areas at times and were able to spread play quickly. 

Blues lost shape with the subs. Hall and Hannibal did a lot of running but less so in a shape, which allowed Norwich to push work around us and move forward, keeping Hernandez involved in particular. Understandable, particularly with Hannibal, who has had one training session. He came on as part of the front two but gave himself a bit too much work to do. 

Norwich finished the game with Nunez deep, Cantwell and Sara in front and Hernandez and Idah wide of Pukki. Ridiculous talent. 

Players

Blues were full of beans last night. Sanderson and Trusty were excellent covering the wide position and winning battles stepping out of defence. Deeney & Bacuna worked very hard. Chang also stepped up - looked less like a kid last night, albeit some iffy decision making. 

It was a tough night for Williams, who was unable to play 1 v 1 and instead had to be switched onto the press, the 1-2's and inside runs. A bit to learn. Hogan also had a torrid first half and lost his head a little with some bad touches. Then he scored, so all was forgiven. Apparently he wasn't well. 

And Marc Roberts. Tried blocking the run of Sargent but got his positioning wrong and ended up hauling him to the ground while stretched. Then he loses that challenge in the 94th minute. Having also allowed Ogbene to get the better of him for the penalty at the weekend. Has to start standing up and taking responsibility, especially as one of the elder statesman in a young team. Will be the fall guy once Bielik is back if we can make the 4-at-the-back happen if he's not careful.

For Norwich, Grant Hanley stood out. Two monstrous aerial challenges for the two goals that he won, and against Troy Deeney and Marc Roberts too. That's the difference. Nunez was also very good, sharp in possession and able to escape markers. 

Onel Hernandez made a difference too. Gave Norwich something different. Power. Pace. Their attack is very "samey" at the moment - pretty, technical footballers with little substance. He changed that. 

Anything else?

Omobamidele receives a slight push to the chest and went down holding his face. Grow up. Curiously a picture has come out today of Omobamidele. We could have signed him at 16 for 5k. Funny how things work out.

Conclusions

Trying to avoid saying the same things but just look at the substitutions list. Blues brought on Hannibal (19), James (18), Hall (18) and Campbell (20 - league debut). Norwich brought on Sara, Idah, Pukki, Hernandez and Cantwell.

We finished the game with those four and Alfie Chang in our front seven. Gardner had to go off injured. Troy Deeney and Jordan Graham were the other two. We can't get stronger in games once the starting XI are out. That's the big issue for us right now.

Gardner and our prospective owners are making a lot of noise about potential transfers. We've signed a sixth loanee. We desperately need a couple of permanent additions if we are to step up and give Eustace a chance of keeping us up. Especially a winger or two to give us more of a threat in behind - we're far too reliant on Scott Hogan.