Ryan's Blues Musings

The XI One change. Jordan Graham replaces the injured Marc Roberts. Graham slots in at LWB, Josh Williams moves to RWB, Maxime Colin to RCB and Dion Sanderson to the centre of the back three.  The game An open first half with plenty of shots, particularly for the visitors, but few big chances. Blues had the best chance of the half, Tahith Chong beating two and his cut back being blazed over by Juninho Bacuna. Before that, Jonathan Panzo headed a free kick wide. After that, Fankaty Dabo was persistent and found Jamie Allen who couldn't connect cleanly.  Gustavo Hamer had four shots from 20-30 yards of varying accuracy. Allen shot wide after good work from Gyokeres. Bacuna had a header which didn't trouble Wilson. Sheaf fired over from 20 yards. Bielik almost past Ruddy and late blocked a Panzo header. Godden blazed over after blocking a headed clearance. Almost nothing happened in the second.  Scott Hogan had the best effort of the game, a header from a Bacuna cross that f...

The XI One change. Jordan Graham injured. Josh Williams returns to the XI with Jonathan Leko on the bench.  The game Blues were quickly on the front foot, Krystian Bielik finding Juninho Bacuna who was tackled, Troy Deeney firing over.  Maxime Colin later robbed Conor Townsend and found Bacuna whose pass found its way to Tahith Chong via Scott Hogan, the Dutchman blazing wildly over the bar. We scored a couple of minutes later, Chong getting the better of a 50-50 and finding Bacuna whose through ball for Hogan was perfectly weighted to finish. May have been offside.  Baggies found some rhythm. A nice move down the left ended with Jed Wallace being denied by John Ruddy at the back post but he wasn't to be denied a second time, finishing through the legs having been found by Okay Yokuslu.  Not much happened after despite WBA being in the ascendency. Jayson Molumby fired over from 20 yards. Deeney almost had an assist for Chong who denied by a fine tackle and seconds la...

The XI Three changes. Kristian Bielik and Tahith Chong make first league starts with Maxime Colin also returning. Josh Williams drops to the bench. Alfie Chang and Gary Gardner miss out entirely. Lukas Jutkiewicz returns to the squad with Tate Campbell missing out. The game A very lively opening. Colin and Chong failed to move the ball properly and it led to Riis escaping but Ruddy saved. Bacuna then gave away a cheap foul and Lindsay headed over the free-kick. At the other end, Sanderson put over at the back post then a Colin delivery was miskicked by Hogan and not enough power was put on Graham's shot.  Blues scored on 16. It was patient build up with Preston failing to engage. Bacuna found Graham who turned onto his left and whipped a cross to the back post, finding Colin who got away from Brady.  Not much happened for the rest of the half. An injury to Bacuna gave Eustace a chance to give out some tactical instructions to his defence and midfield who were being caught out ...