Ryan's Blues Musings

  Starting XI Two changes. Hannibal Mejbri and Troy Deeney for George Hall and Juninho Bacuna, who drop to the bench. Tahith Chong steps back into midfield. Game Blues started well and it took just four minutes to open the scoring, a corner cleared as far as Kristian Bielik whose miskicked volley found Auston Trusty who looped the ball over Seny Dieng with the outside of his boot. That bit of fortune set the tone for a game in which Blues were well drilled and effective but had to rely on strong defending and a little bit of luck. Ilias Chair saw his free kick saved then when nobody in the Blues defence took charge of a ball in behind, John Ruddy was forced into action again to tip over Tyler Roberts' deflected effort. Bielik almost gifted Lyndon Dykes a goal with an errant pass but the strike was straight down the throat of Ruddy. At the other end, Blues were breaking but struggling to get the final ball right. Then, after two enforced substitutions from the visitors, Emmanuel L...

Starting XI Two changes. Juninho Bacuna and George Hall return to the starting XI with Troy Deeney and Hannibal Mejbri dropping to the bench for a rest. Tahith Chong steps forward to the attack to partner Scott Hogan. Game A relatively close first half in which both sides had two big chances but only one side took them. Six minutes in, Bacuna found Hogan in behind and he teed up Chong who hit the inside of the post. Just over ten minutes later, Ben Brereton found himself free on the right and found the run of Tyler Morton who gave Sam Gallagher a tap in. An Emmanuel Longelo free-kick and Hogan effort deflected wide from range came either side of an excellent move that saw Dion Sanderson find Hogan, the Irishman playing a 1-2 with Hall and seeing his powerful effort parried away by Thomas Kaminski, who was named man of the match. With three minutes left of the half, Gallagher found space and played to Adam Wharton who showed quick feet to turn Auston Trusty and the bottom corner. Blue...

  Starting XI One change. Dion Sanderson replaces Juninho Bacuna. Sanderson moved back to RCB and Maxime Colin shifted to RWB. Jonathan Leko dropped out of the squad. Game The first half was one of few clean chances. Jay Rodriguez and Taylor Harwood-Bellies (THB) couldn't turn home set-piece and neither could Auston Trusty or Sanderson. A nice Burnley move down the flank resulted in Vitinho firing over from a low Connor Roberts cross and Colin was later denied after good work from Emmanuel Longelo, Scott Hogan and Troy Deeney. Blues came out of the traps well second half, Tahith Chong denied before Hannibal Mejbri's corner found Kristian Bielik to volley wide. Anass Zaroury was deemed to have dived, a decision I haven't seen back. Tiredness always had the potential to creep in and it looked to have cost Blues, Longelo gifting the ball to substitute Johann Berg Gudmundsson who bent expertly into the far corner. Eustace was bold and replaced Harlee Dean and Bielik with Luka...

  Starting XI Two changes. Juninho Bacuna and Troy Deeney return. Dion Sanderson is suspended. George Hall drops to the bench. Game Hull started well and made the most of the open space, almost scoring within a couple of minutes after good work from Greg Docherty and Dimitrious Pelkas. Blues started to get a grip, however, tightening the gaps and lazy defending from Jacob Greaves led to a penalty, the Hull captain holding onto the shirt of Kristian Bielik. Deeney made no mistake from the spot in typical fashion. There were few clear chances in this game. John Ruddy was forced into a top class save to deny Cyrus Christie's near post header. Later on, Bacuna cut inside and forced a good stop from Nathan Baxter before trying a cheeky lob with the outside of his boot. It took just three minutes for Blues to open the scoring in the second half, working a situation well down the left before Tahith Chong switched to Bacuna who cut inside and blasted home from 25 yards. Bielik hit the out...

  Starting XI Three changes. Harlee Dean made his first start for almost a year, Hannibal Mejbri in for his first ever league start and George Hall back in the XI for the time since August. Troy Deeney rested, Jordan Graham and Juninho Bacuna dropped. Jonathan Leko drops altogether. John Ruddy took on the captain's armband. Game We could not have picked an easier game in our attempts to respond to a defeat. It was easy. We won all of our duels. There was mountains of space to attack. Bristol City could not have been softer had they tried. It took three minutes for us to take the lead, a set-piece delivery to the back post headed in by Auston Trusty despite three Bristol City bodies nearby. We should have increased the lead, Tahith Chong sent away but failed to make a decision. Then Dean's cleared header found Scott Hogan who turned Zak Vyner but miskicked. Poor decision making cost Blues the chance to extend their lead further. We won a set-piece, Mejbri delivered to the back ...

Starting XI Completely unchanged 18 for Blues. Game Not one that will live long in the memory. The first flash point came when Kristian Bielik played an excellent through ball for Scott Hogan who was stopped by Paddy McNair. It was cynical but a yellow with Marc Bola nearby. The resulting free-kick went just wide from Juninho Bacuna. The next moment saw the goal, a corner from Ryan Giles was flicked on by Rodrigo Muniz, hit Auston Trusty, who wasn't facing the ball at all, and fell kindly for Chuba Akpom to finish. Boro had a positive spell after the goal, Hayden Hackney firing wide under no pressure and Matt Crooks shooting at John Ruddy after a poor headed clearance at the back post. Blues had the best chance otherwise, pressure from Tahith Chong ending with Anfernee Dijksteel playing in Hogan who couldn't beat Zack Steffen. Blues ended the first half well despite no real efforts at goal and started the second bright too. Chong had a shot that took Steffen two attempts to ho...

Starting XI One change. Emmanuel Longelo makes his professional league debut. Josh Williams steps out of the squad completely. Game Sheffield United definitely got out the traps quicker here but Blues did well to stifle them for the most part. Olly McBurnie had the first notable shot of the game, a tame header from a corner, before a good break ended with Tahith Chong's shot being deflected over. Tommy Doyle's free-kick from a wide position hit the top of the bar, Sander Berge turned well under pressure and fired wide and John Ruddy denied Chris Basham. Despite their territory and possession, the Blades struggle to really carve Blues open. Ilman Ndiaye had two headers in the second half either side of a Ruddy long punt almost being turned home by Scott Hogan via Troy Deeney. Two goal were scored, both via set-pieces. The first, Auston Trusty and Longelo didn't deal with a ball into the box and McBurnie was able to fire home on the turn. A few minutes later, a cleared corne...