Ryan's Blues Musings

Starting XI Two changes. Jobe Bellingham in for his first league start. Kristian Bielik returns from suspension. Jordan Graham and Tahith Chong drop to the bench. Juninho Bacuna shifts to RWB. Game Another indifferent first half. An excellent Sunderland move saw Dan Neil find Amad Diallo at the back post only for John Ruddy to deny him. A few minutes later, Troy Deeney hit the bar with a header after Dion Sanderson flicked on Emmanuel Longelo's cross. Sunderland struck first. Diallo took a loose ball and fended off a challenge from Bellingham, while Sanderson and Bielik stepped off for a moment. It allowed Diallo to squirm away and find the pass to Ellis Simms who finished confidently. The game died a little after that. Alex Pritchard put wide from a free-kick. Late in the half, Deeney started finding space and creating, twice playing Scott Hogan in behind, his first effort a 1 v 1 that hit Anthony Patterson, the second effort being deflected behind for a corner. The Blues captai...

Starting XI Three changes. Emmanuel Longelo, Tahith Chong and Troy Deeney return. Kristian Bielik is suspended, Harlee Dean is injured and Lukas Jutkiewicz returns to the bench. George Friend and Jonathan Leko step onto the bench. There was a shift around of personnel for Blues amid enforced changes. Sanderson moved to the centre of the back three, Maxime Colin shifted to RCB, Graham from LWB to RWB and Bacuna starting at the base of the midfield for the first time.  Game Game started as expected, Blues pressing high and trying to create. It worked well, Chong seeing an effort blocked after good work from Hannibal Mejbri before taking the lead, Chong moving down the left and laying the ball to Longelo whose right footed cross found Scott Hogan's head. Chong was later first to a loose ball and saw a shot deflect over before Ben Cabango fired over his own crossbar after Juninho Bacuna and Chong linked up. Swansea started to find their feet and made Blues pay. First, a ball in behin...

Starting XI Three changes. Emmanuel Longelo, Tahith Chong and Troy Deeney drop to the bench. Juninho Bacuna, Jordan Graham and Lukas Jutkiewicz take their places. Game A game lacking intensity amid a busy schedule and littered with mistakes on a wet, late Autumn afternoon in the Potteries. The goals were a case of Blues doing what Stoke couldn't. After making a simple save from a Nick Powell header, John Ruddy also had to deny Lewis Baker's deflected effort after his errant pass let Tyrese Campbell move into the box. At the other end, Phil Jagielka miscontrolled and gave Scott Hogan and a 1 v 1 that he finished. Jutkiewicz shot over on the turn while Josh Tymon's strike from the edge of the box caused little fuss for Ruddy. That last effort happened on 18 minutes. There was one shot for the rest of the half. The second half started with Ruddy coming and failing to claim a cross and the keeper being helped by Jordan Graham's bravery (he took a whack from the boot of Aust...

Starting XI Completely unchanged. Game First half. Turgid. Apparently a combined xG of 0.2. Second half. A little more action. Tahith Chong was taken out but Hannibal Mejbri blazed over a free kick. Billy Mitchell fired at John Ruddy from distance. Blues' best chance came when Juninho Bacuna, Troy Deeney and Scott Hogan linked up to get Maxime Colin in behind. His cross flashed just beyond Hogan. At the other end, Dion Sanderson completely switched off and allowed Tyler Burey in, John Ruddy making a big save. A terrible football match. Tactics Started 3-1-4-2 v 4-2-3-1. Blues had issues early on as they weren't getting the press right. Chong and Hannibal weren't sharp enough. It allowed Millwall to settle and move the ball. They preferred the right. George Honeyman and Danny McNamara started out there but Zian Flemming and Mitchell would shift across while Charlie Cresswell offered support. As they played their triangles in a bid to get in behind, George Saville was clos...