Blues 0-0 Millwall


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 close by while Murray Wallace stepped in centrally, ensuring they were well placed for the counter.

Defensively, they weren't particularly urgent. Similar to Blues, really. As Blues tried to play out, Andreas Voglslammer would sit on Harlee Dean and Flemming on Kristian Bielik. The centre was then stocked full of players. Blues either had to go back to Ruddy or go wide to Sanderson and Auston Trusty. The idea was that when the wide centre back had it, they were allowed to play the first pass then the press would start and Blues would be forced to either play across the back or move it back to Ruddy to launch forward.

Blues were a little more aggressive in their positioning than usual down the left. It became more of a lopsided 4-4-2 with Emmanuel Longelo high and Trusty almost as an orthodox left-back. Colin then tucked in slightly down the right, albeit his job was to offer width when the ball moved to his side. Trusty enjoyed his freedom, regularly making underlapping runs in the first half.

Not much changed during the game. Both sides were happy with what they were doing, neither truly pushed for the victory.


Players

Dean. Absolutely superb. Head on everything, all night. Longelo needs work on his final ball but he was fearless and uses his leggy frame so well. Ruddy was superb too, claiming everything that came into his area and it appears he has an enormous throw too.

Sanderson had a curious night. Started poorly. Recovered and showed a switch of play. Then almost cost the game.

For Millwall, I was impressed by Mitchell. Played like a boy older than 21 and technically very comfortable on a slippy surface. McNamara was a standout too, similarly sharp, technical and tenacious.


Anything else?

Gary Rowett returned to St.Andrews and for the first time in a long time, there was no real clamour for his return, or debate about whether he should have been sacked. Just another game. The way it should be.

Chong was again kicked out of a game. The same happened against Sheffield United. Two rough challenges left him unable to continue. Admittedly, I don't believe Millwall were anywhere near as aggressive as Sheffield United in the way they tried to handle him and this felt more circumstantial with the pitch more than malicious. Still, I do worry that he's going to be badly hurt while being fouled at full speed.


Wrapping it up...

The EFL need to stop putting this game on bleak, November midweek nights. It's always an awful, awful football match.

I guess, ultimately, we learned a lot about some of our youngsters tonight in a tough, physical game. And for the most part, they stood up. Longelo wasn't afraid to go sauntering down the left. Hannibal wasn't his usual, influential self but wasn't worried about getting stuck in when the opportunity arrived. I can't imagine Trusty experienced this in America but it was just another game to him.

One of those where we've not performed poorly but not performed well. And to dig out a point and a clean sheet in such a game has to be a positive. The test now is whether we can pick ourselves up and perform on Saturday when changes are inevitably made - it will be our third game in a week and we play next Tuesday and Friday too. 

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