Blues 2-2 Swansea

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 behind Jordan Graham led to Ryan Manning hitting the post. The rebound fell to Oliver Ntcham who showed excellent technique. Despite dominating the ball, Swans were fortunate Cabango and Luke Cundle didn't put into their own net before taking the lead, Joel Latibeaudiere cutting back for Matt Grimes to finish.

In truth, the second half wasn't one for the neutral. There was a lot of possession, a lot of needle, a few cards but little goalmouth action, Bacuna and Grimes having the most notable efforts, both dragging wide from distance. Then, with a minute to go, Jutkiewicz nodded down for Hogan whose touch fell to Jordan James. Effort blocked. From the resulting corner, Dion Sanderson flicked towards goal and Deeney controlled past Steven Benda before smashing the ball home from a couple of yards.

The game ended chaotically. Jutkiewicz had an effort deflected after the front three linked up. Harry Darling had a free header from a set-piece that fell kindly for John Ruddy.

Tactics

So this was 3-1-4-2 v 3-4-2-1.

A similar idea to normal for Blues. Hannibal and Chong were asked to close the wide centre backs and when the ball moved to Darling for the Swansea back three and midfield two to play their triangles and look to progress forward, Blues would line up with a central line of four and Bacuna behind them, waiting for the opportunity to pounce.

Swansea were happy to keep the ball moving and were set up almost like a 3-2-5. The back three and midfield two would play triangles to beat the initial press. Once they could find the forward pass, they could spring in to attack with the wing-backs high and stretching the pitch while 5 v 5 with the Blues back line. They were intelligent in how they did it too, regularly progressing short distances in possession to entice a challenge before moving the ball, rather than just making the passes as quick as possible. Every Swansea player was comfortable in possession.

Swansea did also try and go long, helped by Benda having an insane long kick on him. However, this only caused problems, Blues' backline unfussed by the long ball in behind, dominant aerially and much stronger on second balls which enabled Blues to attack.

When Swansea found their rhythm, they really honed in on Blues' right through Manning and Ntcham. Graham was non-committal in the challenge and Manning was able to run in behind easily. Ntcham was dropping off and Colin wanted to follow but was also very aware of the pass in behind him. It meant the pair could regularly play 1-2's and get Manning beyond Graham, or involve a third party to make the same pass.

Blues' primary route of attack was Bacuna moving the ball wide for Longelo, which would see Chong move wide and draw Nathan Wood out. Longelo was also happy to drive into the vacated space inside.

Almost every sub had an impact on positions and style.

1) George Hall for Graham. Bacuna moved to RWB. Hall RCM. Hannibal at base of midfield.

2) Matt Sorinola for Wood. Latibeaudiere moved from RWB to LCB. Cabango from LCB to RCB. Sorinola RWB.

3) Jutkiewicz for Chong. 3-4-3. Hannibal and Hall in midfield. Jutkiewicz and Deeney either side of Hogan. Also sparked a change in approach. Hannibal dropping in to collect the ball deep alongside Sanderson with Trusty and Colin almost full-backs.

4) Obafemi for Ntcham. Obafemi up top. Piroe RAM. Oliver Cooper from right to left.

5) James for Colin. 4-3-3. James alongside Hall ahead of Hannibal.

Players

Not a great night for most. I thought Chong looked bright in the first half. Deeney had a solid game up top. Longelo showed glimpses of his ability going forward but was suspect to ball in behind him. Graham had a very difficult night at RWB.

For Swansea, Grimes impressed me. Always finds a way out. Ntcham's ability and natural power showed too. It proved almost impossible to take the ball off him. Fulton quietly went about his business and was solid.

Anything else?

I should probably leave it be because it was only a booking but it didn't half annoy me. How Deeney was booked because Manning lay there holding his leg astounded me. And then Manning had the temerity to complain to the fourth official. It made the equaliser all the sweeter - he was marking Deeney, who slipped away to score.

Wrapping it up...

The never-say-die attitude of this group is fantastic. They just don't give in. Don't know when they're beaten. It's been so long since we had a team and management staff like this.

I'm sure there will come a time when his changes don't work and he's criticised but right now, Eustace's changes always seem to give us an extra impetus, which perhaps says a lot about the squad too.

I felt Blues were a bit naive at times tonight, especially second half. Swansea wanted to slow the game down, waste time, find reasons to win set-pieces, complain to the referee vs we gave them that a little too often. Bacuna got himself booked for a rash tackle. Longelo pushing over his man on the touchline and later getting into a fracas with Latibeaudiere over a throw in. Hannibal getting into it with Cooper late on as the ball fell to Longelo on the counter attack, forcing the referee to blow.

The lack of experience also showed defensively where I think we enabled ourselves to drop deeper than necessary at times, giving Swansea the opportunity to find the passes through the lines and to build attacks despite the initial press. We were brave to start the game and had to continue with that approach. We didn't and Swansea exploited our weakness in behind our wing-backs and cutting back to the edge of the box where had a Bielik shaped hole.

On Swansea, I have to give them some credit. We played them last season and they proved easy games, only our finishing letting us down in round two. This was a far more steely Swansea side, less error-prone and more savvy. They weren't afraid to commit to the dark arts and worked their opportunities well.

That said, I don't think Blues were at their best and perhaps this was another sign of our squad depth, four missing first-teamers leaving us playing Bacuna as a defensive midfielder and Graham at wing-back. This was always going to be the challenge.

There isn't too much room for complaint, however. We're in the top ten now. Who would have thought that at the start of the season?