Birmingham v Huddersfield
To begin with, there were a few changes from the loss to Cardiff. We saw Longelo and Deeney in for Jutkiewicz and Chong, who drop to the bench.
First half
We adopted a 5-3-2 formation, with Longelo and Colin as wing backs.
As we started, Huddersfield never really let Blues play out from the back and were pressing when they could.
At the 6th minute, some smart work from Blues saw a lovely back heel from Hannibal to Colin, which led to Bacuna whipping a great ball into the corridor of uncertainty in the Huddersfield box. Deeney managed to get a leg on it and put Blues 1-0 up, early doors.
However, Huddersfield hit back with an almost instant reply from a freekick into the box. Ruddy made a mess of the cross, letting it fall to a Huddersfield player who hit the post.
From then on, I felt like Blues never really settled into the game and Huddersfield pressed up well.
The home team had a great chance to score, but Ruddy held on to a solid delivery in.
At the 23rd minute, a Blues corner was cleared quickly and we were caught napping on a counter attack. Hungbo, who has been their danger man all game, picked up the ball on their right hand side. He drove forward and fired it into the top corner. Take nothing away from the strike, but it was all too easy for them. We’ve seen a lot of goals conceded from that similar position.
Blues were again very sloppy with their possession and gave the ball away a lot.
Best move of the first half for blues saw Bacuna play the ball into Deeney, who laid it off to Colin, cutting it back for Bacuna. Ultimately, it forced a a smart save, but didn't break the deadlock.
To finish the half, some sloppy defending from Sanderson allowed their striker to pull it back and get a shot off. Luckily, Ruddy saved very well.
HT 1-1
We were still in the game and I’ve seen worse halves from Blues, but it still wasn’t great. We will be happier going in at 1-1. I feel we’re very weak down our left side and they’re looking to exploit Longelo every time.
Second half
Blues came out quick and almost scored from kick off. A great cross from Longelo and a Deeney header bounced off the post.
One long ball forward on the 49th minute, from the home team's goalkeeper, caught Colin out and their winger picked up the ball before firing a shot across Ruddy into the net. 2-1 Huddersfield.
For me, the formation wasn’t working again. There were a lot of sloppy moments from Blues, allowing opportunities for Huddersfield to put the game beyond us. In particular, one moment comes to mind where Bacuna had to make two quick blocks to keep the game in our grasp.
Another foreseen formation change and substitution, which saw Chong on for Sanderson. 4-4-2 diamond.
Blues had two great chances later on. The first to Deeney, after a smart pass from Bacuna. Deeney scoops the ball over the bar (has to score for me).
The second to trusty at the back post from a corner, hits off the keeper, which he knew nothing about. Very fortunate.
Deeney then goes off injured for Juke, catching a knock.
Bielik is the next victim to go off, which looked like a very bad injury and he got stretchered off. Never nice to see, but he looked devastated. Hope it’s not as bad as it seemed or looked. We need our Viera in the middle.
We made two more changes, seeing Gardner and Hall on for the injured Bielik and Hannibal.
The injury break killed any momentum we looked to gain, from there on we looked out of ideas and out of steam, even with 12 minutes added on.
One last chance saw Bacuna drag his shot wide from the edge of the box.
FT ended 2-1 to Huddersfield.
Verdict
Another poor away performance for Blues. After taking the lead, we never settled. Not one player can hold their hands up and say they played well today. Don’t normally dig individuals out, but Colin was shocking. His fault for their second goal and his constant misplaced passes and poor crosses proved a problem.
For me, the 5-3-2 didn’t work yet again (shock horror). How many times do we have to change this formation to try and salvage a match?
Another added note, I don’t think Hogan touched the ball or even had a shot. I’m not digging him out here, but if you can’t get your top goal scorer to even have a touch, how do we expect him to score?
Typical Blues again. if you’re struggling for a win then come and play us. Could have been the new manager bounce, but that performance was shocking. Tough trip away on Tuesday to Norwich now. I fear we’re being dragged right back into a relegation battle as soon as we started seeing the light of mid table.
Player ratings out of 10
Ruddy - 4
Colin - 2
Sanderson - 3
Dean - 3
Trusty - 3
Longelo - 3
Bielik - 3
Hannibal - 3
Bacuna - 4
Deeney - 4
Hogan - 3
Subs
Etheridge - N/A
Long - N/A
James - N/A
Gardner - 3
Chong - 3
Jutkiewicz - 3
Hall - 3
See the highlights from the game and reactions from our team below:
Credit: Birmingham City Football Club
Credit: Birmingham City Football Club
Credit: Birmingham City Football Club
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