Andy Munro talks Blues.
I suppose Blues’ away bubble had to burst at some stage and they ended up well beaten at the City Ground, partly due to some uncharacteristically shocking defending. It wasn’t helped, of course, by the reshuffle in defence although the idea of pushing the upwardly immobile Shotton to full back was badly flawed. Perhaps, this would have been the time to test out young Joe Cogley or pull Davies back to full back and give Fabrini a go in the middle.
That apart, it was the tale of a team that has begun to think it can just turn up and play in cruise control against a team desperate to get back on the winning trail. Certainly they seemed to have an appetite for the game that Blues sadly lacked.
Once again, it could be argued that a team containing Gleeson, Grounds, Robinson and Davies are never going to take us to the Premier League despite the fact that all these individuals can have excellent games at times. However, it is the phrase “at times” which betrays a weakness in a league where consistency is the key to success. Perhaps Jutiewicz was an exception as he battled away manfully up front, deserving his goal.
In fairness to Gary Rowett, he went with two up front after we went two-nil down with Clayton D coming on but after pegging the opposition back, we got caught by the inevitable sucker punch and Forest ran out comfortable winners. Hopefully, it can just be put down to a bad day at the office but losing as well as winning can be a habit. as Villa found out under Di Matteo. The game against Rotherham now assumes much more significance than it might have done and it will be interesting to see if Rowett rings the changes.
