Blues broke their losing streak on Saturday with a draw at Derby, watched by Andy Munro.
Ever since the demise of Gary Rowett, Blues seem to have fiddled with various expansive and sometimes confusing tactics and strategies so it wasn’t surprising that the down to earth Brummie that is Lee Carsley went for the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) tactic. It’s a measure of the man’s pragmatism that he also announced that everybody started again with a clean sheet and that he wasn’t quite ready to take the job in hand on long term – an excellent way of keeping the pressure off as he tries to turn around a set of dismal results.
Most Blues fans would have gratefully taken a point after the Preston capitulation and that’s what we got; and it was fully deserved despite the unbalanced game cameo shown by the notorious Channel 5 Championship highlights (On that subject the combination of Colin Murray and the entertaining Clint Morrison is definitely a step up from the shallow Kelly Gates and her poison dwarf).
The game was a tight one and afterwards it did seem to be verging on hypocrisy to hear Rowett complain about Blues being set up to get a draw. Still, it was a well-earned point and good to see Craig Gardner having a stormer to answer his critics while generally the defence looked far more solid with a bank of three protecting them. Boga as well looked a handful and one must remember his game time in English football is a modest single figure so he is on a steep learning curve.
Slightly less impressive was another very average performance from Sam Gallagher given his rumoured £40,000-plus wages. However, on the subject of centre forwards, it was also good to see Jutkiewicz respond like the real pro that he is.
One would think that Lee Carsley might stick with the same players for a bit although personally I might be tempted to bring in Walsh until Jota is fit to add a dash of creativity to Davies and Gardner. Similarly, I might alternate Boga and Maghoma (or Cotterill) and bring in Vassall behind the centre forward. Either way, we now have the talent to move up the table as and when we get that win to boost our confidence.
