Andy Munro witnesses Blues’ 1-0 defeat at home to Millwall.
Blues hit the wall in more ways than one against a resolute Millwall side who came for a point with the possibility of a bonus two on top and that’s what they eventually achieved.
Blues had plenty of meaningless possession, which still usually resulted in Stockdale booting tne ball upfield. In truth, they looked stilted and unco-ordinated, and it didn’t help to have one of our star players playing on the wrong side, namely Maxim Colin. His runs down the right were sorely missed and surely it has to be the versatile Jenkinson who should be moved over to the ‘wrong’ side.
Millwall still made the better chances despite the possession stats and if it hadn’t been for Stockdale’s brilliance it could easily have been worse. It’s now becoming increasingly difficult to profer a solution as playing three flat midfield midfielders doesn’t seem to be working. At the same time, when he was introduced we saw another ignominious performance from record signing Jota, which makes old Ziggy’s £6 million fee look a snip!
The talented Adams doesn’t seem to be trusted in terms of being fit and one wonders about the skill levels of the Blues physios. If he’s fit then we have to play him and stick with him for a few games to play himself in alongside Gallagher. If he’s technically not fit then don’t put him on the bench and instead, maybe give a chance to a younger forward from the second string. That’s presuming they’ve not all been foolishly sent out on loan.
If Steve Cotterill had been brave he would have switched Colin and brought on Bramall but that was never going to happen. It’s a scenario which I can only describe as drab and grey for us long-suffering fans.
One thing that did make me smile was Cotterill’s post-match comments that once we went a goal behind our younger players found it hard to battle back. Thanks to his safety first tactics and the rest of his equally mediocre coaching staff, only Jenkinson, Gallagher and Boga are below 25 so that says something about his willingness to give some keen youngsters a chance. No wonder the young and free-scoring Ronan Hale has beat a path back to Ireland!