Andy Munro watches Blues 0-0 draw with Coventry City.
This was a turgid affair between two undistinguished but well matched sides, both trying to find their Championship feet for differing reasons. After the profligacy of Pep Clotet, we have the contrast of Aitor Karanka who, whilst tactically astute and an all round nice bloke, is never going to give us Bluenoses a heart attack caused by excitement.
In fairness, although we started off the slower and more nervous side we grew into the game and probably had the best chances, with the Juke uncharacteristically missing a gilt-edged header and then being foiled by the brilliance of the Coventry keeper Marosi.
The ‘home’ side at least bravely changed their formation in search of a win but Karanka was a footballing version of the Iron Lady and was not for turning with his like for like substitutions. If he had been a gambler, it was crying out for Jonathan Leko to put the proverbial Blues cat amongst the sky blue pigeons but that was never going to happen.
Jeremie Bela was probably Blues best player with several excellent crosses, albeit having only the lonely figure of the Juke in the box to aim at while Riley McGree stayed back when he should have been busting a gut to get in the box. Whether that was lack of desire or the manager’s instructions remains a mystery.
Overall it wasn’t a bad performance but a slight worry was the performance of Sky Blues’ Tyler Walker, who made Messrs Roberts and Dean look a bit pedestrian at times. Jake Clarke-Salter perhaps beckons sooner rather than later.
