Blues go down at Reading. Andy Munro reports back.
As usual, the suspicion is that we may still have an uncomfortable, nervy end to the season following the reverse against Reading. Yet this was a game we should have put to bed easily with more shots, more passes and more possession, which is a statistic that we have rarely seen in Blues games recently.
Who was to blame? Well, the patched-up defence played well but unfortunately the likes of Kristian Pedersen and our wingers playing at full-backs is always going to be prone to a mistake at a vital time, as proved with both Reading goals. Even more important is the fact that they are as quiet as the proverbial church mice and this lack of leadership means that the return of Marc Roberts or the introduction of Andre Wisdom can’t come quick enough.
Up front and in midfield, we are not going to have a ‘barn door’ day in front of goal every week but there definitely needs to be a tactical tweak. Onel Hernandez plays wide so it is absolutely vital that at least one or maybe two midfielders are in the box once he’s tracking wide, and the same goes for Jordan Graham for that matter.
I’m not yet in panic mode but the upcoming game against a rampant Huddersfield is a big one.