Andy Munro watches Blues go down at home to Sheffield United.
To be fair Blues deserved a share of the points but it wasn’t to be as Blues defence(at the start of the season their best asset) fell away yet again. Whilst the first half was pretty uninspiring in terms of both sides with little goal threat, the second was a far more lively affair.
In that period, after some early Blades pressure, Blues gained the ascendancy culminating in an excellent move yet again involving Hernandez and finished off with a trademark ice cool finish from Lyle Taylor. Soon after, an equally fine move should have made it two-nil but the otherwise impressive Junior Bacuna shot straight at the keeper.
That’s where the good news ended, with Blues quickly conceding two goals although one of them should have been disallowed for a blatant offside, thanks to another man in black distinguishing himself at St Andrews.
Blues newbies again did well in terms of Taylor, Hernandez and Bacuna although in defence Menge looked as nervous as the proverbial kitten at times. Mind you, he was not helped by a poor display from Wantaway, Pedersen, another anonymous performance from Colin and a Marc Roberts who was decent in the air but woeful on the ground.
Behind them Etheridge was excellent in his shot-stopping skills but unfortunately the same can’t be said about his hesitancy and waywardness in his distribution.
In the middle, Gary Gardner was anonymous whilst Woods, as usual, was like the curate’s egg. Bacuna must be wondering what he’s let himself in for and certainly Jordan James and maybe Sunjic have to be in line for recalls.
As a rejoinder to all that, Blues have got to play Hernandez out wide and the midfield and defence need to get the ball to him far quicker, as he’s capable of causing mayhem given a run.
It’s unlikely that we’ll get anything in midweek away to Bournemouth so we will definitely need three points against Luton to maintain a healthy distance to the bottom few. In fairness, Blues look a lot stronger than pre-transfer window, but that defence…