Blues are beaten by Leicester City but Andy Munro still finds some consolation.
To listen to local radio, apart from one caller you would think that Blues had played stupendously well against league leaders Leicester City and been robbed of three points but perhaps a dose of realism is needed.
In fairness, going forward Blues looked impressive particularly with the sometimes unplayable Siriki Dembele, the skills of Juninho Bacuna and the excellent Jordan James who, notwithstanding his brace of goals was Blues’ man of the match. In front of them Jay Stansfield ran his proverbial socks off although at times he looked a lonely figure up front – one wonders whether he might be more effective in a withdrawn deeper role.
Unfortunately, Blues defensive midfielder Krystian Beilik had a bad day at the office, which meant that there was little cover for a back four vulnerable to counter attacks from the opposition’s speedy attackers. Ivan Sunjic worked hard but Wayne Rooney should have instructed one of those midfielders to always stay back and if necessary stop breakaways at all costs.
John Ruddy still looks half the player he did under John Eustace with the play out from the back mantra – opposition teams now know how uncomfortable our current players are with this philosophy and close us down. More alarmingly, our two fullbacks were far too narrow, which gave Leicester’s wide men a licence to attack
However, all in all it was a very entertaining game where Blues could have pinched a point at the death with the subs Juke winning everything in the air and Koji Myoshi a real handful.
There were some reasons to be cheerful but we desperately need a few more points on the board.