Andy Munro watches Blues’ holiday programme start badly with defeat by Blackburn Rovers.
Blues huffed and puffed but rarely opened up a solid Blackburn defence. This performance was the height of mediocrity and although Blues had two-thirds of the possession, most of it was in their own half as usual. Any attacking build-ups were usually intricate to the point of almost being painful. In fairness, any long balls were generally wayward so neither tactic paid dividends.
Stats show Blackburn, who are supposedly a struggling side, had 16 shots to our 11 which says a lot. Yet despite this showing manager Chris Davies didn’t make most of his subs until late in the game, which says much about his indecisive character.
In terms of our players’ individual performances, keeper James Beadle pulled off three excellent saves in succession and could do little about the goal conceded. The back four in front of him were generally solid but the midfield were generally ineffective, taking too long on the ball and passing sideways and backwards as they were easily closed down.
Out wide Ibrahim Osman worked hard but too often ran up blind alleys, apart from one gilt-edged chance when he hit the post with the goal at his mercy. Patrick Roberts had one of his less than memorable games whilst Jay Stansfield ran his socks off but twice passed when he should have shot betraying his current lack of confidence. Alongside him Marvin Ducksch was generally poor, with even his usual deft touch deserting him.
Where do we go from here? Probably nowhere this season – or next, if the Davies/Gardner duo are still in charge.
