They were well organised and kept a shape but we did not move the ball about and thus did not move them about and the pace we did things meant they just regrouped and got their shape. I felt whilst the service was poor at times; the front two did not work hard enough. The front lad for Birmingham gave a proper performance in work rate, hold up and chasing. Clarke and Washington just offered nothing to me and we would have been playing till midnight and I am not sure we would have seen either hold the ball up, offer any kind of combination play or even look like scoring. They looked so off the pace. The subs made no difference and although given limited time Woodburn again looked a little boy lost in a mans game. He has to start improving or we may have to jettison this move as we cannot be carrying people.
2nd half I really expected a change in effort, to up the tempo and see some life but we looked a tired side and one that had no energy. They were swarming all over us by the end and only good fortune and poor finishing saw us nick a point. If the game had gone on much longer I felt we would have lost. Tonight, for me was a real wake up call. We still sit handily placed but face a team that will be looking to recover from a bad defeat on Saturday and Preston have a really good recent record against us. Individually and collectively I expect a huge improvement. We will hopefully see a few players returned to the side as the changes tonight did not really work and I felt it was too much. We were not amazing Saturday but 5 changes? I am not sure we are far enough into the season to blame number of games or talk about rotation. Sadly, as I said Saturday the players that come in are not as good as the normal 1st teamers. However, tonight many of our normal key men had poor games. Really poor games in fact.
Birmingham – First half they kept a good shape, restricted us to no real chances and grew into the game and then hit the post. 2nd half they did the same, we had one chance they saved and then they got better and from the hour mark they looked the more likely. They did not have as much of the ball but seemed to break and get through us much quicker than we did. We needed 10 passes or a player needed 5 touches to do the things they started to do with 2 touches or 3 passes. They cut us open a few times near the end and missed some great chances. They hit the woodwork twice and Henderson made a great save right at the end. They will feel they should have won the game and for an away side to create so much and deny the home side to only maybe one chance of note all night suggested they should have won. Monk was right – it was a perfect away performance with organisation, shape and good play on the counter. If they score a couple of goals it would not have been unmerited.
Still, they did not and that is maybe why they are down there as they lack a cutting edge. I expect them to pick up and move up the table on what I saw tonight. As poor as United were; they have enough decent players to be around the middle of the league and expect them to make an upwards trajectory towards that area soon enough.
Opponent man of the match – I thought the two centre backs were good and the front lad Jutkiewicz was handful. Jota flitted in and out and the young lad Lakin did ok. I thought Gardner in the middle was the stand out. Controlled things 2nd half and actually outplayed our much-vaunted midfield trio.
Weak link – I actually thought Che Adams was poor. Did not get in the game and looked disinterested much of the time. A player we did right to move on and has not quite gone on and become the player he thought he was.
Henderson 7.5/10 – Crucial late save when he spread himself well. Also, may have got something on the shot in the first half. Had been very good so far and a commanding presence.
Baldock 5/10 – Looked off the pace to me and just not at it at all. He waited too long when the ball came to him and just seemed to be switched off. Had a great chance but took too long and his effort was quite easily saved. Does not offer the same threat as Freeman and we definitely saw a drop off in this area tonight. He gave away a few cheap fouls and just was slow to react to things tonight and not much of an attacking threat save for that one aforementioned chance. Booked for a pull back – ref went back to him after the chance had gone.
Johnson 6.5/10 – Started the game well and put 2 really good driven balls in that the strikers did not attack. Looked lively down the flank but then faded and his passing and touch was not as secure. He made a few poor decisions and as the game went on struggled and lost his positional sense badly allowing them to get in down this side. Had one strong run at the end to win a corner. People may have seen tonight how decent Stevens actually is. Johnson was ok but he did not seem to know his role and looked a bit lost at times.
Egan 7.5/10 – Our best defender and rivalled Henderson for best player. He was solid in the air and mopped up well. Looked quite dominant at times. Used the ball ok and basically did what he has been bought to do. Has improved game to game since a wobbly start and will have impressed the watching Roy Keane.
O’Connell 6.5/10 – He was ok first half defensively and got forward to put a few decent crosses in that again no one attacked (see Johnson) but second half I felt he lost a few headers and also gave it away quite a bit. Seemed slow to do things and I felt let the attackers get the first ball and hold it up too easily. Booked for a cynical foul when he kind of took one for the team at the end as they broke after more awful play from us to lose it.
Basham 7/10 – See above. I felt he began the game well and was able to get forward when he could but too often ran down blind alleys. Made one excellent tackle. He lost his shape a bit second half and too often they found gaps down the side. There were big gaps down the two sides of our defence towards the end and they got it time after time.