Eustace disappointed after defeat at Hornets
JOHN Eustace lamented Birmingham City’s missed chances at the start of the second half in their 3-0 defeat to Watford on Tuesday night.
Blues trailed 2-0 at half-time after a poor first half showing at Vicarage Road which prompted Eustace to introduce George Hall and Scott Hogan. Hogan had a big chance to reduce the arrears within 60 seconds but fluffed his lines.
Defender Auston Trusty missed another gilt-edged chance in the 53rd minute before Britt Assombalonga sealed victory for Watford. Not for the first time, Eustace was left bemoaning his team’s wastefulness in front of goal.
“It was obviously a really disappointing first 20 minutes,” he said. “For the first goal we didn’t track the runners and didn’t do the work that we’ve been doing for the last couple of games. The second goal we have put a ball in the box and on the turnover they have got Premiership quality, Premiership pace, and it really hurt us.
“I was pleased with the attitude of the boys in the second half, it was much more like us, much more on the front foot. We had two or three golden chances which we should have been taking.
“We changed after about 20, just a slight adjustment which helped us. I think after 20 minutes of the first half we got more control without the ball. “The changes at half-time made us look much better defensively and we created some chances on the turnover. It’s about your players as well, Watford have got Premier League players there and they have a fantastic manager now who can turn things around for them.
“We have to be mindful of who we’re playing against.
“The most important thing for me is we showed that togetherness in the second half. If we had taken a couple of those chances it might have been a different story.”
Eustace made two changes to the starting line-up which defeated Rotherham United on Saturday. Alfie Chang and George Hall were replaced by Jordan Graham and Hannibal Mejbri.
Explaining his choices, Eustace added: “It’s about the squad. We brought a couple of players in who have done really well over the last couple of weeks. It’s a three-game week in a really busy period of the season, so we’re just trying to get as much rest into them as we can and mixing it up a little bit.”
n Influential midfielder Krystian Bielik was patched up in time to feature against Watford.
The 25-year-old Poland international was taken to hospital on Saturday evening after losing his two front teeth in Blues’ 2-0 victory over Rotherham.
Blues striker Lukas Jutkiewicz believes the Rotherham player responsible for Bielik’s pain, Hakeem Odoffin, should have been sent off.
He said: “I think ultimately if you kick someone in the face and their two front teeth come out, I don’t know how you can stay on the pitch.
“Whether it’s intentional or not, it’s dangerous play and I felt the safety of the players was not being looked after there. It had to be a red card, I don’t see how it wasn’t.
“Fortunately Krystian seems to have found his teeth! He is a big tough guy.”
Blues sealed three much-needed points against Rotherham courtesy of first half goals from Reda Khadra and Kevin Long. It brought to an end a run of five games without a victory since the derby day success against West Bromwich Albion on February 10.
“They aren’t excuses because we didn’t get the job done, but when you look at the bigger picture it felt like we were competing in those games, it felt like it was on a knife-edge. Ultimately you have to go out and make sure you are on the right side of those things.”