Embattled Venus’ side slide further
BLUES slipped further into the Championship mire with their 1-0 defeat to Millwall at The Den.
Japhet Tanganga headed home George Saville’s corner in the 90th minute to condemn Blues to a 13th away loss in the league. Prior to Tuesday night’s game against Middlesbrough it left them pointless in three of the four games they had played without manager Tony Mowbray.
In fairness, another controversial decision went against them on Saturday. Jay Stansfield should have been awarded a penalty in the second half, long before Tanganga beat John Ruddy at the other end.
Interim boss Mark Venus and his players then headed into an enormous week in their fight to avoid relegation after slipping to 21st in the table. Here are the talking points...
Set-piece woes
Statistically, Blues aren’t among the worst teams in the league on defensive set-pieces. They have conceded ten goals – five fewer than Blackburn and QPR.
But they have developed a habit of conceding from corners. Southampton, Hull and Millwall all breached Blues in this way.
Venus called his players out on it after the game and said: “I’ve got to be honest, I don’t think it’s just Millwall that are a threat from set-pieces as far as we’re concerned. Every team has had a threat and we haven’t been able to deal with their threats.”
Krystian Bielik is Blues’ most aerially dominant player and his absence has hurt the team. Kevin Long isn’t bad in the air, but he is now defending Toronto’s box.
Do Blues have stomach for the fight?
Nobody is questioning the quality within the squad. A team boasting Ethan Laird, Paik Seung-ho, Koji Miyoshi, Juninho Bacuna and Stansfield should not be fearing relegation.
But it is and now supporters are wondering whether they have the stomach for the scrap. There aren’t many players left at Blues with experience of battling relegation and that feels like a disadvantage in some ways.
“I think they have got the stomach for the fight; they showed that second half,” Venus said.
“They have to just learn to do the basics a bit better and make the right decisions. We are conceding goals from set-pieces and it’s really hurting everybody.”
does There are players who do have that quality and Alex Pritchard is one of them. The January addition is one of the team’s artists in possession, but he demonstrated desire and determination without the ball at Millwall.
Pritchard is wily enough to know what’s needed in a relegation scrap. He fronted up for media duties after the game and said all the right things.
“We’ve got ten cup finals to play,” he said. “That’s the reality.”
It’s now over to the team.