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Birmingham City are facing ‘very frustrating’ problem but Chris Davies’ message is clear
Birmingham City are getting used to facing teams that park the bus in League One.
For the second league game running, Blues weren’t able to secure victory after Northampton capitalised on a defensive error to score a stoppage time equaliser at St Andrew’s on Saturday. The Cobblers stayed in the game due to a catalogue of wasted Blues chances and Mitch Pinnock finished superbly when Tomoki Iwata inadvertently played the ball into his path.
Northampton showed little ambition in the game as Blues recycled the ball and tried to find the spaces, of which there were few between a deep five-man defence. They aren’t the first team to approach a game at St Andrew’s in this way this season and they won’t be the last.
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Rival League One clubs aren’t willing to go toe-to-toe with Blues through fear of getting slaughtered. Eight of the 13 teams Blues have faced in League One have played a back five. Northampton usually play a back four, but they switched to a defensive five for Blues.
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“It is very frustrating, I’m not going to sit here and lie,” says Blues right-back Ethan Laird. “But we know what’s going to come.
“Unfortunately, because we are that good, teams are trying to stop Birmingham and they resort to a low block. It’s our job to learn how to get through low blocks.
“You see it in all flights of football. Jose Mourinho… you know all these managers’ styles and it’s hard to break down.”
Chris Davies is hammering home the message of ‘pounding the rock’ to his players. It is more commonly used in American sports as a reminder to stay focussed on the fundamentals. Keep doing the right things, keep playing the patterns and eventually you will find a way through.
“That’s why the manager uses a phrase ‘pounding the rock’ – keep going and eventually they break,” Laird adds.
“We got the break, but the next part which the gaffer has already told us is how do we kill them? How do we get that final blow and end the game? Once you do that they won’t feel like they can get back in the game.
“We’re going to get there. There’s lads coming back from injury, myself, Krys Bielik, Luke Harris – we’re still gelling even though we’re doing well. It’s a completely new team this season. You can get caught up on results but we’re doing very well and we’re going to continue doing very well.”
