Hello! We've ended the month on a loss, and perhaps fittingly it was far from a straightforward win for Blackburn- as it was in Kit's first game in September with a Jordan Rhodes goal proving the difference between the two teams.
In previous games when we've conceded I've said we shouldn't necessarily be blaming the defence despite conceding- unfortunately the same can't be said for the goals we conceded today. The first goal was just bizarre from my point of view, it was a pretty rare mistake from the current incarnation of our defence- but what'll become a recurring theme during this review; its these small margins that are why we're not quite there with regard to playoffs/promotion this season. The second goal was criminal from my point of view, Blackburn had been looking threatening from crosses throughout the game- so to give Olsson the amount of time we did just isn't on from my point of view; and although he isn't on top form this season Rhodes definitely knows where the back of the net is and punished us. On a slightly more positive note- the goal we scored today was good, and I was happy to see Christensen getting involved in the goals again and the McCormack finish was as cool and as easy as you could have wanted.
It wasn't Bettinelli's best game by a long way- but there wasn't much he could have done for either of the goals and as usual he coped with almost everything well enough to not have any massive panic attacks from a fans perspective.
I liked Jazz Richards' performance today, considering it was his debut- and despite their recent form Ewood Park is a tough place to go was reasonably impressed with his performance. He could have arguably scored just before Blackburn scored their first- but from a defensive standpoint he done alright as well. He of course isn't eligible for Sunderland, which'll mean the return of Grimmer and his performance on Tuesday will be interesting- and will have a large say in the Grimmer vs Richards debate for Birmingham next Saturday. As I've already said, there was a definite mistake that lead to the first goal- but apart from that the Bodurov & Hutchinson partnership still performed reasonably well, and the same can be said for Stafylidis.
The Midfield Selection today confused me today, we of course had the news that Bryan is off to Levante as of last night- as such I don't know why we went for the Diamond with the players we had available. As I've already said with regard to Kacaniklic I'm happy we didn't start him- and although he did get 30 Minutes in he'll be fresh for Sunderland on Tuesday. That means we didn't have a defined player for the #10 Role- which meant we could either change formation or push McCormack back to the midfield after getting a Hat-Trick from Striker in his last league game, so of course we pushed McCormack back to midfield. The players we had available in my opinion either lent themselves to a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3, in the 4-4-2 scenario I'd have Tunnicliffe on the right because his Work Rate lends itself to a winger in my opinion with Parker, Christensen and Kacaniklic/G. Williams making up the rest of the midfield- or we can go for a 4-3-3, or a 4-3-2-1 perhaps with The "3" being Tunnicliffe, Parker and Christensen with McCormack and Kacaniklic/G. Williams playing either side of Hugo/Woodrow. Assuming Bryan is off to Spain, we only have Kacaniklic who can slot into the #10 Role (of the players who still have a pulse) and I still don't think he's fully match fit- so I'd make it a priority on Deadline Day to either sign a #10 Player along the lines of Nick Powell; as it seems Kit is very much set in his ways with regard to the diamond.
The Strikers were once again a mixed bag today, I'm counting McCormack in this section because he scored when he was pushed up as a consequence of Hugo going off for Kacaniklic. McCormack of course got the goal- but it was a really mixed bag from him today; perhaps as a consequence of him being played in midfield. I think some people will be harsh on Hugo today- and yes, he has played better but I thought he played reasonably well today given the circumstances; he's still a long way away from where he was around November/December time- but it seems as if Kit is persisting with Hugo during his "down swing" so when he does get the perhaps lucky goal sometime down the road he'll go on another run. I liked Woodrow's performance today- I was a bit confused as to why he was taken off for Dembele when we were pushing for the equaliser; as he did look reasonably dangerous- no more so than when he hit the bar just before McCormack scored.
I think the subs Kit made were the wrong ones in the circumstances they were made. Kacaniklic for Rodallega was a decent sub, it allowed McCormack to push forward- and his Kacaniklic's pace added an extra dimension to us for the last half hour. The Dembele for Woodrow sub confused me, Dembele is yet to get a League Goal for us- and he doesn't look quite there yet, it does make you think considering we had a load of people slating Jol for not playing Dembele in the Premier League. The Fofana for Parker was confusing in the sense that- at 2-1 with roughly 5 minutes left you have nothing to lose so you might as well go for it, I'm by no means a Pat Roberts fan but one thing he definitely does it keep defenders guessing- and a tricky player at that stage of the game is whats needed to perhaps create an extra yard for either him or someone else to get a shot away that ends up getting us a point.
We've ended the month on a loss, but I think on balance we can look at this month positively- we're still in the Cup, we've turned in some sublime performance; particularly the first half against Forest and the overall display against Wolves in the Away leg. I think it says a lot for the sort of team we are at the moment that both of the games we lost this month were against teams who hadn't won in a minimum of 5 (League). We are a Mid-Table team this season, which is why I've repeatedly said we should be looking for a Cup Run, and its these types of games against out of sorts teams that a legitimate promotion contender would at least pick up a point from.
Thanks for reading as always, and thanks for making this my best month so far view wise- and I hope we make better the total once again in February. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to work this- and it could go horribly wrong but I'm planning on doing a 24 Hour Shift on Deadline Day, and having a live blog which I'll update hourly- and if/when a deal goes through so I hope you stop by for that because there's a good chance I'll be dead by the end of it. Anyway thats for Monday- as is the Sunderland Preview, so I'm going to forget the result today and try and sleep through the whole of Sunday. Anyway thanks again, I hope you stay tuned for that on Monday- and lets hope Deadline Day isn't a lead balloon.
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