BRUM IS BLUE!

Blues extended their unbeaten run as they shared the spoils on the road at the weekend in a rather dull affair. It was to be anticipated that there’d be a bit of fatigue and I think that’s what we saw starting to creep in. That said Blues are 16 games unbeaten and look capable of holding teams off.

There’s a lot of complaints about the fixture schedule at the elite level but it doesn’t seem to be mentioned as much lower down the pyramid. It’s something though that Blues will start to experience as our rearranged fixtures need to be caught up, we still have 2 games in hand on second and third place, this month has seemed very congested so to see a couple less fixtures in March should do wonders for the squad.

Saturday’s game was a bit gritty and saw two further injuries sustained as Lyndon Dykes suffered a calf injury while Scott Wright went off early with a knee injury as his studs got stuck in the turf causing him to go down funny. It looked a painful one and as soon as it happened he signalled for medical support. The pitch played it’s part let’s not forget, as it was clear it wasn’t the best playing surface but it’s one of those things you can’t really complain about at this level.

It does mean that for Tuesday’s game Blues will be missing 5 players. While these are certainly not down to fatigue, the recovery time will be influenced by this as a factor and so it will be a clear test of a few things for Blues. It will be the depth of the squad, and I think we do have a decent level of depth this season but that our best formation and style of play doesn’t suit the “Plan B” players (We only have to think of the usual triple substitutions once Blues have a lead and there’s about 20 minutes to go), it therefore will rely on a change in the style of play which will ultimately see a few key players dropped as I see it. Secondly recovery is a key area that Brady was in charge of, it will see proof in the pudding if these injured players are swiftly back to fitness.

I say that like we’ve not seen some decent recovery times already this season but I don’t think Willumsson has come back quite the player he was before he was injured. Is this an indication his return has been rushed? It’s highly likely he’ll be started on Tuesday so hopefully the concerns of the last two games will disappear but I don’t know, and he was one of my favourite players prior to his injury.

Leyton Orient looks set to be another difficult game, Blues failed to dominate possession for the first time in a long while in the League at the weekend but at home should be a different beast. It is nice to have problems but to ultimately not be too concerned and that’s how I feel in all honesty, I can’t see our unbeaten run ended tomorrow but wrapping up the league will no doubt be pushed back a couple of games.

I will get up a match preview tomorrow so come back for a full breakdown of our opponents along with match predictions.