Blues can take heart from a ‘dominant’ performance even though it ultimately yielded nothing.
That’s Chris Davies’ view on the 2-0 defeat at Leicester City in the Championship on Friday night.
Blues went behind after indecision and lack of communication enabled Abdul Fatawu to curl in a fine shot after just eight minutes.
But Blues, even though they weren’t their usual polished selves on occasions, then dictated the pattern of the match without really ever making it count in terms of clear cut chances, shots on target and – obviously – goals.
Blues had 11 goal attempts to Leicester’s five – just one on target – and had twice as many touches in the opposition box – 24 – than their hosts. They forced seven corners, Leicester just one.
Ricardo Pereira struck the dagger blow with two minutes left by which time Davies had taken off Phil Neumann and gambled in search of a late equaliser.
“We conceded a poor goal to start the game, which is unlike us,” reflected Davies.
“The first bit on the (Leicester) throw-in wasn’t right, we could have stayed a little bit more zonal, then he’s played a bouncing ball (in field) and it’s bouncing between two players, and there’s indecision.
“Obviously Ethan (Laird) is aware that Fatawu is behind him and we rush to get back but we can’t quite keep him onto that right foot.
“Fatawu will be one of the best wingers at this level, without doubt, and I thought Ethan did brilliantly against him. He was tight, he was aggressive, but it’s a key moment. It was a bad start for us.”
Davies continued: “We recovered really well.
“I felt throughout the game we were the team that looked the better team.
“We had a lot of control, we were pressing them quickly, winning the ball back quickly, working the ball into some good areas.
“We couldn’t create clear chances with that possession. A few bouncing balls, the ‘keeper made a save off Ethan, a couple of moments . . . but I felt it was all us.
“You think ‘that goal is coming’. And obviously right at the very end they’ve gone and got a goal out of very little they had around our box.”
“We got the ball into good areas but we have to make them defend more,” Davies added. “More crosses, more box action.
“We saw a lot of blue shirts in there and probably turned down some crosses when we could have put them under a bit more pressure, a bit earlier.
“Their (second) goal comes from something quite similar. The boy Monga chops and crosses and they a kind of get a tap-in really.
“That’s what can happen and that’s what I was encouraging the players to do a little bit more with all the possession we had.
“Leicester just sat back. They are normally a team that press, press, press high and dominate games. They’ve had more possession than any team in the league.
“Whether they tried to start doing that . . . but they just sat back and we had a lot of the ball.
“We’ve come to their stadium and I liked a lot of what I saw. We were calm, controlled, composed with the ball and worked it well, we pressed them every time they had it, they kicked the ball out of play so many times.
“For a team promoted from League One coming to a team that has just come down from the Premier League, you won’t often see that kind of a game take place.
“But that’s by the by now because it was 2-0 and we lost the game. We just have to accept it and learn from it.”
The manager felt aggrieved that substitute Pereira netted the clinching goal in the aftermath of his heavy challenge that left Kyogo Furuhashi writhing in agony and eventually forced him off.
“He was very lucky because it was a definite red card,” said Davies. “I know Ricardo very well and he’s a really good guy, he wouldn’t mean to hurt someone or be like that, but it doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to hurt someone or not, it matters whether it’s reckless or dangerous.
“It’s a red card and the fact he goes on to score the goal rubs salt in the wound. It’s not about needing VAR, the referee is close enough to see that. It’s a really poor tackle.
“We have moments on the pitch the players are under pressure to get right, and the officials have moments to try and get right.”
