Match Analysis: Birmingham City 1-0 Swansea City

We’ll break down the key tactical battles to see what went wrong at St Andrews.

Sheehan’s side had roughly an equal share of the possession and chances in the first half and should have been a goal up at the break when Vipotnik looked to be onside when he tucked home a cross at the far post from close range, but we’ll focus more on what we went wrong in the second half.

The warning signs were there shortly after the restart—Birmingham rolled the dice with attacking intent, while the Swans, having lost any control, pocketed their own ambitions and looked ready to retreat.

Both sides pressed with a high intensity from the start and throughout so we’ll use more video clips to highlight this rather than static screenshots.

Given both sides’ intense press in a 4-4-2 shape, energy off the ball and eagerness to win it back, neither side could get into any rhythm of play in the opening 9-10 minutes.

That was until Sheehan’s side created the first opportunity in front of goal as Vipotnik should have given the Swans an early lead.

It was probably our best move of the match as some quick play from Tymon to move the ball inside after receiving a pass from Inoussa allowed the left-back to move beyond a chasing trio of Birmingham players.

Space opened up through the middle allowing Tymon to spray the ball across to Ronald – unmarked on the right flank. The Brazilian fired in a low cross aimed at the edge of the 6-yard box that was met by a well-timed run by Vipotnik but his shot flew over the bar.

Gaps open up in Swansea’s midfield

A common theme in Swansea’s midfield this season under Sheehan has been a lack of presence in central areas.

The single pivot – Stamenic on Saturday following his return from injury – will sit deep in front of the back four. The two 8’s in front will push forward to support the wide players – the full backs and wingers.

What tends to happen is they push on too high and wide leaving huge gaps in the middle – as you can see below.

Fortunately this didn’t cause too many major issues in what was a rather evenly-contested first half but later in the analysis we’ll see how Birmingham were able to dominate in the second 45.

However, you can see how Birmingham were able to take advantage of this central space and how it allowed them to progress forward and move the ball rather easily to their left flank.

Fortunately for the visitors the move doesn’t come to anything as Key heads away the cross and a foul on Vipotnik breaks up the play.

The below clip is from midway through the second half. The ball is fed across to Inoussa on the left and this is the trigger for Tymon to push forward in support but any error in possession leaves the Swans vulnerable as a big open space is left behind them.

Inoussa makes the error allowing the home side an easy counter-attacking opportunity.

Negativity or simply running out of ideas? Swansea struggle to play out from the back in 2nd half

Sheehan received quite a lot of criticism from Swansea fans after the defeat – noting poor game management and negativity – for settling for a draw rather than making attacking subs to go in search of a winning goal.

But I’d have to argue that, while there was definitely an element of that at play, it was more a case of Sheehan and his team running out of ideas and not having the answers after half-time.

As you will see in the following clips below, Swansea City couldn’t play out and develop their play from the back.

And when Galbraith was marked out of the game we didn’t have any alternative ideas.

While the hosts made 6 subs – starting after 67 minutes, Sheehan didn’t make a change until the 74th despite a clear lack of energy in midfield having beaten Nottingham Forest in the cup just 3 days prior.

The changes he made didn’t come in midfield either, it was Vipotnik and Inoussa who made way.

The returning Stamenic from injury played the full match (100 minutes), Franco was subbed off after the late goal on 97 and Galbraith was replaced by Yalcouye on 89.

As we’ve seen too many times before, Swansea’s play becomes very predictable and easy to read.

Birmingham’s 4-4-2 shape out of possession was very effective in blocking off forward passing lanes.

For the vast majority of the second half, Swansea’s centre-backs looked to play long balls down the flanks – ignoring their single midfielder sitting just in front of them who was closely marked.

The above pass maps show the differences in the passes made by the two centre halves in the first half compared to the second half.

Cabango’s in particular shows how he was forced to make longer passes – most of which were unsuccessful.

The clip below shows an example of Swansea’s struggles to play the ball out from the back.

Birmingham have Swansea completely covered off in midfield. Stamenic is closely man-marked and the two 8s have split wide and there’s no clear route through to them.

Cabango’s only option is a long, chipped pass for Ronald to try to win in the air. Possession is then inevitably lost and Birmingham have space to counter-attack.

Below is another example, this time it’s Burgess.

Stamenic has two players either side which blocks off forward passing lanes so any pass into the sitting midfielder will have to be returned straight back to the defender.

An aimless long ball from Burgess goes straight out of play.

Birmingham mark Galbraith out of the game in 2nd half

Birmingham City completely nullified Ethan Galbraith in the second half. So much so that he had a 22-minute spell without attempting a single pass.

You can see the difference in his first and second half pass maps below.

In the second half, Galbraith made passes in the 45th and 48th minute but he didn’t make another pass until the 70th. Another 8-minute spell without a pass occurred before he made two passes in the 78th and 79th minutes respectively.

In the below example, Franco drops deep to help his team during the build-up phase but there are no forward passing routes. Ronald is blocked off by two players in front of him, Stamenic is closely man-marked and Galbraith is a far too risky passing option.

Below shows a rare occasion where Galbraith is in possession – 5 minutes before his substitution and you can see how he’s surrounded by 5 opposition players and without a single team-mate in support within 25 yards ahead of him.

You can watch the play below, Galbraith then slips on half-way and again this allows Birmingham City a quick counter-attacking chance.

Birmingham deliver the gutter blow in the 94th minute. Tymon doesn’t get close enough to close down and stop the crosser. Cabango is poor trying to deal with the goalscorer in the box as Dykes heads past Vigouroux from 10 yards.

To summarise, Sheehan is going to have find new ways for his team to attack and build their play from the back. Also, to be able to adapt when opposition teams are marking out key players like Galbraith.

And a final word on new signing – Adam Idah. He came on and it was a similar showing to when he came on against Hull. The service to him was non existent and the best he could do was chase long aimless balls into the channels.

The striker from Celtic can’t be judged based on these displays – coming on in difficult circumstances whilst given zero service in and around the box – where he can be a threat