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After criticism came the reaction

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What a difference a week makes. Yet at half time, a familiar feeling came over me. With Blues a goal up at the interval again, surely it would all go Pete Tong in the second half.

Now we can all criticise the manager for making mistakes but one thing you look for after a dire performance is a reaction. And today, Blues did exactly that.

I cannot find fault with a single player. Blues made promotion favourites Norwich look very ordinary. From David Davis’ marauding performance in the wide right position to the solid partnership of Robert Tesche and Maikel Kieftenbeld. The back four remained unmoved, particularly Jonathan Grounds who had his best game in a Blues shirt. Che Adams was lively and Jacques Maghoma was menacing. And look what can happen when Clayton Donaldson is given the support he has been crying out for. The Don was unplayable at times and deserved his brace.

Gary Rowett said in his post interview that the sort of performance, drive and cohesion we witnessed today should be the benchmark of Blues’ capabilites. ‘When we play like that, when we run so hard and move the ball so well, we will win a lot of games’, he said. And he’s spot on.

The second half against Wolves was un-Blues like. Not the fact we were beaten, but the lack of togetherness. Today was the complete opposite. Everything clicked.

So the two faces of Blues have shown. But this is where we are as a club and a team. We are capable of performances like today and we will come unstuck at times, like we did last week.

Was the criticism of Rowett justified? Perhaps. Did the criticism influence his team selection this afternoon? Absolutely not.

Maybe a move away from the usual 4231 formation is the way forward – perhaps adopt that shape away from St. Andrews. But Rowett is paid to make decisions and today he got them absolutely spot on.



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