Luke Turner gives his thoughts on the performance of Ryan Shotton…
Saturday`s 0-0 draw with Rotherham saw loanee Ryan Shotton make his first start for Blues in place of Paul Caddis at right back.
I wasn’t really expecting Gary Rowett to change the back four at all if I’m honest. There were doubts over the fitness of Jonathan Grounds so if there were to be a change then it would have been him.
But Rowett opted to give Shotton his debut and I thought that he performed very well.
He is quite different to Caddis in that he gives more height to the side and he is also better defensively.
He didn’t really give their left midfielder Joe Newell a sniff all afternoon which was impressive considering he has five goals and five assists to his name this season.
Shotton was particularly impressive with the ball at his feet. He was calm and not afraid to move in field with the ball instead of lumping it up field.
However, what does worry me is that we lose the attacking ability of Caddis when he’s not in the side.
Shotton made a few attacking moves but certainly not as much as Caddis would’ve done but I think Shotton is a lot more cautious and doesn’t want to get caught out of position.
However, what he does possess is a long throw which could come in handy when we are in desperate need of a goal.
The on-loan Derby man made an outstanding last ditch challenge to deny a Rotherham goal so his ability to defend could be very beneficial to us.
Overall, it was probably quite a wise decision by Rowett to play Shotton just to ensure we didn’t get caught out down their left hand side.
It will be interesting to see if he brings Caddis back for the Bolton game as we do miss his attacking presence and he has improved defensively over the last few weeks.
Blues fans, how did you rate Ryan Shotton`s performance on Saturday. Would you prefer to play Paul Caddis? Comment below!