Birmingham boss explains his tactical changes

Birmingham boss Gary Rowett said starving Tom Cairney of space was the key to their victory at Fulham.

Clayton Donaldson converted a penalty just after the break – having missed one in the first half – and the Whites’ Michael Madl was sent off as Birmingham won 1-0 at Craven Cottage.

And Rowett explained how his tactical switch in midfield kept key Fulham player Cairney so quiet.

“Cairney’s a good player and with [Denis] Odoi giving some real good width as a full-back, we knew we had to block that inside space,” Rowett said.

“We changed [Robert] Tesche and [Maikel] Kieftenbeld over, so Maikel played Cairney’s side and we had a little bit more of a defensive mindset around the pockets Cairney wants to get in.

“We felt perhaps [Chris] Martin might have started up front. With [Matt] Smith starting, we just felt as though we had an opportunity to play a little bit higher up the pitch, because he’s perhaps going to find it harder to run away from you.

“We certainly didn’t want them high up the pitch, delivering balls into the box.

“I was slightly surprised they took Smith off. I can understand why Slavisa did it – with 10 men you need real mobility on the pitch – but again it gave us the opportunity to play a little bit higher because they didn’t have any physical presence up there.

“Also, Scotty Parker not playing perhaps made a difference to their balance defensively in the first half.”

Rowett was pleased with his side’s performance but felt the game could have been wrapped up sooner.

He said: “The only disappointment is that we made it a little bit harder than it needed to be. I thought first half we were excellent, it’s as well as we’ve played.

“We made hard work of it at times in the second half, and perhaps needed to be a bit more clinical.”