Birmingham City’s lack of depth in certain positions could be a ‘real issue’ as the season goes on, says BirminghamLive reporter Alex Dicken.
Birmingham City have made a really strong start to the new Championship season as they eye promotion to the Premier League. BCFC are sat in 4th place in the table after their first 10 fixtures and they are in the play-offs along with West Ham, QPR, West Brom, Southampton and Stoke City.
The Blues have lost only once in the league in this campaign and are a tough team to break down. They beat Preston North End 4-0 last time out after goals by August Priske (x2), Liam Millar and Demarai Gray.
Journalist Dicken has delivered his verdict on their squad, as per a report by BirminghamLive: “When Blues had those three injuries before the international break with Max Bird, Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Demarai Gray the squad did look pretty threadbare at points – and when Patrick Roberts was out as well and they went to Norwich, the bench looked very weak. At Derby, it didn’t look any better and they obviously muddled through and got a good victory. So that’s a real issue for me.
Birmingham City FC Roundup
“There was a point last year around Christmas where Blues had a lot of injuries, particularly defensive injuries and obviously suspension as well in the case of Christophe Klarer – and they couldn’t cope with it because they didn’t have the depth. They went on a run of not winning in seven.
“So when the games are coming thick and fast, you just hope that Blues have these players available because Chris Davies is going to need to rotate to a certain extent anyway and needs quality options. They’ll need luck with injuries.”
Birmingham City’s squad depth assessed after Preston North End win
Birmingham City re-signed Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper James Beadle on loan during the summer. He is BCFC’s number one at the moment and is backed up on the bench by the experienced Ryan Allsop.
The Blues are well stocked up with options at right-back Bright Osayi-Samuel and Ethan Laird. On the other flank, they have Alex Cochrane and Kristoffer Lund at their disposal.
In the heart of the backline, Phil Neumann and Christoph Klarer have been preferred to Dael Fry. If an injury strikes in this area though, the Midlands outfit could be left short following Jack Robinson’s departure.
Birmingham City have a whole host of players in the middle of the park like Paik Seung-ho, Jhon Solis and Tomoki Iwata. Max Bird and Taylor Gardner-Hickman are also back available now and ready to show what they can do.
Davies has useful attackers including Priske, Millar, Gray, Patrick Roberts, Jay Stansfield and Carlos Vicente. If Priske gets sidelined though, Luis Vazquez has struggled to adapt to English football so far and probably can’t be trusted to lead the line yet so they would be lacking a cutting edge.
Chris Davies’ managerial stats at Birmingham City in all competitions to date
Games Wins Draws Losses
122 68 29 25
The Verdict: Birmingham City will be up there at the end of the season
Birmingham City have tweaked their style of football a bit recently. BCFC are now comfortable not having the ball and are happy to catch teams on the break.
The Blues are very solid at the back and don’t concede many goals. They then have good threats going forward so they have a great foundation to carry on their momentum.
Davies will get the chance to bring in some more new faces when the January transfer window is open for business. He also has the opportunity to let some players leave if needed.
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Harry Mail is a freelance writer who has worked for The72 since 2017 and is based in the North West. He has also written for the Yorkshire Evening Post, Yorkshire Post, The Star and Lancashire Evening Post among other sites since graduating from Sheffield Hallam University with a degree in Sports Journalism.
Championship, League One Correspondent
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