Birmingham City extended their unbeaten run in the Championship with a 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion at St. Andrew’s on Tuesday night.
The Blues can be pleased with that run of form, particularly after they had failed to win any of their seven league matches before the start of it, but they will be bitterly disappointed that they did not come away with all three points against the Baggies.
January signing August Priske thought that he had scored his first goal for the club in the 95th minute with an unbelievable header from a corner, only for it to be disallowed.
As frustrating as it was for Birmingham, it was a brilliant call by the officials because Demarai Gray was offside and interfering with play when Priske sent his header towards the back of the net.
Whilst Max O’Leary may not have saved the header without Gray’s interference, the Blues winger gave the officials a decision to make with his involvement.
Birmingham’s worst performers against West Brom
Despite keeping a clean sheet on the night, Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle may not be too pleased with his performance when he looks back on it.
The Brighton & Hove Albion loanee only had one simple save, which had an xG value of 0.01, to make, which meant that the bulk of his work was in possession, and he struggled with that.
|
Vs West Brom |
James Beadle |
|---|---|
|
Pass accuracy |
68% |
|
Pass in own half accuracy |
100% |
|
Pass in opposition half accuracy |
17% |
|
Long pass accuracy |
35% |
|
Possession lost |
15x |
Beadle’s mid-to-long range passing was not good enough and he gave the ball back to West Brom far too many times as a result of that, particularly with his passes into the opposition’s half.
The England U21 international was not the only poor performer on the night, though, as Marvin Ducksch also struggled at the top end of the pitch.
Birmingham’s German frontman failed to make a positive impact in the number ten position, as he missed one ‘big chance’, completed 61% of his passes, lost 100% of his duels, and failed with 100% of his attempted dribbles.
Despite his underwhelming display, in which he did not seem to have the mobility to play the role effectively, there was an even worse performer than Ducksch and Beadle.
The Birmingham flop who must be dropped
Jay Stansfield should be ruthlessly dropped from the starting line-up by Davies because he put in a poor performance that made Beadle and Ducksch’s effort look good by comparison.
Of course, the headline is that the former Fulham man did not get on the scoresheet or provide an assist for his team in what turned out to be a goalless affair, which means that he was unable to be a difference-maker.
The English forward has only scored one goal, which came against Leicester at the weekend, in his last 15 appearances for the Blues, and he has scored nine goals in 30 games in the Championship so far this term.
It was not just the fact that he failed to score that made his performance against the Baggies a poor one, though, because it was his all-round game that left far too much to be desired.
Whilst Ducksch completed 14 passes and tried to link up with his teammates to get involved in the match, Stansfield came off the pitch after 58 minutes with one pass completed to his name, making one of his four attempted passes.
|
Vs West Brom |
Jay Stansfield |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
58 |
|
Shots |
2 |
|
Shots on target |
0 |
|
Touches |
16 |
|
Possession lost |
9x |
|
Passes made |
1/4 |
|
Ground duels won |
0/2 |
|
Aerial duels won |
0/5 |
The 23-year-old centre-forward also lost 100% of his duels on the ground and in the air, as the Baggies defenders found it far too easy to get the better of him in physical battles.
He was even worse than Beadle, who still kept a clean sheet and was solid outside of his long range passes, and Ducksch, who offered more to the team in general play.
Stansfield’s failure to provide the side with a focal point hurt his own game because he could not bring his teammates into the match, which meant that they could not create the chances that he needed to score.
Birmingham spent north of £15m to sign the young forward from Fulham, in a bold move, after their relegation to League One, but he is not playing like a player who has the potential to make it in the Premier League, where physicality will be even more important.
One goal in his last 15 matches and a duel success rate of just 23% in the Championship does not paint a pretty picture of how Stansfield’s season is going, and that is why Davies should take him out of the firing line for a run of matches.
Birmingham sold a winger 12 months ago who’s now a bigger talent than Roberts
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