Birmingham City might well have risen to ninth position at the end of their Championship clash with Sheffield United, but they’re still a way off disrupting the playoff party.
Indeed, they are seven points off bursting into those coveted top six positions, with the final 1-1 result against the Blades going down as a missed opportunity to try and unnerve Wrexham in sixth spot.
Birmingham somehow didn’t end up claiming a victory against Chris Wilder’s visitors, as the South Yorkshire side were down to ten men for 67 minutes of the closely fought contest.
Marvin Ducksch would find the back of the net shortly after Femi Seriki was handed his marching orders, though, with his sumptuous free-kick beating Adam Davies in the opposition goal.
Still, the tense affair at St. Andrew’s would have left those with a Blues persuasion wanting more yet again from Jay Stansfield, who continues to look goal-shy for Chris Davies’ men.
Stansfield’s goal-shy performances continue
Davies would have been relieved that moment of magic from the German attacker arrived, as 17 other shots passed his side by during the frustrating draw.
Stansfield would tally up two of those efforts, but instead of breaking his goal duck in the Championship, it ended up just being another clash that the former Fulham striker won’t look back on with much fondness.
|
Stansfield’s goal record in 2026 |
|
|---|---|
|
Stat |
Stansfield |
|
Games played |
14 |
|
Minutes played |
978 mins |
|
Goals scored |
1 |
|
Assists |
3 |
Amazingly, Stansfield has just one paltry goal next to his name this calendar year in league action, despite accumulating ten goals in all competitions this season.
It’s clear from watching his display against Wilder and Co that his confidence is dented, as the misfiring number 28 could only muster up a weak 18 touches of the ball.
Often, he would just be found running around breathlessly, failing to strike fear into the depleted Blades’ backline, leading to January signing August Priske taking over for the latter stages of the irritating match-up.
It might be time now for Davies to stick by Priske and see what he can offer, away from over-relying on an out-of-sorts Stansfield to spark back into life.
More reshuffles could soon occur in the attacking positions, for games to follow against Derby County and Blackburn Rovers, as another disappointing forward presence might be fearful of the chop, alongside the 23-year-old.
Stansfield not Birmingham’s only underperformer
Priske wasn’t the only notable January addition who linked up with Davies’ camp during the bumper mid-season transfer window, as Ibrahim Osman would also join up with the Blues on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion.
Once costing the Seagulls a mighty £16m, plenty would have been expected of the tricky Ghanaian on his arrival at St. Andrew’s, as his gung-ho displays potentially pushed the League One title winners to make their back-to-back promotion dreams a reality.
Osman has excited the St. Andrew’s masses in spurts since joining, with a goal put away against relegation-threatened Leicester City opening his Blues account back in February.
But the same, lightning-quick winger intent on causing all sorts of bother wasn’t present against the ten-man Blades, with none of his three dribble attempts during the 1-1 draw coming off.
Moreover, apart from hitting the woodwork early on, Osman looked hesitant in front of goal, with the United defenders able to keep tabs on him quite comfortably, resulting in the 21-year-old only being able to win 38% of his attempted 13 duels.
The selection conundrum Davies now faces is whether he should drop the former FC Nordsjælland winger or not, considering his replacement against Wilder’s men, Demarai Gray, also seriously struggled, as the experienced attacker gave away possession six times, from only 20 touches of the ball.
Davies does have the luxury of having plenty of attacking options to fall back on, with Birmingham well-known for their excessive spending powers, as he attempts to put together a starting XI that can get back to winning ways as soon as possible.
More missteps to come, such as this point collected against United, and the promotion dream will likely be dead and buried.
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It’s not just Jay Stansfield who’s struggling at Birmingham City.