“Birmingham City Boss Blows Hot!” I Faced A Lot Of Problems Here But I Was Mute All This While, So The Defeat At Wanderers Was The…

Birmingham City face two major problems as Chris Davies’ cynical stance clear

Chris Davies must correct two issues at Birmingham City with the summer transfer window approaching.

They say money doesn’t solve all of life’s problems and that’s certainly the case at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park. Blowing League One out of the water with significant investment in excess of £25 million has definitely helped Birmingham to surge towards promotion but managing the squad has proved tricky at times.

Tuesday night’s 3-1 defeat away at Bolton Wanderers was Blues’ first defeat in 19 league matches. The unbeaten streak was never going to last forever – that’s just the reality – but the loss really highlighted two small issues that could grow into more major problems for Birmingham.

Boyhood Bluenose Ryan Allsop has been in superb form this season, keeping an impressive 16 clean sheets and letting in just 11 goals in 25 League One appearances. The 32-year-old had to play second fiddle to Bailey Peacock-Farrell at the start of the season but soon earned the responsibility of being Blues’ first-choice goalkeeper.

This carried up right until the end of the recent 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers as Allsop fell awkwardly when claiming a cross and was forced off injured. As Peacock-Farrell has unfortunately become rather renowned for errors so far this campaign, Birmingham fans were a little apprehensive about the Northern Irishman taking over the reins – and they had every right to be.

The loss at Bolton certainly wasn’t all Peacock-Farrell’s fault but he definitely could have done better for two of the three goals, perhaps even the third.

Peacock-Farrell was beaten far too easily at his near post for John McAtee’s equaliser and then yet again by George Thomason as the ball went straight through his hands. Bolton’s third goal was arguably stoppable, too, as Aaron Collins’ shot was at a good height for Peacock-Farrell.

Having a strong backup shot-stopper is important for any football club as there’s always a risk of the first choice getting injured. Unfortunately for Blues, Peacock-Farrell is ultimately failing the task and it’s an area that needs addressing.

Club captain ignored

Davies made the surprising decision to leave captain Krystian Bielik out of his starting XI at Bolton despite Ethan Laird being sidelined through injury. The ever-versatile Taylor Gardner-Hickman, who has recently played on the left wing, was preferred at right-back so Davies could start his preferred attacking midfielders.