Birmingham City

Kym Smith
Fan writer

Ahead of the game against Preston, Blues were unbeaten at home, but also winless at home.

Strangely for us, we have been better away so far, so it was high time we got three points at St Andrew's.

Although buoyed up by the victory at West Brom, as a typical Blues fan I was slightly concerned about us playing the team at the bottom of the league.

Past history shows that we're good at giving struggling teams a leg up to better form.

I hesitate to use the "banana skin" cliche, but we needed to put on a proper performance.

And it was a performance; it was one of those games when it's difficult to pick out just one standout player, because so many of the team played well.

August Priske is improving game by game and Jay Stansfield is instrumental to the way Blues play their pressing game.

Liam Millar now has five goal involvements in six games, which is impressive.

Alex Cochrane's quick thinking and accuracy provided the second goal, and it was great to see Demarai Gray on the scoresheet.

Once again, Christoph Klarer and Phil Neumann were solid.

We've been waiting to see Blues produce a dominant display for a while and this is exactly what was served up.

Preston were low in confidence and we preyed upon that; as well as getting more resilient, we need to be more ruthless.

As we put the game to bed early, Chris Davies was able to use this game as a opportunity to give returning players some minutes; you don't get that luxury when you're trying to hang on for a result. It was also good to get our third clean sheet of the season.

This win puts us up to fourth in the table, but I doubt Saturday will be anywhere near as easy as the next visitors are QPR, who are just one place behind us.

They chalked up a comprehensive victory over Derby County on Wednesday night, so we need to stay in that winning headspace.

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Ged Scott
BBC Sport England

Image source, Shutterstock

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies his warned his players they must not expect anything to be handed to them as they bid to solve their winless home run against Preston North End on Tuesday.

Blues have drawn all four of their Championship games at St Andrew's - three of them 2-2 - in a testing home start to the campaign, in which they have hosted Bristol City, Southampton, Wolves and Middlesbrough.

Now they take on bottom club Preston, under new management in former North End favourite Graham Alexander, whose side lost 1-0 at Deepdale against Millwall on Saturday in his first game in charge.

But, with a view also to Saturday's visit of Queens Park Rangers, Davies is determined to keep his side's feet on the floor despite the boost of their third away win of the season at The Hawthorns against local rivals West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.

"The expectation can go up," he told BBC Radio WM. "And I've said to the players that just because we now have two home games against Preston and QPR doesn't mean anything.

"We've got to earn it if we're going to get something. We're really pleased with how we've been playing away. This is just the next game. And we've got to keep building."

Having used players including Demarai Gray, Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Max Bird off the bench at the weekend, he also says his squad's extra strength can now come in very handy against a North End side managed by Alexander - one of the most highly respected football bosses outside the Premier League.

"We're coming together at the right time," Davies said. "In a three-game week, you always need options - and that when they do come on, they can make an impact.

"We need a core group of players and some of them are coming back to fitness just at the right time.

"Keeping them engaged and hungry and feeling part of it when they're not starting is always a challenge for any manager."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Opta

Birmingham City will hope to continue their climb up the Championship table when they welcome bottom side Preston North End to St Andrew's on Tuesday night.

Blues have won two of their past three games (D1), including a 1-0 win at West Brom in the West Midlands derby on Saturday, to move up to seventh.

The Lilywhites have won just once all season (D1 L7) and new boss Graham Alexander is seeking his first win after losing 1-0 to Millwall in his first game in charge at the weekend.

• Birmingham City have won each of their previous three league meetings with Preston, and could win four in a row for the very first time, with this their 101st clash.

• Preston have lost both of their past two league visits to Birmingham City, last losing more in a row in March 1970 (4).

• Birmingham have drawn all four of their Championship home games this season. The only sides to draw their first five at home in a season in the competition since it began in 2004 are both the Blues themselves in 2018-19 and Ipswich in 2018-19.

• Preston are without a clean sheet in 14 away league games for the first time since November 2012 (also 14). They last went 15+ without one on the road in March 2011 (26).

• Birmingham's Jay Stansfield has scored in three of his four league appearances against Preston, including two in two at home.

We asked for your thoughts after Birmingham City won 1-0 at West Bromwich Albion in the West Midlands derby on Saturday.

Here are some of your comments:

West Brom fans

Fred: A pretty even game over all but no arguments over the end result. Both sides showed intent and credit to Blues for being on it but despite some nice passages of play too many poor decisions in the final third by Albion who lacked the needed incisiveness and creativity.

We were also outmuscled too often with too many loose passes again as well. Stewart and Price have to start next game me.

Danny: They looked pretty toothless. So little by the way of shots. Need to get the ball into the danger areas much more quickly.

Baggieboy: As soon as Birmingham City scored, I stopped watching. The fact is we just can't score enough goals. I cannot believe Morrison left Molumby on the bench in a game like this. Is his inexperience showing?

Keith: A draw would have been a fairer result but Blues were obdurate and played their part in a decent game. In the end Albion couldn't make enough of their chances while Birmingham took theirs.

Baggie 1: It's not happening at the moment, we look naïve and disjointed in possession and clumsy out of it. In the first half every cross that came into our box looked like there could be a goal on the end of it.

Second half we could hardly create anything and I thought Brum were worthy of their win. We are a young side, it's going to take a bit more time and patience will be required. O'Leary outstanding again.

Image source, Shutterstock

Birmingham fans

Alan: That was a great performance from the Blues. Vicente played a great game with great defensive work. Priske work-rate was rewarded with a goal. Just need Stansfield to get the ball between the posts and we might be in with a chance come the end of the season.

Tony: Another excellent away performance. Klarer and Neumann in central defence go from strength to strength, and Stansfield outstanding, but he could really do with a goal.

Mike: It was an excellent game with both sides having good chances. I thought Blues were the better side and was an excellent advertisement for the Championship.

Ian: All round good away performance. Thought we controlled the game well in the second half. Cool penalty.

Darrol: I thought Birmingham City fully deserved their win. A great all-round performance. And excellent defending when needed.

Gary: Very impressed especially the first half, the speed of the passing and movement off the ball and decisive thinking. Very impressive.

Royal Blue: Congrats to Blues. Another good result in a promising season against a valiant WBA side who I hope gets back to winning ways shortly. For Blues the defence was solid, and it was another away performance where we took the game to the home side. Such a difference on last season.

Well done, Chris. Great to see Priske get his second goal of the season too. He can finish with 15+. All the best Baggies.

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies spoke to BBC WM following Saturday's 1-0 Championship win at West Bromwich Albion.

"We did well, it was a very good win and I liked the way we played the match," he said.

"We made a bright start and showed that intent that we have shown away from home with our set-pieces and our power.

"And when the game settled a little bit there was some good football in there, some control, some good moves and I liked the look of us.

"We fully deserved the win, and it could have had a couple more goals before we actually scored. But we deserved the lead and then from there I liked the way we finished the match."

Image source, Shutterstock

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies has used the extended international break as a "second pre-season" and has seen it really benefit his squad.

The three-week pause in the Championship campaign allowed Davies to work on how to hit the ground running after taking 11 points from their first eight games.

"I used it for the players as kind of a second pre-season really," Davies told BBC Radio WM.

"I think it was really important that we used it well. It wasn't just a 'nothing' waste of time. I really wanted to focus on our game, how we can improve and push them.

"And I think we've had a really good few weeks. I think we've got players fitter, sharper and more ready than they were before the break.

"So, I think overall, we come out of it in good shape."

Part of that preparation was a friendly against Premier League Coventry City at the CBS Arena - a game in which Jay Stansfield got back among the goals, having only scored once this season and three times in his last 40 appearances.

Davies hopes that will kick-start the former Fulham forward to go on a fruitful run.

"Jay got a couple of good goals. I play him as a sort of a 10, or a withdrawn striker, he wants to score goals and I think it'll do his confidence good," Davies added.

"There was some really encouraging parts of that game where other players that haven't played much got good minutes and made a good impact.

"It was a really good exercise. We tried to make the most of the game."

Blues now have seven games before the next international break in late November - starting with Saturday's derby against West Bromwich Albion (12:30 BST).

"We've got 11 points after eight games, which is exactly what we had this time last year," Davies said.

"We've corrected the away form, we've scored more goals, we need to keep more clean sheets but in terms of the style of the games coming up, we're going to have to be more the protagonist - take the game to the opposition more than we've done.

"There's a lot we can improve. I'm content with how we've looked, but I've been trying to focus in training, and that Coventry game, on the areas we can get better.

"These next seven games are important for our season. If we're going to really push on we need to make an impact."

Image source, Opta

West Bromwich Albion welcome Birmingham City for a West Midlands derby in the Championship on Saturday lunchtime (kick-off 12:30 BST).

It will be a second local derby in a row for the Baggies, who are hoping to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat at Wolves before the international break.

Blues have won just one of their past five games (D3 L1), but drew with promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough last time out, and will want to keep pace with the early frontrunners.

• West Bromwich Albion have won one of their past seven league games against Birmingham City (D2 L4), a 1-0 home win in February 2024.

• Since the start of the 2000-01 season, Birmingham City have two wins in their 13 away league matches against West Brom (D5 L6), winning 3-2 in both in 2005-06 and 2022-23.

• Since James Morrison's first league game in charge on February 28, West Brom are one of only two ever-present Championship teams without a home defeat (W4 D6), along with Southampton, with the Saints the only side with more home points (26) than the Baggies (18) in that time.

• Birmingham have drawn more Championship games than any other side this season (5) – it's the fourth time they've had this many draws after eight league games in a campaign, along with 1965-66 (5), 1980-81 (5) and 2018-19 (6).

• Liam Millar has been involved in four goals in his previous three Championship appearances for Birmingham (1 goal, 3 assists) – across their past three matches, the only Blues goal Millar hasn't either scored or assisted was a Riley McGree own goal in the 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough.

Image source, Getty Images

Birmingham midfielder Paik Seung-Ho has been released from international duty with South Korea due to injury.

The 29-year-old was an unused substitute in the 3-0 home win over Ecuador last Thursday but missed Monday's 4-1 defeat against Uruguay and will not be available for Friday's friendly with Venezuela or Tuesday's match against Uzbekistan.

The local media reported, external a statement from the Korea Football Association, saying: "Following a meeting with the coaching staff and medical team, it was determined that Paik Seung-ho needs to recover rather than play in the remaining matches.

"For the protection of the player, he is scheduled to return to his club team."

Paik has featured in all 10 Blues games this season, making four starts in the Championship, with four more sub appearances, and started both City's EFL Cup ties.

He headed the second half winner as Blues came from behind to win 2-1 at Derby on 12 September.

Birmingham's next game is the short trip to West Brom on Saturday, 10 October (12:30 BST).

Kym Smith
Fan writer

Image source, Shutterstock

The first and most obvious takeaway from Saturday is that I would have taken a point for this game before kick-off, but conceding an equaliser in the last couple of minutes felt like Middlesbrough had managed a smash and grab raid on us.

It was great to see Liam Millar get his first goal for Blues; it was a good reward for the way he has played in his first few games. He has really added something to the squad with pace and quick feet.

But are draws becoming the elephant in the room for Blues?

We're eight games into the season, and we have already notched up five, with three of those being courtesy of own goals.

The chat on social media is often that we're not scoring enough, and therefore we're only picking up draws when we should be scoring more and winning.

However, there are a few things to unpack from this.

We've had a fairly tough start to the season - we've already played some of the teams who are going to be chasing promotion or play-off places.

Looking at our next few fixtures, there's a reasonable expectation that we are going to be able to pick up some more wins.

Also, there's sometimes an argument that own goals somehow "don't count", and it means you're not scoring enough yourself and your opponents are gifting you points, rather than you getting them by your own efforts. I don't see it that way. Own goals mean that you're forcing errors and getting the benefit of them.

On Saturday, Cochrane's corner was aimed at the far post, headed down sharply by Stansfield and the resulting scramble in the goalmouth meant the ball went in off McGree, but this goal ultimately came from Blues' attacking efforts.

And yes, Beadle did spill the ball for the equaliser, but don't forget he has already kept us in games this season, and no keeper is immune from this sort of error.

Now we can all relax for the international break and look forward to a trip to The Hawthorns!

Hear and read more from Kym Smith on Birmingham Hospital Radio, external

Don't forget to tap the 'follow' button at the top of this page to stay up to date with the latest Birmingham City news.

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Championship match after Middlesbrough came back to earn a 2-2 draw at Birmingham City.

Here are some of your comments:

Birmingham City fans

Kevin: Beadle is again a liability and has again cost us points. Poor managers decision again to substitute forward players for midfielders towards the end of the game, which inevitably leads to pressure on our goal (no out-ball) and yet another late equaliser. No lessons are ever learnt.

John: Feels like two points dropped, refereeing was horrendous, poor error from Beadle to lose the ball (but then again it shouldn't have been a free kick in the first place).

Eleven points from the first eight games is decent going considering the tough fixture list we had, but some games so far (in particular against Wolves, Southampton and the first half an hour vs Norwich) we should have been more clinical and taken more points than we have (as well as some refereeing decision going against us like the disallowed Millar goal vs Norwich).

Ed: Always make a big mistake to put the team under pressure.

Image source, Shutterstock

Middlesbrough fans

Ken: A point away is a good point. We have to stop putting ourselves under pressure. We need to play the full 90 minutes.

Raymond: Picking the wrong players is becoming a habit.

Malcolm: Boro's manager has worked wonders and built up a great squad, but if I have a slight criticism it is that mainly players should play in their recognised positions. Malanda should be selected as a centre-back with Ayling used sparingly these days.

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies spoke to BBC WM after seeing his side denied a victory by a late Middlsbrough goal in the 2-2 draw at St Andrew's.

For a written selection of his quotes, click here.