Birmingham City may have moved up to ninth place at the end of their Championship clash with Sheffield United, but they are far from crashing the party.
Indeed, they are seven points short of the coveted top-six finish, with the 1-1 draw against the Blades coming down as a missed opportunity to try and ease sixth-placed Wrexham.
Birmingham somehow didn’t end up beating Chris Wilder’s visitors, as the South Yorkshire side went down to ten men after 67 minutes of a hard-fought contest.
Marvin Ducksch would get a goal shortly after Femi Seriki was given his marching orders, however, with his free-kick beating Adam Davies in the opposition goal.
However, the tension in St. Andrew’s would leave the Blues faithful looking for more from Jay Stansfield, who continues to look shy for Chris Davies’ men.
Stansfield’s embarrassing activities continue
Davies would have been free when the magic moment from the German attacker arrived, as 17 other guns passed by his side during a frustrated tug.
Stansfield would net two of those efforts, but instead of breaking his Championship record, it ended up being just another clash the former Fulham striker won’t look back on too fondly.
|
Stansfield’s goal record in 2026 |
|
|---|---|
|
Mathematics |
Stansfield |
|
Games played |
14 |
|
Minutes played |
978 min |
|
Goals were scored |
1 |
|
It helps |
3 |
Amazingly, Stansfield has just one measly goal to his name this calendar year in league play, despite racking up ten goals in all competitions this season.
It’s clear from watching his performance against Wilder and Co that his confidence has waned, as a poor number 28 can’t make up for 18 poor touches of the ball.
Often, he was found running out of breath, failing to strike a nerve in the Blades’ back line, which led to January signing August Priske in the latter stages of the offensive game.
It may now be time for Davies to stick with Priske and see what he can offer, away from relying too much on the out-of-sorts Stansfield to start his comeback.
More changes could soon be made in attacking areas, with games against Derby County and Blackburn Rovers to follow, as another disappointing striker could fear the chop, alongside the 23-year-old.
Stansfield is not the only player playing under Birmingham
Priske was not the only notable January addition to join the Davies camp in the mid-season transfer window, with Ibrahim Osman also set to join the Blues on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion.
Having cost the Seagulls a whopping £16m, plenty would have been expected from the crafty Ghanaian when he arrived in St. Andrew’s, as his gung-ho performances could push the League One title winners to make their promotion dreams come true.
Osman delighted the crowd of St. Andrew has been on a roll since joining, with a goal against relegation-threatened Leicester City to open his Blues account in February.
But all the same, the speedy winger who aims to cause all kinds of trouble was nowhere to be seen against the Blades’ ten-man side, with none of his three efforts netting in the 1-1 draw.
Furthermore, despite hitting the woodwork early on, Osman looked hesitant in front of goal, with United’s defenders able to check him comfortably, resulting in the 21-year-old winning 38% of his 13 attempts.
The conundrum Davies now faces is whether to drop the former FC Nordsjælland winner or not, considering that instead of facing Wilder’s boys, Demarai Gray also had a big problem, as the experienced attacker gave away six times, touching only 20 balls.
Davies has the luxury of having plenty of attacking options to fall back on, while Birmingham are renowned for their overpowering nature, as they try to assemble a starting XI that can return to winning ways as quickly as possible.
A few more missteps, like this point collected against United, and the promotion dream could be dead and buried.
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Jay Stansfield is not the only one struggling at Birmingham City.
