Davies must bench the Birmingham City flop who had fewer touches than Beadle

Birmingham City’s chances of making the play-offs at the end of the Championship took another step after defeat by Blackburn Rovers on Good Friday.

Todd Cantwell’s goal was enough to secure three points for the Axeman, making it one win in seven games for Chris Davies and his side.

The Blues are 11 points behind Wrexham in sixth place with six games to play. If Southampton win their game in hand, the gap to sixth place becomes 13 points with six games remaining.

In fact, Birmingham’s season is over now. They won’t be relegated and the teams above them are unlikely to lose enough games to open up a late push.

Now it should be about preparing for promotion in the 2026/27 campaign, and one of the decisions they may have to make is whether or not they want to keep James Beadle.

Analyzes James Beadle’s performance against Blackburn Rovers

Signed on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion last summer, Beadle has been a standout between the sticks for Birmingham due to his consistency.

The England U21 international has conceded 0.87 more goals than expected based on xG against him in the Championship, while making two mistakes that have resulted in a shot or goal for the opposition.

Against Blackburn, however, Beadle produced a series of incredible saves and finished the game with 1.74 goals blocked, preventing Rovers from winning by more than one goal.

If the Englishman can’t finish the season with as many games as he did against Blackburn, Birmingham may want to bring him back to St. Andrew’s, on loan or on a permanent deal, to push for promotion to the next level.

The 21-year-old could be a great player if he can add consistency to his game, thanks to his ability to pull off the odd, but it remains to be seen if he can ever find that consistency.

Beadle isn’t the only player still looking for consistency, though, as another Birmingham star is due to eventually be dropped by Davies due to a lack of form at the other end of the pitch.

The star of Birmingham that must finally be brought down

The Blues goalkeeper made 44 saves in their 1-0 defeat to Blackburn at St. Andrew’s on Friday, and one of the team’s attackers was less affected than that.

Jay Stansfield was selected to lead the line, with Marvin Ducksch holding the tenth spot, and finished the game with no goals, no assists, and just 23 touches, fewer than his 21 goalie.

The England U21 international lost 71% of his duels (5/7) and committed more fouls (four) than he scored (two) in 78 minutes at Birmingham.

Stansfield have now gone nine games without a goal in the Championship, starting seven of those games, and have conceded just one goal in their last 23 games in the division.

The former Fulham midfielder did not risk enough in the final third to warrant his inclusion, especially after five defeats in the last seven games.

Birmingham’s play-off push has fallen flat, as they have won just three of their last ten league games, while Stansfield have not stepped up to change their fortunes, with one goal in those ten games.

Since scoring seven goals in the first 15 games of the league campaign, the 23-year-old striker has struggled to settle in the final third, scoring just once in his last 23 games.

The Blues need more from their starting number nine if they have any aspirations of promotion to the Premier League, because Stansfield did not provide enough quality or consistency as a goalscorer at the business end of the campaign.

That’s why Davies must end up removing the English striker from the team that will start the game on Monday against Ipswich, because August Priske deserves a chance to show that he can contribute more to the team.

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