Alex Dicken provides his response to Birmingham City’s 2-0 defeat to Norwich City at Carrow Road
One of the few Birmingham City players whose play didn’t deteriorate in the 2-0 loss to Norwich City was Jay Stansfield.
At Carrow Road, a subpar Blues team was rightly defeated, but Stansfield was one of the few players to come out on top. Despite not scoring the goal we have come to anticipate from him, Blues’ new fan favorite gave a typically tigerish effort.
However, the most of us departed Carrow Road feeling slightly let down. Koji Miyoshi supported striker Scott Hogan at the left wing as Stansfield got the game underway.
John Eustace was dealt a rough hand with injuries recently, thus Stansfield’s position was likely more out of need than inclination. The Blues’ other left winger, Siriki Dembele, was obviously not prepared to start against the Canaries and is now out with an injury.
Stansfield has less opportunities to be in the places where he excels when he is played wide. Stansfield must wear the number 10 if he is not to be the center forward for the Blues. The best goal scorer for the Blues needs to be in locations where he can hurt their rivals.
To be fair to Stansfield, he did still harm to Norwich in the opening period out wide. He pulled back two crosses from the right that Scott Hogan and Oliver Burke were unable to finish. Those crosses should have been directed toward Stansfield.
At halftime, Eustace made adjustments in the locker room after recognizing the importance of playing Stansfield in the center of the field. Koji Miyoshi and Burke were to the left and right of Hogan as Stansfield entered the gameStansfield received the ball from Miyoshi for his big opportunity, but Shane Duffy and Angus Gunn denied the on-loan Fulham player. Had Duffy not got his studs on Stansfield’s shot and deflected it towards Gunn’s body, Stansfield would have given Blues a 1-0 lead. However, Gabriel Sara and Jonathan Rowe would put the game beyond Blues within five minutes of Gunn’s save from Stansfield..
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