Birmingham City reporter Alex Dicken has urged manager Chris Davies to make a tactical tweak to unleash Jay Stansfield against Bristol City in the team's first Championship home game of the season on Saturday.
Davies faces selection dilemma for first home fixture
If Chris Davies stands by his 'horses for courses' pledge, Birmingham City are likely to make changes for the visit of Bristol City on Saturday. Bristol City are the first visitors to St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park after Blues opened up with back-to-back away games – and clean sheets.
Davies named the same starting XI against Swansea and Sheffield United but the Blues boss will be pondering changes for the Robins, according to the Birmingham Live reporter.
Bristol City have lost their opening two matches of the season without scoring and new manager Michael Skubala will be desperate to get off the mark. You wouldn't put it past Bristol City playing the role of spoilers on Saturday by setting up in a low block and looking to hit Blues on the counter-attack.
Skubala's tactical approach and Bristol City's struggles
Skubala's successful Lincoln side averaged 41.9 percent possession last season – the lowest in League One – but scored 30 goals from set pieces and 10 goals from counter-attacks. This is a manager who knows how to set up a team to soak up pressure.
Bristol City are a team that is used to a transitional style of football given that is how they played for the majority of last season under Gerhard Struber. Max Bird's transfer to Blues and Adam Randell's red card against Millwall also means Skubala is light on options in the engine room. Another less than ideal situation which might persuade Skubala to be cautious this weekend.
Blues' starting line-up has to have a more attack-minded feel to it for that reason and there is one obvious change Davies can make, according to Dicken.
Midfield reshuffle to unlock Stansfield's potential
To do it he needs to break up the midfield pairing of Jhon Solis and Tomoki Iwata. Whilst extremely effective away from home, Blues need their ball players in midfield at home. Solis and Paik Seung-ho formed an effective partnership in the second half of last season, particularly when Blues played at St Andrew's, so it makes sense to field them together. The alternative to Paik is Bird but the ex-Bristol City man might have to wait a little while longer for his first start.
Paik vacating the number 10 position makes room for Jay Stansfield to play in the centre. Stansfield has filled in out wide in Blues' opening two matches but he is better utilised in the middle and struck up a useful understanding with August Priske towards the end of last season.
Getting the best out of Stansfield, who has contributed to more goals than any other player in his three seasons with Blues, is essential to the team's success and his productivity has always been greater in the centre of the attack. The only natural option on the left-wing is Demarai Gray who has been eased back in after picking up a niggle right at the end of pre-season.
Gray impressed in this fixture back in April and should start in this reshuffle of personnel. Some dynamism in attack was missing in the draw with Sheffield United and a fully-fit Gray will get Blues moving up the pitch more purposefully.
Dicken's proposed XI to take on Bristol City in a 4-2-3-1 formation is: Beadle; Osayi-Samuel, Neumann, Klarer, Cochrane; Solis, Paik; Vicente, Stansfield, Gray; Priske.
